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Tips on how to wean off of Paxil (paroxetine): Bad withdrawal.
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Oct 23 10:33am | Replies (66)Comment receiving replies
You must do this with a psychiatrist of doctor with considerable experience in dealing with your discontinuation process. I am 71 years old and was on Paxil for 34 years. My doctor, in what turned out to be an act of malpractice put me on a 30 day discontinuation schedule and transitioned me to Wellbutrin as I weaned off. It has been a nightmare. 4 months later, after the shock from too-rapid Paxil discontinuation I have been on and off Wellbutrin, hydroxyzine, and am now on my 3rd week of Buspar, 15mg per day and at the end of this week will have been on Zoloft, 25mg. In addition, I am taking lorazepam to deal with the worst effects of the anxiety on an episodic basis while letting the Buspar deal with anxiety on the more long term basis. What you are doing is survivable, and probably a good idea. Paxil has the worst record for discontinuation for any of the SSRI's. But you must do it under the careful management of competent medical professionals. Best of luck to you-I would not with what has happened to me on anyone.
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@teacherbuilder55
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@teacherbuilder55 I just don’t understand how people that truly suffer from depression continue to try to get off SSRI’s.
Depression is just like any other disease. Would you stop taking insulin if you had diabetes? Would you stop taking medication if you had high blood pressure or a statin if you had high cholesterol.
Thank God the pharmaceutical companies have come up with these drugs so people that suffer from depression can live a normal life. Depression doesn’t just disappear on its own. It continues for your entire life. You might cycle in and out of depression but what a horrible way to live your life.
Clonazepam and others in that family get the same comments but is it better to live with crippling anxiety the rest of your life? Depression is a disease just like cancer and heart disease. The sooner people realize than the the ones that truly suffer from this horrible disease will stop fighting it and get the help they need. How many people do we have to lose to suicide to finally get that?
Hopefully people finally wake up. I know too many friends of mine that have lost sons and daughters because they were to afraid of the stigma to get help or stopped taking their medications because they thought they had beat depression.
Depression is like alcoholism. You never stop having it but you learn to control it.
Good luck to all those who suffer from this debilitating disease. Please seek help and find the medication combination that lets you live a happy and long life.