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Stopping Paxil and VMS (sweating)
LCHF Living & Intermittent Fasting | Last Active: Oct 26, 2023 | Replies (26)Comment receiving replies
I am a 68 years old female and 8 weeks ago started Paxil 10 mg. daily for depression/severe anxiety. I actually feel more depressed, headaches daily, brain fog, worsening insomnia and daily nausea. Yes, it did damper my panic attacks - the only positive. Bottom line I don't think this medication is for me and I like to stop it. What are folks thoughts about the weaning off process? I read it can be difficult which frightened me. I will, of course, discuss with my Nurse Psychiatric Practitioner but wanted to hear other folks (especially seniors?) experience with this medication.
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It’s been many years since I took Paxil. My complaint about taking it was I was gaining a significant amount of weight, and I wanted to take a vacation from antidepressants. I’d been taking it for about six months, at a relatively low dosage. My doctor outlined a tapering schedule of about five days.
I followed that, was doing fine, but about 10 days after taking the final dose, I had a severe multi-symptom anxiety attack. This was the first time I had experienced one; I was miserable, and my doctor was out of town. I had Valium in the house, which was prescribed for an unrelated condition, but didn’t think to take it. That I wasn’t thinking clearly was another symptom (for me) of Paxil withdrawal.
After seeing my doctor, he placed me on Prozac, and I started feeling well again. My takeaway from this was the tapering time was too brief. My doctor explained that Paxil has a short half-life, which I understand as leaving your system more quickly. I would never take Paxil again. I also took Effexor briefly, and stopped taking it due to side effects, i.e seeing light flashes, and what I described as electrical zaps in my head/brain. Effexor is another med I wouldn’t take again.
Another thought: I stopped smoking 26 years ago, and about three months later, began experiencing depression again, after not needing antidepressant medication for many years. This had happened once before when I stopped smoking, and not long afterward had an episode of depression. Very few effective antidepressant medications were available (mid-1970’s) then. The point I’m trying to make is that since smoking is an addiction, and a way to ‘sooth your nerves’, giving up smoking might also bring on an episode of depression in some, not all, people. For anyone reading this, I do NOT recommend you continue to smoke to avoid getting depressed. Smoking causes significantly more and serious health problems, and now there are more effective antidepressant medications. I’ve read about this occurring to some people, and realized this might have affected me.