Very emotional and irritable after tapering off paxil

Posted by corbitt @corbitt, Feb 24 1:00pm

I was on Paxil for several years. Decided it was time to try life without it. Had several traumatic events happen starting late 2021. My husband was diagnosed with colon cancer, in June of 2022 my mom passed after a short battle with pancreatic cancer and in November of 2022 my sister in law died of ALS. Hubs is doing good but the worry of the ‘what if’s’ are there and the death of my mom was devastating. I began tapering off 20 mg of Paxil in Nov 2024 with 10 mg. Starting in Dec I went to 5 mg for 6 weeks. I was feeling pretty good except for the brain zaps but managed to get through those. Now I am dealing with very heightened emotions- crying very easily, extremely irritable. I am not suicidal but just don’t find much joy in life right now. It’s difficult to talk to anyone about what I am feeling and I am determined to keep going. I hate relying on a pill to feel whatever ‘OK’ is supposed to feel like. I have been working with a health coach and also have acupuncture once a month. Maybe I picked a bad time to ditch the meds but after researching what Paxil actually does to your brain it makes me mad that these doctors just prescribe them with mentioning the long term effects. Anyone else dealt with the super emotions? Will they ever return to normal (whatever that is)?

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frouke | @frouke | Feb 26 9:35am

I understand how you feel, we have times in our lives when medication is needed and it can be very helpful, after a long period of time we want to get off them because they change us mentally and emotionally so that you feel like you’re not living your life anymore. I’m very sorry for the loss of your mother and also your husband having cancer, it’s certainly a lot to deal with. I used Paxil years ago and it was very helpful at the time but over time I felt so mentally numb, this was useful to me at the time but I didn’t want to stay this way anymore. It’s never easy to withdraw from long term meds but it’s very possible to do so, of course you’re going to experience a lot of different emotions when you do stop and that’s okay, it’s perfectly normal, all your feelings are coming back now and it’s a normal process, if it becomes overwhelming then you need to talk to your doctor to help you through this. I had the same issue when stopping Paxil but gradually it got easier to deal with, I hope that you will feel better soon and be able to live your life on your own terms, take care.