LostInCanada: Need help and direction to taper off Paroxetine

[LostInCanada]

Thank you all @Fifree @RachelSusan @StayHopeful ❤️

[LostInCanada]

@RachelSusan just curious how I can be symptom free before starting to taper when I get waves and windows? I am struggling to understand stable. This wave is messing with my thinking...ugh

[possum]

I hear you nWhen you're in the middle of it, it feels like there's no end in sight, and when you are feeling better, you wonder if there's a wave around the corner! I wish there was a way of predicting what’s around the bend. 

[Carmie]

Hi there @LostInCanada

 

It’s nice to see all your encouraging posts on different people’s threads. So sorry to hear that you’re in a wave at the moment, I hope it subsides soon. Even in a window I have symptoms, my nervous system is totally shot. I can’t just sit and watch a movie or show without doing something with my hands, like knitting at the same time. Our baseline with these meds isn’t symptom free unfortunately. 

One day at a time does it, I guess. On bad days, an hour at a time, or a minute at a time. 
 

Sending you hugs🤗

[LostInCanada]

@Carmie thanks so much. I needed that today. ❤️ It's quite the journey. Praying for better days for both of us.

[Gridley]

26 minutes ago, LostInCanada said:

Praying for better days for both of us.

Your posts have been great and very helpful.  

[LostInCanada]

@Gridley thanks that means alot. But you moderators deserve the thanks truthfully. Tysm

[LostInCanada]

Putting it out to the SA universe because I can't find it. It's a chart based on the SERT graph. It shows dosage and percentage of affected receptors, something like that. I've seen it for prozac and another drug. Wondering if there is one for paroxetine. I think @Go2zero had posted them. 

[RachelSusan]

Hi @LostInCanada,

 

Here is a link to the article I believe you are asking about, the one that contains the charts.  It does contain a chart for Paroxetine.

 

https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/epdf/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.5.826

 

[LostInCanada]

@RachelSusan thanks for that one. The one I am looking for is more detailed with numerous dosages and percentages of affected serotonin receptors for the individual drug.

[RachelSusan]

@LostInCanada What you described sounds really interesting. I hope someone comes up with it. I would like to see it as well.

[Go2zero]

10 hours ago, LostInCanada said:

Putting it out to the SA universe because I can't find it. It's a chart based on the SERT graph. It shows dosage and percentage of affected receptors, something like that. I've seen it for prozac and another drug. Wondering if there is one for paroxetine. I think @Go2zero had posted them. 

 

I hope this is what you are looking for

 

% of 1 pill(20 mg)	Dosage in mg Paxil / Paroxetine/ Seroxat	% blockage serotonin receptor (SERT)
100	20	78
50	10	72
25	5	62
12,5	2,5	48
10	2	44
7,5	1,5	37
5	1	29
4	0,8	25
3	0,6	20
2	0,4	14,5
1,5	0,3	11
1	0,2	8
0,5	0,1	4
0,25	0,05	2
0,1	0,02	0,9
0,05	0,01	0,5

 

[LostInCanada]

2 hours ago, Go2zero said:

 

 

I hope this is what you are looking for

 

% of 1 pill(20 mg)	Dosage in mg Paxil / Paroxetine/ Seroxat	% blockage serotonin receptor (SERT)
100	20	78
50	10	72
25	5	62
12,5	2,5	48
10	2	44
7,5	1,5	37
5	1	29
4	0,8	25
3	0,6	20
2	0,4	14,5
1,5	0,3	11
1	0,2	8
0,5	0,1	4
0,25	0,05	2
0,1	0,02	0,9
0,05	0,01	0,5

 

@Go2zero thank you so much. @RachelSusan 

[RachelSusan]

@LostInCanada Thank you for tagging me.  This chart is absolutely fascinating.  I am so glad I got to see it.

[Go2zero]

Hey @LostInCanada 

 

Just want to let you know that I really appreciate your helpful and kind words to a lot of members. You are a great support! Thanks! 🙏

[SertralineIssues29]

Hey @LostInCanada just wanted to pop over to your page and show my support to you, I don't have alot of people coming over to my thread and the fact you jumped over and have supported me these last ungodly months has been amazing

 

Wishing us both fast recoveries! 

 

SI xx 

[LostInCanada]

@Go2zero thanks so much. It is me that appreciates ones like you that give so much despite navigating all the crazy from WD. 👍♥️💯

[LostInCanada]

@SertralineIssues29 thanks for your kind words. We definitely need each other. I am so thankful for this community of kindness and generosity and knowledge. 🙏 for healing for us too.

[Chompoo]

On 4/14/2023 at 9:40 AM, LostInCanada said:

So just putting it out there....has anyone reacted badly to decaf tea? I ordered some organic clipper decaf and also found some Celestial seasonings decaf chai tea. I am feeling hesitant for fear of an issue. Any thoughts @Sebas @Hanna72 @Fifree @StayHopeful anyone?

I've given up on drinking black tea, even decaffeinated ones. These tea leaves are fermented, so they have histamine. And I've become intolerant to histamine on withdrawal. Whenever I eat or drink anything high in histamine, I get burning, prickly and itchy sensations in various parts of my body. Other people have said high histamine food worsen their withdrawal symptoms, like nasal drip, migraines etc. If you have senstivity to fermented tea leaves, you could have histamine intolerance as well.

I keep to the low histamine diet these days to stay out of trouble. This link provides an idea what is considered high and low histamine.
https://www.histaminintoleranz.ch/downloads/SIGHI-Leaflet_HistamineEliminationDiet.pdf

I drink peppermint and ginger tea these days. They do not cause me any problems. Peppermint is in fact good for digestion. And ginger is a natural antihistamine, and helps lessen my other histamine related symptoms.

Hope this helps!

[LostInCanada]

On April 3, I realized that my Apotex Paroxetine 10mg pills were varying greatly in weight. I took 50 and found some .117g to .126g so I decided to add the collective weight and divide to get an average. The average was .118g. Since I am on 5 mg of paroxetine my weight of pill would be .059g moving forward. I contacted Apotex Canada to confirm the weight and they would only give that info to a doctor or pharmacist. Thankfully my pharmacist was willing to call and after 2 days they gave her the official weight which is 118.4mg (.1184g). 

Definitely more confident moving forward.

[LostInCanada]

One more thing I need to put in writing for anyone reading. Double check all your prescriptions written and filled. I was going through old tax stuff... getting rid of an old year of receipts...I found my old prescription invoices. One dated in 2016 was for sertaline 50mg 90 day supply. At the time I was on paxil 30mg and I had never been prescribed this drug. It was either doctor error or pharmacy error. The 2 drugs are the same shape and similar colour. I know I would have just taken them and never read the label. It was at this time I stopped being able to sleep, I couldn't fall asleep till 3-4am and I couldn't stay asleep if I finally fell asleep. I was a total wreck but had no idea why. At this time a friend gave me oxazepam to try...it did nothing. In recent years I had tried zopiclone and it did nothing. Didn't know what type of drugs these even were.  Now I am having the lightbulb moment. My sleeping from 2016 had never changed until my reinstatement of paroxetine. I can finally go to bed at 9pm and fall asleep but unfortunately awake every 90 minutes on average until 6-7 am.

Check everything. 

[AmitV]

5 minutes ago, LostInCanada said:

One more thing I need to put in writing for anyone reading. Double check all your prescriptions written and filled. I was going through old tax stuff... getting rid of an old year of receipts...I found my old prescription invoices. One dated in 2016 was for sertaline 50mg 90 day supply. At the time I was on paxil 30mg and I had never been prescribed this drug. It was either doctor error or pharmacy error. The 2 drugs are the same shape and similar colour. I know I would have just taken them and never read the label. It was at this time I stopped being able to sleep, I couldn't fall asleep till 3-4am and I couldn't stay asleep if I finally fell asleep. I was a total wreck but had no idea why. At this time a friend gave me oxazepam to try...it did nothing. In recent years I had tried zopiclone and it did nothing. Didn't know what type of drugs these even were.  Now I am having the lightbulb moment. My sleeping from 2016 had never changed until my reinstatement of paroxetine. I can finally go to bed at 9pm and fall asleep but unfortunately awake every 90 minutes on average until 6-7 am.

Check everything. 

SSRI’s have a profound effect on sleep. The effect on sleep is remarkable. I only took it for 6 weeks, even though I had bad side effects, I was sleeping like I’ve never slept. I slept 10hr “deep” sleeps like I was 16 years old. Usually 7hrs and decent quality sleep was my thing before I took escitalopram.

[LostInCanada]

@AmitVmy sleep never was an issue till that pharmaceutical error. So basically I cold turkey'd paxil and was put on 50mg of sertaline without anyone's knowledge.  Can't believe it. And then 90 days later cold turkey off sertaline and back on Paroxetine..... Without any idea...my poor CNS

[AmitV]

12 minutes ago, LostInCanada said:

@AmitVmy sleep never was an issue till that pharmaceutical error. So basically I cold turkey'd paxil and was put on 50mg of sertaline without anyone's knowledge.  Can't believe it. And then 90 days later cold turkey off sertaline and back on Paroxetine..... Without any idea...my poor CNS

That is absolutely horrible, how that went about for you. One small error can ruin someone’s life.

[Soup]

@LostInCanada ouch that is awful . I bet there any many who have had the same thing happen and still have no idea . I am so sorry that happened 

[LostInCanada]

@Soup and @AmitV thanks. The realization of this so long after the fact is such a shock. I am just thankful it wasn't worse. No wonder this cold turkey just about killed me. How do I add this to my drug signature lolol

[Carmie]

4 hours ago, LostInCanada said:

On April 3, I realized that my Apotex Paroxetine 10mg pills were varying greatly in weight. I took 50 and found some .117g to .126g so I decided to add the collective weight and divide to get an average. The average was .118g. Since I am on 5 mg of paroxetine my weight of pill would be .059g moving forward. I contacted Apotex Canada to confirm the weight and they would only give that info to a doctor or pharmacist. Thankfully my pharmacist was willing to call and after 2 days they gave her the official weight which is 118.4mg (.1184g). 

Definitely more confident moving forward.

This is good news @LostInCanada Good on the pharmacist!💛

[Chompoo]

@LostInCanada my goodness, how could the pharmacist make such an error? He/she must have thought all antidepressants are the same, whether paxil or sertaline. It reminds me of another pharmacist at a hospital I went to- who wanted to give me another z-drug for sleep instead of the one the psychiatrist prescribed. (In the end, I decided against taking any prescribed sleep drugs at all).
It's amazing how our doctors and pharmacists keep failing us, no matter which country we are in. I have very little trust in healthcare professionals these days.
You have my total sympathy, @LostInCanada

[LostInCanada]

Since April 18 till April 25 no nausea. Must be a window. A bit of nausea these last 2 days. I feel like I might be stabilizing. It's been 5 months since reinstatement. I have apprehension and fear of tapering since I know how bad CT was. Am I stable enough to start? I had insomnia and intermittent dizziness before withdrawal and my stomach has always been sensitive. The burning feet are still here but not as bad, occasional akathisia, the phantom smells are gone for now, I still cry easier than before but not as bad, emotionally still sensitive but more able to see it as neuro emotions and can reign them in a bit, tv watching still overwhelms me. 

Should I still hold for a bit or start a slow taper? Suggestions welcome.

[Go2zero]

23 minutes ago, LostInCanada said:

Should I still hold for a bit or start a slow taper? Suggestions welcome.

If I were you I would wait a little longer. Better safe than sorry...  Of course we are all different, but for me burning feet (or arms or legs) are a clear sign that I still need to hold. The fact that the burning gets less is a very good sign.

 

It seems you are on the right track. What you write seem to be good healing signals! 

[LostInCanada]

@Go2zerothanks for the advice. It's so hard to know and to be patient. 👍

[Go2zero]

9 minutes ago, LostInCanada said:

thanks for the advice. It's so hard to know and to be patient. 👍

That is the good thing from SA. We can learn so much from each other here. I would never have gotten to the point where I am now, without all the info and help here. You can't imagine how grateful I am for this website. Therefor I am so happy  to be able to help and inform others.

 

Great to see how you are contributing here! 🙏

[LostInCanada]

Back in another wave since Saturday afternoon. Nausea plus the usual list. This to will pass.

[Go2zero]

4 hours ago, LostInCanada said:

Back in another wave since Saturday afternoon. Nausea plus the usual list. This to will pass.

Sorry to hear about this new wave. Yes, it will pass for sure. You are having the right attitude. So good and so important!

[Carmie]

Dear @LostInCanada I’m sorry to hear that you’ve got nausea etc again, just thought I’d pop over and send you a big hug🤗

[Chompoo]

On 5/2/2023 at 11:28 PM, LostInCanada said:

Back in another wave since Saturday afternoon. Nausea plus the usual list. This to will pass.

 

Sorry you are suffering. I hope this wave passes soon. Take care!