AudInSocks: Stabilizing before slow taper, after awful week of withdrawal symptoms

[AudInSocks]

Hi there, I’m AudInSocks. I found this site last week while I was going through a terribly dark time trying to switch medications. 
 

I’ve been on Paroxetine consistently for a little over a year (14 months), at 10mg and then the last few months at 20mg. 
 

I went to my doctor and asked about ADHD medication because I seem to have a lot of trouble that lines up with that diagnosis. She prescribed me Strattera and said I would have to discontinue paroxetine. Not a word about tapering or discontinuation side effects. 
 

I tapered from 20mg to 10 and then 5 and then 0 within 12 days. On the 13th day I stopped altogether and started taking the new medicine the doc had prescribed. The first two days were fine, but on the 3rd day of taking the new med and not taking any paroxetine, I woke up very anxious, heart thumping, and had quite a crying spell before taking a nap and making myself go hang out with friends. 
 

Unfortunately, this pattern continued and every day that week I woke up with pounding heart, incredible anxiety, sobbing, nauseous, couldn’t eat, basically at my worst. I thought I could tough it out if it only lasted a few days but all the research I’d done was pretty inconclusive about how long withdrawal from paroxetine will last. 

Then I found this site and saw all the things saying not to ever slow taper or cold turkey quit this drug. So after 8 days of basically hell, and trying to get in touch with my doctor, I made the educated guess to quit my new med and reinstate paroxetine so I could stabilize. 
 

I began on 10mg paroxetine again 3 days ago and already feel the impact. I’ve still been waking up with oppressive anxiety, but can distract myself, and then seem to mellow out in the evening. 
 

My plan is to stabilize on 10mg for the next month or so, and then begin a very slow taper like what I’ve read about on here, decreasing by 10% every month. 
 

If I can do that with less symptoms than I’ve had this past week, that will be a win. I’ve been on antidepressants on and off for almost 10 years now. I also would really like to have a baby in the next few years, and read about how paroxetine is not exactly safe for pregnancy. 
 

Thanks for listening to my story. Would love any input or encouragement you can give

Edited July 4, 2023 by manymoretodays
name to topic title

[Shep]

Hi, @AudInSocks Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants.

 

Stopping the ADHD drug and reinstating the Paxil was a wise decision, especially since you'd only been off a few days. Very glad you did the research so quickly.

 

You may have already seen these drugs, but just to be sure, I'm going to place some information for you to read over. 

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms
 
The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

Tips for tapering off paroxetine (Paxil, Seroxat)

 

 

How psychiatric drugs remodel your brain 

 

Healing from antidepressants. Patterns of recovery  video (4 minutes)

 

Please continue to use this thread to document your taper and to ask questions. 

 

A request - Please update your signature to include the doses of your drugs and also, add in the name of the "new med" and the date you stopped that new drug. That way we have your full history at a glance. 

 

[AudInSocks]

Hi! Thank you for those resources and encouraging words!
 

I’m at day 10 of reinstatement on 10mg if paroxetine. I am still struggling with extra anxiety and shakiness, especially in the mornings. I am toying with the idea of bumping my paroxetine up to 12 of 15 mg so I can continue to stabilize. Then hold that for a while before decreasing. 
 

It’s been kind of rough. 

[Shep]

@AudInSocks I apologize for the delay in getting to your second post. I overlooked it in the queue. 

 

How are you feeling? I see in your signature you went back up to 20 mg Paroxetine. Did that help with your symptoms? 

[AudInSocks]

Hi Shep! Thanks for checking in. 
 

Yeah, so my reinstatement definitely helped but even on 10 and 15mg I was SUPER anxious, very low, dark feeling, crying all the time, very tense in my body. 

I’ve been back on 20mg for a little over a week now and I think I did the right thing. Still getting anxiety in the mornings and my body is still pretty tense, but I haven’t felt nearly as low. Been walking almost every morning with my dog and doing yoga, which helps the body stuff. 
 

 Going to keep on this dosage so it’s 4-6 weeks and see if I feel stable enough to taper my 1st dose. I know 10% would mean dropping down to 18 but I may just drop to 19. 

 

I feel like my life changed overnight with the realization that I was in withdrawal and can’t just come off these meds. Really messes with my head and looking toward the future… 

 

I am hoping with this slow taper that any symptoms I do experience will not be as bad as when I was off cold turkey… any thoughts about that? 

[Shep]

16 hours ago, AudInSocks said:

I am hoping with this slow taper that any symptoms I do experience will not be as bad as when I was off cold turkey… any thoughts about that? 

 

Definitely. A slow taper is the best way we know to get off these drugs. You may have some symptoms, but far less than a cold turkey. You may even want to try doing a micro-taper and / or using the Brassmonkey Slide.

 

Micro-taper instead of 10% or 5% decreases
Decreasing your dosage by very tiny amounts more often might be more tolerable than 5% or 10% decreases. Know your symptom pattern first so you can estimate how often you can reduce.

 

The Brassmonkey Slide Method of Micro-tapering

One way you can micro-taper.

 

How is your sleep since the updose? Is the hydroxyzine helping with sleep? Please be careful with that drug, as it's known to cause problems, even with periodic use. Please see:

 

Antihistamines for withdrawal insomnia (diphenhydramine, doxylamine, hydroxyzine)

 

 

[AudInSocks]

On 7/25/2023 at 4:15 AM, Shep said:

 

How is your sleep since the updose? Is the hydroxyzine helping with sleep? Please be careful with that drug, as it's known to cause problems, even with periodic use. Please see:

 

Antihistamines for withdrawal insomnia (diphenhydramine, doxylamine, hydroxyzine)

 

 

Ooh, thank you for that info. The hydroxyzine helped the most in the first week of withdrawal, and it helped me nap in the middle of the day. I also slept fine at night. Lately I’ve been taking it in the mornings with the paroxetine and buspirone because of the morning anxiety I’d noticed. 
 

After reading through that thread a bit, I think I may decrease my dose of 25mg hydroxyzine once a day for a while and monitor what happens… I haven’t been taking it at night because I actually have been sleeping pretty well, which I am very grateful for because I know a lot of people on here have trouble with that! 

[Shep]

16 hours ago, AudInSocks said:

Ooh, thank you for that info. The hydroxyzine helped the most in the first week of withdrawal, and it helped me nap in the middle of the day. I also slept fine at night. Lately I’ve been taking it in the mornings with the paroxetine and buspirone because of the morning anxiety I’d noticed. 

 

You may find some tips for helping with that morning anxiety (sometimes referred to as having a lot of cortisol):

 

Early-morning waking - managing the morning cortisol spike

 

16 hours ago, AudInSocks said:

After reading through that thread a bit, I think I may decrease my dose of 25mg hydroxyzine once a day for a while and monitor what happens… I haven’t been taking it at night because I actually have been sleeping pretty well, which I am very grateful for because I know a lot of people on here have trouble with that! 

 

That's great you're sleeping well. Even more reason to be cautious with rocking the boat with more drugs. Please let us know how you do with the decrease of hydroxyzine.

 

Also, I noticed in your signature you're taking B12. Do you take that in the morning? Do you find that it may be stimulating? Some people do. If you feel that's true for you, too, you may find that you're getting enough B12 through your foods, especially if you aren't a vegan or a vegetarian and you eat red meat, chicken, eggs, and fish, which are all high in B12. For more, please see:

Vitamin B12: essential for mood, nervous system

[AudInSocks]

Hello again! 
 

I couldn’t find a whole lot on tapering hydroxyzine, so I just used my pill cutter to cut my 25mg in half and have been taking half a dose (12.5) for the last 3 days. Definitely noticed an uptick in anxiety yesterday morning and this morning, but I did my walk and yoga and shower and have mellowed a bit. 
 

I actually stopped taking the B12 about a week ago as well, and noticed I was more calm in the morning for several days before I lowered my hydroxyzine. 
 

I have my first appointment with a psychiatric nurse tomorrow, and I’m hoping they will be open to hearing about my discontinuation syndrome and will support my slow taper journey I’m about to begin. 
 

Still feeling very overwhelmed about how long tapering takes, and I’m about to go back to teaching preschool in a little less than a month. Feeling nervous about that as well. 
 

Would love any continued words of support, encouragement, similar stories… 

 

thanks :)

[Shep]

16 hours ago, AudInSocks said:

I couldn’t find a whole lot on tapering hydroxyzine, so I just used my pill cutter to cut my 25mg in half and have been taking half a dose (12.5) for the last 3 days. Definitely noticed an uptick in anxiety yesterday morning and this morning, but I did my walk and yoga and shower and have mellowed a bit. 
 

I actually stopped taking the B12 about a week ago as well, and noticed I was more calm in the morning for several days before I lowered my hydroxyzine. 

 

It's best to only make one change at a time. Please see:

 

The rule of 3KIS: Keep it simple. Keep it slow. Keep it stable.

 

If you feel the drop in hydroxyzine was too much, you may wish to updose a bit or going forward, make a lesser decrease. 

 

Are you a vegetarian? If not and you're getting plenty of red meat, chicken, fish, etc., you may not need a B12 supplement. Healthy food may be the best medicine, as they say. 

 

16 hours ago, AudInSocks said:

I have my first appointment with a psychiatric nurse tomorrow, and I’m hoping they will be open to hearing about my discontinuation syndrome and will support my slow taper journey I’m about to begin. 

 

Please see:

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?

 

The first post in that thread has some papers you may wish to print out to give to the psychiatric nurse. However, if you feel any resistance, sometimes the best thing to say is that you like your current drugs and let them continue to prescribe the drug as you taper off. All you need is the drug supply. How much you put into your body is your own business. 

 

16 hours ago, AudInSocks said:

Still feeling very overwhelmed about how long tapering takes, and I’m about to go back to teaching preschool in a little less than a month. Feeling nervous about that as well. 
 

Would love any continued words of support, encouragement, similar stories… 

 

The number of months / years that folks spend tapering can definitely be overwhelming, but you are doing what you need to take care of yourself in the best way possible. Those preschoolers are lucky to have you, especially as the "mental health" system is targeting more and more children with these drugs. What you are learning is a powerful deterrent against that. 

 

As you go through this process, you may be interested in reading the stories coming out of the Mad in America site. Some of the stories center around the drugging of children and other issues that you may find relevant. 

 

Mad in America

 

This article is specifically about preschoolers and was written by Robert Whitaker, who wrote the groundbreaking book Anatomy of an Epidemic.

 

Medicating Preschoolers for ADHD: How “Evidence-Based” Psychiatry Has Led to a Tragic End

 

Please continue to let us know how you're doing. 

[AudInSocks]

Prozac, Paxil, Propanalol

 

I’ve finally seen a psychiatric nurse today after about 6 weeks of a 1-week taper from 20mg Paxil to 0 (now I know), a week of withdrawal, and a slow 3 week reinstatement of all 20mg. I am just now feeling myself even out and almost get back to baseline. 
 

That said, in the chaos I was experiencing before I reinstated fully, I made a psych appointment. 

 

I went today and told her my whole story. Right now I’m on 20mg paroxetine/Paxil, 10mg buspirone, and trying to cut out the 12.5mg hydroxyzine I’ve been taking. 
 

My psych said she is going to have me lower the paroxetine to 18, start me on 10mg Prozac, and propranolol as needed. 
 

I told her I was worried about tapering too fast and about adding another SSRI. She told me she really thinks this will help and it won’t be as bad as when I went cold Turkey. 
 

please, does anyone have experience with a Paxil to Prozac bridge? How is it when you first begin to taper off Paxil? Do you think this will work? I am very nervous. I start teaching again in 3 weeks and I don’t ever want to feel as bad as I did in withdrawal again. 
 

Please let me know your experience!!!

Edited August 5, 2023 by Shep
added title to post after moving from the tapering forum

[Shep]

@AudInSocks Please note I merged your last post from the tapering forum into your intro/update thread. 

 

Please ask questions about your taper here so all of your information is in one place. You'll also likely get a faster response, as the staff prioritizes the intro/update section. 

 

 

On 8/2/2023 at 2:58 PM, AudInSocks said:

I’ve finally seen a psychiatric nurse today after about 6 weeks of a 1-week taper from 20mg Paxil to 0 (now I know), a week of withdrawal, and a slow 3 week reinstatement of all 20mg. I am just now feeling myself even out and almost get back to baseline. 

 

 

On 8/2/2023 at 2:58 PM, AudInSocks said:

My psych said she is going to have me lower the paroxetine to 18, start me on 10mg Prozac, and propranolol as needed. 

 

It looks like you may have missed my previous post. If so, please have a read of the links, especially the link on only making one change at a time. From what you're writing now, it's a good time to review that:

 

The rule of 3KIS: Keep it simple. Keep it slow. Keep it stable.

 

I bolded the above sentence in purple because it's key - since you're improving and getting back to baseline, now is the time to hold and not make any changes. Bridging to Prozac means going into withdrawal from paroxetine. Since you're stabilizing on paroxetine, I would hold for at least a couple of months and see if you can establish a solid baseline before making any other changes. 

 

 

[AudInSocks]

Thank you for saying that! And merging the topics! 
 

I felt very unsettled with the psych nurse’s suggestions so I have decided to continue holding for at least the next month. Thanks for validating that idea. 
 

It’s been almost a week since I started cutting my hydroxyzine in half and I am still having stronger morning anxiety than I was before but it is bearable. Will probably hold on that until I feel stable. I don’t think I will decrease the paroxetine until I have gotten off and stabilized from the hydroxyzine. Continuing 10mg buspirone also.

 

Thanks again. Will keep updating. 

[AudInSocks]

As of today, I haven’t taken hydroxyzine for a week and a half and haven’t really had any adverse symptoms. I’m about week 5 of my 20mg Paxil reinstatement, and really began to feel stable and evened out in about the first week of August. About a full month of reinstatement. 

Today was the first day of school for the year, and in preschool we do several days of half day splits, and then go full days next week. With all of those changes, I will hold for another week or more before I begin tapering. 
 

I think I have decided that the first taper will only be a 5% decrease, from 20mg to 19. Hoping to see minimal symptoms. But at least now I know more than I did, and I know that I got through it and am strong. 

 

Would love any advice, tips, or tricks for the beginning of my tapering journey! Thanks. 

[Shep]

On 8/23/2023 at 10:07 PM, AudInSocks said:

Today was the first day of school for the year, and in preschool we do several days of half day splits, and then go full days next week. With all of those changes, I will hold for another week or more before I begin tapering. 
 

I think I have decided that the first taper will only be a 5% decrease, from 20mg to 19. Hoping to see minimal symptoms. But at least now I know more than I did, and I know that I got through it and am strong. 

 

Thanks for the update, AudinSocks. Waiting until you know how you do once you're passed the half day splits and going full time sounds like a wise plan. As does the 5% decrease. 

 

On 8/23/2023 at 10:07 PM, AudInSocks said:

Would love any advice, tips, or tricks for the beginning of my tapering journey! Thanks. 

 You may find these threads helpful:

 

 Tips from members: Preparing to taper

 

Before you begin tapering - what you need to know

[AudInSocks]

Hello there!

 

Last time I checked in, I had just stabilized at 20mg after a summer of withdrawal.

Several weeks after that, I began reducing by about 1mg at a time, every 4-6 weeks. The worst symptom I have had thus far is vivid dreams/nightmares the first week or two of a drop. 

Last week I began my dose of 10mg. I am doing very well, and I plan to hold at minimum 4 more weeks. I wonder if I should even longer before a decrease. I want to be off of this stuff for good but I don't want to go too fast, and I've heard  that paroxetine, especially, can be difficult to get off of. 

 

I feel so many miles better than I did at any point last summer, though. It has definitely been worth it to wait to stabilize until dropping at all. I am so thankful to even be down to 10mg now. 

[LostInCanada]

@AudInSocks welcome back. Glad things are going well and stabilizing for you.

The recommendation of this site is to taper by no more than 10% of your current dose so 9 mg and then 8.1 mg. 

Are you making your own liquid or are you cutting and weighing your pills. As you go down further toward 5 mg you may want to use the Brassmonkey slide method. It just makes symptoms a little easier to handle. If the 10% becomes too much of a drop you can always do less.

I see Shep was helping you but she has moved on to other things. 

It is a small team of moderators at present. 

❤️👍