julieann Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Howdie folks. Just joined up. I originally had an account with paxil progress. After that got shut down in december 2014. I decided to join here to keep in touch with some old friends aswell as hopefully make some new ones. Been on seroxat since 1997. July 2011 i found paxil progress and learnt, for the very time! about the 10% taper every 4-6 weeks.. Was amazing: i did this taper with no head shocks or anything. In the past i had tried cutting the 20mg tablet in half to taper and would get headshocks, bad thoughts, etc. So doing the 10% taper was great but me being me i went too fast and in august 2012 i crashed on 5.2mg. That was the worst time of my life. I went back up to 10mg and have stayed their ever since. I am stable. My goal was to be drug free at any cost but i learnt the hard way. Maybe i will have to be on 10mg forever. I have accepted that. And i am proud that i am stable on half my dose. It isnt the end of the world. Or maybe in the future i will feel up to trying to tapering down again. Anyway that my brief story. Thanks for reading :-) Brief seroxat history: 20mg April 1997 0mg Summer 1998 30mg October 1999 20mg October 2002 -July 2011 20mg -5.2mg July 2011 - August 2012 Crashed at 5.2mg August 2012 10mg present date. Stable :-) Link to comment
nz11 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Hi welcome Julianne hey i think i remember you. Didnt you have the avatar with the parachute being pulled by the boat or something. Glad you are stable. Hey why not try another go at tapering. Even 10 % is proving too fast for some long term users. So why not go even slower this time. Can you get the liquid. I remember when you crashed and had to updose i felt so bad for you. I think after that you didnt post so much at pp right? Check out mapleleafs story. She tapered at an average speed of 6.1 % of the previous dose per month or 2.5% of the original dose each drop per month.(ie 0.5 mg per month). I'm sure you don't need to be on forever. Aren't we lucky there is an SA for us to join. Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment
Ever Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Hi julieann - another pp refugee here. I have crashed and re-instated so many times I can't remember. Then I found pp and did the 10% every month - got down to 3mg with few issues, then went away and forgot to take my pills and pill-cutter. Thought I'd be ok jumping off at 3mg. Crashed a couple of months later. Re-instated a couple of months ago to 4mg and was doing great. And now finding this site has gotten me all excited because there's so much more information here about slow tapering, especially at the lower levels. A moderator will be along shortly to advise you, but the information here shows that we really can get off this stuff. Anyway - welcome Put on Prothiaden for severe depression in 1989. Recovered. Prescribed Paxil for another bout of depression around 2000. Have been trying to taper ever since but always crash about 2 months after getting to zero. Because of the crashes, for years I thought that there was something wrong with me. Then found that the crashes were simply withdrawal. Now following a maximum of a 10% reduction every month or so and ready to slow down any time I feel any symptoms whatsoever. Feeling good:). 7th Jan 15 - 3.6mg 28th Jan 15 - 3.2mg Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus mammaP Posted January 11, 2015 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted January 11, 2015 Hi Julieanne, welcome to SA. Lots of us here have gone too fast and had to reinstate or updose. I'm sure that if you decide to taper again you will be successful because you have learned the hard way (like me) that you need to taper slowly and not rush when you get to the low doses. Lots of people think they can speed up a bit when the dose gets lower but in reality that is not the case! I'm sure you had good advice on pp, but maybe you would like to read our topic on tapering seroxat http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/405-tips-for-tapering-off-paxil-paroxetine/ You can get off and don't need to be on it for life, it just takes patience and understanding of how your body is reacting to the cuts. If you feel any withdrawal symptoms then it is too fast, and should wait for them to settle and stabilise before cutting again,with a smaller cut. The most important rule is the 3 KIS http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/6632-the-rule-of-3kis-keep-it-simple-keep-it-slow-keep-it-stable/ Have a mooch about and get a feel for the place, you are among friends and will be supported if you try again. **I am not a medical professional, if in doubt please consult a doctor with withdrawal knowledge. Different drugs occasionally (mostly benzos) 1976 - 1981 (no problem) 1993 - 2002 in and out of hospital. every type of drug + ECT. Staring with seroxat 2002 effexor. Tapered March 2012 to March 2013, ending with 5 beads. Withdrawal April 2013 . Reinstated 5 beads reduced to 4 beads May 2013 Restarted taper Nov 2013 OFF EFFEXOR Feb 2015 Tapered atenolol and omeprazole Dec 2013 - May 2014 Tapering tramadol, Feb 2015 100mg , March 2015 50mg July 2017 30mg. May 15 2018 25mg Taking fish oil, magnesium, B12, folic acid, bilberry eyebright for eye pressure. My story http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4199-hello-mammap-checking-in/page-33 Lesson learned, slow down taper at lower doses. Taper no more than 10% of CURRENT dose if possible Link to comment
Moderator brassmonkey Posted January 12, 2015 Moderator Share Posted January 12, 2015 Hi Julieann-- I'm so glad you were able to find us. Haven't heard from you lately and missed you. It sounds like everything has finally settled down, you were having such a bad time there for a while. (((((((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))))))) 20 years on Paxil starting at 20mg and working up to 40mg. Sept 2011 started 10% every 6 weeks taper (2.5% every week for 4 weeks then hold for 2 additional weeks), currently at 7.9mg. Oct 2011 CTed 15oz vodka a night, to only drinking 2 beers most nights, totally sober Feb 2013. Since I wrote this I have continued to decrease my dose by 10% every 6 weeks (2.5% every week for 4 weeks and then hold for an additional 2 weeks). I added in an extra 6 week hold when I hit 10mg to let things settle out even more. When I hit 3mgpw it became hard to split the drop into 4 parts so I switched to dropping 1mgpw (pill weight) every week for 3 weeks and then holding for another 3 weeks. The 3 + 3 schedule turned out to be too harsh so I cut back to dropping 1mgpw every 4 weeks which is working better. Final Dose 0.016mg. Current dose 0.000mg 04-15-2017 "It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can loose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general." Stephen Hawking Link to comment
Administrator Karma Posted January 12, 2015 Administrator Share Posted January 12, 2015 One thing I find helpful is to identify my personal symptoms of withdrawal and rate them on a daily basis. It helps me to be in-tune with my body and so I can go at my own pace. Here is a thread on this idea: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1779-rate-symptoms-daily-to-catch-withdrawal-early/ For what it is worth: I taper at about 5% of my previous dose - 10% proved a little too unsettling for me. With my last decrement (before the one I performed today) I had absolutely no symptoms whatsoever. Yes, it is taking me quite some time to get completely off of the drug. But I am maintaining a great quality of life and working a full-time job. Welcome to SA. Karma 2007 @ 375 mg Effexor - 11/29/2011 - 43.75 mg Effexor (regular) & .625 mg Xanax 200 mg Gabapentin 2/27/21 - 194.5 mg, 5/28/21 - 183 mg, 8/2/21 - 170 mg, 11/28/21 - 150 mg, 4/19/22 - 122 mg; 8//7/22 - 100 mg; 12/17 - 75mg; 8/17 - 45 mg; 10/16 40 mg Xanax taper: 3/11/12 - 0.9375 mg, 3/25/12 - 0.875 mg, 4/6/12 - 0.8125 mg, 4/18/12 - 0.75 ; 10/16 40mg; 1/16 0.6875 mg; at some point 0.625 mg Effexor taper: 1/29/12 - 40.625 mg, 4/29/12 - 39.875 mg, 5/11/12 - Switched to liquid Effexor, 5/25/12 - 38 mg, 7/6/12 - 35 mg, 8/17/12 - 32 mg, 9/14/12 - 30 mg, 10/19/12 - 28 mg, 11/9/12 - 26 mg, 11/30/12 - 24 mg, 01/14/13 - 22 mg. 02/25/13 - 20.8 mg, 03/18/13 - 19.2 mg, 4/15/13 - 17.6 mg, 8/10/13 - 16.4 mg, 9/7/13 - 15.2 mg, 10/19/13 - 14 mg, 1/15/14 - 13.2 mg, 3/1/2014 - 12.6 mg, 5/4/14 - 12 mg, 8/1/14 - 11.4 mg, 8/29/14 - 10.8 mg; 10/14/14 - 10.2 mg; 12/15/14 - 10 mg, 1/11/15 - 9.5 mg, 2/8/15 - 9 mg, 3/21/15 - 8.5 mg, 5/1/15 - 8 mg, 6/9/15 - 7.5 mg, 7/8/15 - 7 mg, 8/22/15 - 6.5 mg, 10/4/15 - 6 mg; 1/1/16 - 5.6 mg; 2/6/16 - 5.2 mg; 4/9 - 4.8 mg; 7/7 4.5 mg; 10/7 4.25 mg; 11/4 4.0 mg; 11/25 3.8 mg; 4/24 3.6 mg; 5/27 3.4 mg; 7/8 3.2 mg ... 10/18 2.8 mg; 1/18 2.6 mg; 4/7 2.4 mg; 5/26 2.15mg; 8/18 1.85 mg; 10/7 1.7 mg; 12/1 1.45 mg; 3/2 1.2 mg; 5/4 0.90 mg; 6/1 0.80 mg; 6/22 0.65 mg; 08/03 0.50 mg, 08/10 0.45 mg, 10/05 0.325 mg, 11/23 0.2 mg, 12/14 0.15 mg, 12/21 0.125 mg, 02/28 0.03125 mg, 2/15 0.015625 mg, 2/29/20 0.00 mg - OFF Effexor I am not a medical professional - this is not medical advice. My suggestions are based on personal experience, reading, observation and anecdotal information posted by other sufferers Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus Songbird Posted January 12, 2015 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted January 12, 2015 So doing the 10% taper was great but me being me i went too fast and in august 2012 i crashed on 5.2mg. That was the worst time of my life. I have had multiple taper attempts and always came unstuck at around 5mg. The last time (2008) I crashed going from 5mg to 4.5mg (10% drop) and that was the worst time of my life, absolute hell. I was worried about tapering again as I thought that I would never be able to get under 5mg. This time I am doing an ultra-slow taper and I so far I am down to 3.45mg. It is annoyingly slow, but I figure as long as my dose is going in the right direction, that's better than staying on a full dose. 2001–2002 paroxetine 2003 citalopram 2004-2008 paroxetine (various failed tapers) 2008 paroxetine slow taper down to 2016 Aug off paroxetine2016 citalopram May 20mg Oct 15mg … slow taper down2018 citalopram 13 Feb 4.6mg 15 Mar 4.4mg 29 Apr 4.2mg 6 Jul 4.1mg 17 Aug 4.0mg 18 Nov 3.8mg 2019 15 Mar 3.6mg 21 May 3.4mg 26 Dec 3.2mg 2020 19 Feb 3.0mg 19 Jul 2.9mg 16 Sep 2.8mg 25 Oct 2.7mg 23 Oct 2.6mg 24 Dec 2.5mg 2021 29 Aug 2.4mg 15 Nov 2.3mg Link to comment
nz11 Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Correction she tapered at a constant drop of approx 0.5 from 20mg to 10mg (2.5% of 20mg each drop)and then a constant drop of 0.2 from about 10mg to 1mg (2% of 10mg). oops sorry about that. Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment
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