Justin332: Paxil withdrawal - scared and need advice

[Justin332]

10 minutes ago, Altostrata said:

 

This relieved some of the drug-drug interaction for a few days, but it rebalanced and came back. Some of your symptoms are due to one drug or the other, a daily record will help us figure out which drug to drop first.

 

How often do you take trazodone with Ambien? Is that more effective than trazodone alone?

I’ve been taking trazodone for the last week i believe. I have taken it with ambien every day. 

 

I do find it more effective. It feels like no matter how tired i may get, something is just not allowing me to engage in sleep. I feel ambien is making it happen and trazodone is helping me stay asleep. 

[nz11]

Justin why aren't you putting ALL these drugs and ALL changes in the drug signature!  

Is there any part of this sentence you don't understand.

 

 I would think it might be very frustrating for anyone to try to work out what is going on when you are only partially tabling drugs taken and changes. 

 

My  guess is you have been  increasing the trazodone two fold then three fold now at 150mg for sleep. Be nice to know when those changes happened.

 

What dose of tegretol did you take for three days 1000mg? No mention of this in the drug sig or the valium intake or Zyprexa and when.

You say you were on 19mg of trintellix in the op the drug sig says 10mg which one is correct...

 

 

[Justin332]

5 minutes ago, nz11 said:

Justin why aren't you putting ALL these drugs and ALL changes in the drug signature!  

Is there any part of this sentence you don't understand.

 

 I would think it might be very frustrating for anyone to try to work out what is going on when you are only partially tabling drugs taken and changes. 

 

My  guess is you have been  increasing the trazodone two fold then three fold now at 150mg for sleep. Be nice to know when those changes happened.

 

What dose of tegretol did you take for three days 1000mg? No mention of this in the drug sig or the valium intake or Zyprexa and when.

You say you were on 19mg of trintellix in the op the drug sig says 10mg which one is correct...

 

 

Zyprexa and tegretol i took for like three days in the hospital.  There is not enough room in my signature for it and ambien as well as the increase in trazodone is noted in the signature. 

 

I took 10mg of trintellix. 

 

 

[Justin332]

I think it’s inportant to note the chest feeling and the feeling of dread started about two weeks after i stopped trintellix. It goes away and comes back, goes away and comes back. Days at a time each time. 

[DaveB]

32 minutes ago, Justin332 said:

The chest feeling actually went away a few hours after waking up today. I got really sleepy and tried to nap but ended up just resting, not sleeping. 

 

I generally get drowsy around 11:30 pm after i take the trazodone and ambien. Wether i go to sleep or not is a different story. 

 

From last sunday to wednesday i felt totally back to normal. Chest feeling came back Thursday-today and doesn’t really get better or worse. Just kinda there. 

 

I will I’ll start a journal if it will help us get to the bottom of it. Thank you. 

 

Justin,

 

I am interested in your thread as I see many similarities between us. Listen to these people as I went round and round the medication merry-go-round for a year and now am really no better than I was, but am on a whopping dose of Paxil and Zyprexa after I was just on a 50mg dose of Zoloft before. You will get it figured out, you have many good people advising you. I have to ask, did the Zyprexa help your sleep? I feel that is about all it has done for me is I am able to sleep and not waking up with the "cortisol" awakenings as much. I am interested to see if you lower your dose how you do. I have been on Paxil for much longer so even though I had a similar reaction to my dose of Zoloft last year that you did with Paxil, I did pretty much everything wrong and because of that I have little choice but to hold to my high Paxil dose and hope it eventually calms down. You will be fine, but don't make the mistake I did in going around from med to med. From stories I have read here, the brain just needs consistency to calm down and I think you will find it sooner than later. Good luck and I will keep checking in on you.

[Justin332]

8 minutes ago, DaveB said:

 

Justin,

 

I am interested in your thread as I see many similarities between us. Listen to these people as I went round and round the medication merry-go-round for a year and now am really no better than I was, but am on a whopping dose of Paxil and Zyprexa after I was just on a 50mg dose of Zoloft before. You will get it figured out, you have many good people advising you. I have to ask, did the Zyprexa help your sleep? I feel that is about all it has done for me is I am able to sleep and not waking up with the "cortisol" awakenings as much. I am interested to see if you lower your dose how you do. I have been on Paxil for much longer so even though I had a similar reaction to my dose of Zoloft last year that you did with Paxil, I did pretty much everything wrong and because of that I have little choice but to hold to my high Paxil dose and hope it eventually calms down. You will be fine, but don't make the mistake I did in going around from med to med. From stories I have read here, the brain just needs consistency to calm down and I think you will find it sooner than later. Good luck and I will keep checking in on you.

A year?! Is thst bc you kept switching? Should you not have gone back to Zoloft?  I can’t imagine going through this a year. 

 

The zyprexa didnhelp me sleep but when i spoke with my psych he urged me to get off of it bc of the dangers. I’m sorry you’ve gone through this so long. 

[ChessieCat]

17 minutes ago, Justin332 said:

Zyprexa and tegretol i took for like three days in the hospital.  There is not enough room in my signature for it and ambien as well as the increase in trazodone is noted in the signature. 

 

I took 10mg of trintellix. 

 

If you can't fit it all in a signature, create a post with just your most recent drug history (1 year) IN DETAIL and create a link* and add that to your signature so that the mods can easily access the information.  Reading back through your posts trying to work out was doses of what drug you were taking when is very time consuming and can easily result in oversight and errors.  Because we are making suggestions based on the information you provide and which can affect your health and well being it is very important that we have accurate information of all drugs, doses and dates (even if you only took a drug once).

 

*  To do this, make the post and at the top right of the created post their is a share icon.  Right click and copy link and then add that to the signature by Ctrl + V.

[nz11]

23 minutes ago, Justin332 said:

Zyprexa and tegretol i took for like three days in the hospital.  There is not enough room in my signature for it

okay thanks for clarifying this ...gee well I know that hospitals can hit you with a big dose but I didn't know it was that big!!

 

 

 

 

[DaveB]

12 minutes ago, Justin332 said:

A year?! Is thst bc you kept switching? Should you not have gone back to Zoloft?  I can’t imagine going through this a year. 

 

The zyprexa didnhelp me sleep but when i spoke with my psych he urged me to get off of it bc of the dangers. I’m sorry you’ve gone through this so long. 

 

Haha, yeah just writing "a year" really sucks. I went back on Zoloft, but went right back to my 50mg dose after 3 months (not knowing any different) anxiety went sky high, couldn't sleep, ect. Had I just reduced at that time and stayed constant, or even just stayed at the 50 for some months to level out, things would have been very different. I read online that if you weren't better in 4-6 weeks you need to try something else, so I did...again and again, not knowing that the changing around, and the on and off, was likely exacerbating the issue. Found this site and stuff finally started making sense, though I admittedly have made some mistakes even since finding this site, out of desperation or just plain stupidity. Like you hoping to stabilize soon!

[nz11]

So on the 8th of jan you changed the dose of trazodone to 150 mg from 50mg. You tripled  the dose.

Okay so when did you start taking the 50mg then? 

 

 

[Justin332]

18 hours ago, nz11 said:

So on the 8th of jan you changed the dose of trazodone to 150 mg from 50mg. You tripled  the dose.

Okay so when did you start taking the 50mg then? 

 

 

I got it prescribed January 8th. Started at 50mg and went up to 150mg. 

[Justin332]

19 hours ago, Altostrata said:

 

This relieved some of the drug-drug interaction for a few days, but it rebalanced and came back. Some of your symptoms are due to one drug or the other, a daily record will help us figure out which drug to drop first.

 

How often do you take trazodone with Ambien? Is that more effective than trazodone alone?

I hope all of you are doing well. I slept 6 hours last night and just took a one hour nap for the first time in a month. 

 

Thw anxiety in my chest is minimal today.  Last night i took 150mg trazodone and 10mg ambien around 11:30pm and was pretty sluggish this morning. 

 

My mood old hasn’t been great today or yesterday. Pretty hopeless thoughts but i feel decently calm. 

 

Any suggestions?  Thank you in advance. 

[Justin332]

I want to add altostrata that I’ve only taken 5mg of Paxil as we discussed yesterday. Will take the other five in about two hours. 

[nz11]

I'm just guessing because that's all I can go on but did you take a valium yesterday?

 

 

[Justin332]

12 minutes ago, nz11 said:

I'm just guessing because that's all I can go on but did you take a valium yesterday?

 

 

I didn’t. I took 5mg the day before. 

 

I know now you’re riding me really hard about my drug history and i feel I’ve been as cooperative as i can for this being my first time through this. I’m really trying to be as transparent as possible. I apologize. 

 

Id like to get off of gabapentin. A friend of mine who is a psychiatrist told me it was totally safe but you’ve all presented it as not so much. 

 

What would be be a good way to wean off? I’m currently at 3x a day at 300mg?

[ChessieCat]

51 minutes ago, Justin332 said:

I know now you’re riding me really hard about my drug history and i feel I’ve been as cooperative as i can for this being my first time through this. I’m really trying to be as transparent as possible. I apologize. 

 

21 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

Because we are making suggestions based on the information you provide and which can affect your health and well being it is very important that we have accurate information of all drugs, doses and dates (even if you only took a drug once).

 

I'm sorry if you feel that we have been pushing you hard to provide accurate information.  The moderators are volunteers, some working full time and some part time, who are also experiencing their own withdrawal and life issues.  One of these withdrawal issues can be cog fog.  We are also working with many members so we don't want to waste time and effort having to continually go back through a member's topic to find the information.  We have also had members who we have spent a lot of time trying to work out best suggestions for only to be told further down the line information which we weren't provided with at the start which may have made a difference to the suggestion we made.  As I said previously we are making suggestions which can affect your health and well being.  We are not dealing with candy/sweets/lollies but drug/s that alter the brain and which, if not dealt with in the best manner can cause long term suffering.  Some members have lost jobs and some have had to move in with relatives because of issues associated with trying to get of psychiatric drugs.  To put it in a nutshell, the moderators need accurate information in order to help you get the best outcome.

 

It would be very helpful for the moderators if you could do as I suggested previously and create a post with all the information laid out in a simple and clear way so that we so we can easily see what drugs and doses you have taken when.  The less we have to read through the easier it is for us, so just list them one line after the other and don't write sentences, just the bare minimum so we can see what you have been taking.

[ChessieCat]

Taking multiple psych drugs? Which drug to taper first?
If you're not having an adverse reaction from the other medications, taper the most activating drug first. This is usually an antidepressant or stimulant (ADHD drug).

 

Brain Remodelling

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

Tips for tapering off Neurontin (gabapentin)

[Justin332]

Drug history

 

antidepressant history

 

Paxil 40mg 2000-2008

paxil 20mg 2008-2014

paxil 10mg 2014- August 2017

trintelix 10mg August 2017 - December 1st

 

Drugs in past year - 

 

adderall 20mg as needed (four pills a week) January 1 - December 6th

 

Tegretol 200mg daily - January 4-7

zyprexa 10mg - January 4-9

prozac - December 27

 

paxil CR 12.5mg - December 28 - January 15

paxil 10mg - January 16

zolpidem 10mg as needed (daily since dec 23)

trazodone 50-150mg January 8-present 

currently taking 150ng daily. Went up from 50mg

gabapentin 300mgx3  January 8-present (weaning off)

[Justin332]

 

2 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

Taking multiple psych drugs? Which drug to taper first?
If you're not having an adverse reaction from the other medications, taper the most activating drug first. This is usually an antidepressant or stimulant (ADHD drug).

 

Brain Remodelling

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

Tips for tapering off Neurontin (gabapentin)

Ok i did it! 

 

I just got a letter from my insurance company that they are denying my inpatient stay, stating i should have gone outpatient. That was not an option to me when i spoke to psychiatrists. So frustrating I’ll have to appeal. 

 

Been in a really bad bad mood all day but at least the anxiety is tamed. Just a dark cloud. 

[Altostrata]

Justin, please make it easy on us and put this in your signature. If it won't all fit, just enter the most recent drugs:

 

Quote

 

Paxil 40mg 2000-2008

paxil 20mg 2008-2014

paxil 10mg 2014- August 2017

trintelix 10mg August 2017 - December 1st

 

Drugs in past year - 

 

adderall 20mg as needed (four pills a week) January 1 - December 6th

 

Tegretol 200mg daily - January 4-7

zyprexa 10mg - January 4-9

prozac - December 27

 

paxil CR 12.5mg - December 28 - January 15

paxil 10mg - January 16

zolpidem 10mg as needed (daily since dec 23)

trazodone 50-150mg January 8-present 

currently taking 150ng daily. Went up from 50mg

gabapentin 300mgx3  January 8-present (weaning off)

 

 

You'll have to keep it updated as your current drugs change.

 

Good to hear you had a relatively good night last night. What exactly was your drug schedule the 24 hours prior?

 

On 1/15/2018 at 3:27 PM, Justin332 said:

I think it’s inportant to note the chest feeling and the feeling of dread started about two weeks after i stopped trintellix. It goes away and comes back, goes away and comes back. Days at a time each time. 

 

Waves and windows are typical of withdrawal syndrome. It could be those are withdrawal symptoms from Trintellix, or other neurological instability triggered by yet another drug change.

 

You are taking an unusual drug cocktail. It's as though the kitchen sink was thrown at your sleep problems. If you have been taking zolpidem every night for a week, you may very well be dependent on it. You are taking a high dose of trazodone and a substantial amount of gabapentin. It's a wonder you're not a zombie.

 

As you can see from your drug-drug interactions report http://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/16599-justin332-paxil-withdrawal-scared-and-need-advice/?do=findComment&comment=326407 this cocktail is not without risk.

 

Please let us know your symptom pattern correlated with your drug schedule over the next several days.

 

[Justin332]

11 minutes ago, Altostrata said:

Justin, please make it easy on us and put this in your signature. If it won't all fit, just enter the most recent drugs:

 

 

You'll have to keep it updated as your current drugs change.

 

Good to hear you had a relatively good night last night. What exactly was your drug schedule the 24 hours prior?

 

 

Waves and windows are typical of withdrawal syndrome. It could be those are withdrawal symptoms from Trintellix, or other neurological instability triggered by yet another drug change.

 

You are taking an unusual drug cocktail. It's as though the kitchen sink was thrown at your sleep problems. If you have been taking zolpidem every night for a week, you may very well be dependent on it. You are taking a high dose of trazodone and a substantial amount of gabapentin. It's a wonder you're not a zombie.

 

As you can see from your drug-drug interactions report http://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/16599-justin332-paxil-withdrawal-scared-and-need-advice/?do=findComment&comment=326407 this cocktail is not without risk.

 

Please let us know your symptom pattern correlated with your drug schedule over the next several days.

 

I absolutely will keep you updated and i believe i updated my signature as well. 

 

The sleep problems started when i came off trintellix December first, and exploded when i got back on Paxil. 

 

The past 24 hours, i took trazodone 150mg and ambien 10mg at night before bed. 

 

Paxil 5mg morning, 5mg afternoon as you directed. 

 

Paxil Cr i took yesterday morning. 

 

I am weaning down on gabapentin. Haven’t taken any today and will take 300mg at bedtime. I took gabapentin last night as well. 

 

I also stsrt acupuncture tomorrow. Do you feel that will help?

[ChessieCat]

Here is SA's topic:  Acupuncture - Posts #6 & #8 (not detox or stimulation)

[Altostrata]

You have a link in your signature. Please enter the text in instead, so we don't have to open another window.

 

Please do NOT change more than one drug at a time. You're changing Paxil, don't change gabapentin. We won't be able to tell if the Paxil change is beneficial.

 

When did you start skipping doses of gabapentin? How do you feel since you haven't taken any gabapentin yet today?

 

We need to know your drug schedule relative to your symptom pattern. If you keep changing your drug schedule, it will be hard to interpret your symptom pattern.

[Justin332]

1 hour ago, Altostrata said:

You have a link in your signature. Please enter the text in instead, so we don't have to open another window.

 

Please do NOT change more than one drug at a time. You're changing Paxil, don't change gabapentin. We won't be able to tell if the Paxil change is beneficial.

 

When did you start skipping doses of gabapentin? How do you feel since you haven't taken any gabapentin yet today?

 

We need to know your drug schedule relative to your symptom pattern. If you keep changing your drug schedule, it will be hard to interpret your symptom pattern.

I understand. I will continue gabapentin. 

[nz11]

3 hours ago, Justin332 said:

 

I just got a letter from my insurance company that they are denying my inpatient stay, stating i should have gone outpatient. That was not an option to me when i spoke to psychiatrists. So frustrating I’ll have to appeal.

Sorry to read of this. What a bummer.

Any chance the pdoc can over-ride the insurance I mean he was the one who sent you there didn't he?

Any chance your pdoc friend can write a backup statement I mean he did give you gaba right. Its seems odd they sort this out retrospectively.  I'd ask him if hes ever taken 900mg of gaba a day for a month. When you ask him watch his body language. 

 

Cant see the valium entries in the drug list but I guess you are still working on that one. even valium 20mg, 1 dec 17, 4 dec, 5-10 dec, 10mg 1 jan18,  5-9 jan   etc would be helpful for all I'm sure.

 

[ChessieCat]

2 hours ago, Altostrata said:

You have a link in your signature. Please enter the text in instead, so we don't have to open another window.

 

This was my fault.  I was trying to help Justin give detailed information.  Sorry Justin and Alto.

[Justin332]

17 hours ago, nz11 said:

Sorry to read of this. What a bummer.

Any chance the pdoc can over-ride the insurance I mean he was the one who sent you there didn't he?

Any chance your pdoc friend can write a backup statement I mean he did give you gaba right. Its seems odd they sort this out retrospectively.  I'd ask him if hes ever taken 900mg of gaba a day for a month. When you ask him watch his body language. 

 

Cant see the valium entries in the drug list but I guess you are still working on that one. even valium 20mg, 1 dec 17, 4 dec, 5-10 dec, 10mg 1 jan18,  5-9 jan   etc would be helpful for all I'm sure.

 

Yeah but altostrata would like me to keep taking gabapentin. I dunno. 

 

Youre right i need to put valium

on there. I’ve taken three 5mg pills in the past week as needed. 

 

Thank you for reminding me n

[Justin332]

So I’m happy to report that last night i slept 8 hours! Used trazodone 100mg and ambien 10mg, which is down from 150mg

 

im still having anxiety in my chest and kind of negative thoughts, but more manageable and not completely ruining my day. 

[Justin332]

21 hours ago, Altostrata said:

You have a link in your signature. Please enter the text in instead, so we don't have to open another window.

 

Please do NOT change more than one drug at a time. You're changing Paxil, don't change gabapentin. We won't be able to tell if the Paxil change is beneficial.

 

When did you start skipping doses of gabapentin? How do you feel since you haven't taken any gabapentin yet today?

 

We need to know your drug schedule relative to your symptom pattern. If you keep changing your drug schedule, it will be hard to interpret your symptom pattern.

I see my psychiatrist tomorrow. Do you or anyone have any specific suggestions regarding my situation?

 

i do want to add that when i take paxil, my eyebrow starts twitching. 

 

hope you and everyone on here are having a great day. 

[Justin332]

For some reason i just got back from the gym and had a full blown panic attack. I’m so frustrated. And i don’t want to be hooked on gabapentin too. I’m taking it as directed but I’m reading the horror stories and getting more nervous. 

[nz11]

That's exactly what happened to me and stupidly I went back to the doctor and said that something is wrong with me I don't know what it is and bang I was given another prescription and pushed back on the drug.

It is best to do gentle exercise don't go breaking world records at the gym or even schoolboy records else it will load the cns and the cns wont be able to cope with it. Things have now changed our cns is injured it is not in the normal state anymore. 

 

 

[Justin332]

If true, that’s really awful. I also got acupuncture today. Maybe she did an activating kind of treatment. I don’t know. 

[ChessieCat]

8 hours ago, Justin332 said:

I see my psychiatrist tomorrow. Do you or anyone have any specific suggestions regarding my situation?

 

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

What should I expect from my doctor about withdrawal symptoms?

[Justin332]

On 1/16/2018 at 6:52 PM, Altostrata said:

You have a link in your signature. Please enter the text in instead, so we don't have to open another window.

 

Please do NOT change more than one drug at a time. You're changing Paxil, don't change gabapentin. We won't be able to tell if the Paxil change is beneficial.

 

When did you start skipping doses of gabapentin? How do you feel since you haven't taken any gabapentin yet today?

 

We need to know your drug schedule relative to your symptom pattern. If you keep changing your drug schedule, it will be hard to interpret your symptom pattern.

Hey there, i hope you’re having a great weekend. I’m doing much worse after seeing the psychiatrist. He urged me to go to 20mg of Paxil and after speaking to a friend of mine who is a psych he urged me to do the same as well. 

 

They said the anxiety will will get worse before it gets better. I’ve reinststed Paxil now 23 days ago. 

 

I am constantly anxious. I’m taking Valium every day since reinstating the 20mg Paxil. I’m miserable. 

 

He also told me to stop the gabakentjn, stating that i was only on it 12 days so there’s no way there’s dependence. 

 

Ive never felt this bad in my life. What do i do?  I have a speech to give in front of 3,000 people in FOUR DAYS

[Survivor1]

Justin,

 

Sorry I did not see your posts earlier as I have been away from this forum for a while.  I was in a similar situation to you a while back in that I removed drugs rapidly/Ct'd, added a few others to mitigate WD symptoms, etc.  Long story short, everytime I felt overwhelmed I went to see a dr.  And they/I added another drug.

 

When you are in WD, you are desperate for relief and that includes visiting drs for a solution.  Invariably they recommend another drug (many are well-meaning, but uninformed about WD).  It is clear to me that you are in WD.  My advice is not to visit another professional.  You have to stabilize.  That could take a while, many months even.

 

I particularly wanted to respond to you because you are taking multiple serotonergic drugs (Paxil and trazodone).  There could be an interaction causing serotonin syndrome (read up on it, could explain some of the symptoms you are having).  This situation is no fun.  8 months ago I discontinued mirtazepine without tapering as I had developed it (interaction with trazodone), and I am STILL stabilizing through a very rough WD. 

 

I would suggest going back to 10mg Paxil as you have been on the higher dose for just a few days, pending mod approval of course.  The sooner you make a decision the better, and stick with that decision!  And be careful about increasing dosages/adding drugs; each adds years of tapering in the long run.  I've been there, done that, and regretted it!

[Justin332]

3 hours ago, Survivor1 said:

Justin,

 

Sorry I did not see your posts earlier as I have been away from this forum for a while.  I was in a similar situation to you a while back in that I removed drugs rapidly/Ct'd, added a few others to mitigate WD symptoms, etc.  Long story short, everytime I felt overwhelmed I went to see a dr.  And they/I added another drug.

 

When you are in WD, you are desperate for relief and that includes visiting drs for a solution.  Invariably they recommend another drug (many are well-meaning, but uninformed about WD).  It is clear to me that you are in WD.  My advice is not to visit another professional.  You have to stabilize.  That could take a while, many months even.

 

I particularly wanted to respond to you because you are taking multiple serotonergic drugs (Paxil and trazodone).  There could be an interaction causing serotonin syndrome (read up on it, could explain some of the symptoms you are having).  This situation is no fun.  8 months ago I discontinued mirtazepine without tapering as I had developed it (interaction with trazodone), and I am STILL stabilizing through a very rough WD. 

 

I would suggest going back to 10mg Paxil as you have been on the higher dose for just a few days, pending mod approval of course.  The sooner you make a decision the better, and stick with that decision!  And be careful about increasing dosages/adding drugs; each adds years of tapering in the long run.  I've been there, done that, and regretted it!

Thank you for the feedback. My doc said I’m not on enough for trazodone to put me at risk for serotonin syndrome. But i don’t really trust them. 

 

My doc seems to think that this is just the overstimulation of starting an antidepressant before it settles in. I am reading on here that it’s not that simple but I’m still holding out hope. I just can’t imagjne living like this. 

 

He told me today day via email to go back on 10mg. Says I’m ha king “breakthrough” anxiety. 

 

Btw, surely I’m not withdrawing from gabapentin as well, I’ve only taken about 8 days worth in the past fifteen days.