maree: Paxil tapering

[ChessieCat]

10 minutes ago, maree said:

I can't help wondering why over the course of a year I could go from 3 whole tablets down to 1 and 1/2 tablets with no worries and now I can't even take the teeniest amount off without a big reaction. Anyway I guess that's how these drugs work

 

Many members find that the lower their dose gets the slower they need to go, by reducing less and/or holding longer.  It's to do with occupancy of the drug.  This topic might help you to understand it:  Why taper paper: dose-occupancy curves

 

See especially the charts included in this post:

 

On 4/24/2014 at 8:52 AM, Altostrata said:

I am thinking this explains why some people do fine until they hit a certain point -- the dosage they're taking is excessive and pushes them to the right on the X axis. They have quite a ways to go to work off the excess before a decrease will cause a noticeable deficit -- the oh-oh point.

 

You might also find this interesting and help you to be patient with your taper (also in the dose occupancy topic):

 

On 2/7/2016 at 5:16 AM, Altostrata said:

If you have been on a drug such as Paxil for a long time, it has caused changes in your nervous system far beyond SERT occupancy. It has changed the inter-relationship of all your hormonal systems, the functioning of your digestive system, your sleep pattern, etc. When you get down to a low dose, which may mean partial SERT occupancy, the rest of your body has to adjust. It is this adjustment that causes withdrawal symptoms.
 
In addition, paroxetine in particular is a very difficult drug to quit, perhaps the worst of all the antidepressants. This is probably because of its effects beyond SERT. For example, it is the SSRI that is the most anti-cholinergic, directly affecting an entire autonomic system.

 

See “It’s Anticholinergic” – What Does That Mean? http://pro.psychcentral.com/its-anticholinergic-what-does-that-mean/002836.html#

 

[maree]

Hi all. Please can some-one help me. I have been on paroxitne 20mg (APO) for many years. I tired to taper down (really slowly with medical scales that I needed a mask for so my breath wouldn't change the weight on the scales)a couple of year ago and my anxiety and Depression got so bad again my suicidality was getting out of control and I had to stop tapering. I told my doctor and he said the only way to change drugs is to stop completely the paroxitine I'm on and then start a new one. I just about freaked out as I'd just said how hard the tapering was and he knows that when I first started on ani=ti anxiety and antidepressants they put me on prosac and it was a night mare. PLEASE HELP ME. What am I going to do when Apotrex pulls out of New Zealand. I won't be able to get my life saving drug and I have tried doing a switch and it almost killed me. Please help. Please tell me what I need to do. I have absolutely no family and only a few  acquaintances. I haven't been able to work for decades  Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place I'm freaking out and can't think straight.
Here are two of many links showing this drug company pulling it's supply out of New Zealand.:  (where I live)

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/07/a-million-kiwis-to-be-impacted-by-major-pharmaceutical-company-leaving-new-zealand.html

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/07/doctors-and-patients-anxious-after-pharma-giant-apotex-quits-new-zealand.html



Maree

[Songbird]

It says in the article:  "All but one of the 41 medications Apotex supplies are supplied by other companies, the only one being discontinued is the heart medication Cilazapril with hydrochlorothiazide."  This means there will be another company that can supply paroxetine, so don't worry about that.

 

Is your current dose 30 mg once daily?  How long have you been at your current dose?

[maree]

22 years

[maree]

Hi and thanks Songbird but the ingredients may be different and folk have died here trying to do a switch on some of the meds (I am yet to find out about mine).
Hi kind folks who are trying help. I had a calendar with handwritten notes on it for my last taper 2 years ago but it appears I've thrown it out  But I just found it under my signature as follows:  I had to abort the taper (which i remember i went by the recommended percentage and taper time and stablaise time recommended here on this site by the lovely volunteers helping us) because the suicidality was getting too strong and the same with anxiety and depression let alone all the other not able to function very well or concentrate and even though it appears I've thrown my hand written notes out I have a feeling I had some uncomfortable physical tapering syptoms as well (  ?  can't remember or have blacked them out)
Maree 
20 yrs on 60mg per day paroxitine(paxil)then:

last 3 years tapering now on 30 mg per day

2-12 April/18 Unsuccessful taper by sliver off tabs. Aborted taper and stabilised

My tablets are Paroxitine/Paxil Tables 20mg(APO) and the writing on the back of the foil sheet says:  Apo-paroxitine 20mg (as hydrochloride)(B)NA3817

Reminder to myself: We recommend reductions at monthly intervals to give the nervous system a good 3 weeks to settle down between cuts. To save wear and tear on your nervous system, after a taper stay at that level for a month to see if withdrawal symptoms develop.

[brassmonkey]

Sixty mg of paxil is a huge dose to start tapering from, getting down to 30 in three years is quite an accomplishment. I think that when you reached the 30mg your body needed a break from tapering so the symptoms started to show up. Now that you have been holding at this lever for a long time you could probably restart your taper again. By the way, we have a number of members here who have or are tapering from 60mg of paxil and having good success.

 

It sounds like for your taper you were just shaving a small amount off of each tablet without actually measuring the changes, Is this true?

 

There are a lot of different medications to treat all sorts of ailments out there.  Some of them may cause problems if a person tries to change them. When it comes to antidepressants making the change over can be very uncomfortable, but I have never heard of a confirmed case of people dying from a change. Reports like this tend to be sensationalized and point to one thing while there are usually a number of factors that are overlooked and are bigger contributors to situation. I wouldn't worry about making the change over.

[maree]

Hi and thanks brassmonkey. I have talked to 2 women on my internation recovery (from complex ongoing childhood truama) groups who have had permanent damage from tapering too quickly. 1 can hardly use her legs anymore, can't drive etc for years now and one said she needs to be spoken to very slowly and problem solving is now a major issue. She mentioned something called brain zaps.

I'd love to be in contact with the others who have been having success with getting off paxil/paroxitine. I'm 57yrs old.

I shaved and weighed my taper 2 years ago using medical scales and a mask.

Today is monday here and I'm getting confused about conflicting information. The meidcal industry  doctors, chemist etc are saying everything is going ot be ok and yet the media last week in the articles I posted said otherwise. Apparently my meds that were being supplied by Apotex has been supplied since last Dec by a drug company out of USA called 'Mylan' according to doctors office and chemist.  So I'm calmer but still wondering. Maree and thanks again

[ChessieCat]

Here is a link to a search in the success stories forum for members who got off Paxil.

 

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/search/?q=paxil&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=28

[maree]

On 7/27/2020 at 8:08 PM, ChessieCat said:

Here is a link to a search in the success stories forum for members who got off Paxil.

 

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/search/?q=paxil&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=28

oh wow thankyou so much ChessieCat. That gives me hope. I have absolutely no family or close friends to help me through a quicker taper. I have a question: I heard (not on this site) that going cold turkey or tapering too quickly can cause permanent damage to your brain/mind/body/use of limbs etc. Is that true?  Maree

[ChessieCat]

Cold Turkey and Too-Fast Tapers

[ChessieCat]

1 hour ago, maree said:

I heard (not on this site) that going cold turkey or tapering too quickly can cause permanent damage to your brain/mind/body/use of limbs etc. Is that true?

 

This is a search for cold turkey in the success story forum.

[ChessieCat]

Just putting this here for member's benefit:

 

  

On 7/29/2020 at 10:27 AM, maree said:

Hi Rachel. 
Thankyou so much for that info. Fortunately I already found it and have an appointment time to talk to a Danny this afternoon via audio. But thank you  for thinking of folk like me. I had a frustration conversation with a doctor yesterday who said among other things "they can't give a guarantee that the drug manufacturer Imy meds have been transfered to won't pull out of New Zealand also or that my meds will be avaialbe in 5 years ( this after I told her my attempt 2 yrs ago which I had to abort because it was to hard would have taken me 28 yrs to get off)"   and I was then asked " if the meds I'm on stablise my life more than if I'm not on them why would I want to taper?"  I thought didn't we just have a discussion about  Apotex pulling out of New Zealand and didn't you just say you can't give me a guarantee that my drug will be available here in 5 years even.  
So I'm really keen to now know how to taper off paroxitine  so i'll never have to go into that scary 'are my drugs not going to be available anymore' freakout I went into for 2 and a half days.  
I'd love to know if anyone in New Zealand has come off ssri and how long it took them and apart from valium is there also any herbal products that can help.

I want to thank all the moderators and folk on here also for helping me with staying in contact while I freaked out. My meds will still be available through another manufacturer....but for how long is the question I'm wondering so I'm super keen to know how to get off them

 

 

[ChessieCat]

I've moved your post about ketamine to the ketamine topic.  I suggest that you read the posts already made there:

 

ketamine-treatment

 

[maree]

Thanks ChessieCat, 🌺  Sorry I still don't know how to work this site and thought I had put it in the right place.💗

[ChessieCat]

14 minutes ago, maree said:

and thought I had put it in the right place.

 

There was a post about ketamine in the NZ topic which is where I moved your post from.  You probably thought you were in the ketamine topic.  It was just a bit confusing.

[maree]

Sorry about the confusion 🌺

[ChessieCat]

No problem.  I meant that because the comment was in the NZ topic it was confusing for you. ☺️

[maree]

Hi, as I feel awefull with anxiety and sometimes depression, can some=one tell me does venlaxafine Ca 150mg x 1 tablet per day, (Enlafax150mg),equal to aropax 20mg 30 mgs per day?  I have the option of upping it by another Venlaxafine Ca 37.5XR (ENL) x 1 tab per day. What are the side effects, ( I tired it once and got restless legs that night, but there have been so many drug changes in what seems a quick amount of time). The doctor says the aropax is out of my system and the venlaxafine will have settled in. But I'm barely managing.


p.s I had to go off the aropax as it was coming from a company called 'Apotex' in Canada who pulled all their dugs out of New Zealand. So My doctor gave me "equivalent" that now comes from a company called milan in America. It's not the same tablet somehow. We had a TV breakfst show talking about concerns with this swap and apart from hearing about others having a bad reaction, I felt suicidal. I ended up in the mental health ward where they tried a few drugs on me.

my list of drugs now that I can't take is prozac, quitiapin, or aripiprazole, or mirtazapine.


I can't work and am barely managing to shower and make myself eat (loosing weight even though trying not to). I take 2 tabs of diazapam (valium 5 mgs in the morning and the same at night and have Lorazapam tablets 1mg (ATI) that I can take 1 or two when needed up to 6 a day. I've taken 2 day.