Ohthepressure Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Please don't judge me or tell me I'm an idiot. I am very worried you will think I'm an idiot. :-/ I started on the antidepressant/benzo train in 1998. I was getting divorced and was *gasp* sad, depressed and anxious. My ex was following me, came to the house, broke a window. I went to doctor who put me on Paxil and Xanax. I never questioned it. I was also drinking too much alcohol. Over the years, I quit various AD and started other ones. Lexapro, Prozac, Effexor. Lexapro was the worst CT WD. BAD Brain zaps. I didn't even think about tapering. I thought it was just me! I've never seen a psychiatrist. My prescribing doctors were all GPs. I've been on Paxil 40mg for a few years. I was feeling so good, I didn't think too much about it when I let myself run out of Paxil last week. I didn't have bad zaps, and I didn't feel sick. I also hate to leave the house so it was easier to just procrastinate. Late into the 3rd day, I started to have nausea. The next day was Sunday and my pharmacy was closed. Sunday was bad. Nausea, terrible headache, night sweats. I got online and started searching. I found the FB page and started to worry. I took two melatonin, 50mg Benadryl, Robaxin 500mg and a 1mg klonopin to help me sleep. Monday I woke up after a 10 hour sleep feeling great. No nausea, no headache. Tuesday was okay. Stayed home on NYE, little champagne, bed at 11pm. Today, Jan 1st, woke up with at 1am, slamming headache and nausea (not due to hangover). All day, nausea. Found this webpage via FB page. Read about how bad the odds are with CT. Read about reinstatement, proper tapering. I am already so irritated with the nausea and headache. Monday was such a wonderful glimpse of what I could be. I thought I just needed to push through this, but the amount of posts and the years you all have of dealing with this cannot be ignored. I am having electric pulses this evening. Not full on zaps yet. I'm drinking lots of water and no alcohol. I am not taking any supplements today because of the nausea. Would someone please advise me on how to proceed with reinstatement? I've read a lot of posts and I'm confused and scared. Since I have done a CT, should I start back at 20mg and stabilize and then start the 10% taper method? Thank you, OTP 1998 Started Paxil and Xanax. Over next ten years, start/stop Lexapro, Prozac, Effexor. Continued benzos, switch to Valium then to Klonopin circa 2017. 2017 back to Paxil 40 mg with Klonopin 1mg TID PRN. also on Prilosec/GERD meds entire time. Added Lisinopril 10 mg for high blood pressure (bottom number 90+) Dec 2, 2019 Began to taper Prilosec. Already down to 1mg/day avg on Klonopin. Dec 26, 2019, CT Paxil. Jan 3, 2020, reinstate 20mg. Link to comment
Moderator brassmonkey Posted January 2, 2020 Moderator Share Posted January 2, 2020 Hi OPT-- I'm so glad you found us and very sorry for the reason you had to look. No judgement here, we all understand the position you have found yourself in and know just how uncomfortable it is. Not long after I had updosed to 30mgai (milligrams active ingredient, the strength as stated on the bottle) of paxil ER they stopped making it for a while and there was no way to get any. It took the best part of a month to sort out the prescriptions and finally get some tablets. I decided that I would never run out of them again and dreaded the idea of the doctor cutting me off. So I know exactly where you're coming from. Getting off of paxil is no mean feat, and starting from 40mgai will take some planning and patience but can be done with a minimum of difficulty. For right now we need to get you reinstated and stabilized before we even think about tapering. It's only been a week since you stopped so the prospect of a smooth reinstatement is very good. What tablets do you have on hand or are able to get a hold of? There are two different options for reinstating. Either at your full dose or at a reduced dose. There is a very short window of opportunity for restarting at a full dose and that window is starting to close. You could try going back on your full dose and see how you react, if there is a sudden increase in symptoms then it is too much and we will have to reduce the amount. If there is an improvement in symptoms and things settle down of the course of several weeks then things will be fine and we can have you stabilize there for a month or so until the symptoms smooth out. The other option is to reinstate at a lower dosage, say 30mgai. This will have less of a risk of the symptoms getting really bad really quickly (this is called an adverse reaction) but it will take a while for things to settle out and stabilize. It's kinda a rock and hard spot situation. Which ever way you go things are going to be pretty shaky for a while as your body sorts things out and readjusts to having the medication. Again welcome to the group. Brassmonkey 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
Ohthepressure Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 Thank you so much for your response and kindness. I should be able to get a refill today of the 40mg tablet. I can cut it to suit my needs. -o 1998 Started Paxil and Xanax. Over next ten years, start/stop Lexapro, Prozac, Effexor. Continued benzos, switch to Valium then to Klonopin circa 2017. 2017 back to Paxil 40 mg with Klonopin 1mg TID PRN. also on Prilosec/GERD meds entire time. Added Lisinopril 10 mg for high blood pressure (bottom number 90+) Dec 2, 2019 Began to taper Prilosec. Already down to 1mg/day avg on Klonopin. Dec 26, 2019, CT Paxil. Jan 3, 2020, reinstate 20mg. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus manymoretodays Posted January 2, 2020 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted January 2, 2020 Welcome OTP, I'm just going to add in a few links that you will find helpful, when reinstating your paroxetine/Paxil. About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal syndrome Tips for tapering off Paxil(paroxetine) ^ this one should help you now, with making your own dose, and ways to do that, with paroxetine Best, L, P, H, and G, mmt Late 2023- gone to emeritus status, inactive, don't @ me, I can check who I've posted on, and I'm not really here like I used to be......thanks. Started with psycho meds/psychiatric care circa 1988. In retrospect, and on contemplation, situational overwhelm. Rounding up to 30 years of medications(30 medication trials, poly-pharmacy maximum was 3 at one time). 5/28/2015-off Adderal salts 2.5mg. (I had been on that since hospital 10/2014) 12/2015---just holding, holding, holding, with trileptal/oxcarb at 75 mg. 1/2 tab at hs. My last psycho med ever! Tapered @ 10% every 4 weeks, sometimes 2 weeks to 2016 Dec 16, medication free!! Longer signature post here, with current supplements. Herb and alcohol free since 5/15/2016. And.....I quit smoking 11/2021. Lapsed. Redo of quit smoking 9/28/2022. Can you say Hallelujah?(took me long enough)💜 None of my posts are intended as medical advice. Please discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical provider. My success story: Blue skies ahead, clear sailing Link to comment
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