DiscJockey: intro

[DiscJockey]

11 minutes ago, Altostrata said:

As you've described them, your one day of Paxil withdrawal symptoms were very mild. Why are you giving up on tapering Paxil?

 

I actually feel a bit better right now, that's because it's close to the end of my work shift. But I did that 2% drop and felt it right the next day. My doc said to wait it out for a week and see. I have been feeling small windows here and there, so Ill hold onto that. 

 

But as for quitting, sometimes I feel like it, but then most times I just think "I want to be free and off these drugs."

 

If the symptoms subside, then Ill continue on slowly

[DiscJockey]

My Symptoms for Monday 12/7/20

 

4:30AM woke up early. Slight anxiety and impending doom feeling.

Laid down and tried to go back to sleep. Just kept tossing and turning. Slight anxiety and doom feeling stayed.

7:00AM/8:00AM Went to work, while driving felt depersonalize, spacey head feeling, slight tingling on my legs and feet.

11:30AM took 20mg Lexapro  and 8.82mg Paxil dose

12:00PM felt some relief after taking dose. Still feel spacey in the head. Slight anxiety. 

2:00PM ate lunch. 

4:00PM Off work went home

5:30PM Ate Dinner, Mild Headache, feel loopy and spacey

6:00PM Took Shower

7:00PM Feel edgy, slight restlessness, legs feel weak

9:00PM took half a Benadryl to help go to sleep and take edge off

9:45PM went to bed, laid down

10:00PM Fell fully asleep

 

 

[DiscJockey]

Symptoms for Tuesday 12/8/20

 

7AM: Woke up feeling no symptoms, probably because I slept deeply after taking half a Benadryl the night before.

8AM to 10AM slight agitation due to workload at job.

1030AM Slight anxiety 

1130AM took dose 8.82mgPAX and 20mgLexapro

5:30PM showered, ate dinner

6PM sat on couch watched tv, then all of a sudden a big wave (impending doom, anxiety, restless legs, pit in my stomach feeling, tingling all over)

7PM wave went away, felt ok, but shocked it went away, it was like a light switch.

        Continued sitting on couch relaxing, watching movies.

9:30PM another wave came. This was less intense as the one at 6pm. Head spacey feeling, dizzy. Slight sizzling/burning on my arms and back. 

10PM Wave lasted only 30mins or so

11PM went to sleep naturally, did not take any Benadryl.

[DiscJockey]

Wed 12/9 symptoms

Wave Heavy Day

0800AM woke up (work from home)

all day felt slight burning/sizzling on backside. Legs and feet felt restless.

1130AM took dose 20mgLexapro 8.82mgPaxil  (from this post)

9PM Felt wave lifted for a bit. Got a small window for only 30mins

10PM tingling sensation and burning sensation still present. Went to bed, fell asleep ok.

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by ChessieCat
added dose info from follow up post

[DiscJockey]

Hi All,

   I know it has not been a full week since my 2% decrease. But the wds are sometimes just aggravating. If I were to up dose back to 9mg Paxil, should I do it now? Is there a time frame where I need to up dose? 
 

If i do go back up and wait to stabilize, is there a way to taper off the Paxil. I just did a 2% decrease and feel it. Kind of disheartening. My doc put Lexapro in the mix to supposedly help get off the Paxil, but seems that plan is not working. Now im like is it the Paxil or Lexapro not working?

 

Any suggestions, tips, hope is appreciated.

[ChessieCat]

28 minutes ago, DiscJockey said:

1130AM took dose

 

Please state drug name and dose to help prevent error/confusion.  Thank you.

[DiscJockey]

1 minute ago, ChessieCat said:

 

Please state drug name and dose to help prevent error/confusion.  Thank you.

20mgLexapro 8.82mgPaxil

[DiscJockey]

I am also thinking that making this recent 2% reduction was too soon? I still needed time to stabilize from the last reduction and up dose.

 

On 11/22/20 I did a 10% reduction of Paxil, went from 9mgPaxil to 8.1mgPaxil

I felt those WDs the same day, super anxious, dread, burning sensation all over, restless legs.

 

So.... the next day 11/23/20 I went back up to 9mgPaxil.

Started feeling better within the week.

 

The 2% reduction was just made on 12/6/20.

 

So should I have waited longer to stabilize before doing the brassmonkey method? Like an actual month?

 

I am worried thinking that no matter what method of tapering I do for the Paxil (Brassmonkey, Micro) I am going to have these harsh withdrawals, and that I am not going to have a smooth taper and minor symptoms. 

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[ChessieCat]

On 12/9/2020 at 9:59 AM, Altostrata said:

As you've described them, your one day of Paxil withdrawal symptoms were very mild.

 

[brassmonkey]

Your jumping around in dose is not helping things. Our baseline taper is 10% every four (4) weeks. That four (4) weeks is needed to allow time for the symptoms to show up, stabilize and settle out. Any dose changes during that time period resets the clock and the hold starts over again. This applies to all tapering methods and schedules.

 

No matter what taper method you use there are going to be symptoms. Our aim is to keep them as minimal as possible. There is no such thing as fine tuning a taper to get no symptoms and all the small changes while trying just help to sensitize the body and can eventually lead to major complications.

 

If a person is in a stable condition to start with the symptoms that appear with each drop of a Brassmonkey Slide usually appear in the first day or two after the reduction. They then spike and fall off over the rest of the seven days between reductions. There is sometimes a small carryover between reductions, which is why it is so important to do the additional two week hold every four reductions.

 

For right now I would suggest a hold period until at least after the new year and better until the end of January.  Then, depending on how your body is reacting restart your slide from where you are at that time.

[DiscJockey]

Thank you kindly @brassmonkey

Should I just then hold with the current drop I did (2%), So I am on 8.82mg Paxil.

 

I only ask because since before I did the 2% drop I did a 10% drop and reinstated right back to 9mg Paxil because the WD symptoms were felt right away and were too intense. I was listening to my body, felt better within a week after up dosing back to 9mg. Not waiting longer to start the taper again, I went ahead and did the 2% drop without actually waiting longer for the up dose to stabilize in my system (less than a month)

 

I have been journaling my symptoms here. Some days/times the WD symptoms feel progressively worse as if I went to fast or too big of a drop.

Then there are some times usually in the night time the symptoms are gone.

 

I was thinking of up dosing back to 9mg, wait a lot longer like till the end of January, then start the taper process again. Actually waiting an entire month or more to fully stabilize and go from there.

 

Let me know what you think, sorry these WDs are getting to my head and make me ponder too much. 

[DiscJockey]

Thursday 12/10/20 Symptoms

 

7:30AM: Woke up feeling ok 

08:00AM: Started feeling spacey and depersonalization

9:30AM Burning and Tingling on my backside and shoulders (ALL DAY)

10:00AM Big Wave (Impending Doom Feeling, and anxious, shortness of breath)

10:30AM Wave died down a little bit.

11:30AM took daily dose 20mgLexapro & 8.82mg Paxil

12:00PM Big Wave came back again as I was lying down trying to take a nap, not as strong as the one at 10:30am, about 3 notches less severe.

2:30PM Ate food, lied down to take nap. Just extremely exhausted and nauseous.

2:30PM to 3:30PM lied down, half awake, half asleep, felt relaxed. 

At this point still have Burning and Tingling on my backside and shoulders

9PM seems all the bad wd symptoms went away for like a second.

10PM went to sleep. 

[Altostrata]

21 hours ago, DiscJockey said:

I am also thinking that making this recent 2% reduction was too soon? I still needed time to stabilize from the last reduction and up dose.

 

Yes, this may be so.

 

Usually, when a drug such as Lexapro is used as a bridge to go off Paxil, reduction in Paxil is done fairly quickly after the addition of Lexapro, before your nervous system can accommodate to the additional SSRI. Since you've been on the combination since September, your nervous system expects 29mg of SSRI.

 

What was your doctor's plan for the switch?

[DiscJockey]

Hi @Altostrata My doc's plan is to see if I can hold here at the current 2% drop for a week. If the symptoms get severe up dose back to 9mg where I was stable and hold there. Hold and relax till our next video appt which will be 1/4/21. Then at that appt we will see if we continue to decrease the Paxil or actually go the opposite way from our original plan. We would then slowly decrease the 20mg Lexapro first, then when we get to the Last 9mg of Paxil see how I do. If the Paxil is too much trouble to try to get off of, then attempt to the the Paxil to Prozac bridge, but only when we successfully get off the Lexapro and if when the Paxil is the last to taper and is too harsh. And since we are still in a pandemic we will meet monthly instead of the usual every 4 to 6 months, according to my doctor since she is working from home, she can do more frequent video appts. 

 

I did make this last 2% drop on 12/6/20, I was thinking of waiting till this Monday to see how I feel and see if I should up dose or not. Yay? or Nay? Then actually stabilize longer than the last time I did which was too short. Actually wait a month or more. 

 

I have listed my symptoms from the past few days. These symptoms feel just a bit harsher than WD normal. Before I went into a horrible tailspin of wds this past summer, I was successfully and smoothly tapering off of Paxil. I remember the WD normals then would hit about 2 days after and were very minimal, very faint, and just in the background. I got to 15mg Paxil then.

 

These symptoms now are a little bit more extreme but not extreme enough where I am debilitated and stuck in bed all day. But then I was also thinking from reading on this site that going below 10mg of any med is the hardest. So it could just be that, going below 10mg  Paxil even though Lexapro is added in the mix. It just discouraging knowing that now I am going to go through the painful experience of getting below 10mg of psych meds for 2 srris I am taking, both Lexapro and Paxil, and maybe even Prozac if I ever get to that part.

 

LOL, WD normal in the past would not have me here all the time writing out my thoughts and concerns, so I instinctively know that these current WD symptoms are a problem already. I am constantly overthinking everything and trying to get a solution right away. 

 

Let me know your thoughts @Altostrata @brassmonkey @ChessieCat when you can. Thanks again!

 

 

 

[ChessieCat]

You are taking both drugs at the same time according to your daily notes.

 

You might find that moving your dose times apart might make help.

 

You would move one early by 1 hour each day.

 

If it was me I would be trying this before updosing.

[DiscJockey]

22 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

You might find that moving your dose times apart might make help.

 

You would move one early by 1 hour each day.

 

If it was me I would be trying this before updosing.

 

 Hi @ChessieCat, how far apart in hours should I take them if I normally take them both @ 1130AM daily. And which one do I take first? The 20mg Lexapro or 8.82Paxil?

 So say I were to start this method tomorrow.... would I take one at 103OAM, then the other at 1130? Next day 0930am the other 1230PM? Day after 0830AM and 0130PM? So on so forth until I reach the hours I need for each medication to be apart? Let me know, I am willing to give it a shot.

 

And after I do this, how long should I wait to determine that the WDs are still too severe, or that it is not working for me?

[ChessieCat]

Yesterday I asked the other mods whether moving your drugs apart might make a positive difference and Alto's response today was:

 

5 hours ago, Altostrata said:

Separating the two drugs might help.

 

You need to decide what time you can consistently take each drug.  If you normal taken them at 11.30am then keep taking one at 11.30am and move the other 1 hour earlier each day until you reach the time that you can regularly take it every day.  I think the more time you can get between the drugs the better but you have to be able to take them at the same time every day once you've moved them apart.

 

From your drug signature it looks like you had some time when you were only taking Lexapro and another time when you were only taking Paxil.  Can you remember how you felt in the few hours after taking them?  My thinking is that moving the one that caused the fewest issues would be a better option because at least you might not feel too bad for the first part of the day so that you might be able to get to work and get some work done whilst hopefully feeling reasonable.  But the hope is that moving them apart might help to improve your whole day.

 

If there didn't seem to be any difference, then you could make the decision based on which drug you are going to be tapering and which time it is more convenient for you to take that drug.

 

You will need to keep notes to see what effect the change has on your symptoms.

 

And remember, only make one change at a time.

[DiscJockey]

Symptoms for Fri 12/11/20

 

730AM woke up for work (working from home)

             some anxiety and doom feeling, shoulders and back tingling but not burning

930AM small window of relief. Felt like symptoms were completely gone. Felt happy and chipper, but lasted for only about 40mins

1030AM took a break from work and went outside for fresh air.

1130AM took 20mg Lexapro and 8.82mg Paxil

2PM ate food

4PM work ended, laid down and tried to sleep, resting but could not fully fall asleep. 

5PM ate a small meal. Symptoms of legs feeling restless.

630PM felt really exhausted, sat on couch and watched TV.

8PM symptoms of slight anxiety and feeling spaced out and depersonalize.

10PM went to bed, laid down, eventually fell asleep.

[DiscJockey]

Hi @ChessieCat & @Altostrata

     So I am going to attempt the method you guys suggested starting tomorrow. I just have a few questions and thoughts listed below.

 

When my doc started me on the Lexapro and Paxil, I was instructed to take them both at the same time. At the time I was in so much pain and agony I could not really tell which was helping or not. After we got to 20mg Lexapro and at the time 10mg Paxil, I was getting stable, but it had been about a month already.

 

When I do start this tomorrow is it possible to do the change moving 1 HOUR AHEAD instead of 1 HOUR BEFORE?

 

So lets say I would take.................... 

DAY 1.  @1130AM 8.82MG Paxil   @1230 20mg Lexapro

DAY 2.  @1130AM 8.82MG Paxil  @13OPM 20mg Lexapro

DAY 3. @ 1130AM 8.82MG Paxil. @230PM 20mg Lexapro

 

And so on so forth until I get to the day and time gap I need to be at. 

 

And as far as the time gap. How big of a gap should there be between the 2 meds? 6 hours? 8 hours? Whatever I can tolerate as I attempt the process?

 

I can see if all goes smoothly I would take one med @1130AM then the other one at either 530PM (6 HOURS) or 730PM (8 HOURS) 

 

If going 1 HOUR AHEAD is not recommended, how would going 1 HOUR BEFORE work while I am in bed or sleeping?

Is it just for this process that I would have to go backwards 1 HOUR BACK until I reach the day and time gap where the two meds are separated? I normally take my dose @1130AM daily. The earliest I wake up is about 630AM. Anytime before that I am in bed still sleeping. But if I get on this method I do not mind sacrificing setting my alarm to wake up during earlier times like 3am or 4am, I will just have the med and a glass of water next to my bed. Plus I am working from home, its not like I have to get up real early and commute, so that is a plus.

 

And as far as I feel, I think but not definite that the 20mg Lexapro is the one that is causing the least problems right now.

The Paxil is the one causing me havoc. I was stable @ 9mg Paxil, so going lower than that has me already feeling off and sometimes really anxious.

 

So is it recommended to always take my current 8.82mg Paxil dose at the same time (1130AM)? Since Paxil is the harsher of the 2 evils?

Then the 20mg Lexapro is the one I will move 1 HOUR AHEAD or 1 HOUR BEFORE pending on what you @ChessieCat and @Altostrata recommend? 

 

And do I start this process and do the 1 hour change consecutively? Lets say I start feeling unwell on the 3rd day going 1 hour forward or back.... do I just hold there or continue on?

 

Let me know what you recommend when you get the chance, thank you greatly again!

                                      

[DiscJockey]

Symptoms for Sat 12/12/20

Majority of the Day were WINDOWS of RELIEF

 

0730AM: Woke up still feeling a bit morning anxiety, legs and feet feel asleep, but not burning or hurting.

0800AM: Driving: while driving small feeling of dread, worry, space out feeling.

0900AM to 1000AM Moderate exercise. Cardio on airdyne bike. Light weight lifting. If I felt I was pushing too hard, I would stop and take a break.

1030AM: Driving: Felt ok, slight spacey still, but glad I got to exercise. Small relaxation feeling.

1130AM: Took 20mg Lexapro and 8.82mg Paxil

1200PM: Went and took my dogs for a walk at a local waterfront. Enjoyed being outside seeing nature.

2PM: At home, cleaned, cooked, showered.

4PM: Sat on couch and watched TV *Usually when I sit down or when I am doing nothing, I feel my legs and feet have that sleep sensation, my mind focuses on it*

***From 1130am to 9pm I felt good, normal, stable. It felt like I was on a good baseline. I even started doing one of my hobbies I love to do which is music oriented***

Around 915PM I did feel a wave of wds, which were slight restlessness, spacey head feeling, slight dread and anxiety. I also thought that maybe I was just tired from the morning workout earlier.  

1030PM Laid down, put on some sleep music.

11PM fell asleep.

 

All in all it was a good day of WINDOWS of RELIEF. Just slight waves in between, I hope more of these happen going forward.

I felt hopeful, but also slightly doubtful and anxious because the next day could be the total opposite.

[ChessieCat]

Please condense your drug signature so that it doesn't take up so much room.  Since the software upgrade, some of the topics appear on the left side of the screen.  I'm using a desktop computer and your drug signature takes up the whole length of my screen so it makes it difficult to read posts.

 

I suggest that you post your current drug signature into a post so you still have access to the information.  Once that is done you can copy the link location and include that in your drug signature if you want to do that.

 

Also, we don't need anything other than drug name, dose and dates of dose change.  Other details just make it harder to see your drug history at a glance.

 

The section of your drug signature which I have italicised needs to be reduced to the very basics.

 

When stating the month just use the first 3 letters, eg Nov for November.  I've struck through things that can be deleted.  You can also remove the brackets around the doses which I've done below.

 

Thank you.

 

Been on various SSRIs since 2012.    Jan 2012 started 50mg Zoloft for mild depression.

November 2014 was in first year law school, doctor increased Zoloft to 100mg due to my stress increasing, lack of sleep, no support.

Sept 2015 experienced a poop out of Zoloft. Quit law school. Switched doctors. New doctor started me on Lexapro. Bad start effects, lasted only a month on it. Then went on Effexor for like a month, was too much to handle, bad tingling sensation in my head.  Put me on Prozac, had bad start up effects which I now know to be serotonin syndrome. Doctor then tried to add an anti-psychotic (Risperadal). That was too strong. I would be at work staring into nothing, drooling from the mouth. 

From January 2016 to December 2016 was on different SSRIs (I really do not remember, that year was so harsh personally in my life, and all the mixture of drugs the doctor put me on) I remember last being on Effexor for about 1 month, and decided to quit cold turkey January 2017. Lasted 2 months.

April 2017 went back on Zoloft 200mg.   May 2019 switched to Lexapro 30mg.    Oct 2019 switched to Paxil 40mg

September 2020 on Lexapro 20mg and Paxil 9mg. 

December 2020 Lexapro 20mg  Paxil 8.82 (Doing 2% Drops the BrassMonkey Slide Method, Tapering Paxil First)

[DiscJockey]

@ChessieCat signature updated! 

[Altostrata]

How long has it been since you decreased Paxil to 8.82mg?

 

Perhaps it would be best not to change your drug schedule for now, since it seems you may be stabilizing.

[DiscJockey]

Symptoms for Sun 12/13/20

 

WAVE HEAVY DAY

630AM woke up, but went back to sleep, felt fully awake, but body was weak and tired. 

730AM woke up and felt dread and anxiety, a bit more intense than the past few days.

8AM Got out of bed, can feel tingling/burning sensation on my back and shoulders.

9AM Went out and ran errands, driving feeling dread, feeling and thinking "just survive today"

1130AM took 20mg Lexapro and 8.82mg Paxil

115PM sitting on couch watching TV and all of a sudden a big wave. It was a fast switch to feeling really anxious, lower body feels heavy and asleep. Upper body was tingling, head and brain was very spacey and disoriented. It felt like a cold turkey feeling. 

From 115PM to 10PM these waves would come and go throughout. I would feel normal one minute, then back again to the wave.

915PM I was sitting on couch watching TV and another wave hit hard.

10PM Wave subsided a bit, but I went to bed, laid down, went to sleep. 

[DiscJockey]

11 hours ago, Altostrata said:

How long has it been since you decreased Paxil to 8.82mg?

 

 Hi, @Altostrata I decreased to 8.82mg back last Sunday 12/6/20.

I have been documenting my symptoms above in the thread, just updated what I felt yesterday which was a WAVE Heavy day.

 

I do slightly agree with staying on this dose. But sometimes when those hard hitting waves come, it feels like I should up dose back to 9mg.

Like I mentioned before, these WDs seem just a tad bit harsh than what normal WD feels. I remember WD normal for me would be very faint and in the background. Everyday though since I made the decrease, I do feel that fight or flight feeling, I do think "Am I going to make it today, am I going to survive, this sucks!....etc" Everyday when a wave hits its the feeling of trying to survive. Plus when I get these waves there is slight PTSD. I always think from the last time I went into a tailspin, and do not want to ever go there again. 

 

I know you also recommended splitting doses.... I have questions about that as well posted on this thread. Is that even an option now? 

 

But let me know what your thoughts are @Altostratawhen you can. I was thinking maybe waiting another week before deciding to up dose back to 9mg and see how this week goes and feels for me, unless I should not if the time passing is already too late.

 

If I were to up dose to 9mg Paxil, I would fully wait to stabilize, like an actual month or more, rather than like 2 weeks like I just did. I would wait till my next appt with my doc next month and decide if we should taper the other way first like do the Lexapro first then save the 9mg Paxil for last. This would be totally different from the original plan I know, but since I know the last 10mg of Paxil is already proving difficult to get off, it may be a shot to try it? 

 

Sometimes I feel discouraged knowing that now I have 2ssris to taper and basically I will need to go through the hell of tapering below 10mg for 2 types of ssris, I am not thrilled for it. I even feel, Hell, maybe I should just swap the Lexapro out and take Paxil instead, and at least I will be one type of ssri. 

 

 As of now for this week I will continue to take 8.82mg Paxil and 20mg Lexapro together at the same time. Hopefully this week will be better than last weeks. Fingers crossed. 😏

[DiscJockey]

So I took my 20mg Lexapro dose @1130AM and the 8.82mg Paxil @1230 just FYI.

 

[ChessieCat]

1 hour ago, DiscJockey said:

As of now for this week I will continue to take 8.82mg Paxil and 20mg Lexapro together at the same time.

 

16 minutes ago, DiscJockey said:

20mg Lexapro dose @1130AM and the 8.82mg Paxil @1230

 

So you changed your mind?

[DiscJockey]

1 minute ago, ChessieCat said:

 

 

So you changed your mind?

 

@ChessieCat yes, but then again I am still waiting for you and other mods' response. On my thread I had questions regarding the change of times of taking the 2 different meds. 

 

Today I thought to give it a try, but I did the time change forward. I will post here of any symptoms. Right now I will just keep it to an hour. No major or drastic symptoms as of yet.

 

I will await on you and other mods to see what you guys recommend. 

[ChessieCat]

All the staff do is offer suggestions as to what you could try.  It is up to you to make the decision about what you will do.

 

2 minutes ago, DiscJockey said:

I did the time change forward.

 

The reason for suggesting move one of the drugs earlier was because ADs can be activating.  Move a drug later in the day may cause sleep issues.

[DiscJockey]

@ChessieCat Here were some of my questions and concerns for going back in hours. Let me know what you think. I am all for going backwards too, I just had questions about it.

 

On 12/12/2020 at 3:48 PM, DiscJockey said:

Hi @ChessieCat & @Altostrata

     So I am going to attempt the method you guys suggested starting tomorrow. I just have a few questions and thoughts listed below.

 

When my doc started me on the Lexapro and Paxil, I was instructed to take them both at the same time. At the time I was in so much pain and agony I could not really tell which was helping or not. After we got to 20mg Lexapro and at the time 10mg Paxil, I was getting stable, but it had been about a month already.

 

When I do start this tomorrow is it possible to do the change moving 1 HOUR AHEAD instead of 1 HOUR BEFORE?

 

So lets say I would take.................... 

DAY 1.  @1130AM 8.82MG Paxil   @1230 20mg Lexapro

DAY 2.  @1130AM 8.82MG Paxil  @13OPM 20mg Lexapro

DAY 3. @ 1130AM 8.82MG Paxil. @230PM 20mg Lexapro

 

And so on so forth until I get to the day and time gap I need to be at. 

 

And as far as the time gap. How big of a gap should there be between the 2 meds? 6 hours? 8 hours? Whatever I can tolerate as I attempt the process?

 

I can see if all goes smoothly I would take one med @1130AM then the other one at either 530PM (6 HOURS) or 730PM (8 HOURS) 

 

If going 1 HOUR AHEAD is not recommended, how would going 1 HOUR BEFORE work while I am in bed or sleeping?

Is it just for this process that I would have to go backwards 1 HOUR BACK until I reach the day and time gap where the two meds are separated? I normally take my dose @1130AM daily. The earliest I wake up is about 630AM. Anytime before that I am in bed still sleeping. But if I get on this method I do not mind sacrificing setting my alarm to wake up during earlier times like 3am or 4am, I will just have the med and a glass of water next to my bed. Plus I am working from home, its not like I have to get up real early and commute, so that is a plus.

 

And as far as I feel, I think but not definite that the 20mg Lexapro is the one that is causing the least problems right now.

The Paxil is the one causing me havoc. I was stable @ 9mg Paxil, so going lower than that has me already feeling off and sometimes really anxious.

 

So is it recommended to always take my current 8.82mg Paxil dose at the same time (1130AM)? Since Paxil is the harsher of the 2 evils?

Then the 20mg Lexapro is the one I will move 1 HOUR AHEAD or 1 HOUR BEFORE pending on what you @ChessieCat and @Altostrata recommend? 

 

And do I start this process and do the 1 hour change consecutively? Lets say I start feeling unwell on the 3rd day going 1 hour forward or back.... do I just hold there or continue on?

 

Let me know what you recommend when you get the chance, thank you greatly again!

                                      

 

[ChessieCat]

On 12/12/2020 at 6:02 PM, ChessieCat said:

You need to decide what time you can consistently take each drug.  If you normal taken them at 11.30am then keep taking one at 11.30am and move the other 1 hour earlier each day until you reach the time that you can regularly take it every day.  I think the more time you can get between the drugs the better but you have to be able to take them at the same time every day once you've moved them apart.

 

11 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

ADs can be activating.  Move a drug later in the day may cause sleep issues.

 

It could be that moving them apart by as little as 2-3 hours might help.  It's an experiment and you need to be observant about how it's affecting you.  The reason I suggested the separation is because it might reduce the work your liver is having to do processing the drugs and also it will get the drugs into your system at different times instead of all at once.

 

If you move one drug earlier and settle on the first dose time and you notice improvement but still not as good as you would like then you could move the 2nd dose a bit later being careful not to disrupt your sleep.

[Altostrata]

I would take the Lexapro earlier in the day and the Paxil later. Lexapro tends to be activating while Paxil might be sedating.

 

3 hours ago, DiscJockey said:

But sometimes when those hard hitting waves come, it feels like I should up dose back to 9mg.

 

 

Both of the drugs you're taking have half-lives of 20 hours or more. You would not get withdrawal symptoms hours after you take them, they both are at high blood serum levels. It is more likely that this surge you repeatedly get in the evening is TOO MUCH SSRI rather than too little.

 

 Immediate-release paroxetine peak plasma is approximately 5-8 hours after a dose. Are you taking immediate-release paroxetine or extended-release paroxetine?

 

 

[DiscJockey]

4 hours ago, Altostrata said:

I would take the Lexapro earlier in the day and the Paxil later. Lexapro tends to be activating while Paxil might be sedating.

 

Hi @Altostrata I did do a small change today. I took the 20mg Lexapro @1130AM, then the 8.82mg Paxil at 1230PM. Notice no change, today was a WINDOW Heavy Day. Pretty good day thus far. 

I was thinking maybe tomorrow taking the Lexapro earlier like @ 1030AM, then keep the Paxil at 1230PM. So a 2 hour gap in between. I would then document any symptoms here. 

I know @ChessieCat recommended to take them separate, so it does not activate all at once, and to try not to take the paxil too late so it does not effect my sleep because it is very activating.  

How far long apart in hours should I keep the 2 separate? 4 Hours? 6 Hours? 8 Hours? Or to where I can tolerate the gaps? I would just listen to my body, how I feel, and understand how far I can take it.

 

5 hours ago, Altostrata said:

 Immediate-release paroxetine peak plasma is approximately 5-8 hours after a dose. Are you taking immediate-release paroxetine or extended-release paroxetine

@Altostratathe 10mg Paxil tablets I have now have the letters "APO" on one side.... then the other side has numbers "097"

Is there a link or post that states what kind I have based on the letters and numbers on them. The prescription bottle does not have that info, only my medical info on it.

[ChessieCat]

16 minutes ago, DiscJockey said:

the 10mg Paxil tablets I have now have the letters "APO" on one side.... then the other side has numbers "097"

Is there a link or post that states what kind I have based on the letters and numbers on them.

 

https://www.drugs.com/imprints.php

 

https://www.drugs.com/paroxetine-images.html

 

 

Edited December 15, 2020 by ChessieCat

[DiscJockey]

Hi @ChessieCat and @AltostrataI looked up the pill on the website. They are Paroxetine Hydrochloride 10 mg it says. No word of it being immediate or extended release. 

 

Today though I will take the Lexapro @ 1030AM and the Paxil @1230PM. I will document here if anything drastic or positive happens. 

[DiscJockey]

Symptoms for Monday 12/14/20

WINDOW HEAVY DAY

 

0730AM: Woke up with slight leg and feet tingling

0800AM: Working from home, on laptop. A little anxiety all over my body.

1030AM: Went out with dogs, took a nice walk in nature setting.

1130AM: Took 20mg Lexapro

1230PM: Took 8.82mg Paxil 

530PM TO 630PM did moderate exercise, cardio on airdyne bike. Body weight exercises, like push ups, squats, sit ups. Went very slow and light. Never pushed too hard.

930PM sat in bed; had classical music on while I read a book.

1OPM Went to sleep

 

All in all the day was very good, just small waves here and there. Felt stable. Hope this continues on.