takitoBo Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 I've been on Paroxetine 20 mg daily for the last 5 years. I've developed a tolerance for my dosage for Paroxetine. I'm currently very depressed and been like this for the past 2 years. I want to start tapering off, with the 10 % method. My question: is it advisable to start the process with depressive symtomps? I know if I ask this question to any doctor they will only change my prescription or add a new drug, but I really want to start tapering the medication. 2016- currently 20 mg Paroxetine 2012- Diagnosed with depression and anxiety 2012- Prozac 20 mg (6 months) then quit cold turkey. 2013- Venlafaxine 75 mg Increasing up to 225 mg 2013-2016 Venlafaxine 225 mg 2016-2021 Paroxetine 20 mg Always anxious and depressed 😢 Link to comment
Moderator brassmonkey Posted April 10, 2021 Moderator Share Posted April 10, 2021 Hi TakitoBo-- Welcome to SA I'm so glad you found us. We have a lot go good information on the topic you mention. And you're right, the doctors won't be of any help. If you have been taking the medication and it isn't working any more, that would be called tolerance, or as we often refer to it as "poopout'. There are two things that can be done, either add more medication, which is only good for the short term or taper off and get drug free. I was in tolerance for quite a long time before I tapered so I know it is not fun. Let's start you off with some general information and work from there. https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/23081-are-we-there-yet-how-long-is-withdrawal-going-to-take/?tab=comments#comment-492496 https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/1024-why-taper-by-10-of-my-dosage/ https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/17671-the-brassmonkey-slide-method-of-micro-tapering/ That will give you a lot of information. Take a look and then ask us a lot of questions. 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
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