When my doc first prescribed Paxil for me about four years ago I did some reading, and there were already quite a few tales about Paxil problems. Though at the time I think recognition in the medical community was still a bit shaky. But fast-forward four years and my doctor actually talked to me beforehand about what could happen, and there's a lot of information available about it. It's called SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome. Paxil is part of a class of SSRIs where the medicine doesn't really linger in your system at all, so there's that much more of a difference when you stop taking it.
I tapered off, but I probably should have tapered off more slowly. It hit me the third day of the first week where I wasn't taking any Paxil at all. Have you ever had heat exhaustion? It was like that, with less sweating. All of a sudden my equilibrium was fried. It hit me pretty suddenly, and it having been a few weeks since I'd talked to my doctor, it really freaked me out at first. I had symptoms for more than three weeks, and it wasn't always a steady climb upward. Thankfully I had understanding coworkers and a steady supply of Dramamine. Now it's mostly just that any little thing (salt, sugar, caffeine, assmonkeys) gives me a mild headache.
Interestingly, one of the ways of treating this is to prescribe Prozac for a short time, since Prozac is an SSRI that does stay in the system for a bit. I chose not to try that because, um, Prozac made my mother hallucinate. It may have been for any number of reasons including a bad reaction to some other medication she was taking, but I still preferred my level of misery to even the possibility of hallucinations. :)
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When my doc first prescribed Paxil for me about four years ago I did some reading, and there were already quite a few tales about Paxil problems. Though at the time I think recognition in the medical community was still a bit shaky. But fast-forward four years and my doctor actually talked to me beforehand about what could happen, and there's a lot of information available about it. It's called SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome. Paxil is part of a class of SSRIs where the medicine doesn't really linger in your system at all, so there's that much more of a difference when you stop taking it.
I tapered off, but I probably should have tapered off more slowly. It hit me the third day of the first week where I wasn't taking any Paxil at all. Have you ever had heat exhaustion? It was like that, with less sweating. All of a sudden my equilibrium was fried. It hit me pretty suddenly, and it having been a few weeks since I'd talked to my doctor, it really freaked me out at first. I had symptoms for more than three weeks, and it wasn't always a steady climb upward. Thankfully I had understanding coworkers and a steady supply of Dramamine. Now it's mostly just that any little thing (salt, sugar, caffeine, assmonkeys) gives me a mild headache.
Interestingly, one of the ways of treating this is to prescribe Prozac for a short time, since Prozac is an SSRI that does stay in the system for a bit. I chose not to try that because, um, Prozac made my mother hallucinate. It may have been for any number of reasons including a bad reaction to some other medication she was taking, but I still preferred my level of misery to even the possibility of hallucinations. :)