Paxil withdrawal

[happyedith]

Hi there. I have been on Paxil 40 Mgs. for almost 6 years. I am now happy to say that i have stopped taking them as of the 4 Nov 05. My husband and dog are not. Put on the armour I'm feeling a paxil moment!! The reason for taking them was panic attacks any time of the day and night.
It worked. 6 years later I found myself hooked up to a ECG I didn't know what to think. Shocks dizziness very mild but none the less, freaky. I missed a pill. I figured that out later. My doctor seemed to think I was a little hypomaniac for being on Paxil. So I went to see a shrink (laymen terms) to come off of them. Weaning off 10Mgs. a week, thank God hubby went back home to visit his parents. I never experienced anything like this in all my days. I call it electroshock therapy to every joint my body owns, severe shocks, the burning shocking brain zaps, like its going to vibrate your eyes right out of your head. The shock that hit my pinkie finger joint straightened it right out for quite sometime. Elbows, then there is the brain frying. I never thought I would be able to actually feel my brain sitting in the skull, but I swear I do. It hurts still, to this day. My skin feels sunburned, as well as my face and skin on my body. Anger, walls of depression, aniexty, loss of energy, comes out of know where. I am getting an my brain hooked up, EEG, this Friday to see if my gray matter is okay. The doc I went to see said about 3 months for withdrawls. Well the first week of Feb 06 and 3 months will be here. The doc's assistant went to look up Paxil withdrawal symtoms on the Canadian Medical Jornal, and when she came back she asked the doc, "How come there is nothing listed?" Interesting "You tell me."

[diamondsmama]

I have been off Paxil for 2 years now and still get that tingly feeling in my lips and pain in my elbows . I often have that "zapping" sensation on my head and sometimes in my hands and arms . I am beginning to think this "withdrawal" never completely goes away .

[mommaroo]

After reading all these posts, I am concerned! My husband, 68, was prescribed PAXIL about 6 months ago. He would like to stop taking it because he is afraid of all the side effects. Will he experience withdrawal that could be life threatening because of his age? He is diabetic and a cancer survivor.

[snowangel75]

Hi there,I am new to this site, as I was checking sites out on antidepressants and found this one and boy am I glad.....as you see, i was in the same boat as most of you, about 4 years ago and seem to be finding myself entering that crazy world of antidepressants again, for my panic/anxiety disorder....Shortly after the birth of my first boy 7 years ago, i suffered my first panic attack......at the time, I felt like I was dying of a heart attack, but little did I know, i would rather have that feeling, than the feeling of going off the paxil........My anxiety and panic got to the point, where I felt like every symptom i had, i was dying of something, it also got to the point where, I was scared to be left alone with my newborn son, because of the fear of him getting hurt........this was not a fear of me hurting him, but just dread of something happening to him while in my care.....so my doctor decided to subscribe me paxil..........the worst mistake ever..........at first, ofcourse the medicine was a god sent......i felt so much better.......i was back to the person I was before my first panic attack........my husband and I decided to have another baby 2 years later and then it all started again.....not once, did my doctor diagnose me with postpartum depression......just chalked everything up to panic and anxiety and continued to increase my paxil dosage and prescribe me clonazepram for the anxiety attacks...........so after being on paxil and clonzepram for 5 yrs......it all started to go downhill....I was constantly tired, didn't have energy, no sexual desire and it was affecting my family life..........my husband and inlaws considered me lazy and everything was just in my head and didn't need the meds........please keep in mind, that I was a stay at home mom, taking care of a 2 children, 24x7 because of the lack of help from my husband........then i became addicted to percocet..........i had never felt so much energy, when taking the percocet, I would be up at 3 in the morning, cleaning the laundry room, meals were always prepared, housework always done, yard work always done and children taken care of.......I was becoming the model housewife......all thanks to percocet...........it got so bad, that I was stealing the percocet from my sister in law.....because i was running out of excuses for a script from my doctor...........but at the time, my family was happy to see that i had turned around.........but ofcourse they became suspicious when the pills missing started to go noticed.....I had never been one to take pills and now thank Paxil for ruining my life, because as you see, i have lost my family over this......my husband didn't understand what I was going through, even though I had told him, i knew i had a problem and needed help and left with the boys, and I couldn't find them for over 2 weeks....he used this addiction to paxil and percocet against me in the courts and now has full custody of my two boys.....This ofcourse brought me to the realization, that I needed to go off all meds to bring myself back to reality........well, ofcourse, my doctor doesn't tell me there are withdrawl symptoms of paxil and literally, i wanted to die..........had it all planned out............was going through the daily zaps in my head, constant sleeping, headaches, the feeling of going crazy.......avoided seeing my two boys on the weekends when i had visitation......it got to the point, where I did not leave my house for over 2 weeks and slept 23 hours out of the day............until my good neighbour took me to emerg and i found the doctor that saved my life.....I explained all the symptoms and he prescribed me prozac for 14 days and what do you know, the symptoms went away and i felt sane again.........My ex still has a hard time understanding what I went through and what paxil did to my body and mind..........that will never change...........but now I am faced with the anxiety attacks again, and feel like it is all starting again....and have been prescribed celexa, had an allergic reaciton to it, so now presribed effexor.....took just one pill, very, very sick and felt worse than before....so now stuck....on whether to continue taking it and hope for the best or just deal with it, without going insane.......thank god, i know have a supportive fiance, who understands what I am going through.......PLEASE HELP.....ANY ADVICE ON WHETHER I SHOULD CONTINUE TAKING THIS PILL THAT IS SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER OR JUST DEAL WITH THE DAILY ANXIETY AND PANIC AND HOPE IT GOES AWAY AT SOME POINT IN MY LIFE............

[mommaroo]

I can readily understand your concerns and your desire to feel normal again! My daughter has been on celexa for about 5 years and is [i]afraid[/i] to go off of it for fear of having anxiety attacks again.

My husband has not taken Paxil for 1 week--his temper is very short--to say the least--and he curses from morning till night! Another woman would probably give him the whole bottle of pils to shut him down--lucky he has me!

I have done a lot of research--do you know that in Europe these drugs are not prescribed like they are here? Think about it--how many people do you know who have been diagnosed with anxiety? How many are on some form of prescription medication?
There is a natural alternative--and my husband will be starting it tomorrow---900 mg per day of St. John's Wort ( 300mg three times a day.) I am considering adding Valerian Root in 3 weeks, depending on how the St. John's Wort works.

Unfortunately, it seems that the medical community and the FDA are in bed with the pharmaceutical industry--Overprescribing of risky drugs, and the FDA approving the mktg and sale of them!

If I were in your shoes I think I would look for a doctor who practices alternative or holistic medicine- all the anti-anxiety/depression drugs affect the brain in the same way--they are all BAD!

[momof2]

In 1992, I was a victim of rape. I became very depressed and tearful as a result, which is a NORMAL reaction to such a horrible crime.
My doctor prescribed prozac which seemed to work at that time. Later on, I started having off and on thoughts of killing myself. I started spending money that I did not have to spend. I started not caring about anything or anyone and had an I don't care attitude. I lost my house and everything I had, because I did not care. I became so tired that often I would fall asleep at a red light. Once I started falling asleep driving when I was going to pick up my son at school 10 minutes away. I pulled over and slept for 2 hours! I even went to the doctor about my excessive tireness and not one time did any doctor suggest it was the antidepressats making me too tired to properly care for my kids and hold down a job. Believe me, I had never been like this as I had always cared about bills and such and never had to sleep so much. I had 2 small kids at this time as well. It seem like I spent the best years of their life under the spell of either paxil, prozac, zoloft and etc. I had never been in a mental ward in a hospital but I started spending more and more time in the mental hospital. I would get sucidal and the docs would up my dose. I realized one had to wein off the drug early because I figured all the zapping and etc was from going off the meds. I would wein myself off. I would go back to the doctor and get fussed at for going off of my meds, so they would prescribe more and I would take more. I felt like the meds were making me crazy but the doctors convinced me I was crazy and needed the antidepressants.
In 2003, once again I was hospitalized with sucidal problems. The thouths of wishing myself dead never left while I was on any of those drugs.
It was after my discharge from the hospital when I started doing reasearch on all the medications I was taking. I saw all of the problems and side effects these drugs caused people so I wein myself off of the antidepressants because I was a victim of all of those horrible side affects.
Right now I am depressed, but that is OK. I am going through some tough times and it is normal to be depressed during tough times. One thing I am NOT, is sucidal NOR am I carzy without the drugs. I would rather get through the depression anyday and have my mind, energy and the desire to live than to be on a drug that only ruined my life during the time I should had been focusing on watching my kids grow up. THOSE DRUGS RUINED MY LIFE AND RUINED THE BEST PART OF MY KIDS GROWING UP! I lost my job, my paid for home and everything because I did not care while on those antidepressants!
I hate those drugs and I really feel they should be made illegal! Yes, they helped my depression by causing me not to care about anything, I was crazy and sucidal because of thise antideprassants..that is not normal either!
Right now while I write this, as I said, I am going through some depression but I will be alright! I am NOT sucidal and I am NOT crazy! I do care about my life and those around me and I will never subject myself to the spell of prozac, paxil,zolof or any such mind altering drug again!
I know if my depression gets too severe, I will go talk to a counselor. Talking things out is the best way to treat deprsession anyway!
I hope someone somewhere will do something about these horrible drugs that are being legally pushed on those who may just need a listening caring ear.

[stoppingby]

I have been off of Paxil for 2 years and Celexa for over a year. The zaps and buzzing head have never completely gone away and show no signs of diminishing. The doctor said the side effects go away after 2 weeks and he never heard of my situation before. My doctor said the only way to get rid of the zaps is to start taking the medication again. Anyone else heard of this?

[tiffany]

I have not taken Paxil in over 7 years and I still have the "zapping" in my head. Also, I never had any issues with anxiety and since taking Paxil my anxiety is so horrible that I have to drink in order to make it through a day. Paxil ruined my life.

[likenother613]

I have experienced many of what you people have. Paxil is the devil and it has ruined a large part of my life. I have been on and off SSRI's for 12 years...I was treated for diseases that don't even exist. These mental health doctors never diagnosed me with a make believe disorder, just said I had a "chemical embalance". Interesting that there is NO TEST to prove one has a "chemical embalance " of the brain is there??? NOOO THERE IS NOT! These peice of shit doctors (psychiatrists) are frauds! They ruined my fuckin life for financial gain. The more pills they push the more money they make. Well thanks a lot assholes, because of you I will never be the same! Was the money worth it? Was it worth causing pain and suffering to an innocent child? I had so many reactions and effects from these drugs... Diareah, weight loss, weight gain, heart palpitations, sore chest, tightening of chest, nausea, vomitting, severe headaches. HORRIFYING brain zaps, hypertention, depression, suicidal thoughts, RAGE, panic attacks, shortness of breath and the most scary of all....MEMORY LOSS. I have a hard time remembering those 12 years. There were times i would get so ANGRY that i would throw a complete fit and blank out. When I would come down,I had no idea what had just happened. I would realize that somehow I burned yet another bridge. Until the point I had NO ONE.