Stupid Paxil

Anyone had that stupid drug in the past? I was put on it 5 or 6 months ago for panic attacks… and now I am trying to get off it.
I am so f*ing tired of it… and I think it is trying to mess with my head.
I have pains in my lower abdomen that are worsened by stretching, my chest hurts randomly…
I figure it is withdrawl from that crap, but who knows…?
I was on 20 mg per day for a couple of months. I dropped to 10 mg but sometimes I forget to take it… and I have not taken it in 4 days. I am wondering if I should bother to cut it into 5 mg doses or not?
I think I am over the panic, hell, I know I am not gonna die. I just yell in my head STOP when it starts getting up there.

Sorry for the rambling, had to get it off my chest@!

Any anxiety drug you have to slowly wean off of it, staying at a lower dose for a week at a time. It is not an easy ride. If you are still struggling you might want to try another drug, but it is hard to find the right one. A chronic disease leads to anxiety and depression, so if you still feel awful you really need to find something that works for you.

Not a bad idea to cut into 5 mg. the psycho drugs are best tapered off very slowly. This is a case were the cure is worst than the disease.

From personal experience…the slower you wean the less side effects you will have. If it is anxiety you are dealing with (such as the chest and stomach pain) you may want to wean slowly off of your paxil and request a script for a small dose of an anti-anxiety medication (such as xanax) that you only take on an “as needed” basis such as when you are very anxious or have a panic attack.
As for your quote that “you are not going to die and you just tell the panic to STOP” that is the beginning stage of overcoming anxiety so great job! Another thing I can recommend is “The Linden Method” it is EXCELLENT!! It is a book with CDs that you order offline. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT to anyone with anxiety issues!!

Thank you lil Mama! I will look into it. I know that it is anxiety based… or so that;s what’s been told to me after going to the hospital emergency room a million times. That is why they put me on paxil. To me, it is like peeling a potato with a sledgehammer! Works, sort of, but why destroy everything else?

You can’t go cold turkey on these things. The withdrawal from it can be very dangerous. Reduce your dose every three or four days until you’re off. Good luck. There are other options out there. My partner was on Paxil and he hated it.

I would keep tapering off. I tried to stop cold turkey and ended up on the drugs again. I found that wellbutrin worked so well that i have not been on anti-anxiety drugs since. I had horrible luck with paxil but doctors kept putting me on it. I was so glad i refused and was able to try wellbutrin. So nice to not be on any drugs at this point.

I have been on this drug in the past. I had to stop taking it as it gave me suicidal thoughts and made me extremely loopy. I am now on buspar and no side effects. I was surprised.

I was prescribed something at one point for anxiety, although I never got around to taking it. Nor fullfilling the script for that matter. When I get a bit anxious (coding for hours, troublshooting an unresolvable issue, etc) which happens from time to time, I take bach rescue pastilles (hippie crap) for when I get anxious. Whether it works or not doesnt matter as much as if I think it does. That and it does seem to help. Plus I like the gummies.



When I asked my GP about the script for anxiety, I also asked about how common it was. He said he writes scripts by request for anxiety more than any other drug he prescribes. I was kind of taken aback by that.

Yah, that’s one thing that I can’t stand; the one-size fits all paradigm! I didn’t need the damn drug, I needed to know that everything was going to be alright. Talking to a psychologist helped in that.

In my case talk therapy is infinitely better than chemicals. The only one I indulge in is alcohol and very little because I make a dismally depressed drunk. Zopiclone for sleep reasonably ok. And diazepam on occasion to lower the BG due to stress. All the other psycho take my brain and scramble it thereby making the depression way worst. I am a firm believer in " Je pense donc je suis"…

Paxil is such a bad drug. My doctor was involved on the research for Paxil and believes it should never be prescribed because it is among the worst of all drugs to get off of – horrible withdrawal. There are much better medications out there that don’t have this problem and are far more easily managed. Definitely don’t just stop - you’ve got to ween yourself off slowly. I too have had the panic attack thing from time to time. So I empathize big time. Paxil is an SSRI – an anti-anxiety drug would be much better and you don’t have to build up or continually take it. They are addictive but if you take it only when anxiety is really bad, you don’t have to worry about that. It sounds like you are well on your way to overcoming the panic – telling yourself to stop and it working is HUGE. The other thing that I have really helpful is yoga becasue of the breathing – breathing and breathing more and more properly every day enables you to control anxiety a bit with breath when it hits. Unfortunately, people with diabetes so often battle depression and anxiety is a common symptom. But it sounds like you are really doing well already. Take the time to pat yourself on the back for that – this stuff sure isn’t easy.