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COMING OFF PAROXETINE? ANY ADVICE?

Posted , 4 users are following.

anne28866
anne28866

Hi All,

I really need some help here. My partner has been on 50mg Paroxetine for 16 years and wants to come off it because of the side-effects it has on his sexual function.

He has consulted his GP today and she advised that he go on to another antidepressant which will

hopefully have less side-effects in this area.

I am concerned that he is being advised to reduce too quickly before he is transferred to another tablet. I feel that the programme of reducing by 10mg per week for the next 3 weeks is way too fast.

That would bring him down to 20mg a day!!!

Am I wrong to be concerned, to my mind this is too fast. I would be grateful of any advice you can offer.

Regards

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • judy1964
    judy1964 anne28866

    Posted

    I went off of it very very slowly and still had withdrawl, racing heart and feeling awful..stay calm and be patient

    • anne28866
      anne28866 judy1964

      Posted

      Thanks for that, How slowly did you come off this drug?

      I have found advice saying you should only come down 5mg/ day per MONTH???

      Any advice would help as it is not myself who is going through this but my partner.

    • judy1964
      judy1964 anne28866

      Posted

      I would say a month or so you will still probably have palpatations and feel off for a while. It took me about six months to feel like it was out of my system.

  • jeremy1979
    jeremy1979 anne28866

    Posted

    This is referred to as titrate or titration, he needs to reduce the amount he is taking, but his titration for this drug should be much less than 10mg per week. That fast a reduction is a crash course for anxiety and depression most likely. He should do smaller amounts, 5mg every two weeks is more common. Gives the brain more time to level out serotonin levels. Its most likely a 3-4 month process to properly come off. Sucks, but if you do it any faster its a s**t show normally. Maybe they can give him Xanax to help come off it for the first 3 weeks if they really want to drop 10mg a week. That would help him stay somewhat level

    • anne28866
      anne28866 jeremy1979

      Posted

      Thank you so much for your input jeremy, greatly appreciated. I thought they were bringing him down way too fast, the idea was to replace his medication with another having less undesirable side-effects.

      I sometimes wonder where this information comes from , the GP consulted the local mental health team and in my opinion they have served up a recipe for trouble and as you put it a s**t show.

      Having had a terrible experience coming off a benzodiazepine way too fast I am concerned. There really is no rush to come down so rapidly.

      Many Thanks

  • donna43685
    donna43685 anne28866

    Posted

    this sounds like a very fast taper and he'll bound to get withdrawal symptoms. I help run a Facebook group with is called paroxetine, seroxat other SSRI withdrawal with lots of people supporting each other if you'd like to join

    • anne28866
      anne28866 donna43685

      Posted

      Thanks very much for your reply. i will ask my partner if he would like to join your group.

      For the moment he is seeing how things go for him, 2 days in reduced from 50mg to 40 mg and we will see.

      I think it is way too rapid.

      Regards

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