Quitting Paxil cold turkey after 4 weeks?
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hello everyone, about 4 weeks ago I ended up in the Hospital due to some severe panic attacks I was experiencing due to my family problems and school. While at the Hospital the doctor I saw recommended I get on Paxil for a month and see how I do, so he started me on 10mg's the first week and to increase it till 40 mg's the fourth week. Well it's been 4 weeks now and I feel absolutley terrible with severe depression. I saw my doc today and he recommended a 2 week taper decreasing the does every couple days and said I should be fine. My question is, is it okay to just quit cold turkey since it's only been 4 weeks or should I attempt what he said or a different method? I only want to quit cold turkey due to how horrible this medication makes me feel, thank you for your time.
0 likes, 11 replies
jeremy1979 fleas49205
Posted
Do not quit cold turkey. I tried quiting cold turkey and I had some of the worst panic and anxiety until I took another one and some Seroquel to calm me down. You need to taper it slowly. A week at a time of less, like a week of 300 and a week of 20. Maybe even taper 5mg intervals. 10mg is a good amount for me for my anxiety and I'm 5'10 192 "b male that works out 5nights a week. 40 is a lot to just jump into in a month. Just my experience, hope it helps
jeremy1979
Posted
fleas49205 jeremy1979
Posted
Thank you Jeremy, my question is how long were taking the medicine before you tapered off? I'm wondering because I've only been taking it 4 weeks and don't know if the duration would lessen the blow of withdrawls
jimbourg8 fleas49205
Posted
No my friend it is never OK to just quit cold turkey with any drug. Severe withdrawal side effects can occur. Like your doc said it should be a slow tapering off. I would taper off even slower than he recommened. Listen to your body's reactions while you are tapering. Since you are allredy at a 40 mg/per day dose, perhaps start at 30 mgs per day for a week(thats just a suggestion) , then next week go down to 20 mg/per day, then following week, 10 mgs. Then 5 mg/ for a few days...etc...before finally stopping.......this is only a suggetion since I am not a health care professional. I do have edperience on tapering off meds though, I have done so recently and it has worked for me......I did taper greadually as I had taken gabapentin for 4 years and it took me 4 months to keeep gradually reducing my dose.....even then I still had some side effects but happily now I am off of it....so It can be done ...but please dont cold turkey it...good luck
fleas49205 jimbourg8
Posted
Okay jim I think I'm going to go with the two week taper he recommended orginally, i've noticed on another site it stated that if a patient has been taking it less than 8 weeks than a week or 2 week taper should suffice
jimbourg8 fleas49205
Posted
Much Luck. Jim
vanilla27 fleas49205
Posted
jimbourg8 vanilla27
Posted
amitie37620 fleas49205
Posted
Hi fleas,
go with your doctor's instructions or you could feel a lot worse.
fleas49205
Posted
So I thought I should update now that its been a week, I went with my gut and went cold turkey, I wouldn't recommend this method to anyone but I am really really stubborn. The worst side effect I experienced were the brain zaps but were mild at worst with some dizziness, along with nightmares and night sweats but it's nothing I couldn't soldier through, the withdrawl has subsided and I'm feeling so much better!
amitie37620 fleas49205
Posted
Hi Fleas,
I am glad to know you are ok.You certainly are brave that is for sure.