Paxil withdrawal settlement
Common Questions and Answers about Paxil withdrawal settlement
paxil
You can't generalize from your experience to everyone's experience, but telling everyone now is a little late. The Paxil withdrawal scandal hit over a decade ago, the company's already been sued and paid out its settlement, and any practicing doc that doesn't know the difficulties of this med by now is incompetent. Look, Paxil destroyed my life. I'm four years into my Paxil withdrawal and it doesn't look like I'll ever recover.
My doc stated that I could switch over to Lexapro from Paxil so I took both for 2 weeks then dropped Paxil all together. Could I still be feeling the affects of Paxil withdrawal? I felt good after 2 weeks and even tried to come down on my Klonopin a couple of days after my paxil ended. Mistake! Just wanting to know if anybody had the same issues and how long do I need to plan on suffering? This is getting old and I'm ready to feel like my old self again.
Put him on the internet, type in Paxil withdrawal, and make him sit there and read. And why would you ever go off this med cold turkey? Why does anyone still do this after all the lawsuits and revelations and ten years of publicity?
Try taking some fish oil and adaptogenic herbs like ashwandha to help with the Paxil withdrawal, exercise, keep active. Good luck.
Heroin in far worse physiologically, and Paxil far worse emotionally to withdraw from. And Paxil withdrawal can last a whole lot longer. But the reason it's not addictive is, to be technically considered addictive, you have to need to continually increase the dose to get the same effect. That's not true of ssris. But addiction is actually a medical term that has found it's way into our common lexicon in all kinds of erroneous ways.
I am a 20 year old, 5'2", 115lb. female and for the past year or so I've been on Paxil, but my entire experience with Paxil is that it makes me nauseous and shake no matter how long I take it for. My body can't seem to get over the side-effects, so for a while I was only taking the Paxil every three to four days (they were extended-release pills) and I seemed to be alright. But for the past few weeks I decided to try to get off Paxil completely.
I'm trying to get off Paxil by cross tapering with Prozac to minimize withdrawal symptoms. Right now I'm on 10mg paxil. but I'm not sure how to proceed? My doctor said to take 20mg prozac along with 10 paxil for a month which I don't agree with. Thats because I think if prozac stays that long in my system I will also have trouble getting off of it. So my plan is:
Week 1) 10mg paxil 10mg prozac.
Week 2) 5mg paxil 20mg prozac.
Week 3) 0mg paxil 20mg prozac. then stop.
I also take Paxil for a sleep disorder (depression-related insomnia) and have for 11+ years. It works wonderously, but I gained 30+ lbs when I started the medication and have tried for years to lose it, unsuccessfully. I will lose some weight - and believe me, it takes an enormous amount of exercise and effort - but inevitably gain it back because Paxil makes my appetite so strong.
I've been on Paxil for approximately seven years, starting at 60mg and tapering down to 30mg as of two years ago. I'm still on that dose. I've experienced the withdrawal symptoms before, when I've forgotten to take my medicine, as well as when I've been in the process of decreasing my dose, but lately, I've been feeling the withdrawal symptoms when I have been taking my medicine regularly.
I have been on Paxil CR for 2 years now, and my highest dosage was 37.5 mg about 5 or 6 months ago. Over the past 6 months I have SLOWLY been reducing my dosage as I feel Paxil CR has not been the right drug for me. I would reduce the dosage about every month and a half. About 1.5 months ago, I reduced my dosage from 12.5 mg to 6 mg. Around this time, I started having EXTREME fatigue and chronic, unbearable nausea. I have had a colonoscopy and endoscopy but both were completely normal.
The Zoloft, as you discovered, doesn't get rid of Paxil withdrawal, so you have no idea what's causing this -- the Paxil or the Zoloft. That's the downside of moving immediately from one med to another without completing a nice slow taper from the one first. Especially Paxil, which is known to have a strong withdrawal. If the Zoloft proves problematic, taper it down slowly; don't do this again.
My own advice is to taper down very slowly on the Paxil if you want to stop taking it before taking another med. Effexor will not necessarily substitute for Paxil, so you could find yourself suffering Paxil withdrawal and thinking it's a side effect of Effexor, nor should you be taking both at the same time since that could lead to an overload of serotonin. Do you have a psychiatrist or a regular doc?
First of all, I don't think Zoloft is approved for use in pregnancy either. Second, how quickly did you quit using Paxil? Switching to Zoloft won't help the withdrawal from Paxil, which is one of the most difficult medications to stop taking particularly after that long. It needs to be done very slowly -- after that long it might take months and months.
I was on Paxil for a few months and came off and experienced massive withdrawal, worse then my previous Loratab addiction. I came off cold turkey but immediately switched to Zoloft. I was on a high dose of Paxil. The only ache I had was a massive headache 24/7. Massive!! I went back on Paxil for two weeks and I'm off again but it's odd that I have no headache but I have the most horrible back pain. I never had this before starting Paxil.
s most likely withdrawal from Paxil, which is known to have strong withdrawal effects. Taking another med even in the same class won't necessarily, or even usually, do anything about withdrawal from a prior med. It's also very difficult to tell which effect is withdrawal and which is a side effect of a new med if you just switch from one to another without tapering off the first med before trying the second.
I have been through withdrawal from another antidepressant (not Paxil, but in the same class of drugs) and so has my mother. Yes, it can take years, in some cases -- especially if you were on the Paxil for years before starting the taper. One rule of thumb is that the withdrawal will take approximately one month for every year that you were on an antidepressant. But everyone is an individual. The process takes as long as it takes for you, and however long it takes is okay.
I am a 20 year old, 5'2", 115lb. female and for the past year or so I've been on Paxil, but my entire experience with Paxil is that it makes me nauseous and shake no matter how long I take it for. My body can't seem to get over the side-effects, so for a while I was only taking the Paxil every three to four days (they were extended-release pills) and I seemed to be alright. But for the past few weeks I decided to try to get off Paxil completely.
and I begin obsessively reading about the thousands of Paxil withdrawal horror stories that are out here on the web. Websites like paxilprogress.org and quitpaxil.org are full of people that have tried to quit or are in the process of weaning off of this drug, and they are all going through absolute hell. It really scares me. It's an odd feeling when you realize that you are afraid of the very thing that has helped you for so many years.
I guess my question to you is this.
The question for the poster is, has this been continuous from when you stopped the Paxil (and why, after all this time and litigation would anyone cold turkey off Paxil?). If so, then yes, you're still in withdrawal. You, too, should then research Protracted Withdrawal Syndrome and then ask yourself why at this late date in the very tragic Paxil story you went off it cold turkey. Even tapering off this drug can cause problems.
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