Paxil withdrawal flu
Common Questions and Answers about Paxil withdrawal flu
paxil
Something about this sounds fishy to me -- when I lost my health insurance for five years my former psychiatrist kept calling in my refills without seeing me. My understanding is that the requirement to see you is only for controlled substances, such as benzodiazapenes, but paxil, though it probably should be, isn't classified as an addictive drug. Therefore, your fear about the ER thinking you're an addict doesn't apply to this drug.
I quit paxil almost two weeks ago. I have the classic symptoms. Flu like feeling, ringing in my ears ,Anxiety Cold @ hot flashes.I took 2- 25mg tabs cr daily for 5 years. I stopped taking the 25mg tab @ night & continued with the other 25mg tab for about a week then quit. Now I know I have to gradually stop. 3days ago I couldn't handle it anymore. I talked to a pharmasist@ she said To continue with the 2 tabs again @After a month gradually lower the dosage.
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've been out of work and am no longer able to afford my abilify and effexor. I've slowly stopped taking both to the point that I am no longer taking them. However yesturday I got a low grade headache and started vomitting. At first I thought it was a flu but now feel it's withdrawal from effexor. T oday I was sick to my stomach and had a headache,but I also had my tongue in such pain I could barely eat. Is this symptoms of withdrawal from effexor?
Potential withdrawal symptoms include headache, muscle pain, lethargy and general flu-like symptoms. To avoid these withdrawal the mfg recommends a taper over 1-2 weeks. Do not stop taking abruptly. Always consult with a physician.
What kind of therapist? First, you didn't have OCD because there was no C, you just had O. Second, you quit Paxil without consulting a psychiatrist? It can be murder or it can be easy or in between, everyone's different, but it should never be done without careful weaning with a psychiatrist who understands Paxil withdrawal, and most don't. As to how long you'll suffer, nobody can tell you that because we all have different experiences and metabolisms.
I had a day or 2 of dizziness, but I got the flu 2 days after the switch, so... who knows, could have been flu dizzy or Paxil/Prozac dizzy... but it's gone now. Could it have been that easy a switch over for me? I have heard horror stories about stopping Paxil and even got a warning from my pharmacist about how hard it is to get off Paxil, even though she told me that since Prozac is in a similar "family" of medication the switch should be ok. Oh, I'm babbling now.
I have been taking 10/325 norcos for about 6 years now. Along with soma, flexural, Paxil and thank god ambien. I'm finally getting surgery in three weeks for full discectomy at 2 levels. Disc and bone growth are pushing into spinal chord. Anyways, I've recently, mon morning, stopped taking norco. Is it normal to feel hot, cold, sneezing ever second, aches, vertigo and straight up flu like symptoms?
I felt like I had the flu and very achy. Very bad withdrawal effects. I was then put on regular paxil 40 mg daily and I constantly had the eye zaps and strong depersonalization feelings like I was in a constant withdrawal.
I was then switched to Lexapro 20 mg. It seemed better than the Paxil but I was still getting the eye zaps and depersonalization but to a lesser extent.
t sound like withdrawal, it sounds like the Paxil was working and without it you still have the anxiety problem. Withdrawal symptoms are many and different for all of us, but they aren't the exact same thing we had before we went on medication. They're odd and they create different issues than we had before. So again, most likely, you're not ready to come off medication yet since you're problem hasn't been solved.
I've tried to get off Paxil recently and had the WORST problems. After researching and talking to people who have gotten off (or tried to get off) of the drug I am horrified that Paxil is still being prescribed. I am also AMAZED that a DOCTOR would actually say that this isn't dangerous, or that it isn't the PAXIL!?!? Are you kidding? How much were you paid to say that? Paxil DID help with my panic attacks. Did not cure or stop them, but helped.
Oh, I found out the hard way what you were all talking about. I lost the stupid bottle of K-Pins, my whole family searched the house inside out, and I figured I'd be cool until Monday when I could talk to my doctor. Instead, I ended up in the emergency room, having grand mal seizures over and over, and topped off with a mild heart attack. I seriously thought I had the flu, but when the whole bed starting shaking and the nurse ran off to get the doctor.
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.
50 up to three times a day, but I am completely scared of Xanax. I tried to do the every other day of 2.5 mg Paxil and had a full blown withdrawal episode from it, shivering so bad my teeth were chattering, hot and cold, nauseous, chest tightening sensation and panic of course. I am still taking the 2.5 mg Paxil daily cause I'm petrified to have that happen again. I plan on going down to 1.
Back when I was first taking Paxil I had gotten really sick and I had forgotten to take my Paxil for two days, and I got even worse. When i told my doctor I had forgotten to take my pills she freaked and told me It was the beginning of a withdrawal and I can NEVER do that again. and My advice if you are thinking of weaning off Prestiq, to talk to the doctor before you start. they will give you detailed information as to who to go off it.
Oh, and by the way, withdrawal is often called the Paxil flu. It's called that because Paxil is known to have the highest rate of withdrawal of any antidepressant, so it got called that, but it can happen when stopping any antidepressant. So it can feel just like the flu to stop one of these meds. That reaction usually goes away within a couple of weeks. The bad reactions are when you get new emotional problems from stopping a drug you didn't have before you started it.
Withdrawal affects most people to different extents upon discontinuation of these meds. So far, your symptoms are actually on the milder side, so just keep quitting slowly and soon it will pass. Think of it, as many have called it, the Paxil flu (even though you're on Lexapro).
If you can handle the Paxil withdrawal, then okay. If not, the only way to stop it is to go back on it and taper more slowly. Again, neither Zoloft or Effexor, which is an entirely different class of medication, will necessarily do anything about your Paxil withdrawal, and sobbing is definitely a sign of ssri withdrawal. I can't tell you what to do, I can only suggest, based on my experience and my reading, the proper way to go off a med, and your doc isn't doing it that way.
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.
You can slow down the taper and see if it helps, but the Paxil flu, as it's known, is pretty common when coming off any anti-depressant. Some say a hefty daily dose of fish oil helps, and some say when you finally quit taking some St. John's Wort can help, but most people will get some kind of withdrawal from these meds. Yours so far actually sounds fairly mild, but I would say you're probably tapering too quickly for you if cutting by half has already produced such discomfort.
Then Christmas comes I get the flu and boom goes my anxiety so with the New Years thought it might be best to try this switch since everytime I was getting sick I was having to increase paxil dosage. So my schedule to get off paxil and onto lexapro is as follows. I am also taking a 1/2 pill of .5mg Ativan nightly to help me sleep.
Week 1 Paxil 30mg.
Week 2 Paxil 20mg. Lexapro 5mg.
Week 3 Paxil 10mg. Lexapro 10mg.
Week 4 Lexapro 10mg.
Withdrawal differs depending on the individual. Some people have none, some have mild ones, some have permanent ones. That's why you taper off these drugs as slowly as necessary and, if it wasn't slow enough and the withdrawal is severe, you can go back on the drug at the last dose that felt fine and taper off more slowly. That being said, you can still get bad withdrawals from these drugs even if you do everything to avoid them.
Try taking some fish oil and adaptogenic herbs like ashwandha to help with the Paxil withdrawal, exercise, keep active. Good luck.
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