You have had a lot of other good comments in the thread. But I would like to add some more. First, this may make me unpopular, but I am not a big fan of GP’s prescribing antidepressants. You didn’t say you saw a psychiatrist, so I am assuming you did not. Go see a psychologist, (a good one) and be evaluated.
I have been on antidepressants since I was 17, and there is a very long line of mental illness in my family. If you aren’t sure you don’t need an antidepressant don’t take it. It can start a very long cycle of medication after medication after medication. All of them have side effects and IMO, eventually your body grows to depend on them.
Also, as far as Paxil is concerned, it is one of the few drugs, according to some psychiatrists I have talked to, where the drowsiness does not wear off. Even after a month. For some the benefits are substantial and that is great. For others, they arent. But if you really are depressed, there are many other drugs out there.
Argh! As soon as I can, I’m calling this doctor and asking him if I can come off this crap.
I know, you guys said it has to be done slowly, rather than an immediate full stop. I’ll see what he says. If he wants me to do half a pill a day, no problemo.
But this is driving me bonkers! I have trouble sleeping, even though I’m tired frequently - I’m more tired than before, if you can believe it. Stupid pill.
And on top of THAT, there’s something else I can’t really do anymore, but that’d be way too much info for this thread.
I concur with those who have asked if thie doc did any bloodwork,e tc. to rule out other causes for your tiredness. Also concur with the rec to get this type of med from a psychiatrist rather than a GP. Good luck!
I’m coming late to this thread. I was away. Sorry.
I’ve been on Paxil for a couple of years. I find it very helpful. I have few side effects–mostly a reduced libido. I echo what the others have said–don’t quit it cold turkey. The biggest problems I have with it are when I forget to take it. I get very dizzy.
Like the above posters, I have to wonder whether you’re depressed. When I began to suspect I was depressed, I took a few online diagnostic quizzes. All of them advised me to see a doctor. Obviously, online diagnostic quizzes aren’t what you should base a diagnosis on, but they can be helpful in sorting out your symptoms. I went to the doc, and as it turns out, I have a classic case of dysthymia. I have been to 3 shrinks over the last few years, and there has been no dissention about my diagnosis. I feel confident that I know what’s wrong with me. If you don’t feel confident in the diagnosis, you should seek additional opinions.
That’s very interesting, lauramarlane, as I seem to have had the same experience with Paxil. It hauled me out of the severe, deep depression I was in, but a couple of months ago I realized that I seemed to be sliding back. The doc had mentioned that we might need to increase the dosage, but before I managed to get back to see him I started having severe heartburn, upper back and chest pains, etc. I had heartburn when I first started taking the Paxil (it’s one of the side effects) but only for a week or so, and I’ve never been prone to heartburn in my life, so went back to the doc where they did a bunch of tests to make sure I wasn’t having a heart attack :eek: or something, took me off of the Paxil, and started me on Prilosec.
Anyway, the funny thing is that I started feeling better almost as soon as I stopped the Paxil - like it had started making me worse, instead of better. And the doc seems to think that my other symptoms (heartburn, etc.) were caused by the Paxil - but it seems strange that it would start suddenly like that after 6 months of no problems.
Unfortunately, I can feel the downhill slide starting again, so I’ll definitely need something else for a while longer, maybe permanently. Of course, the Paxil also prevented me from having hypotensive episodes for the first time in my life, and I’d kind of like to learn to live without suddenly becoming partially blind and so dizzy that turning my head is like being on a roller coaster ride.
I know exactly what you mean coosa! It started me on such a spiral of medications that just kept screwing with my head that I finally said ENOUGH! I continued with therapy and have been feeling great since–not that I don’t have days, but everyone has days. And I know that stopping completely is not the answer for everyone, but in my case I think medication was prescribed when it wasn’t needed and that’s why it didn’t work properly for me.
I wish you luck and hope you find something that works well for you!
Thanks for bumping the thread, lauramarlane. I was going to post this morning anyway!
I finally called the doctor today and expressed my concerns. I told him I really was having trouble handling the side effects and asked if I could be weaned off the medication. He agreed.
I took half a pill last night and will take the other half tonight (I was doing one full pill each night - 20 mg). Then I’m to skip a day. He said I could ease off it over the next 4-5 days.
Congratulations, dantheman, I hope this works out well for you!
I assure you that even if you don’t find out what had initially made you feel run down, once you’re off the Paxil your hand won’t be falling asleep anymore
I was on Paxil for almost 4 years and tapered off this past spring. I too had read the horror stories from the lawsuits, about which I am skeptical - by their nature, these seem to be extreme, highly atypical reactions. But there’s also no question that you can’t go cold turkey on this one.
My withdrawal wasn’t too bad. I had hoped to use the liquid form to taper really gradually, but my pharmacy never managed to get it in - instead, I used a pill slicer. A lot.
Bearing in mind that I’m neither a physician nor pharmacist - based on what I’ve found from others’ experiences and my own, I would suggest at each stage dropping by no more than the lesser of 1/4 of your maximum dose, or 5 mg. (In my case, these were one and the same, since my max was 20 mg.) The total process took about two months, and went about like this:
15 mg : 10 days
10 mg: 14 days
5 mg: 14 days
2.5 mg: 14 days
The only bad day I had was in the drop from 15mg to 10 mg, which a couple of people had told me was the hardest drop when you start at 20. I had made the switch on a Friday; the following Sunday I had a really serious case of the zaps (these are odd, electric-y feelings, kind of like a very mild shock - tolerable, except when they’re happening every ten seconds for much of a day). Toughed it out and the next day I was fine. I might have been able to avoid even that day by taking more time at the 15mg level.
It’s important to have an accurate diagnosis. Many physical and psychological syndromes have fatigue as one effect.
SSRIs and other psychotropic medications can be very helpful for depression; a good diagnosis is still needed, and not all medications work well for all people.
It’s not clear that SSRIs or other medications are a magic bullet without side effects.
In addition,
Not all doctors prescribing are psychiatrists–GPs do a large amound of prescribing of psychotropics. It’s not unreasonable to seek an expert opinion.
Medication is not the only effective treatment for depression. NIMH studies suggest that medication plus cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is most helpful. Psychotherapy alone, especially cognitive-behavioral, is very effective. (That said, I should also say that it’s easier to standardize and measure effects of cognitive-behavioral therapies as compared to others.)
Medications are overprescribed. When I characterized my cat’s meow as annoying in a casual conversation with the vet, he tried to prescribe an SSRI for the cat.
