PAXIL WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS MIMIC HEROIN WITHDRAWAL!

[Jaime]

I am suffering from Paxil withdrawals.  Below is more information that the doctors won't tell you!!!

Tell your Doctors, and perhaps they will make the connection! How hard has it been for you to wean yourself from Paxil? It's as agonizing as coming off of heroin..and shares most of the same symptoms and long term effects! While researching an answer to all of the awful symptoms I experienced during my Paxil withdrawal, I was unable to find any medical resources listing Paxil as a source of these particular symptoms we all experience. Guess where I kept finding my search results directing me to? Heroin withdrawal. The symptoms associated with heroin withdrawal that are similar to Paxil withdrawal are: nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, restlessness, and leg movements, or jerking. While heroin produces muscle and bone pain, insomnia, and cold flashes with goose bumps ("cold turkey"), which are not identical to Paxil withdrawal, the Paxil symptoms of headache, "electric shocks", dizziness and hot flashes as well as psychotic mental state (violent anger/hopeless depression, unwanted suicidal/homicidal thinking) are similarly debilitating and certainly result in the return to the use of the drug (paxil) in the same way that heroin produces that result! Most experts agree that the major withdrawal symptoms peak between 24 and 48 hours after the last dose of heroin and subside after about a week. However, some people have shown persistent withdrawal signs for many months. I think that most of us (the "experts" on paxil withdrawal!) would agree that, even with careful and lengthy periods of weaning off the drug, at least some of these frightening effects occur and are problematic in our lives for longer than the average heroin withdrawal duration of about a week! Most of us have found that, by the time a week has passed,off Paxil, the terrible sickness we feel has become so great, we are desperate to return to taking the drug again to alleviate the symptoms. And many often do return this way, again and again...simply because we can't afford to lose three weeks or more of work, withdrawing from a medication that Doctors routinely dismiss as not being a cause of such sickness (we all have a really bad case of the flu), or because we are so frightened by the strange, indescribeable physical and mental feelings of disassociation and nervous system "zaps" that we go back to the drug to restore clear thinking, fearing that we are "crazy"...especially since our doctors seem to have no understanding of any of these symptoms as relating to anything they have seen before.   I hope everyone who is serious about finding the truth about the drug Paxil and it's horrible withdrawal symptoms will be sure to notify their health care providers of all of the symptoms experienced with this drug and insist that the details be documented and reported to the manufacturer, distributors, pharmacists and anyone in the medical field who can process this information officially and end the notion that these symptoms are "hearsay", simply because the drug company has not chosen to make them "fact"! And the next time you feel, or someone tells you that withdrawing from Paxil is "not that bad", remember that you are in the throes of a withdrawal so severe. that few others, except heroin addicts, have experienced, and YES, IT IS BAD! But it can be survived!

: Shawn Allen

[pd]

I went on Paxil during the summer and I have decided to come off of the drug. The withdrawal symptoms are just terrible. I have never felt the way I am feeling right now. I do wish my physician had warned me about the side effects and withdrawal symptoms associated with Paxil. If I had known what I know now I would never have taken Paxil. To make matters worse I combined Paxil with Wellbutrin. I am still taking Wellbutrin but I did not realize that a side effect of Paxil and Wellbutrin is irritability. My level of irritability whilst on both antidepressants has prompted me to come off of Paxil. I think people should be well informed of the withdrawal symptoms of Paxil and I would like to list mine in the hope that this may be of use to someone else who is considering taking Paxil. My symptoms right now include: extreme dizziness to a point where I am no longer feeling safe behind the wheel of my car, headaches, difficulty getting to sleep at night, constantly craving liquids like water, sodas etc, extreme mood swings, tearful episodes, and big fluctations in body temperature (going from 'goose bumps' to sweating). I would urge anyone who is considering starting to go onto Paxil to think about these withdrawal symptoms and understand that they really do disrupt your life. I am 29 and I am an assistant professor. I have my whole life ahead of me and yet right now I am battling off thoughts of suicide, leaving my job etc.

Good luck to anyone else out there who is struggling with Paxil withdrawal, it is terrible, don't let anyone minimise your feelings because they are real, and until you've been on Paxil you cannot imagine what daily life is like when you're trying to come off of it.

PD.

[Jonathan]

I stopped taking Paxil almost a year ago because of the sexual side effects (delayed orgasm).  It took three tries over several months before I had the fortitude to get off of it completely.  The first couple of weeks were rough with "brain strobes" and sudden "elevator falls".  My mood was terrible but did improve.  After about 2 months things leveled off.  I'll not take it again because of the side effects and the withdrawl.  My Dr. acknowledged the sexual side effects but said that the withdrawl symptoms were due to my depression still being presant, not quitting the drug.  I'm sure he knows more about it than I do but it really doesn't matter what the reason, it was not pleasant.

[Lee]

Jaime,
  Hi.  HFHD doc just responded to my attempts here with the same denial that your doc did initially: "Paxil cannot cause what you are describing."  I found evidence from many reputable places in England and Australia that "know better." and forwarded it to local mental health office.  I hope there is a bit of consideration from "official sources" here in the US soon.  This is all very...,  "silly...."
                  Keep the faith.  Lee.

[Lee]

greetings,  Below is a response to an HFHS "answer" posted 10/1 re: paxil w/drawal that the system would not accept ('syntax error').
The saga continues...:  


Hell-o  
   Respectfully, I once worked in a rehab
probram and had to read and listen to many
descriptions of 'coming off' amphetimines and
heroin.  The similie (speed) is naturally not
_precise_.  There are too many congruities to
be coincidence, though.  There are so many
describing the same things.  I understand that
medical norms in the US do not consider this
w/drawal scenario a serious possibility.  
Things are very different in the UK and
Australia.  Perhaps "myopia" is not only a
patient anomaly.  Your comments are
appreciated, as an attempt to ease the
concern, a bit, but I am just curious enough
to keep an open mind.   Keep the faith,  Lee.
  (I am, for example, acquainted with one
person who was in the "loony bin" for 7 years,
sedated, for "schizo...."  Finally, a curious
physician discovered that she was not hearing
"voices," but tinnitus.  She is now fully
functional and happy.  It happens.)

[Nik]

I have found similar symptoms after abruptly stopping Paxil.
My docter switched me to another anti-depressive and assured me there would be no withdrawl, even though I told her the day after I stopped taking the Paxil that I was so dizzy I could hardly stand up. She did not agree that Paxil was the cause of my symptoms but had no other explanation.
In addition to extreme dizziness, I had fatigue and nervousness at the same time, and a "roller coaster" feeling between being exhausted and being unable to sit still. These symptoms went away after about 1 week, but I do believe that withdrawl to this drug is very real- as is obvious here- and should be taken more seriously by docters.
Thank you for speaking up on this matter

[captivedream]

I have been on Paxil and Lamictal, low doses of both, for nearly 8 years due to being diagnose with mild BD. I have decided to finally come off these meds on my own. I have no insurance, but because i am a nurse making decent money i do not qualify for a discounted rate just to see the doctor to get another refill every three months. I have known for several years now the problems with coming off Paxil. When i had to change doctors away from the original prescribing doctor, the new one said i did not need my 20mg Paxil a day and that i needed to wean off of it and increase my low dose of 50mg Lamictal to 100mg. I think he did this over only a week or two. When i had no more Paxil i went for over a week with only a total of 15 hrs sleep, the zaps i always felt down my arms and hands when i missed a few days, my head was fuzzy and i could not concentrate, and i got annoyed and angry at the smallest thing. He finally relented and put me back on it. I was very depressed at the time since i had recently started what was a nasty divorce and know i could not have handled these withdrawals, especially since i was alone without family or friends. I am finally at a better place in my life and am ready to do this. After reading this, and other sites tonight i know it will not be easy. I have warned my kids, but know it won't be easy on them. I also did not know why i am always tired and with a lack of motivation to get up and do things. I just want to sleep whenever i am not working. Even after only being up for 5/6 hrs i am ready to go to sleep again. I know i am not being the mother for my kids that i know i can be and am determined to get off this poison! Tonight is my first night of taking only 3/4 of my 20mg Paxil. I won't work on the lamictal til i, hopefully, feel better after coming off the Paxil. I cannot afford to stay on it, yet am scared it could affect my job, as i am a pediatric homehealth RN for a young special needs boy. I don't have insurance, and don't qualify for medical leave or sick days at the agency i work for, but i have to do this for myself and my children. Please wish me luck.

Khrisia