Posted: 1/1/2005 10:03:03 AM EDT
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Is there a miracle drug out there to help you with depression that can take the place of Paxil? A close relative of mine is going through hell taking Paxil, and he decided to stop cold turkey about 5 days ago. Today after breakfast, he broke down in tears and cried out loud, for no apparent reason; it was pretty scary to say the least. He wants to stop taking Paxil, Why? I have no idea, he did not say. Any advice I can give him? I think he is being taking Paxil for a long time. |
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I took Paxil for over a year. You should NEVER stop cold turkey. That is an inhibitor drug that stops certain chemicals in your brain. You should wean off it because if not ... those chemicals will make your senses go haywire. Quit Paxil Complete Guide for Paxil Withdrawl Tapering Off Your Dosage My Paxil Nightmare Dangers of Paxil Withdrawl People Magazine Study On Paxil and Withdrawl Tell your friend that if the withdrawl has stopped to go back to his doctor and check to see if Wellbutrin or another type of anti-depressant will work. If he's still experiencing withdrawl, tell him to take half the prescribed dosage every night for two weeks, then cut that in half for two weeks. He should be able to stop then! |
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Yup, taper down. He needs to talk to his doc. FWIW, this would be an awful time of the year to decide to stop an antidepressant and I would tell any patient wanting to go off to wait until spring or summer and then taper off. He should talk to his doc ASAP but I am sure they will want him to get back on it for now. I prescribe these for people but to be honest I would never take any of this shit. For some though the alternative is poor. Sadly, so many people just were never taught how to deal with life. I firmly believe that while depression is due to a "chemical imbalance" that we make our own chemical imbalance. Neuroreceptor release is based on which neurons we stimulate in which ways. IOW the more you use a pathway or synapse the more easily it is triggered. WE have just scratched the surface of neuropsychology IMO and have much to learn. I am convinced I will be demonstrated to be correct in this assumption. |
| You should back off them the way you started on them. No doctor I know gives max or heavy dose - it is a gradual build up, he should reverse the original process. To stop taking meds is like self prescribing - which you should not do with out guidance and approval of a doctor. |
Especially psychoactives that require "loading doses" to become effective. +1. The wife was on it whe she was working @ fortune 50 companies for anxiety. Now that's she's working for a churchs she doesn;t need it anymore. Our MD took her off s-l-o-w-l-y, over about 10 days or so. |
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+1 on the tapering off. Paxil is the first one they found problems with when people were trying to get off it. "Problems" including suicide attempts and violent behavior -- it's NOT easy. Your relative might want to ask close family to keep a serious watch on him, and he will definitely want to keep a close watch on himself. Since he's been on it for a long time, his brain has probably adjusted its own chemical balance in response ("hey, the serotonin is staying around longer, so I don't need to produce as much of it!" -- large collection of nerve cells talking to themselves), so he will have a hard time ahead. |
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I dont wanna hear anyone knocking paxil. It's a frikkin godsend for me. Changed my life. Of course, each person is different but I think that people who don't like it tend to be the people who didn't really need it in the first place while the people who do like it tend to be those who didn't have to 'convince' a doc to give it to them. And stopping paxil is just like starting. Doc said if i wanna stop do it just the same as the begining, quarter dose for a week, half dose for a week, three quarters for a week, then full. I guess he thinks ten days isn't enough...... I've heard HORROR stories bout going cold turkey that are giving this really really really helpful and safe drug a bad name. 
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What leads you to believe your over it ??? And that is not jocularity . |
That's really sweet that it worked for you, but it doesn't affect everyone in the same way. Problems with it are well documented now, including suicides while trying to get off it. It was apparently not working for bear3351's relative.
Try again. Just because it worked for you doesn't meant that every single person out there who is depressed has exactly the same neurochemistry problem that you have. Be glad it worked for you. There are thirty-some available treatments out there, and some people have to go through a trial-and-error on a bunch of them before finding one that works without inducing too many side-effects for them to bear. A relative of mine was put on Prozac; he experienced the "violent behavior" side effect (about 1.5% of patients, IIRC). They had to strap him into a hospital bed until they could get him off it. A friend went on Zoloft for a while and couldn't "get it up" for the entire time; he scrapped it and went on Wellbutrin. You can probably find similar stories about every single one of these medications.
That's what they said about thalidomide.  Just kidding. Yeah, it's great if it works for you. If it doesn't, then after being on it for a while for a "trial", you've got TWO 800lb gorillas on your back instead of just one.
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I respectfully disagree. Doctors are WAAAAY to freely giving in to patients who think their problems can be solved with paxil. Paxil does what it does as advertised - it is a completely different drug than zoloft or wellbutrin or prozac. I'm no doctor and can't get into the different seratonin inhibitors, but suffice to say that I PERSONALLY THINK (not claiming as fact, so take it easy) that zoloft and wellbutrin and all teh others in that class are anti-depressants that need treatment along with medication to work. BUT paxil is an anti-anxiety drug that is too often prescribed for straight depression. And I think that's where the MANYMANY reports of suicide come in. I PERSONALLY THINK it's something about people who need zoloft or prozac being given paxil that does it...... Anyhow, with any drug you'll have a SMALL percentage of those with side effects, but I think that the amount of adversely affected Paxil takers is testament to misdiagnoses on the doctors part rather than the drug itself. (I say this as many in my family and a couple of friends are all pleasantly on it and it really changed our life.) |
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Hi guys and gals, I spoke to him this morning and he seems OK, he did get in touch with his Dr. yesterday, on New YD (must be a good DR.) he is going to see him Tuesday, and started taking the medicine again, by the way he is up to 60 mg. a day, is that a lot? Anyway, thanks for all you comments, it was a little scary seeing someone brake down in tears like if someone had died, for no reason, he still doesn't know why it happened, it just does. I suggested asking the Dr. about the alternative meds. you have written about. He wants to stop taking Paxil. |
Ugh, Anyone trying to get off of "anti-depressants" has my sympathy. Especially those that have gotten it prescribed by a "pill-pushing" doctor. Prozac/Welbutrin/Zoloft/Paxil: ritalin for adults (in regards to how freely some idiot doctors prescribe it to their patients) 
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That stuff really fucked up my sister.... She knew it was messing her up and she did the same thing.... after she stopped taking it cold turkey she attemped suicide! To this day she will tell you that it messed her up, but it was 10 times worse when she just stopped taking it. You relative needs to see a DR. now! |
60mg is about the highest dose I've seen anyone on. I don't go that high with Paxil but I do Urgent Care now and only start patients on these meds and then get them set up with a primary care MD, psych, etc if they need it, recommend excercise, getting a life, etc. One of the reasons I do Urgent Care is that I grew weary of the depression/anxiety/ADD all fricking day. Talk about burn out... As for alternative meds, all the SSRIs (Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, etc)work the same and all are useful for anxiety and depression. Effexor and wellbutrin are a little different but the point I am leading to is why stop something that works for something you are not sure will and a new set of potential side effects? Alot of the ideas I am seeing kicked around here simply make no sense IMO and some of the advice given here will only obstruct his quality of care and cause doubt between him and his physician. Your friend needs to see his Doc and follow his recomendations. Like I said, this would be the worst time of year to try to go off antidepressants. It's winter, the days are short with less sunlight, people are less acitve and you have the holidays to deal with(always tough on people with emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety). |
How is she doing now? Is she taking something else? |
It has been about 3 years since this has happened, she is much better now. She did have 1 "break down" since, and had to be admitted for a few days  But now she is almost back to her old self, but she still gets a little crazy once in a while. She is on all kinds of stuff now, and visits the shrink once a week. Atleast the this DR is pretty good, he trys to get her meds down, unlike most dr's that want to dish out more. |
Excuse my ignorance, but what is: Urgent Care? |
A Big + 1 Reactions to medication vary from patient to patient. He needs to talk to a psychiatrist , not a general practitioner. He may need to stay on the same meds at a different dose or change meds all together. Don't trust the family DR. for advice in this area, they do not have adequate training. One again, have him see a good psychiatrist. Good luck. |
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Living in southern California, it sometimes seams like everyone is on anti-anxiety meds. I talk to a couple dozen people a day who are taking some form of benzo, SSRi, or anti anxiety tranq. From thousands of interviews, welbutrin XL seems to be one of the better ones as far as the side effects go. Less risk of sexual side effects, a mild stimulant effect, and some weight loss. |
Yup. Sad commentary on our society. I think alot of it is really due to poor parenting and ridiculous expectations.
I disagree. This is not rocket science for most patients. I do try to direct them to a psychologist I know for counseling, goal setting, etc but not social workers for sure as I see NO benefit in that. As for psychiatrists, some do need that but not many and most who get into psychiatric care at level get vastly overmedicated IMO. A couple of antidepressants, antipsychotics, antiseizure meds and maybe benzo's as well. Like I said, some need that but not many. Most will benefit from a more common sense approach and a primary care doc will understand their other issues and meds. In this case specifically, he has gottne good care it sounds like. The fact that he is noncompliant and did something stupid on his own without consultation is not his doctor's fault.
Walk-in and emergent care. About the only thing we don't do in my clinic is acute trauma such as that brought in by ambulance. It is mostly acute injuries, a variety of illnesses and infectious disease but it pretty much runs the gamut. Alot of people come for routine care, which we try to discourage, but they are people who just don't have their act together enough to keep appts and maintain continuity of care. There is no substitute for knowing your patient. |
| I have taken Paxil and it usually is about 4 weeks of discomfort until you seeing positive results.Doctor said it could be up to six weeks. During that time you cant sleep,eat,have sex,and your brain is racing .After that there was a huge positvie difference in my life.I have quit cold turkey before ,and the only thing I experienced was brain"shivers",dizziness.The reason I stopped was because I "thought" I no longer needed them ,and I could do it with out a pill.Well about 6 months later I am getting back on. |