Thought I was off Paxil this week after stepping down slowly from 20mgs to 10 to 5mgs over three + months. Four days off completely and I started feeling truly horrible.

My head and arms zap with audible (to me, at least ) electric shocks every time I turn my head abruptly. I feel woozy and antsy. My skin is sensitive and crawling, and I'm homicidally annoyed -- I have the wherewithal to stay away from the pruning shears and the kitchen.

Have novel-length electric dreams with an all-star cast and plots like Gulliver's travels.

It all stated yesterday afternoon after I thought this was going to be easy. Was doing some repairs on a building I manage, dealing with several tenantsand I realized I best be done and get the hell away from people.

Feels like Heroin withdrawal (not as bad, to be honest, but close). Oh, but I'm not depressed, by golly.

I took Adderall late this morning, and it seems to help.

Anybody experience SSRI discontinuation syndrome and find that dex or Adderall was helpful?

when i weaned myself off serzone (another anti-depressant) i eventually took a piece every other day, then every three days then twice a week then eventually stopped completely. maybe with the paxil you shouldn't have gone from 5 mg per day to 0 mg. maybe you should do 5 mg every other day then 2.5 mg every other day etc. just a suggestion. maybe it'll take more than the amount of time you've given it to wean yourself off.

Thanks for the tip, solitary bee. I'm going to hold out until tomorrow. Then I'll see if this crap subsides. I have to go and socialize at a wake tomorrow, and if I don't feel better, I'll take a 5 mg dose in the morning. Then try the every other day routine.

I have to call my pdoc (Monday) and see if he has and suggestions.

Stan
Did a doctor take you off paxil? You shouldn't go off any mediciation without the doctor telling you how do it. In Feb I was switched from paxil to zoloft because the doc thought paxil was aggervating the add. Even though I was on zoloft the paxil withdrawal was terrible. Please becareful.

back a number of years ago i cold turkeyed paxil. well, the only way i could communicate how this terrible stuff affected me is if i get up on a stage a do a performance. it was that bad. but i knew what the problem was and figured it would go away eventually. 2 weeks of hell. absolute hell.

it's because of having taken various antidepressants and then getting off them in various ways that i just won't take an antidepressent anymore. aside from the major big reason that i am no longer depressed or anxious. so can't see the reason although the shrink has suggested wellbutrin. fuggedaboudit. that's my response. emotional lability where within the course of a day i go from despondent feeling my life is not worth two bits to feeling not only fine but happy is just me. nothing wrong with it.

Stan
Did a doctor take you off paxil? You shouldn't go off any mediciation without the doctor telling you how do it. In Feb I was switched from paxil to zoloft because the doc thought paxil was aggervating the add. Even though I was on zoloft the paxil withdrawal was terrible. Please becareful.
Thanks. I talked with my pdoc three months ago about tapering off paxil and he gave me a prescription for lower-dose pills. I went from 20 to 10 and stayed there for two months. He thought that going to five mgs and then nothing should work fine.

I'm having less severe brain zaps today. I was able to socialize a bit this afternoon, then I had to get away from people. Symptoms seem to be relenting though. I slept a little better last night (Sat.). But it still sucks.

emotional lability where within the course of a day i go from despondent feeling my life is not worth two bits to feeling not only fine but happy is just me. nothing wrong with it.
Paxil did help with depression, but I still couldn't focus (as usual) and was impulsive (also, as usual), I just didn't care. I don't think Paxil is a good drug for ADD. The reason I get depressed is because I'm so disorganized, unfocused and impulsive I can never get my life together. But, the rest of time i'm normal: emotionally labile, but OK with it.

Adderall helps a lot with focus and impulsivity.

Stan
How are feeling now not having paxil in your system? Glad you talked to your doctor before you went off paxil, it could have been life threatening.
When you find the secret to organization please share it....the more I try to get organized the less I become.

Thanks for your concern, Johna. I felt a little depressed this morning, Tuesday. That's 8 days off Paxil. But not too bad. I took a break from Adderall for two days, as well. Today I took the Adderall and that seemed to eliminate the slight depressed feeling.

Still some occassional brain zaps, but those are hardly noticable. I'm feeling emotional again, the first time in 7 or 8 months.

I thought that Adderall was numbing me out but it appears to have been the Paxil.


Yeah, organization.

I get organized by intensely organizing some part of my home or desk or life, and shoving all the disorganization over to some other part of my home or desk or life.

Somewhere in the process, more disorganization is created than I started with.

To the never-ending!