lowering my paxil

[bob p]

i am now on 12.5 mg of paxil cr down from 25 and i am now starting to feel a little depressed. has anyone else come off paxil before? i do know it is one of the tougher meds to come off of and i have tries to come off many times before but i just want to be able to float through my uncomfortable feelings. good luck to all and have a great day.

[meluv3]

Hi! I don't have any experience with Paxil, but I am titrating off 10 mg of Celexa (supposed to be easier to come of, but not finding it to be that easy!). I've been going really slow ... even took my pills to a compounding pharmacy to lower by 1 mg at a time. I started the first decrease back in late Feb./early Mar. The first week wasn't so bad and then it hit me and it was pretty tough with panic and IBS stuff for a few weeks and then I gradually started feeling better and was ready for another decrease around week 6 or 7. So I did it again ... same thing ... and again ... same thing, but now I keep going from totally panicky to very depressed. Working through the program again (did it last year and it helped a bunch) ... on lesson 3 now. Anyhow, I just seem to be in a pit and the positive self talk is just so, so hard! Of course I'm wondering if I should just up the meds again or what!? Well, that's my story. Just to throw it out there ... my main issue is GAD with panic disorder and agoraphobia which turned into depression ... it all fell apart a couple years ago and I am still trying to rebuild ... was making great progress before the decreases. Oh, will mention that I struggle A LOT with hypochondria, so I was able to "float" through the body symptoms pretty well for awhile ... telling myself it is just the med decrease, it'll pass ... but somewhere along the line I started questioning if it was the med decrease or something else! ugh - anxiety! =/

On a positive note ... I've had friends come off of Paxil successfully. They said it was really hard coming off, but over time they just felt better and better. The first month was the hardest!! Were you doing well before the decrease!? Did your doctor think you were ready to come off? Coming off can be a tough road, but if you were in a good place before decreasing, you will get back there ... it just takes time! (Working on patience and perseverance myself!)

Best wishes!!!