Stress Center Peer Support

hello...
I have been taking paxil for 9 years for anxiety/panic disorder. When it was given to me, I wasn't thinking about pregnancy or wanting to have children. Now, 9 years later, I am married for 3 years and want to start a family. I have tried to come off of the paxil but it hasn't been successful. I tried to switch to zoloft (whic they claim is safer) and that didn't work. When speaking with my psychiatrist and OBGYN, it is highly suggested that I don't take the paxil while being pregnant. I don't know what to do. Has anyone been on paxil and pregnant? Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do? Any guidance would be greatly appreciate.

JTC

Hello,
I was on Paxil for 6 years, but I have never been pregnant and on paxil. It was hard for me to come off the Paxil, my doctor did not ween me off, which was a disaster! But, I survived getting off paxil and started taking lexapro, which I am now off both. If you can get off Paxil, you can do anything! I know you can do it, have faith. Try to stay positive and you will do great. I would ty to get off the paxil if you want to start a family. That's one of the reason's, I wanted to not take paxil.
DanielleG

I was on paxil for 8 years and found out I was pregnant...immediately my doctor told me that i needed to get off of it. I was taking 40mg per day of paxil and my doctor switched me to 50mg of zoloft (which like you said, is the safer one) I had no problems with the switch, however, everyone is different. How many mgs of paxil are you on? And how many mgs of zoloft did they want to switch you to?

I had been taking 10 mg Paxil for about 6 months in 2003(insomnia was my main symptom), then I went off it with no problem. About 6 months later I became pregnant. I developed insomnia before I even knew I was pregnant, and my midwives (in a clinic) had me wait until the end of my first trimester before starting 10 mg Paxil again. I took it through the rest of my pregnancy (but honestly it didn't work like it did before and my psychiatrist now - who I didn't have then - said I possibly needed a different dose while pregnant). I was more concerned about taking it than my midwives were. At the time, I did a literature search on it, and there was one article that showed a small temporary effect of some babies born to mothers who took Paxil. I forget exactly what the health impact was, but it was like slowed breathing or rapid heartbeat or something, nothing permanent. I took it until my baby was 9 months old, then went off it again with no problem. BUT I had to start it again in August 2006 due to acute anxiety, and I started tapering off in August 2007 and made it to 2 mg/day in January, then fell apart and since last week I am on 10 mg again. My psychiatrist had me taper 2 mg every 6 weeks using a suspension, so it was pretty darn slow. Some people I have heard switch to prozac to get off Paxil, but most everything but Paxil gives me insomnia so I never tried that. I'm not sure what to suggest, but this was my experience.

Did you take the paxil for the insomnia or did the Paxil give you insomnia?

Paxil is not insomnia, it is used to treat depression, some stress disorders, and also obsessive compulsive disorders.

I have 4 kids. 14,12,11,9.

I took Paxil during pregnancy with all of them, and all are regular boys with no problems that we have found thus far.