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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Benjamin on January 27, 2001, at 2:55:34
I recently stopped taking paxil, 50mg a day for the past three months and have had ahorrible time with vertigo and crying spells that started about 3 to 4 days after my last dose.
I have noticed another odd effect brought about by smoking a cigarette. I get astrange pulsing in my wrists and hands as though my heart is pounding through my veins and my blood pressure has skyrocketed, but a check of my pulse and blood pressure show that both are within normal ranges while this sensation persists.
I smoke only occasionally.
Has anyone else experianced this plus any suggestins for mitagating the withdrawel
Thank you
Posted by JohnL on January 27, 2001, at 4:45:53
In reply to Paxil withdrawel and nicotine, posted by Benjamin on January 27, 2001, at 2:55:34
> I recently stopped taking paxil, 50mg a day for the past three months and have had ahorrible time with vertigo and crying spells that started about 3 to 4 days after my last dose.
> I have noticed another odd effect brought about by smoking a cigarette. I get astrange pulsing in my wrists and hands as though my heart is pounding through my veins and my blood pressure has skyrocketed, but a check of my pulse and blood pressure show that both are within normal ranges while this sensation persists.
> I smoke only occasionally.
> Has anyone else experianced this plus any suggestins for mitagating the withdrawel
> Thank youHi Benjamin,
I don't know anything about the smoking thing. But in terms of the withdrawals, one thing you could do is take a tiny bit of Paxil once every 2, 3, or 4 days just enough to ease the symptoms. Kind of like stepping stones. Of course, this is assuming you have any leftover.When I quit Paxil after a year on it, I tapered down over a few weeks. When I was ready to stop completely, the intensity of withdrawals surprised me. I was very dizzy, lightheaded, and spaced out. I took a half a tab and it eased the withdrawals nicely. Not completely, but enough to get me through another couple days comfortably. After that I took another half tab a couple days later. After a few more days, a quarter tab. After a couple weeks of this my body was much better adjusted to the whole thing and withdrawals were just a minor inconvenience for a few days when I finally stopped altogether.
You could just wait it out. But there's no way to predict how long it will take. Might be days, might be weeks. The weirdness can definitely be reduced by taking small amounts every now and then until your body is better adjusted. Sometimes people take Prozac for a couple days and then stop, because it has such a long halflife it naturally weens out of your system over a week to 4 weeks, so withdrawal is minimal. Taking a little bit of Prozac after stopping Paxil is sometimes helpful. I think the easiest thing to do though is the stepping stone method.
John
Posted by Ron Hill on January 27, 2001, at 11:05:08
In reply to Paxil withdrawel and nicotine, posted by Benjamin on January 27, 2001, at 2:55:34
Benjamin,
I also experienced the vertigo problem when I went off Paxil. The same thing happened to me when I reduced from 40 mg/day to 20 mg/day of Prozac. For me, the vertigo lasted about 3 - 4 days.
In my opinion, John hit the nail on the head in his post. Taper off the med as slow as needed to minimize the withdrawal side effects. From a pragmatic standpoint, the taper process is easier to accomplish with a med that is dispensed in tablet form (like Paxil) as opposed to one in capsule form (like Prozac) because the tablets are much easier to subdivide into smaller dose sizes.
Obviously, the taper process can be more complicated if you are undergoing a medication switch as opposed to a simple dose reduction or a complete cessation of the medication without replacement with another AD. In the case of a med switch, one would need to work closely with the pdoc to decide whether to "washout" the Paxil prior to starting the new AD or to overlap the new and old for a short time while the old is tapered off and new is titrated up. Clearly, these decisions would affect the rate of taper.
The vertigo also caused nausea in my case. Ginger helps to relieve nausea for me. I buy it in bulk in the health food section of a local grocery store. I like crystallized ginger the best. Ginger ale helps some people, but it must be true ginger ale with ginger as one of the ingredients.
Take heart my friend, this too shall pass.
-- Ron
-------------------------------------------> I recently stopped taking paxil, 50mg a day for the past three months and have had ahorrible time with vertigo and crying spells that started about 3 to 4 days after my last dose.
> I have noticed another odd effect brought about by smoking a cigarette. I get astrange pulsing in my wrists and hands as though my heart is pounding through my veins and my blood pressure has skyrocketed, but a check of my pulse and blood pressure show that both are within normal ranges while this sensation persists.
> I smoke only occasionally.
> Has anyone else experianced this plus any suggestins for mitagating the withdrawel
> Thank you
This is the end of the thread.
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