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 Daughter going off Paxil CR
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kashusha Newbie  Posts: 4 |
posted 06-09-2003 12:29 PM
  
My 13yo daughter has been on Paxil then Paxil CR for 2 1/2 years(?). She claims the med does nothing for her, but we know otherwise. However, to see how she does with out it, she'll be going off it next week. Her dosage is down to 12.5mg. Her dr says to expect irritability, flu-like symptoms, headache for about a week or two, then the withdrawal should go away. We took our daughter off Paxil about 1 1/2 yers ago, and she was horrible to be around--irritable, rude, defiant, argumentative. I don't want her to be stuck on meds forever, but I'm wary about how she'll react to the change this time around. Any advice? IP: Logged |
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littlebernier Senior Member Posts: 87 |
posted 06-09-2003 03:05 PM
Hi Kashusha, Only advice I can give you is to monitor her very close. If you recognize any adverse changes other than what the doctor said, call him or a pharmacist immediately. There have been reports of people who have come off of Paxil with terrible side effects (I personally was tapered off by my psychiatrist with no troubles). Good luck! LB ------------------ IP: Logged |
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Jennita Senior Veteran  Posts: 780 |
posted 06-09-2003 03:25 PM
I don't think she should just quit after the 12.5mgs. Doctors taper at a "safe" level, but it is usually too fast to escape severe withdrawals (or for pure semantics, discontinuation symptoms). The basic recommendation is taking the daily dose as usual, only cutting 10% every two weeks, then when down to sliver of a pill, do the skipping days thing. The doctor will say 12.5mg is nothing, but it is something, enough to cause withdrawals that will put her right back on that drug (that's their goal you know). A slower taper will not guarentee symptom-free withdrawals, but they will be less severe and some people do escape withdrawals when tapering very slowly. Also something that happens to some people is a protracted withdrawal syndrome which doesn't clear up for months after antidepressants are gone and that is usually assumed to be returning, original condition. But it does eventually go away, and people find themselves feeling better. It's also good to have a complete physical to rule out any medical causes of behavioral disorders(thyroid, blood sugar, etc) and when that's clear, psychotherapy could be a valuable tool to get to root causes instead of covering up with drugs. But do expect some symptoms to be purely withdrawals and protracted(or termed post-withdrawal) symtoms. IP: Logged |
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Janik Senior Veteran Posts: 697 |
posted 06-09-2003 05:06 PM
What was her original dose? When you begin tapering, you should do it slowly, starting with 90% of the original dose the first week and 80% the second week. The slower you go, the less noticeable will the withdrawal be. If your daughter has no adverse sympteoms after the second week, she can taper down faster. IP: Logged |
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