Guess since I'm now a long termer it's tie to move here from pp. I'll begin with a short history:

1993 Began Prozac

1996 Insurance Company changed me to zoloft

2000 switched to paxil 10 mg when zoloft pooped

2009 Began to be aware that I had less energy and interest for life.

Mar 1, 2012 Decided to quit paxil just to see what I was like under everything. Researched and found that on such low dose a one month taper should do.


Mar 15, 2012 Went on 5 mg for a month. First I was ill with flu like symptoms, brain zaps but after a couple of weeks stabilized and felt tired but close to normal.

April 15, Quit totally. Within a few days Brain zaps and flu symptoms resumed. By the end of the month, mental confusion, body crawling, nausea, diarrhea, insomnia.

Late May, I researched again and found PP. Realized that I had tapered too fast. I tried to reinstate paxil. It seemed to make me more ill, so I gave up after a week.

June 10, In desperation I went to my GP. She gave me Hydroxyz and Clonidine for the withdrawal symptoms but it didn’t really help. As well as being sick I had very low function and had lost concentration. Work was very difficult.

July 10, back to the Dr begging for help. She suggested Celexa. I tried 10 mg for a week then 20 mg but if anything it made me feel worse so I quit and called her back.

July 20, after another consultation I tried zoloft, 6.5mg for 2 weeks and then up to 12 mg. Again, after the two weeks I had the worse breakdown yet and stopped the pills. My skin was crawling, intestines in knots, desperate with the desire to die. Spent three days in bed and got little sleep. Adrenaline surges every few seconds.

In September Started a series of pdoc visits during which I tried perhaps a dozen drugs, most for only a day, with no help.

In November akathisia so bad I started xanax but it only helped for a couple of weeks.

Now off the xanax but taking 5mg valium each day and about 8 mg ambien in the evenings.

I still have most of my original symptoms except the brain zaps and seem to get more ill every month. Will write more later.