Paxil to Fluoxetine Switch

[Aussufferer]

Hi All, I'm new to the site. I'm sure this topic has been discussed many times before....but any comments would be very much appreciated.

I've been on Paxil for 14 1/2 years (dosage ranged from 20 - 2.5mg). I tried coming off it 6 times (always slow tapering and each time ended unsuccessfully...complete breakdowns etc.)

After reading so much about the Paxil to Prozac switch, I decided to try it and pray that it actually works. My doctor advised me to do the following: take half my dose of Paxil for 3 days (so that was 10mg), then 2 days of nothing, followed by 6 days of 10mg Prozac and then increase to 20mg going forward. I'm on day 7 of full dose at 20mg.

I've had 12 days of terrible headaches and it feels like my scalp / head is burning (on fire). I rang my doctor 3 days ago and told her about the side effects and she told me it was up to me if I wanted to continue on the Prozac but she recommend switching to a MAOI antidepressant. This freaked me out as I guess I was looking for a bit of reassurance from her that I should continue and that things will improve. I asked her about headaches and she said that she told me this would likely happen (I don't remember this at all!) and that she doesn't think these headaches / burning will ever subside. Needless to say my confidence in the transition has hit rock bottom after my talk with her.

I guess my question is...do you think it's too early on in the transition to give up and are these symptoms likely to abate?

Thank you all x

[Bike Rider]

Hi, I am swapping from Citalopram to Fluoxetine and I am having some side effects. I think this is always going to happen and you have only been on it for 2weeks, I would give it at least 4-6 weeks, these meds are so complicated.

Read the bit of paper in the med's box, that should tell you the side effects.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Headaches are in the Very Common (10% or more) category. I'm not sure what you doctor thinks they are talking about there?! It's well recorded.

Skin reactions are recorded as in 3% of patients, but this covers a wide range of possible reactions. There are various recorded side effects such as redness, tenderness, itching, burning, or peeling of the skin in the Incidence Not Known section of the Major side effects (which just means ask your doctor, just in case, it doesn't mean anything bad).

Personally, I feel it's too soon to know as side effects are expected in a switch but it should hopefully not be as bad as a complete start up since Serotonin is being propped up by the old drug. BUT lets remember that Prozac is a very slow to work SSRI (5 week side effect window because it takes 4 weeks alone to stabilizes in your blood plasma) AND Paxil has a much shorter half life which means your body will eliminate it pretty quick.