Combining Paxil with Cymbalta

[Cptdebbie]

Hi All,
I am a 57 year old female who has dealt with depression and anxiety my entire adult life. I currently take 90 mg of Cymbalta and 1.5 mg of Klonopin.

About two years ago, I could tell that my Cymbalta wasn't doing it's job. I'd been stable on it for a long time. Maybe a decade? Has it been around that long?

So, my primary care doctor switched me to Pristiq. It did not work and I became severely depressed. I went to a psychiatric nurse practitioner who switched me back to Cymbalta and tried some add ons like Seroquel, etc. Nothing worked well, so I turned to psychotherapy. That helped some. However, I still have lots of health anxiety.

I went to a different psychiatric nurse practitioner who asked if there was something I took a while ago that worked for a long time and then stopped working. I said Paxil. Her idea is to add 10 mg Paxil to my daily medications.

Has anyone taken a SSRI and a SNRI together before? Of course I worry about serotonin syndrome. I'm curious what your experience has been.

[Ethansmom]

I was weaning off of lexepro while and at the same time was starting a low dose of pristiq, and I did that for a few weeks. I had no issues and did not experience anything bad, other than the increased anxiety.

[Cptdebbie]

Thank you for responding. I appreciate it. I decided to try it and be very vigilant about watching for signs of serotonin syndrome. So far, so good.