Only took paxil for three days... but i think im goingthrough severe withdrawls

[Chrysmar09]

Hello everyone. I have a long story but ill try to make it short. I have taken AD in the past with prozac being good for a while back in 09. Well some personal family troubles, money troubles and more came about and i thought i should go back on prozac... well after 5 days i had a horrible panic attack and stopped... waited a week and my dr gave me celexa 20mg but that made my anxiety worse so i had to quit after 4 days.... stopped taking anything for a about a month but wasnt getting any better with anxiety so my dr thought paxil 20mg would be good for me since its sedating and my anxiety was hortible

BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER......

I first day i landed in the er with a bad panic attack... day two i couldnt stop shaking couldnt eat and sleep was odd... third day omg I was so sick and i had to go back the dr and she said i could stop it because I only took it for 3 days and I wouldnt need to taper....

That night i had a weird experience. I woke up at 2am and the tv was appearing to be on fast forward like a vcr. It took a minute to go back to normal. I havent taken it in two days and each night i have that same experience. I have horrible muscle spasms and face tics. Inner tremors Im tired and been bed ridden since My first pill.... can someone please tell me what is going on? Ive never felt like this on a AD and I am scared im losing my mind and ill have to be committed. I cant deal with this after only taking this 3 times. Is there any way to detox or get this out of my system??

[snowghost57]

You should talk to your doctor. I was on Zoloft for 20 days and didn't have those kind of symptoms. Are you drinking with the medication? Maybe its an allergic reaction? Only a doctor will know. I can't take meds, and I refuse to try again.

[panic_down_under]

i thought i should go back on prozac... well after 5 days i had a horrible panic attack and stopped... waited a week and my dr gave me celexa 20mg but that made my anxiety worse so i had to quit after 4 days.... stopped taking anything for a about a month but wasnt getting any better with anxiety so my dr thought paxil 20mg would be good for me since its sedating and my anxiety was hortible

Most antidepressants will raise anxiety levels at the beginning due to the initial increase in serotonin activity, so your experience is not unusual. Plus, there is also growing evidence the initial side-effects can become progressively more severe each time antidepressants are restarted, and they may also be different every time too.

Also, both the citalopram (Celexa) and paroxetine (Paxil) were higher than the recommended dose for those with anxiety/panic. A lower starting dose may have made life a little easier, as would have prescription for one of the benzodiazepines.

I first day i landed in the er with a bad panic attack... day two i couldnt stop shaking couldnt eat and sleep was odd... third day omg I was so sick and i had to go back the dr and she said i could stop it because I only took it for 3 days and I wouldnt need to taper....

The advice was correct. There is no known way that any antidepressant can cause dependence in only 3 days, or even the 7 days combined you were on citalopram and paroxetine.

That night i had a weird experience. I woke up at 2am and the tv was appearing to be on fast forward like a vcr. It took a minute to go back to normal. I havent taken it in two days and each night i have that same experience. I have horrible muscle spasms and face tics. Inner tremors Im tired and been bed ridden since My first pill.... can someone please tell me what is going on?

It is most probably an anxious mind in overdrive, i.e. psychological. Derealization is a common anxiety symptom.

Is there any way to detox or get this out of my system??

Paroxetine has a very short half-life and no active metabolite so almost all of it is already out of your system. The med isn't the problem, your mind probably is.

If you want to try an SSRI again start on a small dose, no more than 5mg fluoxetine (Prozac), citalopram, or paroxetine, and ramp up the dose by 5mg every second week for fluoxetine, or weekly for the other two, until you're on 20mg.

Alternatively, try a tricyclic class antidepressant (TCA) instead. These usual produce less severe initial side-effects than the SSRIs, but it can be at the expense of more ongoing side-effects such as constipation and dry-mouth. And ask your doctor to prescribe a small benzodiazepine dose to help you cope with increased anxiety should either the SSRI or TCA trigger a spike.

If your health insurance covers it, you should also consider therapy. The cognitive or behavioural (CBT, REBT, etc), or mindfulness therapies can be at least as effective as antidepressants.

[Chrysmar09]

Thank you everyone for the responses. The fast forward thing really tripped me out and I thought maybe I was having seizures or schizophrenic episodes (i have a fear of becoming scizo) and I never thought of depersonalization. I have been habing sleep paralysis and muscle twitches and facial jerks at night... im hoping this will all be over soon

[psychadelic-brie]

I feel that everyone has very different experiences with this drug. Mine have been horrendous and I have met a few others who share the same experience as my own. I hope you feel better though. I really don't know if three days is long enough but I know if I even so much as take my Seroxat a few hours late, I am climbing the walls with anxiety.