Hiya All,

I haven't been on the forum in ages. Sorry about that.

Back in November, I joined a clinical trial for pharmacogenetics. I did this because I have a couple of severe side effects from the paroxetine. One of them being that I gained 40 kgs every time I got back on it. Also I sleep more than 10 hours a night. That's all nice and well for the weekend but it is not very handy during the week. Aside from that I had fevers and a high t cell count. The reason I was still on it was because I suffer from severe panic attacks when I'm not on Paroxetine and because I don't seem to handle any other antidepressants well.

So after being on Paroxetine for about 20 years (with two breaks of a year, last one 17 years ago, for my pregnancies), I took a genetic test. The result was that I am an intermediate metabolizer for the gene CYP2D6. It all sounds very complicated but it simply means my liver doesn't produce as much enzyme as others to break down the paroxetine. That results in a higher plasma concentration and gives me more side effect. Ironically this same mutation makes people more likely to be depressed. How bad is that..LOL.

Anyway long story short. With all my panic/depression symptoms and the side effects, the psychiatrist and I decided it would be best to halve the dose. Like the other times I had quit (now I just lowered from 20 to 10 mg) the first 2 weeks were kind of a breeze. I start to get more energy quite quickly and although I struggle a bit with the balance of emotions I do well. After that two weeks things went weird though. I think it takes so long for me to get the side effects because I don't break it down very well.

What happened last week is that I got very emotional. Angry, crying, scared. No panic yet, just a general scared feeling. My anger got so bad I even started hitting a wall etc. (I felt so ashamed. I'm 39 a mother and a step-grandmother, I should be the sensible one around the house) As that subsided a bit I started to get other unpleasant feelings. This time not mental but physical. My arms and fingers hurt. Even my fingertips are in pain but sometimes they feel numb. Just like the rest of my arms. Sometimes I loose sensation in them. My back feels like i've been carrying bags of sand around and my legs feel like I've walked a marathon. Really everything hurts. I've already lost 2.5 kg though without doing anything for it.

Anyway, my physical feelings scare me. I've made an appointment at the doctor's for friday but can someone please let me know if they had similar symptoms when weaning off the paroxetine?