Experiences - Who overcame Paroxetine withdrawal and Who stopped using it for good ?

[dcrn]

Hi everyone,

Swim wants to know who successfully managed to stop taking Paxil and how long did withdrawals last ? How did SWIY stop this drug ??

Swim has been taking Paxil since Last January, so he's been on it for about 10 months. Started with 20mg, then he wanted it to stop so he was advised to slowly taper off. So he went from 20mg to 15mg-12mg and he is currently on 10mg. SWIM seriously wants to quit this more than anything. He blames his doctor for all of this. Swim was never depressed. He had mild stress and anxiety - and this all was probably because of SWIM's history with cocaine use. Swim was using coke off and on for about a year. Slowly his tolerance went up. It was panic attacks and anxiety that made swim stop. Swim never had any health problems or any anxiety issues until he started playing with coke. For 7 months of using coke he was fine and after maybe 7 months he started to get anxiety and panic attacks because of this. Swim was scared it was something else but later figured it was probably anxiety and stress...too much thinking.. Swim was suffering from shortness of breath, urge to take a deep breath so often, heart palpitations so swim really thinks he had anxiety and panick attack issues caused by cocaine. Proud to say that SWIM has been sober, hasn't touched cocaine for a year and he plans to stay sober and never do another line again.

Now, SWIM is really not what he used to be. I don't know if there's certain chemicals that are unbalanced in his brain or something but he feels like ever since he started taking Paxil he is not the same man. Even though he doesn't suffer from anxiety or panick attacks no more he feels weird and strange from time to time. Insomnia, weird dreams, waking up to find out he is all sweaty, from time to time he feels disorientated, unbalanced, dizzy and seems like it's giving him a libido as well. When having sex, swim gets hard no problem - but after 2-3 mins of having sex he goes limp...

Anyways,. swim doesn't feel all normal on this damn Paxil. Paxil has side effects, it has withdrawls and he is wondering if these side effects are permanent or what.

Swim believes paxil made him worry and made him a hypocondriac. He thinks insane stuff like what if he dies, what if his heart stops...WHAT IF WHAT IF...

Swim has also become somewhat emotionless. He used to be carryng person, and now he just doesn't give a damn about anything. Swim used to care about girls and relationships now he really doesn't. Swim is a bodybuilder and a very attractive guy and used to be with a nice girl for 2 years but swim and his partner decided to break it off. Ever since that he doesn't care about relationships about girls and all..and he can't COMMIT. He would like to start loving someone again, and get married and all but he doesn't feel that EMOTION anymore. He hates it.

Swim will see his psychiatric next Friday to see his plan and vision to successfully stop taking Paxil.

keep in mind: swim never suffered from depression even when he used cocaine..swim never was crazy, insane, delusional or whatever. He is still normal and sane but just doesn't feel ALL GOOD and he doesn't know if this is because of Paxil or if cocaine has put some permanent damage in his brain..

Elaborate please