Going off meds.

Post Reply New Topic

AS wife had been on paxil for about a year. It was like she was a different person. She could function, work, cope and get along without the anxiety she had been experiencing her whole life. About 3 weeks ago she decided to go off cold turkey because of weight gain & feeling tired. The mood swings, sensory issues and meltdowns have returned in full force. She can "feel" her AS once again. She is in her late 40's.

She will be going in to see her dr. soon. I'd like to hear from others that have used meds to help w/AS anxiety issues. Successes, failures, what worked, what didn't. I'm just so afraid that she will return to the way she was before she was dxd & started paxil. Anxious, easily aggitated, unable to function without it being draining. None of those thing were healthy for either her or her family. I love her like crazy and don't like to see her under such stress. Help.

I was on paxil years ago - it did not do much for me personally - helped a little, but it did make me feel like I was not able to focus.

So years later I am trying Zoloft. I have to say I can tell myself that it is a big difference. Not a cure all - I still have some of the issues - temper, social issues. But even those things are better. I am starting to read up on this stuff, but I think everyone is different.

For me Z became a necessity. I had some issues with temper and not making good choices, so I am dealing with any side effects - the main one being absentmindedness. But I CAN focus.

A couple other things to mention that were not so obvious that they were issues. In fact I would argue in the past that they were NOT issues : SLEEP and WATER.

So sleep is so weird for me - I absolutely HAVE to sleep a consistent pattern. Sure, I can easily stay up to 2am, get up early (5,6am). Most times I do that I can still function pretty well. The problem is then I will have either random days where I am totally spaced and tired, or I have found it seriously lowers my temper threshold.

Zoloft made no difference in my sleepiness. Actually it may be helping a little.

Water was surprising too. 8 - 8oz / day? No, try a LOT more!! I am overweight, and water intake is supposed to be based on weight. Plus if you drink anything with caffeine that takes water out of your system that you have to replace. Anyway, I find that I generally feel more energetic and thus better with the temper and such.

She can try a different med that is similar to paxil and see if it gets rid of symptons, just dont give up!!

Unfortunately I think all these meds have SOME kind of effect - either sex drive, appetite, wakefulness, something. I just finally decided it was worth the tradeoff - a productive , happier life, but I have to try a little harder to keep track of things and keep my love life going in the right direction.

Finally, THERAPY -- I hope she is doing this -- this is tricky -- my therapist happened to be an Aspergers specialist, and that helps. She is also not afraid to throw new ideas to me. I have had lots of therapy of the years, and most of them just ask questions and listen. Not much feedback. But with her it's a lot different - lots of feedback. The KEY with this is to be OPEN MINDED and NOT get offended. Sometimes she says something that might get me upset, but I just take it in and tell her I will think about it. Most times after pondering later I understand the message, or it helps me discover something new.

This is still a journey for me, I still have all kinds of questions, but in my opinion those are the key things for me - MEDS, diet, water, sleep and therapy!

By the way, if she has good sleep habits, does she snore? If so, it might warrant the sleep study route - by chance I ended up having one, and I am treated for sleep apnea - I feel much better now that I am being treated.

Just a short note: IIRC Paxil is the worst SSRI go off of cold turkey. Others leave the body so slowly that you can do it (ie Prozac), but Paxil has a really short half-life.

Because once you stop taking it, it never works on you again? Right? ^

I've heard that, though I don't know if it's really true. What I was talking about was that the withdrawl effects from Paxil are usually more intense than other from SSRI's.

I think I was on paxil as a kid but I don't remember. I would have to look at my medical records just to see. But the pills I was on since forth grade and the new ones I was on screwed me up in sixth grade and my parents took me off them. They stopped it like cold turkey and took me out of school. That explained my new behavior. Just something I don't even want to remember so I refuse to read the behavior log my teacher kept of me.

Never used any behavioral medicine. To each their own way, I suppose.

People who stop their meds are like alcoholics, they gotta hit rock bottom or go through something scary to start learn the lesson, for me that was when I realized I was about to steal the wheel from my aunt and drive the car into the river. Just talk to her about it before it gets out of hand.

Well, she may just need to be on something different. I was on 4 different medications, one after the other, until finding the one that would work best with me. I found that meds which keyed to Serotonin messed me up to no end: Anxiety, rapid heart rate, lethargy, etc. Ones that keyed to dopamine, however, did the trick (granted, the first 3 meds i was on were serotonin, then my doctor switched to the dopamine and it was right on the first try). Take note, these meds will merely take the edge out of things and side effects (pray for the lesser ones) will likely show up, but its relief. "With your medication, its not so much about the relief as to what kind of side effect's you're comfortable with tolerating," is how my doctor put it.