quitting Paroxetin

Hi,

I've experienced many different anti-depressants in the same class as Paroxetine. In the UK, it is marketed as 'Seroxat'.

The answer to your question is a very big 'YES'. You will almost certainly experience some kind of withdrawal effects. It is best to taper off slowly because the withdrawal effects are extremely harsh. The method that I used was to half the dose until you get to 2.5mg, then I just completely stopped.

My daughter was prescribed the above when we were in the UK. She was up to 40 mg a day when she discovered she was pregnant. She cut the dosage in half immediately (2004) and became ill and suffered panic attacks. She also stopped smoking and drinking so a double whammy really. During the course of her pregnancy the side effects became more and more well known and admitted and she became terribly concerned for the health of her child. Our doctors in the UK were not good. The upshot is that the baby was healthy and is a happy and well developed child who is intelligent and funny and now learning to speak French as we live in France now.

When we came here the doctors moved my daughter over to a child's form of Seroxat and she is now on something different. I was terribly concerned over my daughter and its not just the people taking the drug who suffer its their family as well - it makes you feel useless.

I worked with a young law student who had been prescribed Seroxat by the university doctor and she found it hard to cope with life without them but she cut them down week by week until she was on 2.5mg and then stopped them completely.

Get all the medical help you can to reduce your dosage - it can be done and is worth doing. I suffer from depression myself but was always so busy that I did not realise until I came here. I wish you the best - keep strong.