Was on Paxil 20+ years

[AlwaysHopeful59]

I am looking for someone to tell me if they have ever experienced anything like I’m going to describe. I was on Paxil for over 20 years and upon getting a new job and having brain fog my PA told me I should cut my 10 mg of Paxil to five. Six weeks after doing so I had the most horrific experience, waking up one morning totally beside myself. Thinking about all the things that happened in the last 20 years that for some reason at this point I was freaking out about. My theory is that I never dealt with any of the deaths, loss of job, other various other sad things And now it was like opening Pandora’s box. That was back in September 2019 and I have not felt the same since. Doctors put me back on the full 10 mg of Paxil, and then raised it, and when that didn’t work switched my medication’s to viibryd 20 mg and mirtazapine 15 mg which is what I am currently on. I don’t feel much depression or anxiety at this point but I have this intense fear feeling that comes and goes throughout the day that is absolutely horrible. I go back to the psychiatrist in a couple of weeks to evaluate if the meds are working, and the only answer is they are, but they aren’t. Don’t want to live with this horrific feeling. Anything I used to enjoy, I still want to do those things but as I’m doing it, this feeling keeps cropping up so I don’t enjoy anything because of it. I’ve mentioned it to my family doctor and a therapist but they just act like it’s part of the depression and I do not think it is. Thinking about trying a functional medicine doctor thinking that perhaps something is off in my physical body that is making this worse. If anyone has experienced anything like this, going off an anti-depressant after being on it a long time, please respond and let me know your situation. I would greatly Appreciate any advice that could possibly help me.

 

[Argon]

Sorry. I've seen your story in lots of people and that's why I advise people not to get on the med roller coaster in the first place. Maybe you could try a naturopathic doctor. I know people who eventually got off drugs forced on them by psychiatrists and they were able to find no med doctors. There aren't many of them and I don't know one personally because I only took the stuff briefly.

 

[MeAndMyDepression]

I read the following about naturopathic doctors:

"Certain naturopathic treatments offered by naturopaths, such as homeopathy, rolfing, and iridology, are widely considered pseudoscience or quackery. Stephen Barrett of QuackWatch and the National Council Against Health Fraud has stated that naturopathy is 'simplistic and that its practices are riddled with quackery'."

 

[Argon]

Psychiatry is pseudoscience. Psychiatry proposes that there are such things as “mental disorders” which are caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain which require certain medications in order to correct. But they have zero proof of the chemical imbalance. SSRIs like Paxil in theory raise serotonin levels in the brain but the serotonin theory of depression has been disproved.
What has serotonin to do with depression?
Simple biochemical theories that link low levels of serotonin with depressed mood are no longer tenable.

What has serotonin to do with depression?

And yet they still give it to people for depression. That makes no scientific sense.

Psychiatric diagnosis 'scientifically meaningless'

Psychiatric diagnosis 'scientifically meaningless'

A new study has concluded that psychiatric diagnoses are scientifically worthless as tools to identify discrete mental health disorders.

www.sciencedaily.com

Psychiatric Drugging: Forty Years of Pseudo-Science

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43853799

 

[AlwaysHopeful59]

Sorry. I've seen your story in lots of people and that's why I advise people not to get on the med roller coaster in the first place. Maybe you could try a naturopathic doctor. I know people who eventually got off drugs forced on them by psychiatrists and they were able to find no med doctors. There aren't many of them and I don't know one personally because I only took the stuff briefly.

Thanks for your response

 

[AlwaysHopeful59]

I read the following about naturopathic doctors:

"Certain naturopathic treatments offered by naturopaths, such as homeopathy, rolfing, and iridology, are widely considered pseudoscience or quackery. Stephen Barrett of QuackWatch and the National Council Against Health Fraud has stated that naturopathy is 'simplistic and that its practices are riddled with quackery'."

Thanks for your response.

 

[AlwaysHopeful59]

Psychiatry is pseudoscience. Psychiatry proposes that there are such things as “mental disorders” which are caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain which require certain medications in order to correct. But they have zero proof of the chemical imbalance. SSRIs like Paxil in theory raise serotonin levels in the brain but the serotonin theory of depression has been disproved.
What has serotonin to do with depression?
Simple biochemical theories that link low levels of serotonin with depressed mood are no longer tenable.

What has serotonin to do with depression?

And yet they still give it to people for depression. That makes no scientific sense.

Psychiatric diagnosis 'scientifically meaningless'

Psychiatric diagnosis 'scientifically meaningless'

A new study has concluded that psychiatric diagnoses are scientifically worthless as tools to identify discrete mental health disorders.

www.sciencedaily.com

Psychiatric Drugging: Forty Years of Pseudo-Science

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43853799

Thanks for your response.