Chris, please go to google and type in "paxil withdrawal tapering" and get informed on this. You'll get a ton of hits. For example, here's a quote from this page:
Quote: The Right Way to Wean Off an (SSRI/SNRI/SSNRI) antidepressant How should I taper off and how long should I take to taper off?
Work closely with a doctor. Don’t go off medication without medical supervision. The best way to minimize withdrawal side effects is to wean off the medication. By reducing the dosage in small increments, your serotonergic system can gradually take over it's own natural serotonin producing activity and slowly adapt to living without the drug.
This process may take up to a year or longer.
Some doctors are halving the dose every week or two. We do not recommend to taper off that fast. Nor do we recommend to skip daily doses. Taper gradually with an absolute maximum of 5% per week. When it gets down to the smallest dose, (10mg capsule), you can try "The Orange Juice Bit", "Cutting Tablets" or "Oral Suspensions-Liquid Preparations":
"Orange Juice Bit"
pour a glass of orange juice pull apart the capsule and stir into the orange juice drink 9/10 of it and repeat this every day until the 7th day. The next week drink 8/10 of it until the 14th day, then 7/10 until the 21th day, 6/10 until the 28th day, and so on... repeat the "orange juice bit" several weeks until you've totally come off your (SSRI) antidepressant...
Never ever use Grapefruit Juice. Grapefruit juice is an inhibitor of the cytochrome P-450 enzymes. These enzymes are known to metabolize (break down) (SSRI) antidepressants in the liver. Drinking grapefruit juice whilst you are taking an (SSRI) antidepressant can create a serious toxic reaction, because the chemical ingredient will build to toxic levels in the bloodstream!
"Cutting Tablets"
If you don't take capsules but tablets, you can try to chip smaller doses off the tablets. Unfortunately this is a very uneasy task. You could order a pill cutter or pill splitter at your local pharmacist to facilitate this procedure. Pill-cutters aren't that expensive.
"Oral Suspensions-Liquid Preparations"
A much better way to wean off when it gets down to the smallest dose is simply to turn to your doctor who can provide you a liquid preparation (oral suspension-10 mg./5 ml.) of Paxil, Prozac or Zoloft and possibly more liquid versions of other SSRI's. Most people don't know about it, or don't consider it because it's supposedly for kids. It's very easy to use and more reliable then chopping up tablets. Ask your doctor for it !
Take notice that even this process of slowly tapering off could be too fast for you to avoid withdrawal reactions or other serotonin related side-effects. This will be different for every individual.
Lil: I have a difficult time figuring out which symptoms are from Paxil CR withdrawal and which are from lack of sleep and which are from stress. For instance, W has been yelling at the kids since forever (or at least since D3 figured out how to harrass D6 LOL), so that's been a constant. W has been tired/worn down since D3 was born, not just recently. W has always had stomach problems (her mom has it worse, so I'm sure it's hereditary). W has always had migraines.
Yesterday, at various times throughout the day, W complained about being 1- nauseous, 2- tired, 3-uncomfortably warm, 4- dizzy. If her complaints were not a regular thing, I'd think something of it. Since they're just part of everyday life, I don't comment on them anymore.
At this point, I just give up. I've made suggestions. If she wants to stop taking the pills cold turkey, then she will... and she probably won't tell me that she did. I'll just deal with the fallout.
A friend of mine who's familiar with my M sitch said to me yesterday, "it's a shame that you never know on a daily basis what's really going on with your W and what 'normal' is." I had to think about that for a bit, but I suppose it's true. My W has been up and down on meds this year, switching SSRIs 4 times. She was in a hospital for 7 days, and during that time she had to go "cold turkey" off of all the meds while the doctors evaluated her. She has a history of migraines and stomach ills (not quite IBS, but close enough sometimes).
So, I do not know what "normal" is for my W. She probably does not know what "normal" is either. Physical factors often override other factors.
I need some sanity one of these years. It would be nice.
It really must be frustrating to have to deal with her medical conditions on top of everything. I really do have a suspicion that her medical problems are a large contributing factor to your sexual issues too...like I'm telling you something you don't know huh?
Thanks GEL. It's frustrating when I have to watch my words so's I don't seem to "blame" her physical ills for our problems. I can speak to the M problems, but I can't very well pick on W for her other problems that contribute.
IBS, ahhhhhhhhhhh fun thing that is. I have IBS associated with another ailment, Fibromyalgia. But you know even with all that I don't think I would turn down sex LOL But I guess thats the difference between LD and HD. Now if H was more HD and wanted sex everyday, I might be inclined to want to cuddle instead. I don't know, I have never been faced with that delima
Good to know that you wouldn't turn down sex even with certain ills. The dilemma that I'm faced with is knowing when initiation is OK and when to back off. After many many months of "signals" I've been trained to "back off" more times than not. These days, if I hear "oww my stomach" or "owww my head" or "ohh I am soooo tired" from my W, I take that comment as a "stop sign" for any activity that evening.
Funny how we just know the warning signs, huh? I have gotten to the point that I very rarely initiate with H. We went without any physical contact for almost 6 yrs, then when HE decided to make things "right" between us he didn't make any effort to see about his ED problems. He maybe gets in the mood about once every month and a half. *sigh* and what can I say, its not that good. I wish it was.
I think I am becomming LD, I just don't care about it anymore. I haven't even MB in ages. Might be the answer to all my problems to become LD. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Well Lil, the nightmare has come true. W weaned a bit faster than she should have, and yesterday was her meltdown day. She called me from work a few times, each time saying how dizzy and nauseous and icky she was feeling, asking me what she should do, etc. She had "accidentally" skipped a dose of the Paxil CR the night before, and she was feeling it. I suggested that she take a dose right away, but she didn't bring it with her to work. I suggested that she call her mom/dad (they live 10 mins. from her workplace) and get a ride to their house so she could rest/nap for a few hours, but she didn't want to "inform them of her situation" (in other words, she's hiding this from them). She mentioned that she would go out to her car and sit there for a while in the colder air and calm down. When I called her an hour later, she was back at her desk and still feeling like crap.
In mid-afternoon, she called back and said that she was driving home. I told her to be careful and that I would call before coming home. I did at about 5PM. I got home, wrangled kids, made dinner, cleaned up, etc. She joined us for a little dinner and then went straight back to bed. She helped to get the kids ready for bed and then went back to bed herself.
Today, W is staying home from work. She threw up once last night, and she tossed and turned for some of the night. She's still sleeping.
I haven't asked how she plans on proceeding with this weaning, but I will be hounding her to call the doctor and ask the proper way to do it. Imagine, this is the woman who, many years ago, used to tell me to call the doctor if I was feeling sick for 2 days in a row... who used to insist that I go for a physical every 2 years, just to have things checked out. Now, she avoids talking to the doctor because she's "afraid" of what he'll say to her.
Needless to say, when things like this happen, I'm supportive but not doting/fawning. I'll get things for W (water, meds, extra pillow) but I won't go over and kiss her head and say things like, "awwww my poor sweetie" or anything. She's an adult, and I won't baby her right now, again, if ever. Those days are over.
Quote: then when HE decided to make things "right" between us he didn't make any effort to see about his ED problems.
This makes me think he didn't really decide to make things right...he just put on a front that he did to appease you for awhile. If he truly wanted to make things right, he knows that he has ED...he'd get that looked into.
Sorry, I know that's probably not what you want to hear. I'm simply learning (through my own process) that when my H really wants to fix something...he'll do whatever it takes, until the problem is fixed. When something is important to him...he'll explore absolutely every avenue in order to fix a problem.
Now, that attitude is slowly beginning to kick in, as far as our sex-lives go. But it took me really changing some of my behaviors for him to really recognize that it was a serious problem for us that really needed to be addressed and he would have to be a participant in that process.
Also, why in the He** would you sacrifice your SD? For me that would be the same as stooping to someone else's level when they're doing something you don't agree with. I certainly know how it feels to want to just give in and do that...but lets face it, your SD will eventually come back, and you're going to resent him for suffocating it in the first place. The problem will still be there...and still need to be addressed.
I think I am becomming LD, I just don't care about it anymore. I haven't even MB in ages. Might be the answer to all my problems to become LD. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 