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Hanging Out In Frustration City


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Hi guys,

I always feel a little sheepish posting whines on here, since I'm so much better off than so many of you. But I'm annoyed!

I don't know what happened, but I feel like I did the last time I tried to get off Paxil -- except I'm still taking it! It's almost like the Paxil was controlling my autonomic issues, but all of a sudden, it's not.

I do NOT want to increase my dose. I'd love to not take it if I found something else that worked. Let's just say that some of the side effects are not pleasant.

Complicating matters is that I don't have a doctor right now.

The worst of my increased symptoms right now is severe diarrhea. I do have an appointment with the head of the inflammatory bowel center at Georgetown next month. I'm hoping that doctor can point me in the direction of someone who has a clue about the autonomic nervous system.

Sorry to gripe. It's just so frustrating! Paxil was my wonder drug, and now, it's just not cutting it!

Disgruntled Mrs. Burschman

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Hi guys,

I always feel a little sheepish posting whines on here, since I'm so much better off than so many of you. But I'm annoyed!

I don't know what happened, but I feel like I did the last time I tried to get off Paxil -- except I'm still taking it! It's almost like the Paxil was controlling my autonomic issues, but all of a sudden, it's not.

I do NOT want to increase my dose. I'd love to not take it if I found something else that worked. Let's just say that some of the side effects are not pleasant.

Complicating matters is that I don't have a doctor right now.

The worst of my increased symptoms right now is severe diarrhea. I do have an appointment with the head of the inflammatory bowel center at Georgetown next month. I'm hoping that doctor can point me in the direction of someone who has a clue about the autonomic nervous system.

Sorry to gripe. It's just so frustrating! Paxil was my wonder drug, and now, it's just not cutting it!

Disgruntled Mrs. Burschman

Sorry you are feeling bad again. I am too after a couple weeks of almost normal. GRRRRR.

How long have you been on Paxil.All antidepressants do tend to poop out.

Do you know what kind of POTS you have?

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How long have you been on Paxil.All antidepressants do tend to poop out.

Do you know what kind of POTS you have?

1. I've been taking it for 15 years. Half my life, almost! Frankly, I think it's more likely that my POTS has progressed than the medication I've been taking for 15 years all of a sudden isn't working.

2. I don't know what type of POTS I have. I suspect that it's hyperadrenergic, because my sympathetic nervous system strongly predominates. The only thing that doesn't fit that is that I have low, not high, blood pressure.

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I've also been on Paxil for about 10 years, and really like it. I was on a 10 mg dose for years, and then about 2 years ago, I had to increase to 15 mg per day. Perhaps just a small increase in your dose would do the trick? Sometimes the additional of a small amount of another med added to the Paxil will do the trick, too. I take my Paxil with Klonopin, and it's worked pretty well. Perhaps the diarrhea and the Paxil aren't actually the cause-and-effect...I hope you figure out something that works for you better, soon!

Cheers,

Jana

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Very frustrating. I suppose one could maintain the paxil and try to add something to address side effects. One might up the dose, or since so much of this disorder is paradoxical... perhaps lower the dose. There are a great many other similar drugs, or sometimes things to add on top if there is something magical about paxil for you. Sometimes they have pretty solid scientific measure of a drug's affinity for each known receptor... if there's something magical about paxil for you that could help someone choose a replacement or set of replacements. Or sometimes those pesky CYP450 liver enzymes get played with and change drug metabolism on you... who knows! Or maybe this will be a temporary phase where the autonomic probs are just shifted or extra severe and might return to a level where the paxil will again work great??? Fingers crossed. Good luck to you withstanding the bad bout and perhaps transitioning or whatever ends up looking like the best option. Lousy to have a good thing peter out like that.

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