Quit Paxil Cold Turkey And Started On Lexapro

[Becksknox]

My vet has Combat PTSD, so he finally went to the Dr for his meds. He has been on Paxil for 18 years and the Dr pulled him off cold turkey and started him on Lexapro. He's on week 2 now but is having trouble sleeping and says he feels depressed a lot more that he hasn't felt before. Our therapist said that most likely he needs to the Lexapro, but also maybe a mood stabilizer.

Has anyone had experience with this? It's hard to get him to the Dr for a re-check, but he has asked me for Xanax to help him sleep.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[falling_wave]

Make sure he takes the lexapro in the morning as sleeplessness is a side effect. Also it takes a while to start working so it's likely that he is experiencing the depression of being off meds. Make sure to keep in touch with the psychiatrist because lexapro isn't for everyone and with my experience helped for only a couple months before making things worse. Meds are individually different though so don't give up yet.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I am very concerned that he is coming off of Paxil cold turkey. NO psychiatric medication should be come off of this quickly unless you're A) on a very small dose (and even then a taper can be done every other day) or B) you only take a medication as needed, not on any particular schedule, and you don't take it frequently. Otherwise, a taper is in the patients best interest as suddenly stopping a psychiatric medication can lead to destabilization which if bad enough, can have very bad effects.

2 weeks on a new medication coupled with a cold turkey of an old medication......its waaaay too soon to determine if another medication is needed. Xanax is a controlled substance and benzodiazepines aren't good for some people with PTSD, so I'd steer clear of giving him your Xanax.

 

[Becksknox]

Thank you. I am on antidepressants and antianxiety meds and I have never been told to go cold turkey.

 

[Neverthesame]

I don't want to freak you out, but I did quit Paxil cold turkey. I don't know what Lexapro will or will not help with as far as withdrawals.

I would urge you to seek a second opinion. No medication like that should ever be stopped cold turkey. I have been switched between meds, sever times this year in fact. To similar types of meds. I have not had any major issues. During those transitions I was seeing my Dr. Every week, so she could keep an eye out for any warning signs that I either might miss, or choose not to mention.

Having quit Paxil cold turkey. I would never do it again. I really am hesitant to mention this because my circumstances we're different. I was not taking any other meds, or switching. I was going off everything, by myself. Nor was I seeing my family physician or any other regular doctor. I was prescribed Paxil from a walk in clinic, for what I later learned was PTSD, misdiagnosed as depression.

The physical symptoms were horrible, to put it mildly. The really bad thing was that I at seemingly random, for no apparent reason I decided to commit suicide. It was a one second decision, on a whim. I failed, fortunately.

I don't want to freak you out, Lexapro may be fine to switch to. Just keep a close eye on your vet.

 

[joeylittle]

Our therapist said that most likely he needs to the Lexapro, but also maybe a mood stabilizer.

Try as hard as you can to help him do just one change at a time. It makes sense that he's having trouble adjusting. He's got to give the Lexapro four weeks before evaluating effectiveness. So, as long as he's safe, and communicating with you - help him just stay the course and tolerate the transition as best he can. Before adding an adjunct (mood stabilizer or anything), I'd encourage him to talk to his prescriber about switching off the Lexapro. It's hard to know, after 18 years, what the Paxil was or was not doing. But there might be a period of trying anti-depressants before finding the right one.

If he gets some benefit from the Lexapro, after 4 weeks, it can make sense to add an adjunct to "boost" the effect. But if two weeks from now he is feeling no relief from the depression, and it is equal to what he feels now, seriously - keep looking.

 

[Becksknox]

I tried to quit cymbalta on a dr pres fined step down and was suicidal. I'm still on it now bc I refuse to go thru it again. Being his second week he is doing much better. I'm just worried bc he's a 1000 miles away so there's only so much pushing I can do and I don't want him to isolate more if I do push.

 

[greenleaf]

Some doctors don't "believe in" discontinuation effects from paxil. It's pretty well documented though! Sometimes another drug can sort of fill the same chemical spots to some degree so the doctor might think it will match enough to mitigate the discontinuation effects; however since all the drugs are at least slightly different, this might vary I'd think.

There is also no guarantee that the new drug will work at all even if the doctor thinks it should. They can never really predict I think. Not that I'm a professional...

Can he exercise? That can help various neuro chemicals too... in the mean time...

 

[Becksknox]

Thank you. He is a gym rat. He's starting to feel better now. Praying this is it!!!!