Hello,
I was wondering if anyone has had any experience switching from Paxil to Prosac. I’ve been on Paxil now for about 2 years. I went off it cold turkey once and got extremely depressed. Went back on it again. Now it is not working. Or at least it isn’t helping with depression. I went on it for anxiety and panic disorder, but I also have depression. It is helping with the anxiety, but not with depression. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am considering switching from Paxil to Prosac or generic Prosac – whatever the insurance will cover - which probably isn’t much. Has anyone had suggestions or experience with this?
Thanks.
Hi Dinah,
I’ve been on Paxil for 7 years for anxiety. It worked great for the whole
time until about April this year.
Over that 7 years I weaned off it 3x, and would always be fine until about a
month after I was totally off it, then I would get all the anxiety back. I
don’t know if it was withdrawal, or me, or what. I’d always go back on it.
In April it just stopped working. I went off it cold turkey and onto
Lexapro. The Lex did not agree with me so after 9 days I changed to
Cymbalta. It seemed okay, but I was always very nervous and jittery. After 3
weeks I tried upping the dose, and that only made things worse. So I went
back to my doc, who said to go back on the Paxil, but up the dose from 20
mg. to 40 mg. So I upped it to 30, and it seemed like it was working for
about a week, then it stopped again. So I went up to 40 and just got worse,
so I went back down to 30. Well, it never did work again. I was feeling very
anxious all the time. I finally decided it if was not working, and going to
40 was worse, why not try going back down to 20. So I did that almost 2
weeks ago, and now I am feeling much better. I have decided to just go off
of it. It’s not working, and I am hoping and praying that since it’s not
working, I’m past that awful going off of it part.
I have read over and over that Paxil is by far the absolute worse SSRI to
get off of. I have also been told by a lot of people online that people
often switch to Prozac to wean off Paxil. I have a friend that takes Prozac
for anxiety and is doing well on it. If your Paxil has stopped working, you
might as well try the Prozac. What I read over and over again was to slowly
add the Prozac while slowly reducing the Paxil. Not to just go cold turkey
from one to the other. The reason is the Paxil withdrawal.
This was kind of long, but I hope it was helpful.
The other things I do is pray, a LOT!
God bless,
Dawn <><
I was on Paxil many years ago and couldn’t take it. It make me more depressed. Earlier this year my pdoc put me on Prozac and I’ve felt better than I have in the past 3 years. I have more energy and have actually been getting out of the house a lot more often. I take other meds, too, and it took a while to get the cocktail right. Thank Goodness for a very patient and understanding pdoc. Give it a try!
Thanks for the advice. It was very helpful. I’ve been on Paxil less than 2 years and I went of it cold turkey and felt really aweful. I don’t have a psychiatrist right now ( I moved last year) and my GP hasn’t gotten back to me, but I will call her tomorrow and keep on her until she gets back to me with a referral to a psych and a perspcription of prosac. And I will take your advice about slowly going of paxil and making the switch. Just hope I can do it before school starts.
Thanks again for the advice. It was very helpful.
Good luck Dinah. Why did you go off Paxil cold turkey?
I’m curious in what way did you feel awful?
Once I tried Zoloft, and it didn’t do a thing for me. It was like I wasn’t
taking anything, so after a month I just stopped taking it. I got really
sick, throwing up, felt like I had the flu. I had no idea just being on it a
month could do that. I read up online, and took a dose of it, and within an
hour I was feeling okay. Then I switched back to Paxil, just stopped the
Zoloft, and that was okay, no problem.
<><