# Stoppng paxil, SA doesn't come back



## Cassoulet94 (Apr 3, 2014)

Hey,

I am currently quitting paxil. I was taking 40mg, i then dropped to 30mg, waited a month and then drooped to 20mg, waited for three weeks and now i am on 10mg. I have been taking paxil for 14 months. During this period I made huge progress and I am now almost free of social anxiety. I am just a little shy in some situations, but nothing dramatic, it will probably fade over time.

Until now, I haven't notice any change caused by the tapering process, I am not going back to where I was before I started paxil. Of course it could mean that paxil had only a placebo effect but if it is the case I don't care, the means don't matter as long as I am pleased with the result.

The only thing I miss a little is the feeling of being high when I woke up. It fade very quickly but it was funny, kind of psychedelic.

Overall my experience with paxil has been good. No side effects, even at 40mg (delayed ejaculation the first month but then it faded out).


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## versikk (Nov 25, 2013)

Fascinating. Glad to hear you are successfull at combating SA.


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## VanDamme (Jun 8, 2004)

Cassoulet94 said:


> Until now, I haven't notice any change caused by the tapering process, I am not going back to where I was before I started paxil. Of course it could mean that paxil had only a placebo effect but if it is the case I don't care, the means don't matter as long as I am pleased with the result.


I've never used medication but heard that it can be useful for reducing SA and that allows people to practice (e.g. exposure). That process then creates the necessary changes to reduce SA. Are you referring to that with placebo effect or something else?

In any event, as long as something works...


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## Cassoulet94 (Apr 3, 2014)

No, placebo effect means that you are convinced that what you take has an effect so you indeed get a response. It can apply to basically everything. In the case of an antidepressant, it means that you convince yourself that you feel something so you feel better and start behaving differently, thinking that it is the drug, when in fact it is only your doing. It shows how strong is the influence of our psyche. Even for physical disease, it has been proven that sometimes, when a patient is convinced that a particular drug will work, you can observe some improvement even if he only takes a sugar pill (of course I am not saying that it is systematic and that you can cure, let's say a cancer, with sugar pills and a placebo effect). But that has been documented.

But in my case i don't know if it was a placebo effect that made exposure easier or if the med had a real effect due to its chemical components. In any case, I wambetter now and that is all that matter. I even had my first sexual experience last week end, that is a huge confidence booster. Even if the effect of the med fade out, I feel now confident and normal enough to live as I want (more or less, like most people of course).

I think med worth a try if you really feel down. I had some unpleasant experience with some of them (nothing dramatic though), but I was really in a bad place when i started paxil and now I feel better than ever before (that's not complicated, as long as I remember I have never felt happy). Just don't expect miracles from it.


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## VanDamme (Jun 8, 2004)

Cassoulet94 said:


> No, placebo effect means that you are convinced that what you take has an effect so you indeed get a response. It can apply to basically everything. In the case of an antidepressant, it means that you convince yourself that you feel something so you feel better and start behaving differently, thinking that it is the drug, when in fact it is only your doing. It shows how strong is the influence of our psyche. Even for physical disease, it has been proven that sometimes, when a patient is convinced that a particular drug will work, you can observe some improvement even if he only takes a sugar pill (of course I am not saying that it is systematic and that you can cure, let's say a cancer, with sugar pills and a placebo effect). But that has been documented.
> 
> But in my case i don't know if it was a placebo effect that made exposure easier or if the med had a real effect due to its chemical components. In any case, I wambetter now and that is all that matter. I even had my first sexual experience last week end, that is a huge confidence booster. Even if the effect of the med fade out, I feel now confident and normal enough to live as I want (more or less, like most people of course).
> 
> I think med worth a try if you really feel down. I had some unpleasant experience with some of them (nothing dramatic though), but I was really in a bad place when i started paxil and now I feel better than ever before (that's not complicated, as long as I remember I have never felt happy). Just don't expect miracles from it.


Yes, I am familiar with the placebe effect. I watched a documentary about it earlier this year and there's plenty of reasearch being done on it. As you also mentioned, for some the placebo effect can work really well. While there hasn't been much progress made in terms of understanding how it works, a few things seem to enhance the effect. For example, the more expansive the "medication" the better the result tends to be (on average). It even worked for a certain type of knee surgery.

Much like SA and many health issues, maybe in the future we'll have better understanding and diagnostics.

In my case, SA is finally gone completely (recently). I guess I was somewhat lucky and my SA issues were more context based but didn't affect how I felt in general. While I wanted to overcome it without drugs, had I known that SA reduction in certain contexts would take much longer than I expected (e.g. in the most intense case almost a decade), I may have done things differently.

As you mentioned, I know that others seem to be dealing with other aspects as well and medication can be beneficial temporary tool.


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## Cassoulet94 (Apr 3, 2014)

VanDamme said:


> Yes, I am familiar with the placebe effect. I watched a documentary about it earlier this year and there's plenty of reasearch being done on it. As you also mentioned, for some the placebo effect can work really well. While there hasn't been much progress made in terms of understanding how it works, a few things seem to enhance the effect. For example, the more expansive the "medication" the better the result tends to be (on average). It even worked for a certain type of knee surgery.
> 
> Much like SA and many health issues, maybe in the future we'll have better understanding and diagnostics.
> 
> ...


I see. Well my SA was not really "context-based" but it was not too severe. Nonetheless it was getting me really depressed. I think how you live it depends on your other personality features, on what you want to do in your life and on how you see yourself.

It also especially depends on the extent to which SA prevent you to receive what is universally needed by human beings -that's to say love-, and to give it to others.

Nice to hear that you feel better.


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## VanDamme (Jun 8, 2004)

Cassoulet94 said:


> I see. Well my SA was not really "context-based" but it was not too severe. Nonetheless it was getting me really depressed. I think how you live it depends on your other personality features, on what you want to do in your life and on how you see yourself.
> 
> It also especially depends on the extent to which SA prevent you to receive what is universally needed by human beings -that's to say love-, and to give it to others.
> 
> Nice to hear that you feel better.


Thank you. 

Having met many people at various anxiety support groups, I noticed that not everyone was interested in completely eliminating SA (context based). Many people were satisfied if they could "manage" SA.

While each person's goals may be different, as you mentioned, the common element is that SA is no longer a limitation and people are able to live the life they want.


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## Hordak (May 5, 2017)

Cassoulet94 said:


> Hey,
> 
> I am currently quitting paxil. I was taking 40mg, i then dropped to 30mg, waited a month and then drooped to 20mg, waited for three weeks and now i am on 10mg. I have been taking paxil for 14 months. During this period I made huge progress and I am now almost free of social anxiety. I am just a little shy in some situations, but nothing dramatic, it will probably fade over time.
> 
> Until now, I haven't notice any change caused by the tapering process, I am not going back to where I was before I started paxil. Of course it could mean that paxil had only a placebo effect but if it is the case I don't care, the means don't matter


 Has it been permanent?


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## Cassoulet94 (Apr 3, 2014)

Hordak said:


> Cassoulet94 said:
> 
> 
> > Hey,
> ...


Nah. It did come back very slowly, I did not notice until I crashed badly. It took me one year to find an effective combo. I habe try so many meds, even maois... Now I take sertraline 150mg, lamictal 75mg (I have to reach 150mg) and occasionaly pregabalin. Basically, adding Pregabalin 600 mg to the mix allow me to be 80%SA free for an entire day. But there are downsides: it only works for a couple of days and then I have to wait a week before I can take it again. Also it make me forgetful and reduce my cognitive abilities.

And since I started zoloft I have seizures... Hope the lamictal will help with that.

But overall I m good. That's why I don t come here much any more. cheers !


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