Hi Steph. That's my daughters's name.
I'm on day five. It's funny how Paxil stopped working. It was a total surprise for me. How bout you? Do you have support at home? I got my husband to stay home from work for the first few days of switching to effexor. I guess I was afraid I'd get wigged out. I was like that when I started Paxil. Then when it finallly started working I was on cloud nine for about three months, people thought I was too happy, I tried to tell them that I had been so unhappy for about a year and had hardly spoken a word the whole time. They still didn't get it. I also became a Christian in the same time period. I figgered I needed all the tools I could get. Paxil and the Lord saved my sanity. You know you hear how people with anxiety can become afraid to go outside? Well I am afraid of staying at home. Funny that I am afraid of my own company. My shrink says I am a overly energetic person. And I don't know where you live but I am in rural Ontario and the winter can strand me. I am not a winter person.
I have a summer job as a garden maintianence engineer I love the job and then come October it is over until May. Zyprexa is a anti-psycotic drug taken in low dosage it slows down the thought process in hopes to calm the anxiety. And eventually take the place of the Ativan. It is not addictive so I am trying to get of the Ativan which is. I can take up to five Ativan a day but this last week I have only needed three a day. So progress is being made. Now I am waiting for the effexor to take hold. What has you Dr, said about the time frame? Mine will not commit. He doesn't want me to get dissapointed if it takes longer. I hope for a great week ahead for the both of us. I pray also And I will pray for you. Thanks for keeping in touch. I need this support. Bye for now, Veronica
Hi Veronica,
Yesterday was my 6th day as Paxil free. It was my best day out of the 6 but I also decided to take an extra .5mg of Ativan, which I use on top of my meds when the anxiety increases. no more than 3mg a day, but usually I take abt. 2.
I would say out 1-10, 10 being the worst my anxiety yesterday was close to 2. The 5 days bef. that I would say I was up to 7 or 8.
So let's hope for another good day today.
Ativan is the same as Lorazapam, but I have never used zyprexa.
Steph
It seems like we are in the same situation. My Paxil stopped working. My Dr. increase my dose and I went up to 60mg. it was still no use. So after weaning myself back down to 20 mg. which was not as hard as I thought just a waste of time, I stared effexor four days ago. So i am 4 days paxil free. I stared on 75mg of effexor, and olso take lorazipam and a low dose of zyprexa which will hopefully get me through until the new drug stats working. I wish us both a safe new journey and maybe we can keep are posts going to let each other know how things are going.?
Thanks for your post vlake (Veronica)
Hi Vlake,
I switched from Paxil to Effexor XR in the beginning of Januray 2005.
Paxil did not work for me when I went back on it after a 3 years of being symptom free.
My Dr. decided to piggyback the meds. I would take 37.5 mg of Effexor with my Paxil, and over the last 6 weeks we have upped the Effexor and dropped the Paxil.
I am now on 75mg + 37.5 mg of Effexor XR and I have been Paxil free for 5 days.
I am doing quite well on the Effexor. The last 5 days I have had some more anxiety, but it could be from dropping the Paxil.
Not sure yet. I am giving it another week, when I will once again see my Dr.
But I really like the Effexor.
I all. I was on Paxil for three years. It suddenly stopped working. I had a setback due to health issues, which are my main fear. So I relapsed into anxiety. I have no "panic attacks" but suffer from generalized anxiety. Panic attacks are a symptom I suffered back in 1988, it took two years without the help from anti-depressants, just ativan. I have relapsed three times since then, and now I am on my fourth. So it seems to me the attacks go away after time and just freaking give you anxiety all the time. I am now taking Remeron 45mg at night for 8 weeks, it has done little for the anxiety but I sleep thank goodness. So now I have just started effexor 75mg a day. This is my second day. I could use some good news about this anyone have any regarding a switch from Paxil to Effexor xr.
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