Weening off Paxil
So I've been on paxil for 30 years. Yes 30 years! I started when I was 22 and I'm 52 now. A year and a half ago I managed to come down from 30 mg to 20 mg first from 30 to 25 where I had really no discontinuation symptoms but 25 to 20. I was getting hot flashes and very vivid dreams. But that passed soon enough and I've been on 20 since then.
I recently been seeking help with alcohol addiction. I saw the psychiatrist within the program yesterday. We both agreed that it's probably time to get off of paxil so it looks like now there is about a 1-month plan to get off, but I will be also going on cymbalta one month seems really fast. I really hope I don't have any discontinuation symptoms, but hopefully the cymbalta will maybe mask those symptoms. Either way it's definitely time to make a change. I I haven't really had access to a psychiatrist in many many years. I've seen other therapists such as registered social workers and psychotherapists and psychologists who cannot prescribe medication and my GP is not a psychiatrist so she felt it was best to just keep me on paxil until I could get a psychiatrist recommendation. Has anyone else ever gone on this route that is coming off of paxil but starting another antidepressant?