A Pharmaceutical Waste Dump

Sometimes insightful, sometimes intelligent, always boring; welcome back to my blog. I continue to be busier than I would like and a bit more scattered than usual. I guess that is life, though; so the best thing to do is sit down occasionally and let it all go.

I suppose it should not have been a surprise to me, given some of the odd side effects, my new doctor is not a big fan of Paxil. Granted it helped propel me toward better health, but there are some costs involved. Nothing life-threatening, hazardous, or the like, but nonetheless annoying. Last week I mentioned some of the side effects I was having and symptoms I was still dealing with and he presented me with several options. Given the circumstances surrounding everything we made the decision to change medication completely.

Since most folks aren't on psych meds and have never had the pleasure of going onto or coming off of them I feel the need to share an important fact- it is no fun. Both processes, run-up and withdrawal, tend to cause issues. Withdrawal brings strange physical and emotional side effects. A lot of people melt into a puddle of tears or become "snippy" during withdrawal, which thankfully I don't. What I do, because of my particular set of conditions, is called rapid cycling. It is the process moving from depression to manic states (in my case both are relatively mild) in fairly quick succession. All that and the strange physical side effects that us vets call zaps, brain-shivers, and Paxil Headache.

Staring a new medicine brings on another set of symptoms. Many people often experience a temporary increase in anxiety in the first days of a new medication. I am no exception and, since a big part of me is panic and anxiety, this is particularly entertaining.


Since doctors are aware these things happen to folks, most responsible doctors don't go full on/full off with medications. They slowly withdraw, lightly lowering dosages over weeks. They also slowly add, starting with a minimal dose and adding until proper symptom control is achieved. This is never painless, but it does make things a tad easier.

So now I am in the process of doing both, simultaneously. It is a little weird, but I will say it is not as bad as either one alone. I think I am probably driving my family insane. I tend to flip back and forth really fast and only have short periods of "normal". Thankfully the swings are really mild and, unless you are very close (family-living-in-the-same-house close), you wouldn't notice it from the outside. I suppose it is more annoying than anything, but not nearly as bad as the alternative.