Posted by ed_uk2010 on August 29, 2010, at 15:04:11
In reply to Re: Things that may help post SSRI problems » ed_uk2010, posted by 49er on August 29, 2010, at 14:16:57
>Many people on the Paxil Progress Board who tapered too quickly or CTd say they wish they had found the site before they went off their drugs as they felt it would have saved endless aggravation.
I understand what you are saying, but tapering by 10% every few weeks would mean that the withdrawal could take an extremely long time. This isn't necessary for everyone.
>Another problem with tapering too quickly is that withdrawal symptoms can be delayed. You can be fine for several weeks and then withdrawal hits out of the blue.
Perhaps. I think it's important to bear in mind that symptoms which only appear several weeks after stopping may not be withdrawal symptoms. For example, I often start to experience anxiety several weeks after stopping an SSRI (but not earlier), I do not consider this to be a withdrawal symptom.
>Finally, as I previously mentioned, the site advocates a 10% reduction of current dose every 3 to 6 weeks.
If you actually went that slowly, it would take decades to stop! eg. 10mg for 3-6 weeks, 9mg for 3-6 weeks, 8.1mg for 3-6 weeks, 7.3mg, 6.6mg, 5.9mg, 5.3mg, 4.8mg, 4.3mg, 3.9mg, 3.5mg, 3.2mg, 2.9mg, 2.6mg, 2.3mg, 2.0mg, 1.8mg, 1.6mg, 1.5mg, 1.3mg and so on.
I don't doubt that very slow tapering is necessary for some. Fortunately, painfully slow tapers are not necessary for everyone. I think it's normally fairly clear during the early stages of tapering whether it's going to be easy or not. If withdrawal symptoms are mild, there's no need to reduce so slowly. If problems are severe, a 6 month (or so) taper could be used.
poster:ed_uk2010
thread:959728
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100829/msgs/960475.html