I know that some of you guys use or have used Paxil and I was wondering if you ever experienced what I did after I decided that I was going to try and live without it...

Before I decided to go off Paxil, I did everything properly--called the prescribing doctor, who directed me in reducing the dosages gradually to avoid any withdrawal problems. (Funny, isn't it, that Paxil is not considered addictive, but can cause withdrawal problems????) After carefully following her directions and reducing the dosage in increments over a period of 3 weeks, I finally stopped altogether the Monday before Thanksgiving.

5 Days later, the day after Thanksgiving, I began to feel very weird sensations inside my head. I was feeling like I was getting small electrical shocks (zaps) inside my brain...they were so loud inside my head, I could actually hear them. Each "zap" was accompanied by light-headedness, and I had the sensation of a resulting movement, or spasm, in my eyes. At worst, I was getting about 30-40 "zaps" a minute.

At first I didn't suspect they came from the discontinuance of Paxil, but after ruling everything else out, I called my doctor to ask her. Of course, she wasn't available, so I got onto the internet and used the search engine to look for "Paxil Withdrawal Symptoms". I found a site which described "The Zaps" exactly as I experienced them, and advised me what to do.

I'm reluctant to share the site address on the BB. It references a lawsuit and solicits signing of a petition, so I'm not sure the BEBRF would want to include anything like that here. But if anyone is interested in looking at it for it's information on withdrawals, e-mail me and I'll share it with you. It is interesting reading if you have any thoughts about quitting Paxil.

My "zaps" lasted about 3 days, and they are all gone, now.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else ever experienced these...?? As I was getting them, they seemed somewhat related to the spasms I get with BEB.