research fail or deliberate misinformation?

[bowdlerizer]

I am not by any stretch of the imagination a conspiracy theorist. It's just not my thing. But the fact that my pharmacist had never heard of brain zaps - the most common and most disturbing withdrawal symptom when discontinuing paroxetine - just freaked me out. And then I realise that they are in pretty much none of the official literature (that I

Comments

[tieke]

You probably already saw this, but:
http://www.bmj.com/content/324/7332/260.1.extract

And from the Wiki page on paroxetine, it sounds like Glaxo pretty much tried to cover it up for years, only recently adding the following stuff to the info sheet on it (pulled out of the pdf from Glaxo's website):

----------

Effects on stopping AROPAX:
Studies show that 3 in 10
people notice some symptoms
on stopping AROPAX
compared to 2 in 10 patients
after stopping sugar pills.
However, this is not the same
as the medicine being addictive
or becoming dependent on it,
as is seen with drugs such as
heroin.

Symptoms may include:
• dizziness
• sensory disturbances such
as ‘pins and needles’,
burning sensations and
electric shock-like
sensations
• sleep disturbances,
including intense dreams
• feeling anxious or agitated
• nausea ( feeling sick)
• shaking or tremors
• confusion
• sweating
• headache
• diarrhea

-----

They also say that withdrawal is more likely if you stop it suddenly, rather than tapering it down. Have you looked into that?

PS - sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know - the biologist in me finds this kind of thing really interesting, but I do know that you must know a lot more than me about it.

[bowdlerizer]

Oh of course I weaned myself off it, with consultation with my doctor. But that said if the information about the 'discontinuation syndrome' were clearer - and health professionals were better informed about them - then maybe my doc and I would have done it differently.

Bad Glaxo. Naughty.

Some people some symptoms. Sheesh.

thank you for the sheet - I didn't look at it :)

[tieke]

Yeah - the info reads like a masterwork of understatement to me. Also I like the bit where they suggest it's probably all in your head because 2/10 people get "some symptoms" after stopping taking sugar pills (note how they don't say which symptoms or describe how severe they were).

Anyways, hope things get better soon - sounds nasty.
((hugs))

[bowdlerizer]

One scary thing that seems to have come out of the anecdotal stuff - not that that is good science but hey, pretty much all there is to go on as well - is that the longer you are on AND the longer you wean for the longer the post wean zaps can last

THAT is suckballs.