Premature Ventricular Contractions and Paxil

jca...@yahoo.com

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Mar 8, 2005, 8:22:30 AM3/8/05

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Roughly 6 years ago, I began having a "pounding heart" and "skipped
beats". I was unsure of their origin, but they concerned me a great
deal.

I sought out medical advice only to be told that they were "nothing".
Not once had I heard that they were PVCs. I was put on Paxil to
control the "anxiety" of these episodes.

After roughly 2 1/2 years, I was finally told by a cardiologist that
these skipped beats were called premature ventricular contractions. I
had gone through the holter monitor tests, stress tests, all the blood
workups, ekgs, echocardiograms, and even catscans to no avail. And
now, I was told plain as day what they were and that they are very
common.

According to this doctor, roughly 70% of all people have PVCs at some
point. Only a lucky few get to feel them. I think I was greatly
releived by this knowledge alone.

After continuing to take the Paxil for the anxiety, I informed my new
doctor that I would like to get off the Paxil. It has some horrific
side effects when I missed a dose. I was on 20mg / day.

My doctor put me on a regimen to withdraw from the drug. Its about a
1-month process with her approach. Essentially, taking 12.5 mg/day for
2 weeks, then 12.5 mg every other day for 1 week, then 12.5 mg every
third day for 2 weeks.

I must admit, I have never felt so bad in my life. Its like having a
severe flu with Vertigo trying to get off Paxil. And I'm on a low
dose. This drug really takes hold of you.

It turns out, that after doing some web research, Paxil is one tough
drug to quit. There is one term used for the symptoms that I'm having
that explains the withdrawal quite accurately. Its "SSRI
Discontinuation Syndrome".

I also learned that the FDA has even put out warnings that withdrawal
from paroxetine can be severe.

Searching a lot of the medical groups has illustrated that this is
quite prevalent. So, if you are looking for the magic cure to PVCs and
you believe that it is your anxiety about those PVCs that you need to
address, I'd recommend understanding the withdrawal process from SSRI
drugs prior to hopping on that bandwagon.

Just some of my personal experiences.

Take care,

Jon
PVC Bulletin Board: http://www.raptsoft.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl

Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD

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Mar 10, 2005, 2:17:07 AM3/10/05

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Thank you for sharing your experiences.

At His service,

Andrew

--
Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Board-Certified Cardiologist

Selene Cordi via MedKB.com

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Mar 27, 2005, 12:49:31 AM3/27/05

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I have been on Paxil for two years, and I know exactly how you feel. If I
had known I would get "swishy head" trying to come off of this sh.t, I
would have tried a different avenue for my depression.

I was originally on 25 mg/day but they upped me to 37.5 mg/day because of
insomnia. Apparently it's supposed to make you a little sleepy when you
take it.

I have had episodes where my heart/chest have felt like you described but I
thought I was being a hypochondriac.

Thank you for your posting. I now have a talk to have with my dr.

--
Message posted via http://www.medkb.com