Dr. Bola Oyeyipo, a family physician in San Antonio, Texas and co-founder of Healthgist.com, says that withdrawing suddenly can cause these symptoms to worsen. Your doctor may suggest that you slowly wean off the medication by lowering the doses over the course of a few months. However, if you’re currently taking Paxil and have not experienced these side effects, then you shouldn’t have any issues. Either way, be sure to speak with your doctor first.
Here’s what Dr. Oyeyipo had to say regarding the study’s findings:
“This study reports nothing that the medical community did not know already. The common antidepressants currently all have a black box warning from the FDA to limit their use in adolescents because of potentially increased suicidal thoughts.
The current thinking is that patients – who have had suicidal thoughts but have been unable to carry out these thoughts because of the lack of motivation brought on by depression – feel better on the antidepressants and are then able to carry out those suicidal thoughts.
If you’re doing well on Paxil or any of the other antidepressants, there’s no reason to discontinue the medication. And again, if you plan on getting off Paxil or any other antidepressants, be sure to taper off it and not stop the medication suddenly.”
Popular Antidepressant Linked To Suicidal Thoughts was originally published on blackdoctor.org
