Do The Withdrawal Symptoms Of Paxil Have Any Effect On OCD Treatment?

Posted on Fri, 12 Feb 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 12 Feb 2016 Answered on

Tue, 19 Apr 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : My daughter's doctor prescribed Pristiq. She is currently taking Paxil, but feels it is not working as well as it might. He left on vacation the same day, and I wasn't in the office with her, but she said he said to cross-taper. Currently she is on 60mg of Paxil. He said take 30mg plus add 50 mg of Pristiq for 7 days, then take 100mg of Pristiq alone. Does that sound like a reasonable way to do this? She is 19 and has Aspergers and OCD. She wanted to make the change to help primarily with the OCD anxiety.

Answered by Dr. Ronald Schubert (56 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
cross taper

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for contacting HCM with your health care concerns

I am sorry to hear about your daughter and her problems with depression and OCD. Her doctor is having her cross taper from Paxil to Pristiq. The weaning of the paxil is too quick. I would recommend that she start by decreasing the paxil to 40mg for 1 week then 20mg for 1 week then 10 mmg for 1 week and stop. Weaning off to quick can precipitate withdrawals. For the pristiq she can start at 25mg for 1 week and then to 50mg the second week and stay there. These two medications work differently in the brain and will not interfere with each other.

I hope this weaning schedule works for her. If you have any additional questions please contact us again.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar