Call your doctor now and let them know what is going on. You don't have to wait 3 weeks for the appointment. They can advise you now on what to do if you just give them a phone call.

My guess is they will have you go back to the 20 mgs of Paxil, consistently every day like before, since you were doing okay on that dose. But I am not a doctor. Call them today (before they are gone for the holiday weekend) and let them know your symptoms and they can advise you what to do.

IF they have you go back to 20 mgs, it will work right away and you will feel a lot better. What you are feeling now with worse anxiety is common if someone takes different doses. They will fix this for you. Let us know. Good luck.

hello, carol. welcome to the forum. i am clueless on the med angle, but i wanted to welcome you aboard. i hope you find stabilizing companionship here.

Thank you for your reply. My doctor is on vacation this week. My original appointment was in January, but she moved it up to December, so that's the best she can do. I have been on 20mg for over two weeks, still having high anxiety, hoping it will diminish over time. One decision: even if I feel better, I will stay on 20mg, not reduce it and maybe go through another adjustment period. I appreciate you jumping in so quickly to offer help. It's easy to feel alone. Your reply helped.

Hi, just wanted to reiterate that’s it’s ok to call your doctor’s office now and let them know what’s going on even if you have an appointment coming up in a few weeks. I’m not on medication for for anxiety but take medication for other things and if something is not working right it stops working, I don’t mess around. Let them know.

This is a great group of people. You found a good place to land.

im having the same problems, i seem to have nothing but side effects from all anti depressants i take. Im calling tomorrow to get off a new medication that is causing my depression to become worse and is making my panic attacks increase. Im debating no medication at all at this point.

Hi again Carol,

Just wondering, whose idea is it to change your dose of Paxil? For example, my psychiatrist is constantly, always, on me to increase my dose of anxiety medication and when I tried to increase it, tried many times, I felt awful, had more panic attacks, anxiety, nightmares, dizziness, etc, from the higher dose. So, I told my psychiatrist that I can't do it and that I like the dose that I am on. He still brings it up to try to increase the dose, and this has been going on for the last 25 years with him and I am not increasing the dose just because he *thinks* it will be better! Even though he keeps suggesting it. I tried it many times, and I like the dose I am on.

So my point is, it's all up to you. You are in control. You are the only one who knows how you feel. If you felt okay before, then why change the dose, I am curious?

With medications like Paxil, you're right about there being an adjustment period, which could last 4-8 weeks. Increasing it, decreasing it.... any change will affect how you are feeling that day of taking it.

So I'm just saying that you don't *have* to change your dose when it comes to a medication like Paxil, just because your doctor says to. If you were doing pretty well on your other dose, and for 17 years (!!!! That's great!), then why change the dose.... I am just curious???

When my dosage was changed due to significant high level stress markers showing up, the experience was different.

The one thing that helped the majority of the time was to stay consistently hydrated and practice calming techniques. In my case, I knew when anxiety was moving up, and I worked to get calm first.

However, if your dosage has changed in either or both directions in a short amount of time, you're going to have to choose what is working best and move through the adjustment period with more anxiety symptoms, sensations, and it is uncomfortable to say the least for the majority of people.

Best of luck with the experience. Welcome to the anxiety board and know you are not alone.

Thanks to all for your support and caring. What a great group of people. I feel so fortunate to have found this forum.