What would you do?

August 7, 2026··

I have a dilemma, I am down to 2.5mg of Paxil from my starting point of 10mg. I was on Paxil 10mg for 5 months before I started to taper. My taper schedule was/is down to 7.5mg for 4 weeks, then 5mg for 5 weeks, I am currently 2.5mg for 3 weeks so far. I have been using a pill cutter to cut my 10mg pill to get those doses. My question is I am one week away from either lowering my dose further or just stopping. I asked my doctor and his assistant said I could just stop taking it. I didn't tell her I was already tapering so she thought I was taking 10mg for the past 7 months. I went to my pharmacist and told her I was tapering and what dose I was on and she said I could just stop, that it was a low enough dose to do that. Has anyone stopped at 2.5mg? Or has taken Paxil for a few months? I think i definitely will hold at 2.5mg until after my birthday which is the end of August and pray about it and decide after that. Any advice would be appreciated.

Paxil — 2.5mg — 7 months — actively tapering
Paxil- 0.00mg-08/14/26

6 Replies

Wolf9d ago

Community AnchorProzac · researching

Entirely depends on your withdrawal history. You had a big symptom spike last month. If you were perfectly healthy, I would hold for a few more weeks then stop.

Prozac — 40 mg — 6 months — holding | Zyprexa — 20 mg — 6 years — holding | Depakote — 600 mg — 8 months — **tapering** | Buspirone — 20 mg — 8 months — holding | with clinician
"If life is painful, start a rebellion and make it good."

⭐

CatinaStaff9d ago

Community AnchorEffexor

Hi PoppyAbby, I think it would be wise to hold for the time being. Even at 2.5 mg, your serotonin receptors are still being blocked by 48% from the drug. Here is a SERT Occupancy chart for Paxil:

Most of the changes in serotonin receptors happen at very "low" doses, so it's best to try and taper down as low as you can before jumping to zero. However, it all depends on what your nervous system can handle. Everyone is different.

Venlafaxine (tapering) - Current dose 17.92 mg
Trazodone - 50 mg
Levothyroxine - 25 mcg

“Your brain and body know how to heal. Trust the process and keep going.”

Please Note: I am not a healthcare professional. Any advice given is based on personal experience and that of others in the lay withdrawal community.

PoppyAbby9d ago

Trusted VoicePaxil · active

@wolf yes, I did have a spike, that's what I am afraid of ....

Paxil — 2.5mg — 7 months — actively tapering
Paxil- 0.00mg-08/14/26

PoppyAbby9d ago

Trusted VoicePaxil · active

@Catina, that's a great chart that shows exactly what I am up against if I stop now. I think I'll check into the liquid Paxil and work on this a few more months.

Paxil — 2.5mg — 7 months — actively tapering
Paxil- 0.00mg-08/14/26

⭐

CatinaStaff9d ago

Community AnchorEffexor

"I think I'll check into the liquid Paxil and work on this a few more months." — @PoppyAbby

I'm really glad it helped. If you do switch to liquid, you'll want to do a gradual crossover. https://taper.community/thread/3516b46d-50b6-4048-9abc-533356b74afe Hope all goes well!

Wolf9d ago

Community AnchorProzac · researching

@PoppyAbby The pharmacist is not aware of how your nervous system is doing and your symptom spikes. Further, it's a matter of you taking a bit of a risk and perhaps enduring some symptoms versus having 100% hassle-free withdrawal. I think you should drop to 1 mg or 1.2 mg without any kind of liquid, just cutting pills, then hold and drop it all. That is because you are doing okay. The half-life of Paxil is a bit unfavorable.

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