What do Glaxo do about it?
Nothing.
What about the British drug regulator, the MHRA?
Nothing.
So, it's left to support groups created, in the main, by former sufferers of Seroxat withdrawal. One such support group is Paxil Paroxetine, Seroxat..The truth in getting off safely, a Facebook group where over 1,000 sufferers of Seroxat withdrawal write about their daily plight, a plight which both GlaxoSmithKline and the MHRA ignore. How caring they both are!
The group was created by two former Seroxat users, one of whom is still on Seroxat, he is still, after 14 years, trying to withdraw. The other, a former nurse, slow tapered for 56 months (almost 5 years) to get off just 20 mg of Glaxo's powerful antidepressant.
GlaxoSmithKline will have no doubt seen the comments, they will have, no doubt, cringed at some of the tales on there but, as is the norm, they will have also ignored them and classed them merely as "anecdotal evidence". Same can be said for the MHRA.
In the meantime, it's patients helping patients because the manufacturer and those responsible for regulating the product that comes from the manufacturer are too busy burying their heads in the sand over the whole Seroxat addiction issue. Hardly surprising, given that the current CEO of the British drug regulator is the former World Safety Officer for GSK. I mean, if they acknowledge a problem now then questions will be asked why they missed the problem years ago, right?
Here's a selection of reader comments from the Facebook support group, each one being accompanied by support and advice. Something neither GlaxoSmithKline nor the MHRA offer.
Coming off of this drug is absolutely horrendous. Any change in dosage and it's like I fall into the fiery depths of withdrawal. I have a husband who is trying his best to be supportive, and 4 beautiful boys that can't understand why mommy is so sick, and so angry. I'm trying my best to get through this, and praying God doesn't make me suffer long. This is absolutely miserable.
After dropping too much too fast in December/January --9mg down to 7mg then down to 5 mg , and withdrawal hitting hard last week-I up-dosed to my last stable dose last Friday (went back to 9 mg). By later Saturday and Sunday I was feeling quite better. Then Monday came and I was terrible again and still am. Nausea, vomiting, racing inside, ruminating thoughts, can't regulate body temp, flushing with any bit of stress, extreme crying spells, agitation, etc.
I was on Seroxat for 12 years, I did some awful things to myself whilst I was on it, I came off it only because I was pregnant with my son and it would have caused serious harm to him, which I found out 3 months into my pregnancy. The withdrawal was awful I had to go onto liquid form it was one of the hardest things I have ever done.
I've been taking Seroxat for 17/18 years. I have been trying for years to come off it, by using the suspension liquid form. Reducing it by 1 ml has given me the shakes in the past. I managed to get down to just 1.5mls using a syringe.
I have dropped my dose from 40 mg to 20 mg. Been a little over a week now. Been on it for 14 months now. Gained 40 lbs. never interested in anything anymore. So far since I dropped my dose, I get God-awful brain zaps and I'm very irritable. The insomnia is driving me and my family nuts.
Been 2 months on 10mg after tapering down. Waking up with a bad headache, not sure if from disturbed sleep because of the disturbing dreams.
As of last Wednesday I have finally tapered myself off Seroxat after 15 years. Feeling really awful. Contrast dizziness and headaches. Feeling faint all the time. Struggling to focus at work too. Feels like I am sea-sick, drunk and hungover all at the same time.
There are many more.
GlaxoSmithKline will be defending allegations later this year in the UK that Seroxat causes serious adverse events in a number of people who take it - they claim that there is "no merit in the claims".
They had previously, via lawyers, tried to get the litigation stopped but were denied by the presiding Judge (Back story)
Contrast the above withdrawal comments with those from 2007 that appeared via an online protest petition, here, here and here and one could suggest that there are no merits in GlaxoSmithKline's defence. Let's hope, when those previously unseen documents are aired in court, that someone might see fit to open clinics for those still suffering at the hands of Glaxo's infamous antidepressant, let's hope too that Glaxo will have to foot the bill.
Groups such as "Paxil Paroxetine, Seroxat..The truth in getting off safely" should be applauded, they are doing the work (unpaid) that both Glaxo (paid) and the MHRA (paid) should be doing.
Bob Fiddaman.
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