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Stop-paroxetine

paroxetine
Type Antidepressant
Group SSRI
links
Medscape paroxetine
PubChem 43815
PubMed paroxetine
Kompas (Dutch) paroxetine
Wikipedia paroxetine


Nietinrijdenbord.png Stop paroxetine
  • In general after long-term maintenance treatment, the best is to reduce the dose by about 25% every 4-6 weeks. An apt pharmaceutical dose (tablet, capsule, mixture) is not always available. In these cases one should be creative with dosing.[1][2]
  • Another, more risky, possibility is being at a certain dose to use the following scheme:[3][4]:
  • 30 mg/day [5][6][7]:
  • Day 1: reduce dosage of paroxetine to 20 mg/day.
  • Day 8: reduce dosage of paroxetine to 10 mg/day.
  • Day 15: reduce dosage of paroxetine to 5 mg/day (preferably in 2 doses).
  • Day 22: reduce dosage of paroxetine to 2,5 mg/day (preferably in 2 doses).
  • Day 29: stop administration of paroxetine.



  1. The UK Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin; 1999;37:49-52
  2. Editor: please note that not all dosages are available in pharmacy. So now and then you should be creative.
  3. Rosenbaum JF et al. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor discontinuation syndrome: a randomized clinical trial. Biol Psychiatry. 1998 Jul 15;44(2):77-87
  4. Haddad PM. Antidepressant discontinuation syndromes. Drug Saf. 2001;24(3):183-97
  5. Moleman P, Geneesmiddelen voor de geest: een praktische gids. Amsterdam: Nieuwezijds; 2007. p.225.(Dutch)
  6. Bazire S, Psychotropic Drug Directory 2010. Aberdeen: HealthComm UK Ltd; 2010.
  7. Himei A, Okamura T. Discontinuation syndrome associated with paroxetine in depressed patients: a retrospective analysis of factors involved in the occurrence of the syndrome. CNS Drugs. 2006;20(8):665-72
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