Paxil reduction - yikes

I have taken Paxil for 13 years. I had tried to get off of it several times - it was so hard - unbelievable. I tried again last year, and now I am finally down to 2.5! It has taken me over a year to get to 2.5 from 30 mg. I am still feeling bad withdrawal symptoms each time that I go down a dose (I decrease by 2.5 every 5 - 6 weeks). At 2.5 mg (from 5 mg), I am going the same depression and physical side effects of withdrawal, and it has been a week now. I am surprised to find that I am experiencing withdrawal feelings at this low dose. Has anyone else experienced withdrawal at this low dose? Getting off of Paxil is BRUTAL. It has really impacted my life, my relationships, my work and my health. When I was at 30 mg, I would get these awful, huge head snaps during the night - it felt like my body and head were exploding into shards of glass or something! It was terrifying. My doctor insisted the shocks were because my dose wasn't high enough, but I KNEW she was wrong. The whole time I have been reducing it, I get lesser shocks, sort of rythmic, in certain sleep cycles. And the mood - depression feelings - while I adjust to the each dosage change, is horrible. But I have found that after 2 or 3 weeks, it gets better... then after a few weeks of feeling better, I get brave and venture to another reduction. Paxil did help me at one point in my life. At one time, I was so depressed I wasn't functionally normally any longer. But I don't think I should have been on it for so many years. It has been a very, very long haul.