Question: My experience with Paxil

I've been on Paxil for about 5 months now. At first I was taking it at night, but I couldn't sleep and would wake up with bad nausea. Since I switched to mornings, I've had very little physical side affects.

2 side affects I continue to have is weight gain and sexual dysfunction. I've gained about 20 pounds since I've started. I'm considering asking my doctor to lower my dosage from 30mg to 20mg to try to counter that.

I've also experienced sexual side-effects. I don't want to offend with any details, unless specifically requested.

Anyone have similar effects?

Answers:

A:I was reading some of the post's and saw a need to be here.This an Interesting place to share information.I'am 58 and had pretty good health most of my life until the mid/life years.Depression was never a real problem until my oldest son died 3 years ago.I have taken anti depressants but allways with weird side effects.I was on celexa 20 for about 8 months and my hair fell out and I gained 25/30 pounds.So I cold turkeyed off of it.Then in april as the time became closer to the aniversary of my son's death I started weeping again and feeling this awfull uncontrolled sadness and helplessness.I returned to my doctor and he put me on serzone,you have to gradually increase it up to 300 mg a day.I was on it for about three weeks and couldn't hold anything down,was so dizzy and looked druged I was embarrassed to go out.I just decided to stop taking anything all together.My doctor said I was not suffering with treatable depression but bouts of grief that were triggered by dates and anniversarys.I feel great now that Iam off I urge all of you to think about your own strength without drugs?Take it If you need it but like me I was only making matters worse.Thanks for listening I hope I touched someone.

kathy

A: I do not want to burst your bubble but i gained 40 lbs in 8 months when i was on paxil and that is why I quit taking it. I was on 20 mgs so reducing you mg's might not help. I wrote to a few dr's and all they recommended was taking some prescription diet pill with the paxil. I was not going for the whole phen phen thing i am afraid of diet pills so i just decided that it was time to get off. I am doing very wwell and I have had only 3 painc attacks since i got off, and i was having them evryday before the paxil. I think if you are on it for awile it helps you realize that you are relly not crazy so you can sort out your life and then get off. I am not saying that it is right for you to get off but i reccomend that if you eventully want to stop taking it the sooner the better because the longer you are on it the worse the withdrawl.

Goodluck witht the weight loss. I am not sure if there is anything you can do about the sexual side effects though?

A: I agree with you. I think that if evryone looks inside themselves they will find what is causing the problem and then they can try to cope. I do feel that in my case if i would not have gotten on the meds(paxil 20 for 8 months) I would have never been able to get where i am. I also qiuit cld turkey because of weight gain though. I am glad i did because the med numbed me to evry emotion I experienced, and while I was not panicing or crying anymore I also was not lauging or feeling any emotion like I normally would. I mean i did laugh and cry sometimes but not like it should have been. It was not until i quit because of the weight that I realized hey I do not need this anymore. So to all of you out there afraid to quit try it the withdrawl is hard but you can overcome it and just see for yourself if you think you are ready I bet a lot of you will discover you are.

A: Hi There I have a bit more to add that might help someone.I had my very first panic attack in 1994 in the late evening before bed.I really thought I was having a heart attack and was so frightned at what was happening to me.Shortly after I was given zanax, I took zanax for about 3 years and was very addicted.

I knew I was hooked and I didn't like it but the thought of doing without made me so frightned.I would get nervious just thinking about it.

I spoke with my doctor one day very seriously about stopping and she said to do so very slowly and that to keep some spare's in case I had an attack.So she wrote me one month's supply and between me and god above and my doctor I started my journey of quiting.What I did is I cut down in half what I usually took.Did that for a week, and cut it into a fourth of the dose for the second week.Then scattered a very few mostly at night for the remaining third week.By the forth week I was free and was feeling so fine about myself.

I experienced a shaky first week and my head roared,I tossed a bit at night but I was determined to get unhooked and be natural again.Zanax is a tough drug I have been free from it 6 years and havent had one panic attack in those 6 years go figure that?

I do things that some ladies wouldn't wont to try like cold turkey, I call it (grit)It's like riding a bucking horse and your determined to win so you ride it down.You would be surprised how many of these meds we really dont need that we are taking everyday.I feel good that I can look back now and have overcome the worse snag I had in my life and believe me I was totally hooked.

If quiting is what you want to do let me help you? I would be happy to give anyone my support and encouragement.And again thanks for listening and sharing. ((hugs))

kathy

p.s.I still have about half a bottle of the orginal zanax I was given.I keep it as one would keep a trophy for my victory.

A: I've been on Paxil for three years. I tried to get off of it when I found out I was pregnant. I couldn't (but that's a whole other story!)

Anyway, what mostly happens to me is, I get 'whoosh head'. It's really hard to explain: you're head gets all foggy and when you move your eyes, all you can feel is this electric ZAP in your head. It makes you dizzy and nausous, like being seasick. You can't think or move without the ZAPPING. It doesn't sound that bad, but believe me, when you actually experience it, you will wish you were dead... This even happens to me when I forget a dose. It takes about 36-48 hours to set in, then I remember in a hurry!

Shelly

A: i've been on paxil for 2 yr's,20mg a day.if I forget to take my medc for 3 days or so or run out.I get dizzy,fuzzy headed,i bump in to things,can't concintrate,don't want food at all,i can feel all my symtoms esscelate min by min.heart rate speeds up,eventually i go in to a massive shacking fit.I had to go to the hospital for this before.they give me what they call a green cocktail.it's a bunch of medicine to drink. hope this has helped.think twice before u go off paxil with out the help of your doctor. it can kill you if not done properly