HAS ANYONE EVER TRIED PAXIL?

[PoutinePete]

I really want to lick this SA thing without the use of medication, BUT.. I'm not above exploring all options. I had a look at the Paxil website, and as expected they painted a pretty rosy picture of what their drugs can do for you, but they never mentioned the side effects, cost, success rate, addiction,etc.
I should point out that my plan of attack on kicking SOCIAL PHOBIA'S ass is varied, through hard work, determination, good diet and exercise, therapy, blah-blah-blah!
However, I still want to hear anyones experience (good or bad) with Paxil.
Thank you!

 

[Chilling__Echo]

i've tried several drugs but i got the best and awesome results from paxil. i've been on 40-50 mg and am currently quiting it now.

side effects suck ass though. say goodbye to your sex life. but that's the only side effect i've seen. and weight gain.

but BEWARE, getting off of it is a bitch. it's really really hard to get off. it's known to have the worst by far withdrawal symptoms. before you start, i highly recomend you visit www.quitpaxil.info/index and read very carefully.

other than that, i made so much more progress by being on it. i feel i'm recovered from SA - not that i still don't feel it, but i've learned to deal with it and know how to handle it and using drugs like paxil are a good way to give yourself that boost. it gives you that confidence that you need to start and keep going.

exercise and a good diet helps alot though. i've also had boughts with depression and i've started excercising about the last month or so and changed my diet. it helps when trying to quit.

 

[Chilling__Echo]

why so bad? just curious

 

[PartsUnknown]

This post has changed

 

[Chilling__Echo]

trust me, i wouldn't give you any weird looks, i prolly had the same probs! and coming off any SSRI increases your risk of depression and all sorts of other good stuff sooo much more. it's not fun

 

[HELLO]

paxil didnt help me. coming off it was a nightmare. the electrcal zaps and dizziness were scary.

 

[PoutinePete]

Electrical Zaps? Please explain!

 

[Chilling__Echo]

it's like dizziness, but... zaps haha. it's the prominant withdrawal affect i have now. it starts with the zaps, then nausea, headache, the just feeling plain like shit.

but if you taper off of it correctly you should be fine. you won't experience anything at all. most of the time it's 10-5 mgs a week you go down but it depends on how long you've been taking it. the longer, the more you have to wait. i've been taking it about a year and i was at 40, week later 20, then 10, now 5, hopefully in another week, i'll be off of it completely.

 

[jourjaune]

lol I kind of wish I could have experienced the zapping. Anyway, for me I couldn't concentrate, my head was all over the place. I was young, I think ten or eleven so I'm not sure if age had something to do with it. Probably. The only way to know if it'll work for you though is to try it. I've never been good with pills. Good luck

 

[Septor]

All paxil did was make me fat.

 

[shovelhead]

Did any of you have side effects the first time you took it?

I freaked out big time, strange hot/burning sensation down one side of my body... and SEVERE anxiety, like nothing I experienced before or since, to the point that I simply blacked out... My mother was the same (I found out recently that she had it too years ago) she ended up hospitalised she freaked out so bad on it....

GP said take more valium first, I said shove your drugs :-0

 

[shimple]

I've tried paxil and most of the SSRIs...For me they made the SA worse, I felt like they trippled my anxiety. I don't remember ever having a panic attack before taking these meds and I won't ever take them again.

As for effexor, it worked well for depression for me, but it gave me absolutely horrific nightmares every night, all night long.

Nardil is the only antidepressant that helped my SA (and very dramatically)!
Unfortunately since they changed the formula it is useless.

 

[r0ck0ut04]

I remember I took paxil when I first started having anxiety attacks before I even had Sa and it made me a completely different person. It worked great it was like it changed my whole personality. Then I got off it and tried taking it 2 times since my Sa started and it does nothing at all. Makes me think was it the paxil the first time or was it just me.

 

[still-in-my-shell]

I agree with Chilling_Echo, of all the medications I've tried Paxil has been the best. When I started it I had some nausea and I couldn't orgasm but those went away in a few weeks. I didn't have weight gain. I really liked how I would be thinking my usual anxiety thoughts but my body wouldn't be reacting to those thoughts, and then gradually it helped with not thinking that way.

The worst downside (and this is why I am afraid to go on it again) is the really seriously hard withdrawl it causes. Dizziness, that brain "zap" that others mentioned, severe agitation...

That's just my experience!

 

[Chilling__Echo]

sadly, four days after being completely off the paxil (finally!!), i went through yet another pretty stressful situation that set me off into a depression and i'm back on it again.

why why WHY WHY?!?! why can't i be normal?!? why can't i deal?!?! what is wrong with me??? i'm so fet up. i do'nt want to take this drug anymore...