PAXIL Reviews (PAROXETINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 2.9 (1018 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare PAXIL with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
|
Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 |
More on PAXIL: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR PAXIL | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | for GAD | Flu-like symptoms, increased anxiety, restlessness, skin rashes and itching, tremors, "electrical" brain zap sensations, tingling, morbid thoughts, abnormal taste and smell, confused thinking and a generalized feeling of either "heavy" or "mushy" brain. | I experienced terrible withdrawal symptoms after discontinuing Paxil, I did not know it could produce "discontinuation syndrome". | M | 64 | 11 months 20mg 1X day | 4/15/2010 | 1 | Depression, anxiety | Initially, vomiting the first night, sexual problems, weight gain. Eventually, after several years of SSRI treatment (not just this one) I developed Serotonin Syndrome which included incontinence symptoms. This stopped once I went off them, and restarted when I restarted on them, so it was definitely them causing it. | It was across all the SSRIs, not just Paxil. I wouldn't recommend these drugs to anyone, but if you are going to take them, only take them for a short time, no more than a year or two, and only if you absolutely, totally need them. I'd advise people to try other things first eg hypnosis (haven't tried it yet), fish oil, Vitamin D, joining social clubs, St John's Wort (haven't tried it, might be just as bad), social skills training, therapy etc. I don't think these pills should even be on the market. | F | 33 | 3 months 60 MG 1X day | 4/14/2010 | 1 | General Anxiety Disorder | Going on to the drug was hellish, but once I stabilised on 20mg it was only the 'mild' side-effects of emotional numbness, general apathy and sexual disfunction. However, the real fun started when I started to come off the drug.... nausea, chronic anxiety, diaorrhea, ear-ringing, vertigo, nightmares, weight-loss, emotional instability etc... | If you are prescribed this drug, please please please only take it for a short period of time whilst you get some CBT. It has ruined my life. | M | 29 | 9 years 20 1X day | 4/14/2010 | 1 | Protracted benzo withdrawal & pain | Huge weight gain (diet and exercise didn't help) and increasing hypersomnia, sleeping up to 18 hours a day! Then HORRIBLE protracted withdrawal. NOT worth any initial benefits! | Doctors' "slow" taper schedules aren't nearly slow enough for most people. I learned too late that tapering by no more than 10% of previous (MOST RECENT) dose, dropping no more than every 3-6 weeks when stabilized at dose, is the most effective way to successfully taper off for most people. Best is not to take it! Terrible med. | F | 60 | 13 years 15 1X day | 4/13/2010 | 1 | anxiety | Suicidal thoughts, anger, aggression, insomnia,impulsivity. | This drug almost cost my son his life to suicide. The withdrawal was totally debilitating and extended. He now has permanent adrenal damage due to Paxil. | M | 52 | 14 months 50 1X day | 4/13/2010 | 1 | anxiety caused by thyroid med | brutal insomnia, depersonalization, twitches, tremors, shocks | Neurotoxic in my opinion. Strongly recommend users stay away from this drug. Has taken over a year to get over the side effects caused by this med. | M | 41 | 3 months 20mg 1X day | 4/13/2010 | 2 | Anxiety | Extreme tiredness and lethargy, weight gain, increased hunger, reduced energy. | Paxil made me far to sleepy to really be of any use to me, although it did reduce my anxiety somewhat. I often sleep ten hours a night and then slept an additional three during the day. I put on 9 kilos on this medication and I was very often lacking the energy to do things, despite having the desire to get moving. | F | 24 | 3 years 20 1X day | 4/12/2010 | 4 | depression | diarrhea, trouble sleeping the first two nights, but last night was fine | Day 4: seems to be affecting my mood positively. | M | 27 | 4 days 20mg 1X day | 3/23/2010 | 1 | Anxiety/Depression | dry mouth, low libedo, low energy/tiredness. | This is the worst of all the SSRI drugs, it should not be prescribed to any new patients. I was on this crap for 10 years and I did not realize how miserable my life was because of it. After 3 years I was finally able to get off of it. Just do a web search and you can see that a lot of people have a very hard time getting off of it. Trying to stop this crap takes a long time and a lot of suffering. It took me 6 months of slowly tapering my dose to finally get off of it. I still suffered the brain zaps, nausea, irritability, dizziness, vivid nightmares, cold sweats, and the worst panic attacks of my life. | M | 28 | 10 years 40MG 1X day | 3/20/2010 | 3 | depression | It definitely lifted my mood but it caused bronchialspasms/asthma attacks so I had to go off of it! I also put on weight--about 10 extra pounds. I sometimes had trouble gathering my thoughts to complete a senstence! | I am afraid to try any other kind of anti-depressant for fear of an asthma attack. Haven't had one since being off of Paxil three years ago! | F | 59 | 2 years 10 mg 1X day | 3/8/2010 | 1 | social anxiety | HOrrible. Laziness, forgetfullness, weight gain, zombie feeling, other weird symtoms | Horrible horrible drug do not take. Taking paxil for 8 months literally cost years off my life recovering from the after effects. I do not believe that my mind or my body has ever returned to the same since taking this medication. I immediately gained 25 pounds when taking this which has given me a struggle with my weight ever since. My memory is horrible now. Constructing sentences is difficult. I just have never felt the same. The worst of it I would say was the first two years after discontinuing, memory was horrilbe, word recall was horrible, felt very out of it our of sync. This is a horrible drug and these doctors will not help you when you have problems with it. They will blame the problems on you becase you came in with depression or anxiety so they discount your concerns and blame you as imaginging the side effects or already having them when you came in which you know is not true. If you have a choice always take care of depression or other anxiety related issues through therapy rather than meds first. | F | 29 | 8 months 1X day | 3/8/2010 | 5 | Depression, Anxiety | Pink Floyd-like dreams first 2 nights. Lack of sex drive first 4 weeks. | Afore I wuz more nervous n a kat in a room fulla rokkin charez n I wuz alwayz fussin n fitein. Since I bin takin Paksil I been all calm n peesubl like. For a while I had trubl gittin enuf wood to keep the wifes fire a-burnin ( If ya no wot I meen) but now I can cut diamonds with it again. Thanks Dr. Fizer, yor the she-it. | M | 45 | 5 weeks 20mg 1X day | 3/1/2010 | 5 | PMDD/Social Anxiety | Nausea (1 week, then gone), Weird taste (1 day, then gone), mild insomnia coupled with drowsiness at other times, decreased libido (increases after a few weeks), mild spaciness, decreased ability to sense cold (but no sweating) | It's important to remember that everyone's brain chemistry is different, and all drugs carries the risk of side effects. For me, this drug has been a miracle. I was trapped in panic attacks, paranoia, depression, wild mood swings, uncontrollable crying, everything under the sun for several weeks each month. It evened out my emotions, and as an added benefit helps me deal with my social anxiety. I would put up with far worse side effects to be able to live normally again. I'm off Paxil for a few weeks every month, and other than a whammy when my normal, non-PMDD emotions hit me, I haven't noticed significant side effects. It's up to you to decide whether it helps or not, and how to manage the side effects. In the past, I was prescribed Wellbutrin, and that for me was a nightmare because it made the PTSD I was suffering far, far worse, as well as giving me temporary (if by temporary you mean a few years) mania, rapid heartbeat, and chest pains. So if the side effects are horrible for you, it may be due to your personal brain chemistry, and not because the drug shouldn't be given to anyone. Seek a doctor's advice, and wean yourself off. | F | 36 | 3 months 10mg 1X day | 2/25/2010 | 4 | anxiety | none aware of | F | 4 | 9 months 1X day | 2/16/2010 | 4 | Strange dreams, jitters, involuntary muscle movements, cramps, spacieness, difficult but not impossible orgasms. | I was alarmed at during the first two weeks at my inablity to orgasm, even solo. Generally, Paxil has helped my anxiety problem greatly. I was having a lot of difficulty in public situtions, to the point where I would hardly leave home. This is my first experience with a SSRI, and honestly I would have found this useful much earlier in my life. The sexual problems caused by this drug were temporary, thank God. Actually, orgasms seem to be more intense now than ever. I am only on 10mg, so I suspect this make be more difficult to overcome at higher doses. | M | 38 | 1 months 10 MG 1X day | 2/15/2010 | 1 | depression | THIS IS AN AWFUL DRUG! I had dilated pupils,inabilty to concentrate, feelings of dread, dizziness, racing heart rate,irritability,insomnia, trembling, and hot and cold flashes | This was the most awful experience I have ever had with a drug. My doctor switched me to it after my Prozac seemed to stop working. I literally thought I was going to die within 30 minutes of taking this medication. On top of that I had no sex drive for over 2 week after stopping this medication. I ended up stopping prescription antidepressants and switching to st. johns wart and Valerian and have never felt better. | F | 21 | 2 days 40 mg 1X day | 2/11/2010 | 1 | Forced to | No sex drive, tremor, horrible thoughts, dizzy, SEIZURE, and other. | This is the drug that started all my problems, I'm 30 years old and when I was 16, I was hospitalized for depression, forced to take this drug in the hospital, the doctor increased the dosage I had a Seizure, it was bad! It started a cycle of Anxiety and everything else, I was mean as hell on this drug! | M | 30 | 3 weeks 1X day | 2/6/2010 | 3 | temporary depression | weight gain from 115 to 130 in 6mo. | It is hard to say but my co workers and friends say that I am better off of it and can tell a difference in my personality. Like I am all here now. To me I can not tell a difference in how I act. I never had any major problems while on it such as the brain zaps that some experienced. I actually took myself off of it because of the weight gain, I was at 20mg when I started to come off. I started to cut the pill in half and went from there, some days i had to take the other half to not feel confused but all in all I got of it in a mo or so. IF you want OFF of PAXIL wean yourself off of it by cutting back the doses you take. It is possible. | F | 33 | 6 months 10 then 20 1X day | 2/3/2010 | 5 | ocd and anxiety | sexual (harder to orgasm) headaches and constipation (at beginning, then went away) | Paxil is the reason I'm alive. When I was young I had severe OCD and realted mental illness. I was miserable and a total wreck, thought about suicide. After beginning Paxil at age 12, my life was COMPLETELY turned around and I led a normal life. 3 years ago, I stopped taking the drug and again relapsed into intense mental illness, I was so deluded I didnt even realize what was happening. I developed an eating disorder and got down to 65 pounds. I began taking Paxil again a couple of months ago. My anxiety which was utterly debilitating is nearly gone, the OCD is much, much better, and I now weigh 115 pounds and feel stronger than in a long, long time. When I was off Paxil my life was a living hell. This drug saved me. I want to share this with all those who read the many horror stories on this website and will be turned off from it. Obviously it is not for everyone, but please, if your life now is hell, dont dismiss this as a real possibility that could save you. | F | 28 | 16 years | 1/31/2010 | 2 | anxiety depression | apathy, sexual indifference, but who cares? | Because depression put my life in the crapper, I made the mistake of having concerns about my unaddressed life and the Drug Doc keyed in on "anxiety" rather than depression. Paxil took my apathy/depression and put it on steroids, so I had the virtue of not giving a rat's ass while I indifferently watched my life going further down in flames. It did nothing to spark my interests, motivation or desires. | M | 43 | 6 weeks | 1/20/2010 |