PAXIL Reviews (PAROXETINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 2.9 (1018 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare PAXIL with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Age oldest to youngest. 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 | Depression, Anxiety, Panic Attacks | Sweating, dry mouth, constipation, sleeplessness. However, the worst side effect was joint pains, especially in my jaw and mouth. I would wake up every night with severe pain in my mouth. Spent lots of money going to different dentists & specialists, thinking it was my teeth. After very slowing stopping the paxil (which was a nightmare), the pains went away. | At first I thought this was helping. I was able to socialize more and was able to drive anywhere without worry. I was willing to deal with side effects, but when the bad pains started in my mouth, I didn't know what was happening. It took a long time and a lot of money to connect these pains with the paxil. | F | 46 | 10 months | 9/28/2004 | 1 | Depression / Anxiety | GOT ADDICTED TO IT, VERY DIFFICULT WITHDRAWAL. WITHDRAWAL SIDE EFFECTS LISTED UNDER COMMENTS. Other SEs included WEIGHT GAIN, SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION, LOSS OF ENERGY, FATIGUE, FEELING OF COMPLETE APATHY, DESIRE TO SLEEP ALL THE TIME, DIZZINESS, NAUSEA. DRUG DID NOT WORK! | Withdrawal from this drug was WORSE THAN ANYONE CAN IMAGINE. I was on a high dose at the time I began withdrawal. Slowly I worked my way down to 20 mg. For the last 20 mg, I literally had to shave off 1 MG at a time. It took months for me to withdraw from this drug, the last 20 mg being the hardest. I WOULD HIGHLY ADVISE EVERYONE TO AVOID THIS DRUG. If I withdrew too quickly, I would be hit with numerous side effects, including severe nausea, inability to stand up, the room spinning like I had a bad inner ear infection, and so many other side effects I cannot name them all. The withdrawal was SO DIFFICULT that I often actually considered STAYING ON THE DRUG SO AS NOT TO HAVE TO SUFFER THROUGH THE WITHDRAWAL. THIS IS AN EVIL DRUG AND SHOULD NOT BE ON THE MARKET. | F | 46 | 1 years | 5/9/2004 | 5 | major panic, anxiety and depression | This drug saved my life. I've had every side-affect there is, but the long lasting ones are weight gain (30pds) and loss of sex drive...takes 10 times longer to orgasam | After tapering from 60mg for 6 months, I have been Paxil free for 3 months. These 3 months have been up and down hell...the intense anxiety and emotional low feelings are ones I never had pre-paxil...they come in waves...then go away...serveral times I have felt like going back on Paxil or something else...I hope I don't endure many more months of this withdrawal hell... | M | 45 | 6 years | 9/17/2007 | 5 | depression,anxiety,other | Not really sure if I am satisfied with it yet or not as I have only have been taking it for 5 days but am having annoying side affects-headaches, bone aches, dry mouth,blurred vision, some tiredness. My pharmacist said most side effects will go away within 2-4 weeks. I hope I can hang in there. I was taking it in the morning and just switched to taking it at night hoping for less side effects. | I do already feel alittle better and have a somewhat more stable mood. I am alittle worried about the potential weight gain as I am already 50 pounds overweight. I just want to feel better and be a happier person with stable emotions and feel more in control. | F | 45 | 5 days | 12/6/2006 | 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 | Panic Disorder and Anxiety | Sleepy, difficult to achieve orgasm | Paxil changed my life. Taking Paxil is the best thing I have ever done. The panic and anxiety had ruined 18 years of my life...all of my 20's and part of my 30's. After reading the comments here, it seems to me that only people with panic and anxiety disorder should take Paxil. For all of us, it gave us our life back. Unless you have suffered from debilitating panic and anxiety, you cannot understand how much help this drug has given people who need it. Doctors need to be educated about which people benefit most from this drug and prescribe accordingly. | F | 45 | 7 years | 8/7/2008 | 5 | Anxiety / Depression | I have taken 10 mg for 10 years with no side effects. After the death of my father, my doctor increased the dose to 40 mg - within a few days I had no libido and shaking like I was going to have a panic attack. I reduced down to 20 mg and the shaking went away in 2 days. | It works for me. No weight gain like others have experienced. | F | 45 | 10 years 10 mg | 7/25/2015 | 5 | Depression | Excessive sweating, weight gain, 40 pounds over several years | I was on Paxil 20mg for many years with great benefit. I was less shy and depression lifted. When the dose was increased to 40mg I started sweating and couldn't get it to go away again; even by going back to 20mg. Had to stop taking it. | F | 45 | 13 days | 3/22/2005 | 5 | major panic, anxiety and depression | This is my second post...last was 9/17...now six months off Paxil...I still have withdrawal...anxiety at times that I never had before the drug...I recently went through a 4-6 hour period of depression...2nd time in the six months, though not as bad this time...all my withdrawal feelings are less and continue to get better but they are not gone...I do feel like getting back on something...maybe this is my body craving Paxil..they call this PAWS...takes 6-12 months to recover...I want to give this six more months...also, my lebido is still not back 100%...I am not a zombie anymore but still not right...sometimes I feel great or almost normal...I will say that Paxil worked, but the weight gain was too much..I have lost 20 of the 30 pds gained...the bad anger I had in the first 4 months is gone...I just dont feel right all the time...it is getting better, but very slowly and I do have these big drops in mood, but always less than before...got my fingers crossed... | M | 45 | 6 years | 12/15/2007 | 5 | Depression and anxiety | constipation, decreased libido, headaches (at greater than 20mg/day), increased appetite(at greater than 20mg/day), sleepiness | Paxil has changed my life! Even with the side effects, it has been a great drug for me. I think Paxil gets a bad rap. I have had longstanding problems with depression and anxiety and have tried several different SSRI's (Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa, Wellbutrin). Paxil has worked the best for me. I think Prozac is the evil SSRI, not Paxil. I have noticed some breakthough symptoms of anxiety and depression on 20mg/day now that I am perimenopausal and I can not tolerate increasing my dose to 30mg/day. I did experience major withdrawl symptoms of nausea and dizziness when I forgot to take it for 2 days. I do notice that I feel more fatigued and sleep more than the average person while taking Paxil, but it works out well for me since I work mainly nights so I have no problem sleeping during the day. I have not had a problem with weight gain but I do notice that I have a major increase in appetite if I increase to 30mg/day. | F | 45 | 9 years | 2/9/2009 | 5 | stress and anxiety horrors | lowered sex drive and reduced sensitivity in the genital area, inability to cry or shed tears even when very sad, sometimes a sudden electric shock feeling inside my head. | Been on paxil for 12 years now and even with the side effects I do not know how I could have survived without it. Did stop it at one stage and suffered the withdrawal symtoms, however the horrors of stress and anxiety returned so I went back on the paxil. Can take weeks or even months for the benefits to show. | M | 45 | | 7/14/2008 | 4 | Depression/Anxiety | Been taking for 2 years. Helps alot. Side effects include: loose bowel, negative libido effect, sleeping way too much. Don't try to quit cold turkey. Like other SSRIs after cold turkey the whoosh effect, crying at nothing, hopelessness etc will drive you crazy. Good drug overall, just try to get your dose adjusted to take the very least to work for you and taper if you try to come of it. | M | 45 | 2 years | 10/2/2007 | 4 | couldn't sleep/depressed | I would like to get off this medication but I suffer from major side affects.I was told that I would have to be on it the rest of my life!! Poopy!! I have tried to go off about 3 times and every time (once off of drug for 2 weeks) I would get terrible withdrawls. Dry heaves, major dizziness, feeling like I'm freezing to death, couldn't even keep water down, shakes, couldn't go to work because I was so sick!!!!!! I still have some trouble sleeping and am very tired all of the time. | F | 45 | 6 years | 4/12/2001 | 4 | panic disorder | Initial side fx were drowsiness, compulsive yawning, vivid dreams, muscle twitching, inability to orgasm, some nausea. The last five years side fx are nonexistant libido (but orgasm is normal), some weight gain though nothing horrible, and chronic apathy. | As someone who suffered from panic attacks and agoraphobia so badly that I could not function at all and was a terrible burden on my family, I had no choice but to take Paxil. It is not a perfect drug, but it did give me back my life and self-sufficiancy. I have noticed that I take a much lower dose than most of the people who have written in, and I think that may be the key. I can't handle anything higher than 5 mg as it makes me waaaaay too sleepy. My biggest challenge now that I have been on it 13 years is apathy ... life is always flat to me. This really sucks but I am terrified to quit Paxil and end up like I used to be. | F | 45 | 12 years 2.5 - 5 mg 1X day | 9/4/2011 | 3 | anxiety | extreme sweating at night, extremely tired at all times, yawning, gritting teeth, no sexual desire, some dry mouth | Seemed to help with anxiety but didn't want to put up with the side effects. Now I'm tapering off of Paxil and starting Zoloft. | M | 45 | 8 weeks | 5/29/2001 | 3 | migraines | WEIGHT GAIN, no matter what i do. Exercise 1 to 2 hrs a day and still gaining weight... But works great for the headaches... | will try to get off of it and switch to Effexor to try to lose the weight | M | 45 | 2 days | 10/6/2004 | 3 | OCD/depression | After 8 years I suddenly experienced foreskin contraction, all came right when I stopped the Paxil. When back on it, and it happened again, very quicky. Delay/no ejeculation (depending on dose), sweating, needed 12 hours sleep, little libido, communication skills waned. Interested to hear if anyone experience the fist problem I mentionied | no weight gain for me, good anti depressant, ok for OCD (might have taken too little), hard to come off. | M | 45 | 8 years | 4/15/2006 | 3 | GAD, OCD | made me tired and depressed for about a week each time I increased my dose, but that went away completely after that first week. Weight gain that would not budge despite a strict diet and exercise routine. Complete loss of sex drive and ability to have orgasm. Towards the end felt very flat and uninterested in anything. | For anxiety Paxil is the bomb -- it helped me at work, relationships, validated my belief that my mood issues are chemical and not due to being a rotten person. Unfortunately, the side effects got to be too much for me and I decided to try other meds. If you are debilitated by anxiety Paxil could be the drug to improve your quality of life. But there are no free rides, and you'll need to figure out how to deal with the side effects with your doc. | F | 45 | 18 months | 10/30/2009 | 2 | bipolar | tremor, nightmares, massive weight gain | addictive and impossible to get off | F | 45 | 12 years | 4/15/2009 | 1 | depression, anxiety, PMS | 30 mg a day>Extreme fatigue, pain in my joints, a different kind of frequent headache that I have never had before, clenching of jaw>jaw pain. Absolutely no sex drive. No interest in socializing with others. No interests in anyhing except to sleep. Eczema-like problem on face.The drug never seemed to "kick in." I was more depressed and anxious while taking it. | Weaning off of this drug was HARD!For almost 1 week after cutting dose 50%> I began throwing up, head and body spins as if I had just gotten off of an Amusement park ride. xtreme Nausea, acute sense of smell (and any smell might cause me to throw up) and hearing. Vision tunneling in and out, and focusing problems. ever headach in eyes. Seeing flashes of light in a dark room.If yo are consideing taking this Drug PLEASE check other message Boards to see what others have gone through, before you decide. My Drs. did not believe that these symptoms were caused by the Paxil. Drs. seem to be in denial abut the side effects of this drug. Iam happy to say that I have been off o this drug completely for 8 days. I have had no other symptoms. I am now feeling better than I ever have in the past 3 months. | F | 45 | 90 days | 4/20/2002 |