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 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 |
| 2 | It made it IMPOSSIBLE to orgasm! No thanks. | M | 30 | 1 months | 10/15/2009 | 1 | Depression and anxiety | Suffered serotonin syndrome after dr doubled my dose from 10mg to 20. Hallucinaions, fever, rapid heart beat, restless. I felt like is was having a bad trip on LSD for hours. I would wake up in the the middle of the night with ponding heart rates. | F | 26 | 2 weeks | 10/12/2009 | 4 | Panic attacks, anxiety | Nausea, fatigue, tremors (all subsided in 2-3 weeks). Inability to orgasm persistent. | I have noticed a big difference in my anxiety level, and believe Paxil is genuinely helping more than therapy alone did. However, the sexual side effects are extreme (I am female). No sex drive, no orgasm. Enough to make me discontinue the drug. | F | 21 | 2 months | 9/30/2009 | 5 | Treatment Resistant Depression | Very tired the first two weeks or so which faded away. This tired feeling may be confused with a depressive episode, so give Paxil from 3-6 weeks to see full results. Most side effects dissapear in aproximately 2 weeks or less. Delayed ejaculation but I love it like that. No weight gain. | Paxil 40mg ombined with Wellbutrin 450mg has been my lifesaver. Nothing obsesses me anymore and my compulsive behavior is under control. I am in love with this med but be careful if you want to quit from it. Withdrawal could become a nightmare although I have no interest in quitting from it. | M | 40 | 1 years | 9/17/2009 | 4 | depression | weight gain, loss of libido and inability to reach orgasm (this existed before), took 10mg/20mg alternating daily for many years, just moved to 20mg daily to keep more consistent, immediate withdrawal symptoms if skipped even for 1/2 day | I have tried several times to stop but have been unable due to significant life stressors which cause recurrent severe depressive episodes. The episodes still occur while on medication but are much less severe. I tried a few other medications but experienced negative side effects immediately. This sexual dysfunction seems to be the price to be paid for the relative calm from the depressive storms. Exercise (running and strength training) and yoga help greatly. I was interested to read about the tendancy to drink more, I am currently struggling with this. Would like to give up alcohol entirely. Perhaps it would be easier on different medication? | F | 50 | 13 years | 9/12/2009 | 1 | Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorder | Increased depression. Insomnia. Difficulty waking up. Sexual dysfunction; erection fine, orgasm elusive. Terrible withdrawal symptoms: heightened anxiety, racing thoughts, extreme mood swings. | I took Paxil for nine years, from August 1997 to June 2006. In retrospect I see that Paxil increased the severity of my depressive episodes and directly contributed to sleeplessness, sexual dysfunction and poor decision-making. Regarding panic attacks and anxiety, it is impossible to know the truth. The fact, however, is that before Paxil, I did not suffer from panic attacks or severe anxiety. Sometime during my third year on the drug, I had my first major panic attack (white-faced, shaky, sweaty, watery eyes; closer, perhaps, to a nervous breakdown). Since then anxiety has become the more overwhelming half of my illness, though often the anxiety and depression intermingle so well that it's hard to tell what is what. I quit taking Paxil three years ago. The weening and withdrawal took three months; it was a long, terrible ordeal. But I have not once regretted the decision to stop Paxil. I do not currently take an SSRI. I use Klonopin (a benzo) sporadically, for social occassions, and ten days ago decided to risk taking another daily drug, Buspar, which is for anxiety, in a class by itself. Feel free to contact me with questions. Best of luck, all of you. | M | 29 | 9 years | 8/24/2009 | 1 | Extreme tiredness... | Crying and not wanting to get out of bed by the 3rd day... by the 5th day, I just wanted to die... | My doctor lied to me and insisted that this drug would help to 'rearrange/reorganize' my sleep stages as I was suffering from excessive tiredness....couldn't stay awake for anything. I called the drug manufacturer who agreed that my reaction was an adverse reaction and they listed it in their database. They also told me that I was wise to have gone off it after 5 days despite my doctor's insistance to stay on it... | F | 46 | 5 days | 8/22/2009 | 3 | general anxiety | Really I think Paxil did me a lot of good; however, I have had a lot of gastroenterological issues over the time that I used it and I wonder if those were related to the drug. I feel that I have to quit just to see if my intestines start to function more properly. I hated when I ran out or missed a dose. The vivid dreams and "crunching" in my head was unbearable. | I stepped down from 20 to 10 mg, then just said "screw it" and quit cold turkey. I quit one other time about 10 years ago and my anxiety issues returned after a couple of months. I hope that does not occur this time. | M | 43 | 17 years | 8/20/2009 | 2 | depression | did what is was suppossed to in the beginning. But I stayed on it for nearly 20 years and it seemed to be attacking my body and I was back to where I began....feeling worthless, crying, angry at the world and everyone. I have cervical dystonia and had read that SSRI's could aggravate the condition so decided to wean myself off with doc's instructions. Started out great. Felt great emotionally and energetic for about 2 weeks off. Then the withdrawal set in and I thought I was dying. Had nausea,dizziness, crying, scared, insecure, felt like I had fever and did not. Developed lower right side pain. I thought it was my ovary. Doc decided to take both ovaries and appendix out. I did not need that surgery. I had developed IBS from getting off the paxil. Three different doctors did not bother to mention the withdrawal and just kept trying to get me back on it. I wanted to dye (not suicide) I was so sick and had surgery for nothing. It has taken me about 2 to 3 months but I feel | I would not reccommend Paxil to anyone. It was hell to get off of and no one bothered to tell me about the withdrawal. In fact, my 3 different doctors just kept trying to get me back on it because I was so emotional and in pain with my dystoniaThis stuff really messed with your brain. My thoughs are good, I am calm, I can remember my nice dreams and I have lost weight. My appetite has changed so much. I love being off of it. Don;t give up....it is tough but it will pass and you will be glad you did it. | F | 53 | 19 years | 8/19/2009 | 4 | Social Phobia, mild depression | I drink alcohol once a week. On Seroxat / Paxil I tend to get drunk quicker, want to drink more and for longer, and my behaviour seems more unpredictable and a litte dangerous. No other unwanted side-effects experienced. | If you are anything like me, I strongly suggest you avoid alcohol (or reduce intake) as much as possible on this med. It has worked extremely well for me in terms of my social phobia, and has allowed me to get on with life again. At one time standing in line at a post office was sometimes an ordeal for me. Now I can't imagine being like this. Stick to a low dose if you are only mildly/moderately socially phobic, perhaps 10mg or 15mg per day. I get the impression doctors often prescripe people a needlessly high dose. Taking 15mg (as I do) may involve halfing a tablet. Good luck! | M | 2 years | 8/16/2009 | 2 | Depression | Loss of sex drive, suicidal thoughts, fatigue, weight gain, | I started to take Paxil after comming off of Effexor. What a mistake. I had to stop the Effexor due to the cost. I never felt more depressed, tired, and fat. I was only on it for a month and it was awful. I ended up in the hospital for suicidal thoughts. | F | 28 | 30 days | 8/8/2009 | 5 | anxiety | First 2 weeks had a dull headache that I easily fought with ordinary aspirin. Lack of real sex drive for about a month and a concurrent difficulty in reaching orgasm. All of these symptoms resolved 100 % within 30 days. The biggest effect has been the HUGE IMPROVEMENT in my quality of life and overall emotional outlook. I used to obsess over all kinds of things. I lived in a "glass half empty" world most of the time. Even if something great happened, I'd start the "what if" game in my head. None of this was particularly unbearable. Kind of like a bad case of intestinal gas. It makes you not too fun to be around, and you are always expecting an unpleasant surprise accompanying any little fart. | I have been on Paxil for over a year now and I plan to continue to take it for the rest of my life. Because of this little pill, my relationships are better, my career is better and my outlook on life is really one of excited anticipation rather than my old gloom and doom. I have read of people being unable to get off of this drug. But this begs the question "Why would you want to?" I think the bottom line with a lot of the SSRI drugs is that they don't work the same way for everyone. Some users probably have serious emotional issues that are experiential rather than organic/chemical/somatic in cause. And lets not forget that you're monkeying around with your thinker when you take these kinds of drugs. I think of Paxil as being rather like Gum-Out for your brain. It can smooth out your emotions and your emotional responses to everyday external stimuli. However, if you've got something REALLY broken in your belfry, Paxil may not do you much good. Paxil will absolutely not make your problems go away. What it CAN do however is to quiet that mental chatter that makes it so hard for people like myself to actually take a step back and DEAL with a situation. For me, it was like a software upgrade for my personality. | M | 50 | 15 months | 8/4/2009 | 4 | Anxiety | Tingling feeling. Headaches. Warmness. Hazy. Sluggish. Extremely difficult to orgasm. Side effects of tingling,headaches and warmness were gone after 1 week. Sluggish diminished after about a month. Only lasting side effect for me was No Orgasm. | I really like Paxil. Anxiety was completely gone! and i noticed other effects that i liked. I didn't get so quickly frustrated, was more tolerant of situations, able to handle stressful situations. I stopped taking it a few years back, and my anxiety returned recently. Well, i was planning on going back to Paxil, but the only thing i hated about paxil was the extreme difficulty in having orgasms. So, with the suggestion of a Dr. I am now trying Wellbutrin. I've only been taking it for 4 days, but I am not sure if I'm liking where this is heading.. Hopefully the wellbutrin will work, but if not, im going back to my tried and true Paxil. | M | 37 | 2 years | 8/1/2009 | 5 | Depression | night sweats the first two weeks but no other side effects since. | Looking back I've probably had long term depression. Over the past 2 years I had marriage problems, my wife had health problems, mid-life issues, job stress, and I recently broke my hip. I could no longer function. I began 20 mg. 7 weeks ago and increased to 30 mg. 3 weeks ago. Paxil saved my life. I no longer obsess about negative events and my stress level has fallen dramatically. I no longer cry two to three time a week and I can focus much better at work. If I continue to feel like this, I have no problem staying on Paxil for the rest of my life. | M | 52 | 7 weeks | 7/30/2009 | 2 | Depression - Anxiety | The main side effect was nausea. I would get waves of extreme nausea throughout the day. typically the peak would be 5 hours after taking the medication. Eating while injesting did little to nothing. I stopped taking with little withdrawls. Smoking Marijuana was the best insulator for my nausea. | M | 24 | 1 years | 7/1/2009 | 1 | anxiety | Extreme weight gain, 80 lbs., absolutely NO sex drive, and had little or no emotions. | Please do not ever take this drug. It makes your life pure hell. Try something else besides an SSRI. It ruined my life. Horrible to try to get off of. I tried to withdrawal for 6 to 9 months. I went through many medical test because I didn't know that PAXIL withdrawal was why I was so sick. It was like having a never ending terrible flu. Finally, I got back on it because of even worse depression and that's when I realized that it was Paxil withdrawal that was making me so ill. I gained even more weight, 25 lbs. very rapidly. I HATE IT. And no one can tell you how to get off this stuff. | F | 60 | 13 years | 6/29/2009 | 3 | anxiety, migraines | Extreme fatigue. Sleeping 10-12 hours and taking naps. | Paxil seemed to work well for me as far as making me feel very calm. It also reduced my migraines. But I could not stand feeling exhausted all the time. | F | 40 | 2 months | 6/25/2009 | 3 | depression/anxiety | weight gain, loss of sex drive | I would never suggest anyone take this drug given the year it took to wean from it. My doctor suggested I would have a hard time losing any weight while on Paxil and agreed on the weaning process. I started at 40 mgs a day and thought I could stop at 5 mgs a day and did but had withdrawal symptoms - shaking/tremors, nausea, and psych issues. I was afraid to sleep with my back to the closet because the door was open! Took a large butcher knife into the back yard to walk my dog before bed because I thought someone might be "out there." Really freaky stuff, so much so that my husband wanted to take my to the hospital. I just went back on the stuff for another 6 months, taking the wean slower and with the support of adrenal pills (homeopathic). Finally off - YAY. Appears I might need another "mood stabilizer" given some crying jags. Lexapro has been suggested, but the blogs on that drug read as bad as for Paxil. Will try another homeopathic supplement first. | F | 56 | 15 years | 6/24/2009 | 4 | anxiety, stress, panic attack | Emotionally blank, dry mouth, fatigue, insomnia, lack of libido, cannot ejaculate. | Overall, Paxil has really helped me. It has 100% improved my previous symptons of anxiety, stress and panic attacks. However, the first week I took Paxil, I felt very much "out of it". Also it has caused me to be emotionally blank. The sexual side affects are horrible. And recently, upon a dosage increase, I cannot sleep at night. I haven't slept for 4 days. I am hoping this side affect goes away soon. I have also dry mouth side affects too. | M | 34 | 3 months | 6/22/2009 | 4 | Panic Attacks | Difficult to get off | got rid of the symptosm | M | 41 | 2 years | 6/17/2009 |