PAXIL Reviews (PAROXETINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 2.9 (1022 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 52 |
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR PAXIL | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | Severe BiPolar, extreme panic atts | Just slight weight gain. | Am I the ONLY person in the world whose had success with Paxil? I've taken all the "wonder drugs" for my condition, and nothing has given me my life back like Paxil has. I take 80mg qam. My family loves me again, and I've decided I'll let them live now. I was truly suffering with extreme manic phases, seeing hypnotherapist, acupuncture, chiro, neuro, all the DRs that might help me with the mental pain of Bipolar, the physical pain of Fibromyalgia, and hundreds of sleepness nights. Thank God for this med, I'm no longer a threat to myself, or others. I will take it for the rest of my life. | F | 46 | 3 months | 2/12/2008 | 3 | OCD | extreme drowsiness (fell asleep at the wheel a couple times), gained 50 pounds in a few months, HORRIBLE withdrawal symptoms, you can't miss a SINGLE dose | it has helped reduce my symptoms, but at the cost of severe side effects. i am working to switch to a different ssri. | M | 23 | 5 years | 2/12/2008 | 1 | Anti Anxiety | Insomnia, Chattering teeth, feeling giddy, unable to concentrate, unable to sit still, floating feel when I walk, dilated pupils, cloudy thinking and the list goes on | I took this for 2 days and it was the worst thing I have ever been on. On day 1 I felt like I was wired and couldn't sit still. Felt like a caffeine rush. That night I couldn't sleep but the next day I felt like I had slept all night. Then the teeth chattering set in. My teeth chattered like I was cold for over 2 hours and I had an uncontrollable tremor in my right arm. I walked into the doctors office and even they were in a panic just from looking at me. They had never seen anything like that and thought I might have a neurological problem but nope it was all a side effect of good old Paxil. I had to quit taking it after just those 2 days. Even the next day I had headaches and cloudy thinking. I would never take this again even if my life depended on it. | F | 23 | 2 days | 2/11/2008 | 1 | anxiety/depression | Paxil gave me a permanent neurological disorder | This drug pretty much ruined my life. It casued me to have dystonia, a permanent neurological disorder characterized by involuntary muscle spasms. The spasms are limited to my jaw muscles -- at their worst, I can not open my mouth at all to speak or eat. The best treatment for dystonia of the jaw is Botox injections into the muscles -- $3000 a visit, 4 visits required a year -- for the rest of my life. Dystonia is a KNOWN side effect of Paxil, yet doctors still hand the stuff out for anything and everything. Both the manufacturer and the FDA should be ashamed to let this crap stay on the market...but the manufacturer is all about the money and the FDA has no testicles. I know I'm not the only person whose life has been affected by this horrible drug. At least I'm still alive -- there are plenty who've taken it and aren't... | F | 37 | 2 months | 2/11/2008 | 5 | social anxiety & depression | I took paxil for little over a year. It completely eased all my social anxiety and depression. I experienced difficulty getting an erection and achieving orgasm. I also felt very sleepy and wasn't able to keep up with a college night course I was taking. | I had to go cold turkey in order to finish my academic requirements for my teaching credential and had no major withdrawal symptoms. | M | 47 | 13 months | 2/2/2008 | 4 | PMDD | For the first few weeks I had extreme fatigue (falling asleep at my desk, feeling very out of it, etc.) At 20 mg, the only side-effects I have now are mild fatigue (I'm okay if I'm at work or doing something, but if I'm at home I want to take naps frequently), and if I miss 2-3 doses I experience mild brain shocks and wooshy dizziness which disappear immediately after taking my next dose. | I am a new person thanks to Paxil. My hormonally-related depression has all but vanished, and I feel "even" and content now, where before Paxil I never knew when the next wave of blackness would envelop me. I went off of Paxil with no trouble whatsoever when I got pregnant, and I suspect the hormones of pregnancy kept me on an even-keel during that time. I tried to stay off of Paxil after my baby was born to breast-feed, but the post-partum depression was so horrible I restarted Paxil with very minimal side-effects 4 weeks after giving birth. | F | 40 | 6 years | 1/26/2008 | 4 | Extreme anxiety & panic attacks | 20 lb. weight gain, a little apathetic at times, sleepiness, bad withdrawal MUST taper down via liquid Paxil | I have tried A LOT of different medicine for my panic disorder and anxiety. I have SEVERE anxiety, not just occasional anxiety or stress and I believe thats what this med is for. I would say it's better for anxiety than depression as well although it helps a little for that. I also have Fibromyalgia and IBS and it definitely helps in those areas. I did try going off paxil (my family persuaded me I didn't need it anymore) and that turned out to be a huge mistake. In the 2 months I was off of it ( you must wean off slowly)my life was hell. I was very anxious and convinced that i was going to die. I was at the ER 7 times after I went off the med. I did have other things going on in my life as well as an antibiotic called Levaquin I took which turned out to be a near fatal mistake. The point is if a med is working for you stick with it regardless of what others say, even if you're "feeling better" you cannot just stop. You may have to try a lot of different meds before you find t | F | 27 | 8 years | 1/25/2008 | 4 | depression | weight gain and physical exhaustion | I started taking Paxil during a major depressive episode. Eventually I began to feel better and I got my life back - it really saved me. It made me feel better than I had for most of my life so I kept taking it for many years at 20mg. For the last few years I cut back to 10mg. During these many years I put on significant weight - about 60 pounds. Also, I was always exhausted. I would wake up exhausted. I could take a nap anytime during the day. It got to the point, my doctor thought perhaps I had sleep apnea. Around this time, I decided to go off Paxil completely. Amazingly, I found that the exhaustion was gone. I had energy for the first time in many, many years. I was amazed, and slightly disheartened to realize the Paxil had been causing my extreme tiredness all these years. Unfortunately, I went off the Paxil at a point in my life when mood swings from menopause had begun. I went back on a low dose of - Wellbutrin. It has smoothed out the emotional rollercoaster some | F | 50 | 14 years | 1/25/2008 | 1 | depression | loss of orgasm, lethargic | I HATE this pill!! It left me feeling worse than what I started. I was distant, moody, at time suicidal. I also didn't appreciate that I couldn't reach orgasm. | F | 37 | 6 months | 1/24/2008 | 4 | depression, anxiety, stress | Very few, at most a few...em..."weird" dreams, but overall I'm pleased. | OK folks...do you know why you are having "withdrawal" symptoms after getting off of this drug? Paxil is an antidepressant, which works to reduce the absorption of serotonin (body's natural antidepressant), so it remains within easy reach of the serotonin receptors in the brain, so that when needed, it is readily available to handle stress. When you go off of it (especially after being on it for a time) your body is not used to the lower serotonin levels that the Paxil works to keep elevated. You no longer have an adequate supply of this "natural antidepressant," so when your body needs it to handle stressful situations (many times including normal day-to-day activities), it is not there and you "crash." | M | 18 | 6 weeks | 1/23/2008 | 1 | anxiety | total zombie, vivid dreams to the extent that I could not differentiate between real and dream when i woke up, almost zero sex drive, total inability to orgasm, very frustrating, should not be sold, snake oil. | how this crap got approved is probably criminal | M | 33 | 4 months | 1/23/2008 | 2 | anxiety/depression | "EYE JERKS". Feels like electric zaps quickly pulling my eyes from side to side. I've just been weaned off the drug, and the eye jerks are much worse, though I had them while taking drug. | Took Paxil for six years, and it was helpful. But in the long run, the negatives outweigh the positives. | F | 59 | 6 years | 1/16/2008 | 4 | Anxiety | Yawning, jaw chatters, dizziness, nausea, some brain zaps & vision disturbance. | Started @ 10mg the 1st week, then went to 20mg. Stayed there for 8 months. Worked GREAT! no more attacks, took my Ativanmaybe once a month if that. Thought I was "better" so we started to wean off. It SUCKED but not unbearable. Now, 8 months later again....I am back to the panic/anxiety attacks & a mess. Worse this time around, taking twice the Ativan(lorazepam) as before. We tried Lexapro, but didnt work. So I am now getting back on Paxil. Its what worked! As well, doing the relaxation, self help books and changing stress in life. | F | 29 | 8 months | 1/12/2008 | 3 | Anxiety and Depression | I don't think I experienced any. | It was great for several years until it stopped working and I switched to Effexor. | F | 33 | 3 years | 1/6/2008 | 1 | OCD, Depression,Social Anxiety | cloudy thinking, extreme fatigue, suicidal ideation, emotional numbness to everything, loss of interest and creativity, extreme depression, dizziness, vertigo, space-outs,...DO NOT MIX WITH ALCOHOL!!! | I took Paxil for four months and took myself off of it for its side effects. Whenever I drank with the medication, the side effects intensified. When I quit the medication, it was horrible. I experienced electrical shocks, extreme dizziness, extreme depression and ended up in the hospital for a suicide attempt. | M | 25 | 4 months | 12/31/2007 | 1 | anxiety | sexual side effects including complete inability to orgasm, withdrawal symptoms are MISERABLE | Paxil did little for my anxiety, and after 8 months of taking it I decided to quit. The withdrawal is terrible, even if you taper off, and I would never recommend this drug to anyone. I experienced severe dizziness, vertigo, nausea, vomiting, electric shock sensations that prevented me from sleeping, and the overall bizarre feeling that I was living in something like a "video game" world. I have been off the drug for 6 weeks and am still suffering. Please weigh all your options before beginning this medication! | F | 27 | 8 months | 12/25/2007 | 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 | 1 | panic disorder | major weight gain | Paxil did help with my panic attacks, however I experienced rapid weight gain (15 pounds in 3 months) even though my diet and exercise routine was the same. If you want to pack on the pounds this drug is for you. I am withdrawing from it now and should be totally off in 1 week, so far only problem is being head-achy. | F | 50 | 3 months | 12/14/2007 | 4 | Anxiety | Chattering teeth & delayed orgasm. | I took Paxil for a year and it eliminated my anxiety. I became much more social and could concentrate/focus. I then went off Paxil because I couldn't have an orgasm. I am back to were I started. I can't focus on a task and don't want to go out. My life is being severely disrupted. My doctor told me that I'm going to have to decide to live with the sexual side effects or anxiety (looks like I'm not going to be able to have my cake and also eat it). I've decided to go back on the Paxil (30 mg) and live with the side effects. I can't stand being nervous all the time. I feel like I'm going to lose my mind. I'm still suffering from the anxiety and will most likely have to increase the dosage. I do grind my teeth at night, but I solved this problem by using a sport's mouth guard (99 cents at Wal-Mart). If I wear my mouth guard at night, I wake-up feeling fine. If I don't wear a mouth guard, my jaw and teeth hurt (sometimes have headaches) when I awaken. Currently, I'm also taki | M | 39 | 6 weeks | 12/12/2007 | 2 | anxiety | *felt like nerve endings in anus and head were contracting for the first month, awful numbness in head, lifted my spirits but overall this drug is poison. | *Can someone please help me off this evil drug, the electric shocks,pins and needles and major numbnesss and depression occured on stopping this poison, which i never had before. plaese e-mail me if you have had similar problem or have tips on why my brain is so damaged by this drug..HELP! | M | 32 | 7 years | 12/2/2007 |