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 |
| 5 | anxiety | night sweats, drowsy | F | 24 | | 4/1/2007 | 2 | Depression | Extreme sugar/carb cravings,feeling sick when eating anything that wasn't a sugar/carb, binge/compulsive eating, FAST WEIGHT GAIN, terrible WITHDRAWL symptoms such as dizzyness and brain zaps. | Paxil was amazing helping with depression, but the WEIGHT GAIN and sugar/carb cravings were just unreal, and the 15lb gain in only 3 months made me even more depressed than I started out. If you don't mind putting on a PILE of weight, than Paxil works really well for depresion. | F | 20 | 5 years | 3/27/2007 | 5 | depression | I completely lose all sexual interest until I withdraw from it for 3 to 4 days otherwise it is excellent for me. | After 24 yrs of trying most antidepressants, within 2 hrs I I noticed a complete improvement. I've tried this off & on and I can feel the same effects. | M | 60 | 6 years | 3/26/2007 | 3 | Insomnia | Loss of libido, apathy. On withdrawal, bouts of crying at the smallest things, white noise, shaking, difficulty concentrating. Withdrawal was hard - I cut back by 5 mg every other day for 6 week intervals - but after I got through it I was fine. If you know that the withdrawal symptoms will end after 6 weeks for each dose reduction, you can get through it. It's not addictive in the sense that once you get through withdrawal you don't crave the drug. | I had severe insomnia for about 18 mos - sometimes I wouldn't sleep for a week at a time. I had tried all kinds of sleeping pills, including benzodiapines, and nothing worked. I was at my wit's end and becoming seriously depressed and suicidal. Finally my doctor put me on Paxil and exactly 6 weeks after starting it, I slept like a baby every night. I slept alot at 20 mg and sometimes even had to take naps but I didn't mind because I had been so sleep deprived. Cutting back to 10 mg helped even things out a bit. I eventually decided to go off Paxil due to side effects. I still have trouble sleeping, but not as bad as before. I'm glad to know that this medication is there in case I ever have another episode of insomnia like I did before. It was worth the side effects to get my life back. I would rate this drug a 5 for effectiveness for insomnia but gave it a 3 b/c of side effects. | F | 32 | 2 years | 3/25/2007 | 4 | Panic attacks/ GAD | I experienced weight gain at 30mg. I felt emotionally flat. Began getting prediabetes, serious insulin resistance. Constipation. Took a little longer for an orgasm. Urinary retention. EXTREMELY tired. | Despite the side effects this drug changed my life. I'm so glad I tried it. I could lose the weight, but it was actually painful since I was STARVING all the time. If I counted my calories at about 1200 a day, I would lose between 1 to 2 pounds a week. I have to change though so I'm currently weening off and I'm at 5mg and my blood sugar is MUCH lower. It gave me serious insulin resistance. Wierd. I also feel like a zombie and tired all the time, I hope the next drug, I don't feel so tired. i think I'm going to try Lexapro. | F | 28 | 2 years | 3/20/2007 | 1 | Anxiety/Depression | Weight gain(40 lbs)and night sweats. Bad withdrawal. Re: weight gain, it's not you people it's the Paxil. | I can't believe doctors are still prescribing Paxil - how old school/1995. This crap will make you fat, put you at risk for diabetes and not only will you look like a pig from the massive weight gain but you will sweat like one too while you are trying to sleep. My doctor won't even prescribe Paxil b/c it is such a JOKE! Paxil is PASSE people! | F | 35 | 14 months | 3/14/2007 | 1 | depression/anxiety | short and long term memory loss, thoughts of suicide, severe depression, sadness, melancholy | I only took this for about a month and it was AWFUL. I would dial a phone number and by the time someone answered, I had forgotten who I was calling! I would walk into a room and forget why I had went there......it increased my depression, added suicidal thoughts and terrible nightmares and hallucinations. TERRIBLE DRUG! DO NOT TAKE! Luckily, I wasn't on it long enough to experience withdrawel! | F | 35 | 1 months | 3/13/2007 | 4 | Depression, general anxiety | What stands out the most is the vivid dreams in the initial weeks. I had very vivid dreams. I have missed my medication twice before for a period of 2-3 days (accidentally). One of the first indicators to it has been the return of the dreams after the second night. I have definitely noticed a decrease in my libido but this has been a good thing in my case. It was somewhat unmanageable when I was suffering from depression (I guess it was my brain's way of trying to get a dopamine fix). Now I do feel as though I can focus on things more appropriately. My libido is not entirely gone like some patients. I assume this is because I had such a strong one for a girl before the medication. I have noticed since I began taking the medication that I experience "brain fog" a lot whereas I did not before. I was very clear headed. I am also somewhat absentminded. However, a lot has changed in my life during the time since I began the medication so this may be contributing as well | Overall, I am glad I take it. For me, the side effects exist but they are not bad enough to warrant a switch. I can understand how the libido aspect, especially, would make some people wary. I do worry about a time when I might have to stop taking it because I have a feeling that the withdrawal is going to be especially bad for me -- judging from the times I accidentally stopped before. I recommend that anyone who is considering starting this med research the withdrawal symptoms on their own first. I don't believe doctors give much credit to the reports but you can find a lot of testimonials on the internet. | F | 23 | 1 years | 2/27/2007 | 5 | panic attacks | Initially (first month) felt sleepy,had strange dreams,and was a bit slow intellectually.Started at 5mg.,then to 10mg.,and then eventually stuck at 20 mg. Long term side effects (after 5 years) have been minimal. I have had 10 lbs weight gain (which is hard to neccessarily blame on the medication). | My initial symptoms were anxiety attacks in certain situations. My anxiety attacks consisted of a racing heart,an upset GI tract, and a feeling of needing to escape the situation/environment I was in. I found myself avoiding situations where I was afraid I might have a panic attack. It got worse and worse, and I was felt I was losing control of my life. When I finally went in to the physician, I started with counseling/therapy (which unfortunately wasn't helpful); and then started paxil. The paxil completely got rid of my panic and my life became normal again. It has helped me immensely. | F | 48 | 6 years | 2/26/2007 | 2 | Anxiety/Depression | Total emotional numbness/apathy. Shakiness | I totally lost my ability to feel. Feel totally detached from my girlfriend. Feel like a robot. I hate it. Before I was really sad, had anxiety, cried everyday and super sensitive to everything and the pill took all that away but its left me numb. Id rather cry than be numb and wreck my relationship with my girlfriend. Im not going to take it anymore. | M | 24 | 3 days | 2/23/2007 | 1 | Depression, anxiety, OCD | Where do I begin?? Highly addictive, disconnected emotions, extreme apathy, SEVERE weight gain (60 lbs in 6 years when I had only been 10-15 lbs overweight to begin with), headaches, vertigo (which later required 2 MRI's), insomnia, night sweats, paranoia, zero sex drive and towards the end I started having panic attacks - one of which landed me in the hospital b/c I truly thought I was dying, increased anxiety, anger and depression (I was basically back where I started!!) | I've seen this drug referred to as PaxHell and I couldn't agree more. When I finally had enough and BEGGED my doctor to let me begin withdrawal, I started to see this drug for what it truly was - the devil. In the first 6 months, I would have probably rated it a 4 or 5 since it really did help me...but at the time, nothing was yet known about it's long-term effects so my doctor thought it "wouldn't hurt" for me to stay on it indefinitely. Surprisingly, the withdrawal wasn't half as bad as I was expecting but my determination and desire to get off this drug was so strong, I really believe that's what got me through it. Looking back, being on Paxil for 6 years runied my body and (almost) my life...and as if that weren't enough, now I'm left with permanent neurological and phsycological damage because of it. | F | 32 | 6 years | 2/23/2007 | 1 | Depression | Weight gain -- 40 pounds in 3 years. Decreased (no) libido. Unable to have orgasms. Narcolepsy -- sudden uncontrollable urge to sleep. Often had to pull over while driving home from work to sleep in parking lots. Apathy -- didn't want to get out of bed. Delayed grocery shopping until there wasn't a shred of food left in the house. No longer cared about housework or working in the garden. | Okay, so I may have been temporarily depressed due to four deaths in my family and my son serving (repeatedly) in Iraq, among other things. But the side effects of Paxil are far worse than whatever depression I had before. After three years of Paxil I was an obese, sexually dysfunctional semi-zombie. Before Paxil I had an active lifestyle -- now I just exist from day to day. My psychiatrist refused to take me off the drug, so I went off cold turkey (although I was able to gradually reduce my dosage over a three-week period). Suffered significant dizziness and most of the other withdrawal symptoms. I do not recommend Paxil. | M | 52 | 3 days | 2/22/2007 | 5 | panic disorder | none | This is the only medicine that has helped with the panic. I tried to go off of it and all symptoms came back. This has been a wonder drug for me. | F | 31 | 8 years | 2/19/2007 | 3 | panic attacks | Helped with panic attacks. Weight gain (50+ pounds),lack of emotion, horrible withdrawls (a week in bed) very scary. | Paxil has been a blessing for many people. It's a bummer that it is so additive and causes such weight gain. | F | 44 | 4 days | 2/9/2007 | 2 | Depression and Anxiety Disorder | I had to choose if i wanted to be tired all day and sleep at night or be wide awake all day and not be able to sleep at night. I felt floaty and numb 95% of the time. About 6-8 months while taking Paxil and increasing the number of pills, i had increased suicidal thoughts and had self-destructive behaviors. | If this pill works for you, that's great. But realize that in recent years that studies show that this pill can actually make more people kill themselves rather than help them. Be careful and maybe keep a little notebook and write down how you feel each day. If you seem to be getting worse, get off Paxil as soon as possible. | F | 19 | 1 years | 2/9/2007 | 2 | anxiety and depression | Gained 40 lbs, lost ALOT of hair(& eyelashes),progressive memory loss, developed low thyroid,a mild mitral valve prolapse in heart 7 yrs ago(due to Paxil??), progressive loss of interest in EVERYTHING and EVERYONE, progressive loss of relationships(including my own family), progressive loss of womanhood, loss of ability to relate to the rest of humanity | This drug will eventually destroy your life. It anesthisizes your mind while your problems continue to grow or remain unchanged. I was so obedient to the psychiatric profession. I was first put on this psychiatric trip when I was 18 in college(Trilafon for anxiety). After graduate school, I was put on Prozac in '91, then Paxil in '93. My mood improved in the beginning, but after traumatic event in '96 doc increased Paxil, eventually up to 50 mgs. I am tapering off now down to 12.5- tortuous, but continuing. I lost almost everything over the years. It virtually destroyed my reputation in my career(architecture), because I was so "out-of-it" all the time. I lost touch with all my friends over the years, never married, no kids. I even look different physically- no eyelashes is not good for a woman. I used to be a passionate, vibrant, energetic,creative woman. I gradually disappeared into a shadow of my former self- am determined to rebuild with God's help. | F | 40 | 13 years | 2/7/2007 | 4 | GAD, depression | dont remember starting, it was 7 yrs ago...withdrawal horrible | this med helped w/ the dep and anx, but i gained quite a bit of weight oer the years and had always been naturally skinny, once i went off it, with other meds, i lost 20 lbs w. no effort and could not lose any while was on it... | M | 25 | 7 years | 1/31/2007 | 1 | depression,anxiety | Severe weight gain. I gained 80 lbs. on this med. It did not help and when I tried to stop taking it I had to be weaned because I had really bad withdrawl. | Nothing ever changed in my mood or anxiety I only noticed I was getting fatter and fatter. | F | 29 | 2 years | 1/30/2007 | 3 | anxiety ocd | gained 40 pounds, lethargy, loss of orgasm, slept for three hours every afternoon | terrible drug | F | 51 | | 1/29/2007 | 1 | depression/anxiety | None at first it seemed great - I was so calm. I was prepared to live with zero libido and anorexia. After about 9 months it stopped working so I decided to stop taking it. Ha! I was thrown into worse psychological trauma than ever before and I've been wrestling with depression since I was 3! I can remember particularly a phone conversation with a close friend when I just couldn't find the energy to make a sentence and anyway I couldn't speak because I was crying. I had migraines for 2 weeks (until I gave up and went back onto paxil). I'm about to try again since I've discovered that liquid paxil is available, which makes it possible to reduce the dose very, very gradually. | I feel resentful towards the psychiatrist who prescribed this without telling me about the possible problems. I'll never be so trusting again. Thank God for the internet. I hope that all of us can recover from this. | F | 56 | 48 months | 1/29/2007 |