Before you pop another PAXIL

[Kulindahr]

Something else I'd like to mention, is that pay attention when on these drugs the cautions about not taking certain drugs, foods, or recreational drugs — even smoking pot (I know, I know, grumble grumble) — but they truly can interact with these medications in some very unpleasnat ways or exacerbate a depression.

I was going to wait till I'd read the whole thread, but....

I got high on cannabis my first time a few months ago. It was interesting.
So the next night I did it again, and the next night again. That's when the trouble hit: driving along the freeway, I was enjoying the weather and the music, when my buddy rolled down the window. I hollered at him, "Dude, you're letting the snow in!"
It was 60 F, with clear skies and dry pavement.

I don't do pot very much any more.

 

[Kulindahr]

I haven't been on a med yet without side effects -- I don't even remember what they all were.
And I've been on a lot of meds. One thing a lot of people don't understand is that popping a pill doesn't necessarily solve everything; in fact it rarely does. I went through years of "80% of people suffering from this are helped by X", but after six months X was helping, so we tried something different -- "75% of people suffering from this who aren't helped by X are helped by Y"... but Y didn't do much at all, so we moved on.
I've had side effects ranging from erections that lasted seven hours (no, it ISN'T kool!) to not being able to tell if I was turning (and, conversely, telling my body to turn and finding it didn't respond, which meant I kept running into walls), to hearing voices, to incredible thirst (how does downing eight liters of water, juices, skim milk, etc. a day but still wanting more strike you?), to tremors, to lack of sexual urges at all, to INCREDIBLE sexual urges....
There are different meds for different things, and not all the interactions are understood, and those can get you in trouble. I got taken off depakote because of bad interactions with prozac that apparently hit only males! And the same drug doesn't keep doing the same thing, or do the same thing every time: I was put on lithium early on, and it stabilized my mood -- at a point where nothing seemed important; now I'm back on it and it's stabilizing my mood at a much happier level (but killing the manic periods that can be so much fun). Prozac was an enormous relief -- it gave me days at a time without black moods when I felt like if I died, aliens on the other side of the universe would find life more enjoyable but not know why -- but after two years it started being less effective, and then started messing with my mind in a bad way. Xanax was great for calming me in dark moods, but wow! could it trigger (bad) mania!

Warnings have to be taken seriously. For teens, they have to be taken MORE seriously, because the brain is rewiring itself, and predicting just what a new substance in the bloodstream will do is a matter requiring watchful concern.

And every professional I've known in mental health has said that the most stablizing factor for someone with a mood disorder is close friends who can be counted on. The sad thing is how many friends back off when it's "mental illness"!

 

[Aussieguy01]

Im on paxil for my obbsessive compulsive disorder and my anxiety, and have been for the past 2 and a half weeks , i feel fine i have only really experienced headaches almost every day but they iussully last 5 minutes and most of them are dull, i have only just turned 18 by a month.

 

[roy100]

I take the anti-depressant Remeron, it dosent have the nasty sexual effects others have.
The secondary effects it causes are : lot of hunger, which for people with depression is welcomed, headaches, puffiness.

What I do, is I go down on the dosage my doctor gave me , until find the minimal dosage that produces results.

It works, I only take hal of a pill of 15 mg.

With time I will lower it, perhaps take it away. But it has to be over a period of time. Doing it at once is not good, the good old saying, " to good to be true "

 

[Aussieguy01]

im on 20 mg now and i was wondering how many people feel a bit funny sometoimes when having the paxil , its hard to describe but its just a funny feeling. Also does anyone else suffer from not sleeping so well while on paxil?

 

[cityboy-stl]

Effexor is as bad or worse. Took it for a year. A relatively small dose, 75mg a day. After a year of no results and feeling nothing I wanted off. The idiot doctor told me to taper off. Start with a half dose. The very first day I only took half the withdrawal started and I mean it was debilitating:

Chills, sweating, shakes, tremors, nausea, fatigue, muscle weakness,
headache, dizziness, vertigo.
Panic attacks, anxiety attacks, crying spells, paranoia, irrational
fear, bizarre nightmares, confusion, disorientation, memory lapses,
auditory hallucinations, concentration problems, coordination
problems.
Brain Shocks - Sudden electrical like pulses rippling through
the head that are felt and also heard.

I had to go back on the full dose I was in such agony. Tried several times and finally bit the bullet and got off. It took 3 full months for the withdrawal to finally end though the first two weeks were the worst. It's been 7 years now and I will NEVER, EVER use any SSRI drug ever again. Getting off this damn stuff ranks as one of the top 5 worst experiences of my life. I can't imagine heroin being worse but I don't really know.

Any drug that produces this kind severe prolonged withdrawal is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE. They should be labeled as such and patients should be warned. These drugs are seriously dangerous.

 

[Aussieguy01]

Hi everyone,

I am 27 and have been on anti-depressants for 10 years. I was struggling with my sexuality 10 years ago and was prescribed Prozac and Xanax. Now I have been on Paxil for 5 years and I have also tapered this stuff for months.


Andrew

i have been on paxil for 2 months now for 2 months as i suffer from a severe case of OCD , I am on 20 mg but my case manager is talking about raising it so i might have to have two to three tablets of paxil a day , im lucky i havnt really experienced any bad side effects besides the common ones , i only get the headaches nausea and the whole not sleeping thing , the only thing that annoys me as i find it hard to Jack off anymore last night i tried and it took just over three hours for me to orgasm

 

[freedbarton]

I have been on Paxil for about 5 years and will not miss a dose. I have never felt like suicide or experienced any of the other disturbances that have been mentioned above. For me Paxil is wonderful

 

[Aussieguy01]

i have been begining to get headaches more commonly now ussually last about 5 minutes , but some are so intense but they only last for about 3 seconds bloody painful , but have never had a suicidial thought since being on paxil