Your appearance

[denguefever]

This is something I never talk about with others because I admit it's very superficial. I'll also admit what I'm about to say is superficial so forgive me but I need your advice.

Prior to coming off paxil I looked good, I was happy with the way I looked and many others were also very appreciative (just so you know it wasn't in my head). But I talk about this more retrospectively considering I was still so empty on it and it didn't give me much joy, whereas now I'd kill to get that back among other things.

My life since trying to come off paxil and changed a helluva lot including this aspect. I was prescribed Paxil from age 16 and was taken off it at 18 after a suicide attempt which my mom blamed on the drug. During my brief hospital stay the psychiatrist decided to take me off Paxil and replace it with Remeron which he assured my mom was much better and improve my appetite as I wasn't eating (I don't know which flipping 18 year old wants to be a drug which makes you think about cakes, bread and cookies every damn minute of the day but that's another issue).

I came off Paxil within the space of about 5-6 weeks and went on Remeron. It was after this I noticed my self changing. My face was not so pretty anymore, it was puffy, sahara dessert dry, my features were bloated and awful. My hair which had been gorgeous and thick thinned out and broke of, a lot. My anxiety which had been maybe a 2 out of 10 turned into a 100. I couldn't keep a conversation without shaking. I was scared all the time whereas previously I myself knew and ppl commented that I was so confident, self assured. I had no idea about anything being paxil or hormonal related at the time. I was bewildered that the girl I knew had gone M.I.A.

After about 6 months I came off the Remeron with no side effects, it wasn't helping apart from making me sleep 12 hours a day and making me eat.

I asked to go back on Paxil as it was I remembered feeling normal. After a while things improved a little but I was still 30% of what I used to be. That was 4 years ago. I have improved since then also but I am not the same. I haven't slept sitting up for the last five years because of the puffiness in my face. I tried to come off this year and went through hell which only made the sense once I saw this site. The puffiness, urine retention, bad skin, hair loss got really bad during my 2nd attempt and even though I've reinstated it's not back to what I now call normal for me, although I've never been normal since I first tried to come off.

In the last few years I though it was a thyroid problem and started meds. I experienced okay results with my puffiness improving, thinking getter better, anxiety improved a lot, better constipation etc but still not the same. However I had a blood test earlier this year when I came of paxil completely and had gone to my doc cos I thought something serious was wrong and it showed that thyroid was lower than it's ever been, tsh 0.80 and I had stopped taking my thyroid meds at that time too because I was getting huge adrenaline rushes and thought I might have gone hyper.

So it seems paxil stops my thyroid working so great and so when off it my thyroid bounces back so I won't be able to take thyroid meds but I had still had loads of the thyroid type symptoms which I thought my thyroid meds had been helping me with ?! So was it all due to Paxil in the first place , if so why did it get worse when I tried to come off it?

I'm a bit of an idiot these days and I realise my post is so long winded. What I mean to say is did withdrawal among other things affect your appearance and make you go puffy/ugly etc. And after a while did you get back to looking like you? Also, ladies did you have hair loss or even more embarrassingly hirsutism?

To all of you including those who consider themselves recovered or in protracted withdrawal how do you look, the same, different, better or worse?

Sorry for the length and also maybe a little for the content but I'm 23 years old and might just like to be a beautiful bride one day something which funnily enough I never wanted until it seemed impossible....

x

[NoRx4me]

I am having MANY of the same problems as you are.

First, about the thyroid; I also have hypothyroidism. When I first got off meds 9/08 my TSH shot up to 21.78, by 5/09 it was 0.066. I thought it must have gone back to normal without meds but I checked it again 9/09 and it was back up to 22.77. So have yours checked again if you have hypo symptoms.

Next, meds have ruined my hair, skin, nails and teeth. I cry when I look in the mirror now. I wanted to get off meds in 2005 because my hair started falling out but I was conned into 3 more years and a few more drugs before I finally broke free. I have the hirsutism too. These things have distressed me so much I've done many searches on Paxil Progress with words like "Hair loss" "Ugly" "skin issues", etc. Luckily I found a lot of posts from people who went through this and their hair loss had stopped and skin had improved. If you don't hear any success stories, try a search and you'll find them.

[Paxilalmostkilledme]

I have been off Paxil for a few years, and my mom recently asked my sister if I had secretly had a hair job recently as my hair looks much thicker now. she was convinced!

My sister asked me and I told her no, I didn't have a hair job. My hair got thicker off Paxil, but it's not like anyone would believe it was paxil.

[Shane24]

You should watch my videos at youtube, my account name is FAMILYMAN20, I had weightgain, swelling and nubness in my legs and hands, and HAIR LOSS!! I once had a full head of hair but not now, big bald spot, makes me mad!! hang inn there, These drugs are just poisons! Your young though and have time to get your life together from these drugs.

[scotia21]

denguefever - why were you originally prescribed Paxil at the age of 16? Has your doctor ever discussed CBT with you as an alternative to taking meds?

[pboy]

I'm another one who was on Paxil young, 17, and as I recall I did look quite bad back then.

[denguefever]

scotia21 - I was seeing a counsellor for from situational problems which were getting me down, making me self harm.
They tried prozac first which did nothing then paxil. The counselling didn't help, I think some types of counselling which focus not on problem solving or offering insight are incredibly useless for people like me. You go pour out your heart to someone, they writes down your answers, evade any of yours and then send you home after the hour still raw.

I was given a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder which although I know is a vague disorder but makes much more sense to me now than the the diagnosis of depression did. I never felt depression as a physical thing until I was deep into Paxil and when I tried to come off.

More recently I've tried CBT which I found much more useful and also hypnotherapy to treat the awful anxiety my attempt at withdrawals did to me. They don't prescribe it for under 18's any more; it is funny how I only tried to kill myself once I was on it.

Shane 24 - I'll be looking u up on youtube immediately, how are you now? did you get urine retention?

Thanks for the replies everyone,

x

[Shane24]

i'm notsure, what is urine retention

[denguefever]

i'm notsure, what is urine retention

problems going to the toilet; your fluid intake not matching your amount/frequency of your urination. Pretty much did you find you couldn't empty your bladder as well as b4?

[edrophis]

I had severe urine retention for almost a year,and I found out that I had a urinary tract infection,I think you should get it checked out,because if you dont it could get worse.

[commish]

see avatar

[denguefever]

see avatar

Hey commish, I don't get it, what is that?

x

[commish]

Originally Posted by denguefever

Hey commish, I don't get it, what is that?

x

It is a bowling Troll