positive aspects of paxil?

[jheritage]

hi, most of the posts on this site pertain to negative aspects associated with paxil, which i understand. i have no experience with this drug, nor any SSRI. however, i am trying to learn more about this drug, possible side effects, etc.

being unbiased as possible is it possible to take this drug for an extended period, several years, and not suffer significant side effects?

also, do all people experience severe withdrawal symptoms or can a slow taper be done without agonizing side effects?

person is taking for general anxiety disorder, panic attacks few yrs ago.
no plan to discontinue use anytime soon.

thank you

[LCrawford67]

No, I don't believe anyone will ever get away without significant side effects. You'll either gain a ton of weight and be lethargic and have blunted emotions; those are pretty much a given with the drug. The other side effects, such as dizziness, night sweats, etc. are hit and miss, although very common.

The point of a slow taper is so you won't have agonizing w/d. The agonizing w/d comes from quitting cold turkey, or tapering too fast.

[anjopom]

I totally agree with LC, very, very few escape the ordeals of coming off these drugs, and a slow taper, does NOT mean symptom free!!!! it does minimise some of the horrific stuff, but its still a trial for anyone wishing to live a physchiatric drug free life, as all on here can attest.

The other thing to consider is,- that these drugs are not meant to be taken long term, everyone will develop tolerance to them at some point, be it 3yrs or 15 years. The only thing i can guarantee is, that the biggest majority of people coming off will suffer, some worse than others, but the symptoms all follow a very similar pattern.

Anjopom

[guitar77]

I personally know of one person who took it for 3 months and got off without any side effects, but the reason they got off it was that it had no effect whatsoever; it didn't help.

For myself, it seemed to cause a lot of problems. Zoloft messed me up really bad. SSRIs have not helped me one iota.

[Aly66]

I agree with both of them. I didn't gain weight with paxil but I lost almost everything I care for.

i am an artist, born with a pen in my hand to draw and write. I study in art, get my degre, always work in art. And paxil came, and destroy it. I can't draw anymore for more then 3 years. When paxil take ALL the emotions away, it kill the artist in me.

Life was great without panic and anxiety. But it wasn't great to have no emotion at all, even when I had my cancer diagostic. Now that I am comming off this drug, all the emotion I didn't have while I was taking it, show up. 3 years and a half of hidden emotion coming up, it's scary and it hurt a lot.

Paxil was good for a short period of time but I will say that taking it was a big mistake in my life. The pain and suffer that come with it didn't worth the few months without anxiety.

Aly

[carolyn]

Originally Posted by jheritage

being unbiased as possible is it possible to take this drug for an extended period, several years, and not suffer significant side effects?

also, do all people experience severe withdrawal symptoms or can a slow taper be done without agonizing side effects?

My anecdotal bit - I took 10mg of Paxil daily for 5 years without significant side effects. I did gain weight (though that was part of the reason I went on it as I was underweight from anxiety) but I didn't seem to have much lethargy or blunted emotions.

That said, suddenly after 5 years, the drug stopped working. I was on my honeymoon when I hit "poop out", which is what we call tolerance. All of my panic attacks came back, I was hit with major health anxiety, I had derealization, shakes/tremors, dizziness, etc. It was a nightmare.

From what I can gather from others' stories, this is pretty common. At some point, the drug just stops working.

In my case, I was lucky. The doc I saw increased my dosage, where I stayed for a year, and then I've been able to slowly taper off.

As for your taper question, I tried both ways: I did suffer severe withdrawal symptoms when I attempted to taper at my doc's speed (not her fault; she didn't know). Now I'm tapering the way we recommend here -- 8% to 10% ever 3 to 6 weeks -- and I've had symptoms but nothing that has impacted my life in any significant way.

Hope that helps!

[magpie]

When I finally broke down and took my first paxil (it was never "forced" upon me; merely strongly suggested by several doctors, and I did look at that full prescription bottle for months, struggling whether to open it or not...), I had literally reached the end of my rope.

I was the new mother of an 8 mo. old baby who needed all my attention, but I could barely attend to myself. I could not eat. I could not sleep. I didn't care about life anymore. Anxiety was round-the-clock, 100 percent range. There was no enjoyment. I was not suicidal, but prayed that cancer or something like it would graciously take me. It was too painful to remain alive.

About two weeks after that first pill, I felt a return to myself (or what I could only term it at the time.) I was sliding into the "honeymoon" period that seems common with the onset of taking most ssris. RELIEF. I was able to function again and join others in the daily tasks of life.

Long story short... about 18 mos. later (and after CBT), I felt ready to end my dependency on this drug and, though I tapered too quickly (didn't understand that at the time; was simply taking my doctor's advice), I came through that time quite well.

Fast forward about six years. Development of chronic pain and ensuing return of intense anxiety & depression. Again, no one forced the paxil; I took it again because it seemed to work the first time, and I was desperate. 6-8 mos. later, did another too-quick taper (still had no clue about serious withdrawal issues), but had real problems this time around, incl. severe akathisia, rage, sleeplessness, alcohol dependency... (I won't bother mentioning the rest; they're all too common.)

Like so many others who are yet unfamiliar with the protracted w/d from these drugs, I suffered the w/d out for about two months before crawling back to the "evil pee". Basically, the entire world thought I was nuts to come off paxil in the first place ("you might need it for life"), then denied me any credibility when I complained of the w/d symptoms. How utterly depressing & ultra-anxiety inducing those opinions were, in and of themselves.

I'll wrap this mini-bio up now by responding to you that, while taking these drugs MAY, indeed seem to help in the short-term, they are NEVER the solution. They merely delay self-growth and necessary life experience and create a whole ton of mayhem once one attempts to live without them.

In retrospect, for me, the temporary relief was not worth it, but you know the ol' "hindsight" creed. At any rate, it's what it is. I cannot change any bit of the past, and neither can anyone else, so I've often been rehearsing the "Just keep swimming..." ditty that Dory sings in "Finding Nemo." It's been a bit of a simple anthem for me of late.

[Cairistìona]

I started Paxil in 2001 and by 2003 I was having problems with weight gain and tried to go off. Had zaps, etc. and had to reinstate.

It didn't work for very long and so my pdoc switched me to Lexapro. Same thing all over again until I tried to drop Cymbalta at the lowest dose they make (20mg capsules). That's how I ended up here and finally tapered and finished ADs for good.

In my experience just a couple of years caused side effects and I never lasted several years on any of them. It always got to the point I would have to tell the doc that I was depressed again and she would upose and ultimately switch drugs until I got sick of it all.

Originally Posted by jheritage

hi, most of the posts on this site pertain to negative aspects associated with paxil, which i understand. i have no experience with this drug, nor any SSRI. however, i am trying to learn more about this drug, possible side effects, etc.

being unbiased as possible is it possible to take this drug for an extended period, several years, and not suffer significant side effects?

also, do all people experience severe withdrawal symptoms or can a slow taper be done without agonizing side effects?

person is taking for general anxiety disorder, panic attacks few yrs ago.
no plan to discontinue use anytime soon.

thank you

[Songbird]

My first time on Paxil I was only on for about six months then tapered off quite quickly over a few weeks, with fairly mild w/d effects. I did experience some side effects. I think the longer you take the drug, the harder the w/d is likely to be. This time I've been on Paxil for longer and it is extremely difficult for me to taper off, even with a very slow taper.

Also, some of the Paxil side effects can appear gradually over time. For example, the emotional blunting, loss of creativity, loss of motivation and so on, appeared gradually over years for me, it happened so gradually that for a while I didn't realise it was caused by the Paxil.

I think there are some people who can just stop taking SSRIs without experiencing w/d problems, I don't know what percentage, but for the rest of us a slow taper is the best way to get off. In general, the slower you taper, the milder the w/d effects are.

[Samalabear]

Originally Posted by Aly66

I agree with both of them. I didn't gain weight with paxil but I lost almost everything I care for.

i am an artist, born with a pen in my hand to draw and write. I study in art, get my degre, always work in art. And paxil came, and destroy it. I can't draw anymore for more then 3 years. When paxil take ALL the emotions away, it kill the artist in me.

Life was great without panic and anxiety. But it wasn't great to have no emotion at all, even when I had my cancer diagostic. Now that I am comming off this drug, all the emotion I didn't have while I was taking it, show up. 3 years and a half of hidden emotion coming up, it's scary and it hurt a lot.

Paxil was good for a short period of time but I will say that taking it was a big mistake in my life. The pain and suffer that come with it didn't worth the few months without anxiety.

Aly

I have written about these effects many times. I am 3-1/2 years off Paxil and the most pervasive effect has been my creative blunting. I am still living this and wonder if it will ever come back. My creativity was the essence of who I was -- for me this is the root of my depression right now.

Paxil was, without doubt, the biggest mistake I ever made in my life, and I've made may mistakes in my past.