About Paxil

[Ariella]

This section will answer questions like What is Paxil? and Where did it come from?

[Ariella]

Paroxetine (Paxil in North America, Seroxat in the UK and Aropax in Australia) is an SSRI used principally to treat mood affective disorders. Approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services (FDA) in 1992 to treat anxiety related conditions, paxilprogress visitors have shared numerous other reasons for having it prescribed to them, which include intermittent, post partum and long term depressions, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), Fibromyalgia, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), thyroid irregularities, head injuries, eating disorders and more. This is not a complete list. Doctors have been free to develop new uses for their patients, including the relief of headaches. A drug that potentially affects your mood, personality, appetite, sleep habits and interest in sex has actually been prescribed for temporary pain relief.

[Ariella]

Paxil can be considered the multi generational offspring of many other medications that date back as far as the end of the 19th century. Some of its ancestors include cocaine, tricyclics, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI) and the popular SSRI fluoxetine (Prozac). Often referred to as a me too drug (implying a competitive marketing strategy against other medications), Paxil’s manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) marketed it as being even more selective then other antidepressants.

[Ariella]

Paxil has a half-life of less than 24 hours. This means that Paxil is a substance that your body actively seeks to remove and it takes less then a day for your body to reduce the concentration of Paxil’s active agents in your blood by about half. This is a short half-life compared to Prozac, which has a half-life of more than a week. We believe the shorter half-life of Paxil contributes to the potential for withdrawal symptoms. The body is used to being in control and making gradual changes. A drug with a short half-life will rock your world as your body scrambles to adjust.

[Ariella]

In 2002, the american legal system debated the definition of the world addiction as it pertains to Paxil.

For a drug to be labelled habit forming, you have to demonstrate a drug seeking behavior often at the expense of rationality, safety, and economic feasibility. This means you have to be highly desiring of the drug for the sake of having the drug. This isn’t quite the case with Paxil. Our own withdrawal experience and anecdotal research tells us that people don’t usually crave and dream about a colored pill lustfully enough to attempt to rob a bank, steal from a relative or sell a car. However, several people have been known to go to creative lengths to get more Paxil when their medical insurance runs out, including calling Paxil's manufacturer for free doses. This type of behavior is very similar to getting in touch with a pusher when you're out of money and/or out of product. Most people withdrawing from Paxil desire a relief from the withdrawal symptoms though. And here’s where the lines blur.

The definition of addiction describes how a participant may also seek a substance to avoid the withdrawal experience. This is like someone seeking cocaine because the depression of the down time is too great. Since Paxil withdrawal may include symptoms of depression, it sounds just like one facet of cocaine addiction.

And to confuse matters further are people who have learned to cope with life and its inherent challenges with a medication. They may feel like they have a predisposition towards using a drug to feel like a trouble-free human being. They may not know how to do it any other way. This kind of behavior reasons that a drug can be used to shorten a grieving period or to relieve an old fear. If it worked during the last two life hurdles, why wouldn’t it for the third right?

Taking all this into account, we believe that Paxil is mostly a psychosocial addiction although it carries a physical burden through it's intense withdrawal experience. This drug has been prescribed for too many emotional inconveniences or to release people from personal accountability, where lifestyle and self-perception changes would serve better. Paxil is a symptom suppressant and too many people are taking it under the false assumption that it will cure their ills. This behavior is very addicting and it compliments rampant mechanisms such as overeating and compulsive shopping. Running to pills is becoming a way of life, as direct to consumer advertising crafts everyone's mindshare/filter of the world around them.

[Ariella]

When neurotransmitters send a message with serotonin, some of it is gobbled back up before reaching its destination. It’s like selective censoring or dumping hundreds of marbles quickly into your hand. Your hand catches some of them, and the others continue their journey to the floor. Paxil takes away your hand so that they all hit the floor. In other words, Paxil stops the reabsorption of serotonin back into the transmitter that sent it. As the drug family name that Paxil is in suggests, Paxil is a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI). It stops your transmitters from reuptaking (taking back) what it sends out. By inhibiting the natural reabsorption process, your brain’s receptors get a more generous helping of serotonin.

The body didn’t evolve to always mess things up. It’s actually designed to try to balance things, be well and not work so hard. Life and stress will certainly challenge it and upset its balance, but it prefers to sleep in at least once in a while. To me it seems that using Paxil is a gamble that the flood of serotonin it causes will be in the right amount, at just the right time that you’ll somehow feel better, while circumventing any chance your body has to figure it out. Whatever the result, withdrawal involves an attempt on your body’s part to get back under the scale and it may tip one way to the other until it’s chemically satisfied. This process can feel uncomfortable and take months.

[Ariella]

Since Paxil affects chemical communication in your body, your ability to perceive daily experiences or self identity can be affected.

Science is still learning how emotions and serotonin are linked, but personal experience is clear that one affects, or is derived from the other. While on Paxil, your potential to experience a wide range of emotions that run from frightening anger to passionate bliss is diminished. This influence on your emotions is the desired effect of Paxil since it can diminish your negative sensations so that you can become a more productive and less encumbered machine (or human). But it turns out that it’s not necessarily selective about what it diminishes. Your joyous passions and sex drive can also get put on a shelf. The body doesn't operate in a vacuum. When you change the serotonin level, you also change the balance of many other chemical processes in the body. It's not as simple as "raise the serotonin, feel wonderful".

[Ariella]

As of September 2004, Paxil labelling includes a black-box, the most serious warning a drug can carry short of being pulled from the market, that states that Paxil may cause suicidal ideations in people under the age of 25.

Obviously, if the earth spins around the sun once or twice more and a person becomes labelled as an adult, they are still at risk. New research helping to reveal this reality using the adult naming convention/vocabulary has recently come to light.

[Ariella]

Besides having a potential to zombify, repress, and trigger suicidal ideations, it can also make you anxious, depressed, nonchalant, indifferent, uncaring, cold, agitated, twitchy, and your ears ring. On top of those popular ones are:

Somnolence Insomnia Agitation Tremor Dizziness Nervousness Headache AstheniaPalpitation Vasodilation Constipation Nausea Diarrhea Dry mouth Vomiting Flatulence Abnormal ejaculation Sweating Impotence Libido Decreased Rash Decreased Appetite Oropharynx Disorder Dyspepsia Myalgia Myasthenia Paresthesia Drugged Feeling Confusion Respiration Yawn Blurred Vision Taste Perversion Urinary Frequency Abdominal Pain Back pain Chest pain Dysphagia Eructation Gastritis Gastroenteritis Gingivitis Glossitis Increased salivation Rectal hemorrhage Ulcerative stomatitis Amenorrhea Breast pain Cystitis Dysuria Hematuria Menorrhagia Nocturia Polyuria Urinary incontinence Urinary retention Urinary urgency Vaginal moniliasis Vaginitis Breast atrophy Breast enlargement Endometrial disorder Epididymitis Neuralgia Neuropathy Nystagmus Peripheral neuritis Psychotic depression Reflexes decreased Reflexes increased Stupor Torticollis Trismus

Bloody diarrhea Bulimia Cholelithiasis Duodenitis Enteritis Esophagitis Fecal impactions Fecal incontinence Gum hemorrhage Hematemesis Hepatitis Ileus Intestinal obstruction Jaundice Melena Mouth ulceration Peptic ulcer Stomatitis Tongue discoloration Tongue edema Tooth caries Diabetes Mellitus Goiter Hyperthyroidism Hypothyroidism Thyroiditis Anemia Eosinophilia Leukocytosis Leukopenia Lymphadenopathy Purpura Abnormal erythrocytes Basophilia Bleeding time increased Hypochromic anemia Iron deficiency Flu like symptoms Lump in throat Anorgasmia Erectile Difficulties Chills Dyspepsia Abnormal dreams Impaired concentration Depersonalization Amnesia System Pharyngitis Sinusitis Malaise Face Edema Moniliasis Neck pain Adrenergic Female lactation Fibrocystic breast Kidney calculus Kidney pain Leukorrhea Mastitis Metrorrhagia Nephritis Oliguria Pyuria Urethritis Voice alteration Acne Alopecia Contact dermatitis Dry skin Ecchymosis Eczema Furunculosis

Syndrome Cellulitis Neck rigidity Pelvic pain Peritonitis Ulcer Tachycardia Bradycardia Hematoma Migraines Syncope Angina pectoris Arrhythmia nodal Atrial fibrillation Bundle branch block Cerebral ischemia Cerebrovascular accident Congestive heart failure Heart block Low cardiac output Myocardial infarct Myocardial ischemia Pallor Phlebitis Pulmonary embolus Thrombosis Varicose vein Vascular headache Ventricular Extrasystoles Bruxism Colitis Lymphedema Abnormal lymphocytes Edema Peripheral edema SGOT increased SGPT increased Thirst Bilirubinemia BUN increased Gout Hypercalcemia Hypercholesteremia Hyperglycemia Uterine spasm Urolith Vaginal hemorrhage Priapism Bradykinesia, Cogwheel rigidity Dystonia Hypertonia Abnormal gait Akinesia Antisocial reaction Aphasia Choreoathetosis Circumoral paresthesias Convulsion Delusions Diplopia Drug dependence Dysarthria Extrapyramidal syndrome Fasciculations Grand mal convulsion Hyperalgesia Hysteria Manic-depressive reaction Meningitis Myelitis Hirsutism

Hyperkalemia Hyperphosphatemia Hypocalcemia Hypoglycemia Hypokalemia Hyponatremia Ketosis Arthritis Arthrosis Bursitis Myositis Osteoporosis Generalized spasm Tenosynovitis Tetany Emotional lability Vertigo Abnormal thinking Alcohol abuse Ataxia Delirium Dystonia Dyskinesia Euphoria Hallucinations Hostility Hypertonia Hypesthesia Hypokinesia Incoordination Seborrhea Skin discoloration Skin hypertrophy Skin ulcer Sweating decreased Lack of emotion Libido increased Manic reaction Neurosis Paralysis Paranoid reaction Psychosis Vesiculobullous rash Herpes simplex Maculopapular Rash Photosensitivity Urticaria Angioedema Fungal dermatitis Herpes zoster Lymphocytosis Microcytic anemia Monocytosis Normocytic anemia Thrombocythemia Thrombocytopenia Withdrawal syndrome Asthma Bronchitis Dyspnea Epistaxis Hyperventilation Pneumonia Respiratory flu Emphysema Hemoptysis Hiccups Lung fibrosis Pulmonary edema Sputum increased

This list was obtained from a GSK written prescription information document: http://www.paxilprogress.org/pdf/us_paxil.pdf

This content has been taken out of context for ease of presentation, and is not indicative of any symptom you should expect or be directly worried about. The list includes side effects that were been observed by GSK during pre/post market evaluation of their product. Also note:

1. We have removed statistical data that would be indicative of symptom frequency, for what condition (anxiety, depression, OCD etc.) and pre/post market status.
   
2. The reported adverse events were classified using a standard COSTART-based Dictionary terminology.
   
3. Data is derived from Treatment-Emergent Adverse Experience Incidence in Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trials.
   

This means that the symptoms listed are conditions reported but not necessarily caused by Paxil. They haven't been discredited completely either .

[Ariella]

It will take as long as it takes you to discover what works. :) So many variables are involved in managing weight, that trying to predict how you turn around this Paxil side effect is very difficult.

What we know from experience is that it ususally takes longer than it would for you to lose the same weight without having had any Paxil in your system. On top of all that, if you are fresh from a withdrawal experience, you may still be very stressed and having to face how weight management changes during times of duress alone. It's a complicated thing, but there's much you can do.

Diets don't work. You know that. So get busy deciding how you want to experience health for the rest of your life. Figure out with professional help what is a healthy weight for you, and make daily choices that make it possible. Decide to eat foods that encourage health, even if you know you can "get away" with other foods. Any time you try to get away with something, you are confusing your own self declaration so that "I want to be healthy" becomes "I want to be healthy, sort of, I guess". Just guess which inner dialog is better for feeling well. :)

Having said that, you may be exercising regularly, eating great, and still not lose Paxil related weight. In this situation, you just have to be patient. The more time spent without Paxil, the greater the ability you'll have to manage your weight in ways that are simple and familiar. Let time reveal the turning point to you.