Paxil = Bad News, MY Story

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Several years ago I was on Paxil for a couple months and I had no emotion at all when I took it. For all intents and purposes it turned me into a robot. No horrible withdrawals when I went off it however, as the dose was tapered very slowly and gradually to prevent this.

I feel your pain.

I'v had doctors try to pwn over all kinds of drugs to alleviate my condition but every time I listen to them all I can think about is that the so called medicine they are trying to offload on me isn't that far off from the witch doctory that went on in the last few hundred years of human history. Seriously, I would rather try electro convulsive therapy under anesthesia than take what most doctors offer me. Fixing a broken bone is one thing, correcting the subtlties of the human brain is quite another thing. Although don't give up hope, at any point in spacetime humans live in, a technology may become available that actually does make one such as ourselves feel better. Cross your fingers like I do and keep an eye on any developments in science.

This particular hormone has promise, but I wouldn't bet one's Life on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin

I wish there was a technology on Earth that would improve my quality of Life.

I received governmental permission to try a trial of dexamphetamine.

After about 3 weeks I was having insane panic attacks and was waking up in the middle of the night thinking someone was coming to get me.

I stopped soon after.

I find a few glasses of wine or whatever floats one's boat can alleviate the symptoms of a chronic psychatric/psychological anomoly. If one isn't susceptable to alchoholism, that is. I can stop at 3 drinks quite comfortably.

I find valium once every month or so alleviates the anxiety without causing undue stress. But some people are highly susceptable to addiction with it. It works for me, it doesn't fix anything it just gives me a brief respite from my anxiety and a pleasent feeling of serentity.

Everyone is different though, what is safe for one person, is addictive and deadly, for another.

Do what I do, read science fiction and dream of a future, with science far beyond what is currently possible in the current point in spacetime human beings find themselves at that can heal and correct the suffering one goes through if one isn't neurotypical.

The only true alleviation from my Aspergers I'v ever had was when I was working out like an athlete at the gym. Something happens to one's physiology in some cases that actually makes one feel generally better. But, hey you know that was my case. And working out isn't as easy as it sounds. I can't do it right now personally but I am working towards it.

It's true, weight lifting, which I did every lunch hour for a year, worked better for me than any drug!
(BTW, I'm female - it's not just a guy thing)

Yup I have no doubt that working out is as beneficial to a woman as it would be for a man.

Absolutely no doubt.

Something is released by the body when one is ripping one's body in the gym to shreds. It gives one an inexplicable sense of well being, God forbid, it even gives one a greater degree of self confidence.

To a point. One tends to hit a kind of wall with working out that one can't really go any further, but geez it's better than nuthin.

The most creative and constructive period in my Life was when I was workin out with a friend of mine, before I got married.

I'm not saying science and technology can't give an Aspie, non-neurotypical person a far better quality of Life.

I'm just saying that I can't work out anything in the current human pharmacopia that doesn't cause more harm than good.

I'v got me eye on this though - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin

Just don't give yourself any false hope or expectations of what human technology is capable of acheiving and you won't get dissapointed when it doesn't actually work out.

Hmm. Wikipedia says that some doctors recommend substituting Prozac (fluoxetine) for other SSRIs during withdrawal to help with the symptoms. (Something to do with the longer half-life I think.) Prozac should have the lowest incidence of withdrawal syndrome and Paxil perhaps the highest... This SSRI stuff scares me. I wonder why your doctor suggested Paxil specifically.

Exercise is a great way to decrease depression, especially if you don't already exercise regularly. Endorphins and stuff... (I use the second person without actually addressing anyone.)

yeah I've been thinking about exercise too. It's just so hard for me right now. I'm working 50 hours a week again (I'm salary so I can't do less than that). In a way that's some exercise since I'm running around putting up our truck shipments and walking back and forth 10 hours a day. But I know that's not truly exercise like aerobics or weight lifting. It's just so hard to juggle this job and my 2 year old son and have time for much of anything. But I do agree that exercise really is very beneficial. Perhaps some day I'll have time to do it again!

I'm pretty sure that the reason behind exercising and feeling better is the extra endorphins that get released into your system. Exercise can be addicting to some people. I'm pretty sure that exercising is a great way to help with withdrawl symptoms since your brain is looking for something extra thats gone missing.

Wow! That's really interesting that you say it affects the Central Nervous System. I didn't know this or it would have made more sense to me when I took it. I was prescribed this family of drugs two seperate times. They were the other two and I can't even remember their names right now. The one that was most popular in the media and the other that isn't paxil. It's been a long time. I had to get off each one right way because of the reaction. The first one, which was the most popular at the time caused me to walk at a significant lean to my right side and the other caused my eyes to look up sort of into the back of my head. I had to lay with my eyes closed until the drug wore off. The doctors thought I was nuts when I told them because they didn't have it in their list of adverse reactions. I had no idea it was that difficult to go off the drug because I had to stop taking the drugs immediately. I have always had opposite reactions to drugs in general.

It sounds like a nightmare and I'm sorry this happened to you. It's probably good to stay away from most of these kinds of drugs. The side-effects and other risks as well are too high.

It may sound crazy but drinking plenty of water can actually help with depression and gives more energy. A good vitamin supplement is also good, especially in the powder form because it desolves more readily in the system and also a liquid calcium supplement. This and healthy eating habits can help significantly with some of these problems, believe it or not.

Hang in there.

Paxil gave me very vivid and very violent daydreams, almost verging on hallucinations. Yeah, thanks, doctor, just what a depressed and anxious person needs. I told her about the effects and all she said was that it was unusual for someone so old. I was 22.

It is interesting that so many people here have had bad experiences with Paxil.

I've been on paroxetine (first brand-name Paxil, now the generic stuff since it's what my insurance pays for) it for seven or eight years. I originally was prescribed it for severe social anxiety. (I know now that I had it because of my Asperger's - or rather, as a result of being socially ostracized because of my Asperger's - but I didn't even suspect that I had Asperger's until a few weeks ago.) Since then I have pretty much stayed on it. My anxiety eventually subsided, I don't know how much because of the medication and how much because of other things, but it is much better now, though certainly not gone.

I was originally prescribed sertraline (Zoloft) but that didn't do much for my anxiety. Paroxetine was the second medication I was prescribed and I guess it seemed to work better, though it's been so long ago now I really don't remember.

I'm not sure about adverse side effects; I've been on it since I was 12 or 13 years old and now I'm 20 so I don't even know what I would be like without it.

A year or two I learned that it is physically addictive for many people. This has made me rather reluctant to go off it even though I would like to know if I really need it and what I would be like if I weren't on it.

I also had a bad experience with Paxil, especially being weaned off it. As a result, I don't trust psychiatrists as the one I had was a drug pusher with a MD. He sees patients for the amount of time it takes to fill out a prescription pad. Now, I'd rather treat any anxiety I might have by going to the gym as the side effects are actually good for you in the long run.

My experience was a little the opposite, in that my psychiatrist told me he didn't believe I needed any medication. So that's one reason I decided to stop. It was the MD that was pushing it on me so hard. I'm glad that my electrical shocks have gotten a ton better, but I've been pretty irritable the last couple of days. I read somewhere that the drugmaker says it takes about 2 weeks for the withdrawals to stop, it's been over a week for me now and so maybe the irritable feeling will wear off in a few days. I'm hoping by tomorrow!

The odd thing about Paxil and any other SSRI drug for that matter is that they are very rarely actually necessary. Cognitive therapy, which essentially teaches the patient how to pull themselves out of depression with sheer willpower, has shown to work just as quickly and effectively. In fact a scientific study showed that the changes in neurochemical levels of someone in Cognitive therapy was identical to those on SSRI medication, whithout any side-effects whatsoever and it lasts forever.

The only real reasons cognitive therapy isn't used as often is that it's more expensive in the short term, and that Cognitive therapy requires you to actually go to therapy, rather then just taking a pill.

SSRI drugs are really only needed in the most extreme depressions.

Hi nettiespaghetti It sadden me that yet another person has had to go though what you have, I grow up with a mother wrongly diagnosed, drug after drug, after drug all that happen is that she felt more lost at odds with the world and was never happy while alive. I guess the only good part is that I will never take drugs of any form myself... not saying this is the best option for all, was probably was not for me when younger. One of the biggest problems as I see it, so many of us know we are not depressed just different somehow, but if you do not understand yourself, others will try and often get it so wrong... the amount of people I know on the autism spectrum who have been put on drugs rather than correctly diagnosed... endless!

I wrote an article a while ago Do Not Drug Us - Understand Us, as feel this is a huge problem:
http://asplanet.info/index.php?option=c ... Itemid=105