Don’t just take my word for it - have a look at Medications.com

An interesting web site - medications.com

This registry is a place to share positive or negative side effects of using Paxil. If you directly experienced a side effect while using Paxil, then we encourage you to enter it here. Please note that entries here are the experiences of individual users, and in no way means that you or anyone else will experience the same side effect, since the same medication affects people in different ways. Please always contact your physician.

Have a look at the 150 entries for Paxil side effects here.

I wonder which are real and which might have written by employees of Glaxo… who knows?

“I had always been a teetotaller purely because I didn’t enjoy alcohol and hated losing control. At the grand old age of 44 I was prescribed Seroxat and suddenly started craving alcohol.”

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“I would like to stop taking paxil, I have been on it for 3 yrs. When I skip my medicine I get what feels like electrical shocks in my neck & head. I wasnt sure if I had a pinched nerve at 1st but began to associate this with the event that I had not taken my meds. I also have onset of panic attacks & rapid heart, & terrible terrible forgetfulness, as to even what cabinet I would like to open, I open the wrong one, go into the wrong doorway, wrong driveway. I am very concerned. I have told my Dr. that I would like to get off this Paxil but Ive been told that it would be best since I was suffering from anxiety attacks in past. I would like to be committed to be able to handle the withdrawls. If anyone has been successful in stopping Paxil and now feels pretty back to normal, please let me know. Thanks”

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“I know what most of you are going thru,I myself am still taking paxil. i have been taking the med on and off for about two years. The side effects for me right now are dimoralizig, Ihave perfuse sweats in the middle of the night ,sweaty palms,hand shakes,and worst of all i am a 35year man that went from sexual peak to not even being able tofunction sexualy. My wife who is 7years younger does not understand where my desire went ,but also wants me to take the meds. because it heps my anxiety out.”

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“This is both one of the BEST and WORST drugs for anxiety/depression. I was on Paxil CR 37.5mg for five years for moderate anx./dep., and yes, the weight gain (10-15 lbs.), vivid dreams, sweatiness, etc. were all side effects. But the Paxil so thoroughly balanced out my anxiety and depression that the side effects seemed a fair tradeoff.

(P.S. Nothing kills a libido like Paxil.)

And then, I went off the Paxil b/c I was changing insurance companies. Having read all of the terrible withdrawal symptoms, I scheduled myself a full four months to taper off. I lowered my dosage every week by only 2-3mg at most. (This involved cutting up the pill, which *they* say never to do, but of course *they* also claim that there are no withdrawal symptoms.) As a result, my withdrawal symptoms were negligible at best.

This past year, I went back on the Paxil CR 37.5mg and for a short while it worked again. And then it suddenly STOPPED. *They* don’t want us to know that once you’ve been on, then off, Paxil, when you return to it, its chances of working again are slim to none. I took less time (only 2 months) to withdraw this time around, and the withdrawal symptoms were HIDEOUS. I’ve never felt so scared of what my body exhibited–unbelievable dizziness, terrible electric “shocks,” headaches. And abject rage that I’ve never experienced before in my life. So much incredible nervous energy that I couldn’t sit still. A rotten memory and confusion. Horrible symptoms. And yet, while I was withdrawing, I could see my body improving in other areas–far less appetite, for one, far less need for sleep, and less exhaustion.

While my anxiety and depression have returned, and while I’ll probably need to be put on a different pill, I now at least know to research not just “official” medication Web sites but also patients’ anecdotes. If I’d done so the first time around, I never would have stopped the Paxil at all. Pharmaceutical companies are just pimps who own doctors, so drs. are never going to warn you about the bad side effects of what they prescribe!! “

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So tell me again Glaxo - what does Seroxat (Paxil) do to you - and how does it do it?

How safe is it for people to take?

What happens when you become addicted to Seroxat?

Seroxat & Addiction

While you took Seroxat, would you say you were addicted to the drug?

Was it easy for you to stop taking Seroxat, or did you suffer from withdrawal reactions to Seroxat?

Glaxo is VERY sensitive about the link between Seroxat and addiction and I think we need to discuss this important issue much more widely.

On a very personal note…

I don’t really use this blog to talk about my experience, but perhaps today you’ll forgive me, as this is an important day for me. It has been exactly a year - 365 whole days - since I last took Seroxat.

I took Seroxat for nine years and I (and my family) had a terrible time withdrawing from it and that process took 22 months to complete.

Most of the public (and still too many doctors) do not understand how addictive Seroxat actually is and how hard it is for most patients to stop taking it. We get little or no help (or understanding) from the medical establishment and Glaxo, of course, continues to fight tooth and nail to stop Seroxat being mentioned in the same sentence as the word “addiction”…

But Glaxo, let me tell you a few home truths - I was addicted to Seroxat. A lot of people are. Just because you do your best to stop it being talked about in public doesn’t mean you can change what is a fact: Seroxat is addictive.