I believe Seroxat is defective and dangerous.
I believe that Glaxo has hidden clinical trial data that shows exactly how dangerous a drug it is.
I believe that Seroxat is addictive.
I believe that Seroxat can cause anger, aggression and violence.
I believe that something must be done to help people who suffer terrible problems with withdrawal, as they desperately try to stop taking Seroxat.
I believe that doctors have taken large sums of money from Glaxo to lie about the efficacy and safety of the drug.
I believe that GlaxoSmithKline puts profits before patients – their wealth before our health.
I took Seroxat for 9 years and it took me 22 months to withdraw from the drug little by little.
Believe me – I know what I’m talking about.
seroxat secrets... 
February 3, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I agree , I was addicted to Seroxat, I became aggressive and suicidal because of the drug. I agree with all your statements.
I suffered horror beyond words in withdrawal. Seroxat should have been banned a long time ago.
March 12, 2009 at 7:09 am
Thank you for keeping this blog going.
Cold-turkey withdrawal from Xanax made me attack someone.
April 10, 2009 at 6:03 am
Thank god u are here and I have found this site, I am not going crazy after all, I am right, “Aropax” (as it is called in Australia) is an addiction and withdrawal nightmare. I have been on it for 10 yrs now and only had one experience of withdrawal back in 2003 when I went to the USA and left meds at home, ended up in hospital 4 days later an absolute wreck. I am on 60mg a day and have been recently told after an assessment that my depression levels are ‘off the page’, what the hell……have to get off but scared as hell
April 11, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Hi Sharon, you will need to Taper off Aropax for as long as needed , very slowly. You can do it, all the best 🙂
April 26, 2009 at 5:34 am
hi guys,hope all is well. i too was on seroxat for around 5 years,and i did not realise how hard coming off this drug was going to be.. there were a a fuzzy head social phobia.
when i actually decided to come off this medication,i just stopped. probably a bad mistake but i had severe vomiting for around a week and suicidal thoughts and also auditorial hallucinations(was hearing music)….thats not all…i started having phobias….”things that you coulkd not talk to anyone about”,… and i believe that seroxat was the cause of this!!!!
im now taking clomipramine which is an older ssri,it does help me but it gives me low/high blood pressure….well anyway hope i can help someone who has tyrouble with seroxat??? fewq times where i had went without taking seroxat for 1 or 2 days and i had withdrawel symptons,which were like
November 24, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Hi, I have only been taking seroxat for about 2 months, what I have found about it has frightened me and I am coming off it, do you think I will experience withdrawl after such a short period of time??
February 5, 2010 at 7:33 pm
I came off Seroxat successfully after 6 years and it took me 9 months to do that, but I suffered no ill-effects and was o.k. However, my mum (86) has been on it for several years now and has recently been prescribed Citalopram instead, but has been ‘poorly’. any advice would be helpful as I wonder if the doctor has made a mistake. she is on 10mg. now
February 16, 2010 at 2:24 am
I was prescribed Seroxat when I was diagnosed with clinical depression in my second year of university in 2004. I went very quickly from being borderline depressed to a complete uncontrollable mess – I couldn’t eat or go to lectures and started coughing up blood. I couldn’t function during the day and suffered from the most horrific nightmares at night which left me waking up screaming out loud.
After a few more months of Seroxat and some truly terrible counselling (I never saw my doctor again), I ran a knife across my wrist (in a daze and reasonably gently, so no serious harm done) but it was enough to give me a wake up call.
I left University that evening and never went back. I stopped taking Seroxat a month or so later but still have the scar on my wrist to remind me.
March 29, 2010 at 7:52 pm
I have been on seroxat for 4 years and i’m trying to withdraw..OMG…thank god I have found this website, so the whizzing, buzzing, electric zapping in head, loss of balance, temper, attitude, and the noises, are all part of it. At least I now know I’m winning, cause I am coming off it. I am about to see my 3rd doctor this week, and can’t wait, what the hell are the so called professional doing to us, the thing is I went to my doctor for HRT, but she said I was depressed and welcome to seroxat. I have realised I will have to do it slowly, I have good days and whizzy days (they r awful) but I am sticking to my guns.. Thanks for everyones comments cause it really has helped me continue.
June 23, 2010 at 9:18 pm
I am so afraid it is too late for me. I was on Seroxat for 5 years, and after some unsuccesful attempts to quit, I finally quit cold turkey in sept. 2007. I want to undescribable hell, but the docs kept tellng me it was not the drug but my depression (I took it for work-related stress and not for depression).
I learned from this site and PaxilPRogress the truth and the Antodepressant Solution of dr. Glenmullen and the letters of ddr. Healy.
But too late, I got off cold turkey and it is too late to taper the right way. I have still lingering symptoms, now 32 months later!
Is there still hope? I really do not want to end my life but if things do not clear up I have little choice…
July 16, 2010 at 12:09 am
I have read that people who accidentally tapered off Seroxat too quickly developed withdrawal and had to go back up with their dosage. As horrible as the thought is, you may want to ask a doctor (God help you) if going back on a tiny dose of Seroxat would ease your symptoms. If the symptoms you are still experiencing were new ones created by Seroxat withdrawal, you may have to go back on it, although that makes no sense. Maybe another of Dr. Glenmullen’s books, Prozac Backlash, addresses what you are going through. I know my Celexa and Trazodone brain damage did not seem to really subside for seven years. Life is bearable now. Do you think a doctor would be willing to consult with Dr. Glenmullen? Good luck. A depression support group might help you stay alive until your brain heals.
Lynn
August 25, 2010 at 9:23 pm
been on seroxat 9 years. in this time i have lost two jobs, previously had lost none in 20 years, also lost my partner of 16 years who could not stand living with a man who in her words “she didnt know, the man i loved has been taken away by seroxat and replaced with one i am scared of”.
been withdrawing from 20mgs. wish it could have been done in as short a time as 22 months, now in my 5th year of constant methodical tapering.
September 14, 2010 at 1:13 pm
hi i am also coming off seroxat after 10 years i am doing the 20mg to 0 in 3 mnths im finding it really hard im feeling strange not anxious just buzzing in ears and temper tantrums and feeling low there must be something that can be done about this i would never have taken it if i knew the consequences,its ruining my marriage is there anyone who has come off of it and had no effects ???? i just dnt no what to do im going through fertility and i have to come off because of that im scared i wont get off it and not be able to have the kids i so despratly want it ruining my life xxx
September 14, 2010 at 6:14 pm
HI Steff – why 20 – 0 in 3 months?
Sounds way too fast to me if you’re having trouble….
Good luck
March 22, 2011 at 11:21 am
I was hoping that upon reviewing my blog, we could cross link our respective blogs. My blog is GovtFraudLawyer.blogspot.com (http://govtfraudlawyer.blogspot.com/). My web page is GovtFraudLawyer.com (http://www.govtfraudlawyer.com/).
Thank you for putting your story online.
V/R
Dan Hargrove
April 14, 2011 at 10:04 pm
I have to say, not to undermine,disagree or anyway act as a contradiction to what some have said, but I have found seroxat very helpful. I am on it for the second time in 10 yrs and like the last time, it has helped me out of alot of problems caused by stress depression and anxiety. One thing that struck about alot of the comments here was the drink compulsion, funny thing, I am quite compulsive with alchohol when not on seroxat, but I dont drink at all when Im on it, in fact, I noticed that alot of the issues people were talking about having whilst on it, I had before I took it and now dont. I wonder does this drug somewhat create the opposite of mental states?
Anyways, I dont remember any issues coming off it previously, this time I guess we will see, fingers crossed.
I keep hope for those of you out there who are suffering, I dont mean this comment to be offensive to you and I truly feel bad for your situation, I just felt a balanced opinion set needed to be stated here as I dont see these issues, and many with alot of problems in life might not try this drug because of the negatives and this could be a decision detrimental to them.
Like any drug, its a risk, its not part of our normal makeup, but I think like all drugs also, the effects on people differ.
August 7, 2011 at 5:54 pm
i dont think its what the drug has done but when they are stronger to come off them and manage without them but it seem as if more people are having the bad withdrawal than not, it has helped me but to be honest if i knew it would make me feel this ill coming off them i would have had second thoughts about it. there is two sides but like myself i was never informed about the withdrawal issues ,regards gordon
June 3, 2012 at 9:34 pm
Chris, I’m glad you had a positive experience, and I’m sure not all people have a bad time on it, but it seems that the proportion of patients who do have negative experiences is unacceptably high.
I turned to the internet today when I heard that a family member is having terrible withdrawal symptoms. It provoked a very strong reaction and a lot of anger in me – as it reminded me of my own experiences some years ago: Whilst I found that Seroxat alleviated my depression and anxiety symptoms when I first started taking it – after taking for some time, I don’t believe it had any impact or benefit – In fact I had a complete nervous breakdown whilst taking it about 2 years in. I don’t blame the breakdown on the drug, but rather use this as evidence in my case that it was doing nothing for me. When I decided to come off Seroxat a couple of years later, the withdrawal could only be described as the worst experience of my life, I would even say that the symptoms were worse than the complete nervous breakdown which I previously suffered. I shook inside and out, felt like my whole body was crawling, was paranoid, hysterical, crying constantly, extremely anxious, and very depressed. This did not come in waves, but was constant – and after several days to a couple of weeks with no improvement, it was so intolerable that I had to go back on them. Withdrawal is real, not uncommon, and utterly intolerable for a significant number of patients. I am an intelligent, post-graduate educated, rational person, with no drink or drugs issues/ dependancies (apart from Seroxat) and I can honestly say that the drug is extremely harmful. I would beg anyone to reconsider, if they are thinking of taking this drug. If I had known that it would take me several attempts over 4-5 years to wean myself off this drug, I never would have taken it. This drug is poison and the manufacturers are highly irresponsible at best, and evil at worst – pursuing profit and creating addiction. I don’t really know how much better other anti-depressants are, but my own experience is that I have taken St John’s Wort a few times, for a few months at a time since then, with no unpleasant effects, and they have alleviated symptoms. I have been able to stop taking them immediately when I felt my symptoms had been managed, with absolutely no withdrawal. Boots own brand or Kira one a day, are the only ones widely recommended because of the consistency of quality. I would not recommend buying other brands from the internet – ever. If your doctor advises you to take Seroxat and says it’s not addictive – (s)he is very misinformed. It is! No question about it (that does not mean that everyone will get addicted). It amazes me that this drug is still approved and prescribed. Some pharmaceutical drugs are not the answer to your prayers, they are the cause of your nightmares. For any sufferers reading this post, anxiety and depression is a terrible thing to cope with, there are millions of people out there who know how it feels. Please, please, please, don’t suffer in silence, seek help, seek support, try treatments when sufficiently researched and find a practitioner who is appropriately informed, and keep believing that it can get better. I’m 4 years free of anti-depressants and I’ll never go back. I’m sending any sufferers reading this, my best wishes. May you be happy, may you be well, may you be safe.
August 7, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Hi how did you eventualy quit i did cold turkey from 10 mgs six months ago had terrible physical withdrawal but now just horrible anxiety morbid thoughts worst ive ever had do you think this is withdrawal still heightening my problems i was on Seroxat for 13 years mainly 20mg last year 10mg .
August 21, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Hi Karl, I didn’t go straight from 10mg to nothing. I was on 20mg for a long time too, and went down to 10mg over a long period. Once I was stabilised on that, I tried to break down the 10mg to smaller amounts (halving it) and then went on to take the smaller does every other day. 10mg to 0mg probably took me about 8 months or so. I wouldn’t like to say whether you are still experiencing withdrawal. Whether your anxiety now is caused by the withdrawal or a result of negative habitual thinking, originating from the depressive episode, I really don’t know – I’m sorry. I can only talk about my personal experiences and what I have read about, as I’m not a medical person or a therapist. What I have become more and more aware of though, is that there is a link between mood and thoughts. I have been following a cognitive behavioural programme which attempts to interupt those unhelpful “automatic thoughts”. It’s not about thinking positively, that doesn’t work (as we can’t convince ourselves of something that we feel to be untrue) it’s about having a more balanced view – you learn techniques to be able to identify evidence which does and does not support your thoughts and views. Addressing our thoughts (cognitive) and at the same time looking at our behaviours can help us to interupt the cycle of anxiety and depression. I am doing this programme with a therapist, but there’s a book (which includes loads of examples and worksheets) which I am largely following. It does involve some work on your part to follow the programme, it’s like learning a new skill. It also shows that there are many factors to feeling anxious or depressed – more than just brain chemicals – enivironmental and biological factors could also be at play. Identifying these aspects in your life could help you to address those areas too and target your anxiety from a number of sources. You can order it online – it’s called “Mind over mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think” by Dennis Greenberger & Christine Padesky. It’s on Amazon, it’s not expensive. I still get bouts of anxiety, and when I don’t take action, I can wind up depressed, so for me it’s about non-drug intervention and management. My opinions about Seroxat and those who make it still stand, but I think the most important thing now is to manage how you feel. I hope this is helpful to you Karl – well done for persevering so far, but please do seek alternative help with your current problems as it sounds like you are still having a tough time. Wishing you well.
August 7, 2011 at 5:46 pm
i am now coming off seroxat from 40mg and now am down to 10mg it has been really bad sweats light head brain shivers night terrors the latest is the aches in my legs and not being able to walk the first thing in the morning until i can get them moving properly i am dreading the lats step to come off them completely but i just don’t want to go Thur this all again i was told these were not addictive but my body is telling me different i have been on them for 7 yrs.
September 5, 2011 at 12:31 pm
I too have been on this awful drug for apron 7 years at one time on high dose… Looking back I had just moved into a new house and I remember that house fir my aggressive angry suicidal life… I lost my family as they could not cope… I thought it was the depression I now know it was this drug. I had my last tablet 3 days ago and experiencing side effects dizziness etc but I will never take another chemical into my brain again
September 5, 2011 at 9:02 pm
i have now been off seroxat going on two weeks following over two months of withdrawals the last two weeks were not as bad as the previous weeks but still as troubling this medication helped me when i needn’t but if i had known i would have needed to put myself thru this horrendous withdrawals i had good support from my friends and a understanding doctor i also asked for liquid medication which helped a great deal it is so great to feel my senses again and my feelings without feeling numb inside i still have little moments but every day is a different new feeling this drug is really bad
September 24, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Hi Everbody
I am so pleased that I have stumbled across this website under such sufferance. I was on Seroxat for two years, and had been in the past to treat depression and OCD. I was prescribed 20mg, it never helped, I turned more violent where I would attack my partner, and probably anybody that looked at me the wrong way in the street. I have had suicidal thoughts for a decade, never thought I’d still be here, felt worthless and angry but was not sure why i was angry. It has nearly tore my relationship apart only that my partner has been so strong for me. I have now ceased taking Seroxat (gone cold turkey) under the advice of a new doctor. He said they are a bad drug from the 90’s and has prescribed me Citalopram, I won’t take these, I never want to take another drug again. The withdrawal symptoms are horrendous, thick head like a hangover, anxious, panic attacks, pins and needles effect in the mouth and I can’t walk far as I get hot and sweaty and feel like I am going to faint. I have recently carried out the 3 peaks challenge for charity and felt rough throughout, however I will not let it continue to get me down. We will get through this and I am seeking help through hypnotherapy, I have been cold turkey for two weeks and I am frightened as to how much longer my body will feel alien to me. We must remember we have got this far, next time you feel suicidal remember you have a purpose there is a good reason why we are here, we are not alone anymore. Thank you for your time.
Evie xx
September 25, 2011 at 11:53 am
hi
i have just came off seroxat after being on them for 7 yrs it was very tough for me the withdrawals were horrendous i did get help from my gp i went on liquid medication and it was easier i have now off them for four weeks i still get bad moments but i am managing them i also still have bad problems with my legs which my gp seems to think is arthritis but i only started getting this stiffness in my legs when i started coming off seroxat. i am also using a sight that might help some of you its called moodspace.com it follows your daily mood its a must to check out.
October 7, 2011 at 9:10 pm
Hi! I was prescribed seroxat 20 mg. 17 years ago due to my depression/anxiety/ocd disorder, but although initially it seemed to help, eventually I didn’t feel it was having any real effect on my condition and after reading a clinical trial report on the ‘facts about anti-depressants’ i.e. SSRIs stating that they ‘excavate the adrenal glands’ causing adrenal dysfunction, I decided to try to ‘wean’ myself off by taking small reductions in dosage. This has taken a year and during this time I have found I have had many withdrawal symptoms including electric shocks in my head. I have finally stopped taking this anti-depressant only a week ago and I am suffering from a range of emotional problems from low mood, crying, confused thinking, feelings of worthlessness, anxiety, extreme exhaustion on a day to day basis. I have also read that recent clinical trials have found that these SSRIs are not considered safe for older patients and have an increased risk of death due to stroke, hyponatrenia, heart attacks especially within a month after starting taking them and also a month after stopping them. This is very worrying and it seems as if there is a high price to pay for taking them on a long term basis! I just hope I can ‘stick it out’ and pray that these symptoms will decrease the longer I do not take them.
September 10, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Hi Gloria how are you feeling now ive been stoppped 7 months!!!
November 9, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Hello. I believe exactly the same things you do about Seroxat and GSK. My story is this. Given Seroxat in 1996 for PMS and intermittent insomnia. Stopped after 5 months and ill for three weeks with sickness and vertigo (diagnosed as labyrynthitis but years later I realised it was withdrawal). Nine months later given the drug again after a miscarriage, with assurances it wasn’t addictive, and since then have never been able to stop – the withdrawal is always too severe. I was one of the people involved in the now defunct class action. For the past 10 years I have taken a 2ml liquid dose, which keeps the symptoms at bay. Many times I have lowered the dose, using a small syringe 0.01ml at a time but I always hit a wall at 1.78ml. We are talking tiny, tiny amounts, but still my brain is affected. I’m about to try again, this time diluting the liquid with water to see if this will work. I’d pretty much given up and decided that I would just take this small dose for the rest of my life. I now have some disturbing physical symptoms – I have episodes when my muscles violently jerk – which I suspect are due to chemical changes in my brain from the drug (and my neurologist intimated as such). There’s quite a bit on the internet about “SSRI’s” and “movement disorders”, but it’s welll hidden and you have to link those two items together. Apparently many people taking psychiatric drugs develop movement disorders, and SSRI’s can have the same effect. Just like the other people who have found your blog, I am wondering where this journey will take me.
November 15, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Hi Stevie
the honest answer is we don’t know where our journeys will end up.
Once I’d got down to 2ml in the syringe, I can remember it being very difficult as well, but not as bad as you’re having it. Of course 2ml is equivalent to 4mg in tablet form, so the dose isn’t as low as it at first sounds. Just take it slow – reduce little by little and stabilise each time before you attempt another reduction. Sometimes it took me weeks to stabilise – I just tried not to put pressure on myself and only went for the next reduction when I really felt strong and able to do it.
I have been Seroxat free for 6 years now… or is it longer? I really don’t know without looking at my diary – but… the point is that I am NOT the same person I was before I started to take Seroxat.
Good luck – take it slow.
December 20, 2011 at 9:19 pm
I am now 50 months off after a horrendous cold turkey from 10 mg Seroxat. I barely survived the WD and the impossibility to work for years (until today) but even last months I have made new progression. So I believe that recovery IS possible, even after many many years!
For the person above who is not able to reduce below a weird small dose, dr. Healy recommends staying on that small dose for some prolonged time, f.e. one half year, just to get your brain adapt to this particular dose and build some new “buffer capacity” to enable a further small reduction. I really hope everybody can finally get rid of this very nasty drug!
August 7, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Were you on it for anxiety Klaus ? im finding mines terrible since i stopped,and lots of dark thought im sure withdrawal is heightening my original problem ten fold.
August 21, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Karl I got it for anziety and panic attacks. I was not severly depressed although I felt pretty desparate for having lost my job.
But indeed all those problems are magnified after quitting. I hope you did not get off cold turkey…
September 5, 2012 at 8:11 pm
Hi Klaus thanks for your reply yes i cold turkeyed big mistake 7 months ago nearly.My anxiety is through the roof do you still think its withdrawal related mate? how do you manage your anxiety/panic without Seroxat? i was on it for over 13 years. Ive also had terrible insomnia did you? your story gives me hope that recovery is possible even after many years like you said.
April 30, 2013 at 11:32 am
That’s got me thinking, my GP has just put me on this medication starting at 10mg for a wk and by the 4rth wk on 40mg.
So you wod say that thus medication is no good, I currently take phenytonin for my epilepsy, that is well control’d, so if I do decide to actually take this Seroxat there’s no interaction between them, but I know I need something2 control the physical symptoms I have
April 30, 2013 at 9:22 pm
Andrew, glaxo smith klines own research found that doses over 20mg do not improve symptoms, only increase dependancy and withdrawal. I would suggest a different anti-d if you decide to go that route. Best wishes
July 25, 2013 at 3:17 pm
Seroxat is ruining my life, my relationship, my confidence and i’m definitely not the person I used to be before taking it.
Decided after only a year of being on Seroxat that I wanted to come off them. I knew the implications of having to be weaned off. Honestly didn’t think it would be this hard though. I have constant nausea, tingly electric shock feelings through my head, shaking and being sick. I can’t even go out in public without feeling that i’m going to faint or just fall to my knees! I’m snapping at my partner for the most tedious things, falling out with him, even feeling violent towards him. This isn’t the person I used to be! Oh, and I have diarrhea coming out of me like pints of water………
My advice to anybody whose lame ass doctor tries to offer them this drug… DECLINE AND RUN!!! Just go see a therapist, get a hobby.. ANYTHING but Seroxat!!!!
November 23, 2013 at 5:41 am
Cut 12.5g a day from 50g for a few days last week, and what horror, i was lucky to get into work, tried shaving instead 5mg again no difference…nightmares,disociotion, lethergy same lack of libido (non existent) rational feelings of what is the point of life-yet not in an acceptalel frame…and old feelings really of wanting cocaine,speed diazepam which i haven’t touched fot years…i think thars because i feel so numb off seroxat…so numb, no ups from music or no downs from day to day rubbish. I am worried, i’ve handled awful acid trips better then this and come through better!
I feel very angry as i needed treatment for my grans death, yet i got these placebic pills
November 23, 2013 at 5:32 pm
Hi David. Sorry to hear you are having a rough time. I spent 5 years withdrawing from this drug,after reductions i would often have to increase dose again and begin a more gradual withdrawal.my withdrawal was hell on earth,utterly intolerable,like i couldn’t survive another hour. But i did. I want to let you know i did eventually get off with a lot of patience,false starts and determination. Try more gradual withdrawal and let it take as much time as it needs. I now do regular meditation,mindfulness practise and have psychotherapy sessions to keep me well. I am no longer scared of my emotions and am happier than i have been for many years. It is possible. Be gentle with yourself. Best wisheswal
January 23, 2014 at 6:39 pm
I never have trouble with drawing from this drug but find it horrific starting on it .. been on it off it 10.years. it works but I worry it has numbed me and influenced big decisions over the years
June 9, 2014 at 1:22 pm
Seroxat has enabled me to live a life for 12 years. Coming off the drug, which I have done several times, very slowly, with withdrawal symptoms, is perfectly possible. What I want to know is, having come off them, which I have done successfully again, how do I relax, sleep, and stay calm and positive. This despite CBT and NLP?
Seroxat has helped a lot of people.
June 18, 2014 at 2:38 am
I have been prescribed Seroxat on two seperate occaisiions (quite a few years apart) both times i barely survived the first two weeks. As many stated, the super, surround sound/vision of horrific nightmares beyond immagination that left me uneasy still through the following days and during my first period found myself stood on a stone railway bridge, wondering how efficient a method jumping in to the path of a train would be as a suicide method-i had never been closer to suicide before. My saviour was thinking about the effect on the poor train driver.
just before Christmas i was prescribed peroxatine where i lasted two days and nights as they zombified me, i could barely speak. I got them swapped for sertraline, an i have to say they seem to work. I feel more outgoingn normal, But i missed a tablet whilst in Turkey and had many horrid sensations and shook like a leaf from legs to hands.so mot looking forward to quitting these either!
I’ve done most illegal drugs during my earlier life and had less issues!
what a life!
July 5, 2018 at 1:49 pm
How can we all campaign to get these evil drugs stopped and get compensation??? Complained to mhra and they don’t care.