What do you think of Paxil? How can i stop taking this terrible drug?

[Kozmos]

This is probably a terrible idea.

Terrible or Manly?

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Have you actually gone to the doctor who monitors your medication and said, "can you help me get off of this drug"?

Apparently Celexa has less severe side effects; seriously though, Fifty is right in telling you to ask an actual doctor instead of this rabble of fools.

 

[StarWorms]

I have been on paxil for years now, and until recently i have not heard of any of the horrible side effects.

A week ago or two i realized how some of my problems may stem from this drug, i would like to know what other drug i should ask my psychiatrist i could take to treat depression.

Heres what wiki says on the side effects of paxil..


The bolded parts are what affect me i think. Im pretty sure about the last one also.

What can i do to ween myself off this horrible drug?

Ask your doctor, not CFC

 

[JonnyB]

Did you have a near-immediate effect (within a couple days)? Didn't that concern your doctor?

No, it took about 1 to 2 weeks to kick in and my doctor was not concerned. Honestly I don't think he knew anything about the drug beyond what the drug company had told him. He didn't believe me when I said it was addictive (which has since been shown to be true) and his solution to my "collapse" was to up the dosage. Only my refusal to take it anymore prompted him to try something else.

For the record this was about 7 years ago when Paxil was still fairly new.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

In other words, your opinion is absolutely worthless. Anecdotes do not equal facts.

This is probably the image you are looking for. It needs to be used more often.

 

[ori]

What can i do to ween myself off this horrible drug?

Talk to your doctor and tell him you don't want this drug anymore. Fear of a drug is a very valid reason to switch medication - if you believe that your smptoms come from the drug and not from depression (which is quite possible) your doctor should be willing to switch your medication - your smptoms might not vanish though, since a lot of your symptoms can be medication independent in patients with major depression.

The best way to stop taking it would be to simply stop taking it.

Don't do that without consulting your doctor.

Here's what I don't get:

The medicine is for depression, right? Yet, a lot of the side effects in that list are symptoms indicative of depression.

Incidentally this medication is also used by people with depression and side effects are recorded from the patients who take it, thus most symptoms of the reason for the drug will be recorded as side effects (read "symptoms that occurred after the start of the treatment" - curiously all pain relieve drugs list "pain" as a side effect ), so basically every anti-depressant will have most of these side-effects listed, but not every drug is the same in regards to chances that a certain side-effect will occur and if it occurred it is possible (though not certain) that it goes away when the drug is switched (if it is due to the drug and not due to the depression of course)...

Hi, I'm a Paxil veteran and survivor (the "survivor bit I mean literally).

I was taken off of it pretty quickly.
Sexual disfunction isn't your biggest problem. Pxil, while it works for some people, has been shown to cause suicidal tendancies, and dramatically increase the rate of suicide in users. Manufacturer Glasko-Smith Kline is currently bewing sued a lot in lawsuits for covering up this evidence.

SSRIs do cause an increased likelihood in suicidal attempts, but I'm under the impression that's a short-term risk. In that, if you don't try to kill yourself in the first couple of months, you should be okay (and if you know why you're thinking about killing yourself, you're further innoculated against the risk)

All SSRIs (and most other anti-depressants) cause an increase risk in suicidal thoughts and actions. This is a well-known fact for decades and Paxil seems to be no different from other such drugs (GSK might however have advertised this differently, I don't know). Usually this is because patients with major depression also suffer from a lack of "drive" (is this the right english word?) to do anything including suicide. Anti-depressants usually alleviate the latter problem first, so that patients who are still depressed suddenly are active enough to kill themselves. This is what makes this risk more likely during early treatment, but this can also occur at any point during treatment since the depression might worsen or suicidal thoughts become more dominant at some time after the treatment started, so you are by no means "innoculated" against suicide by the drug, it only becomes increasingly less likely with time...

Go cold turkey. If you manage to make it without cutting yourself or suiciding you will be much stronger mentally. The pain will be great but that makes it all the sweeter.

Don't do that. Don't change your medication without asking your doctor. Don't - I am serious on this.

SSRIs are drugs that cause severe effects when withdrawn suddenly, you need to reduce your dose gradually and you might need other medication to start concurrently, so ASK YOUR DOCTOR

There are other anti-depressants out there which have other side effects (note: not fewer) and it might be worth to try another one, but not without professional guidance, so:

Ask your doctor, not CFC

 

[Brighteye]

being ill and feeling like crap is a symptom of cancer. Chemo and Radiation make you feel like crap. Therefore chemo and radiation dont actually work.

Funny you should say that, but there's a growing body of doctors who do think that chemotherapy and radiotherapy are so near to ineffective that they cause more harm than good.

 

[ori]

Funny you should say that, but there's a growing body of doctors who do think that chemotherapy and radiotherapy are so near to ineffective that they cause more harm than good.

there is no scientific reason to claim anything like that. While chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy is not curing or helping everyone there is a host of proven positive effects of those treatments (take testicular cancer which is cured in most cases nowadays and was lethal in all cases 50 years ago, or take a lot of leukemias where survival is increased a lot due to treatment), there still are too many instances where chemotherapy/radiotherapy does not help but to claim it is ineffective is nonsense.

 

[El_Machinae]

so you are by no means "innoculated" against suicide by the drug, it only becomes increasingly less likely with time...

I meant that knowing why you're suffering from suicidal thoughts helps prevent people from committing suicide. It's usually a hump that has to be gotten over, and it helps if you warn the patient that the hump is coming.

 

[Rhymes]

Now, if you ask a psychiatrist what you should do, chances are he/she will never tell you to stop taking pills. At most, he might switch you to another brand of anti depressant. Their job is to push pills, its up to you to decide if youre going to keep taking them.

edit: if you decide to wean yourself off of it, only do it with professional supervision.

QFT, You should seek second and third opinions until you find a psychiatrist that is willing to help you. Or find books on the topic written by professional.

I think you really need to stop, but you need to find the right way to do it, we can't help you with that you'll have to do your own research.

My advice would be that you should be prepared to face a disturbing period when you stop, your body chems are gonna be a little screwed up and you might face a long depression after the stop. But imho this is the only way to leading a healthy life in the futur. Better do it now then at 30.

 

[Julian Delphiki]

why not just stop being a pansy, decide you don't want to be a depressive and get on with life

If it just would be that simple. I have been depressed, but still refuse to take medication since it has been mostly because of things that i needed to think over and deal with and not the correct way to cure myself. But, i've got many friends who really need their pills just to get on with their life.. much healthier choice than drowning themselves in alcohol/illegal addictive drugs. It's quite much same as saying "just sleep" for someone who suffers from insomnia..

 

[CartesianFart]

Anecdotes do not equal facts.

Tell me,what are 'facts'?

 

[Narz]

why not just stop being a pansy, decide you don't want to be a depressive and get on with life

Your ignorance is incredible. Depressed people are not "pansies".

That said, you do have to make a decision. A decision to take control of your emotional state. It takes alot of self-reflection and self-acceptance but it's possible. I haven't had a depressive episode since 2000 (I was pretty severely depressed alot of my life before then) and I've been drug-free since around '01-'02 (forgot which).

I need an alternate drug to function. I am extremely depressed when im off my medication.

It's possible to defeat depression without drugs. I'm living proof. Part of it is mental, part is physical. You can PM me if you're curious.

I had alot of problems with drugs too. SSRI's are the worst, most of the school-shooters were taking SSRI's. The least damaging, IMO, in Lithium, try it if you must stay on drugs (be prepared to meet doctor resistance though, it's not as profitable for them).

By the way, in answer to your question Xanikk, wean off slowly. Going off a drug all at once can have bad effects.

Anyway, good luck!

 

[Narz]

True. In that case, Xanikk, don't listen to ANYBODY in this thread (other than me), unless they can scan a copy of their psychiatry degree, or link to some published scientific work they've done in the field.

Screw that. I guarentee I've had more experience with srhinks than Fifty and I can say uneqivicably that the best advice I've gotten in life is from friends as opposed to doctors.

Just because someone has studied popular theories on human behavior and personality (the lesser known ones are often better, like the Option method for one) and has a license to sell drugs doesn't mean they know sh!t about how to be mentally well. Which is why psychiatrists have a higher suicide rate than the general population. It's also worth noting that child depression and suicide has skyrocketed since the popularization of psychotherapy and psychoactive drugs for kids.

 

[CartesianFart]

I am not amazed to see that what i have gathered by some of the writings by some posters that they are indeed pill-poppers who wants to bring confusion on others.I feel sorry for them.

Just speakin the truth of what imbalance minds are when under influence by chemicals.Someone should start a poll to filter out the pill-poppers from the sane.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

People with obvious physical disabilities dont have magic pills to take that will make them walk again, or see, or hear. They have to learn to adapt and function as best they can. Its possible to do the same with depression. Depression is also a physical disability, and there arent any magic pills for it either.

 

[Narz]

People with obvious physical disabilities dont have magic pills to take that will make them walk again, or see, or hear. They have to learn to adapt and function as best they can. Its possible to do the same with depression. Depression is also a physical disability, and there arent any magic pills for it either.

Unlike missing an eye or limb though, brain chemistry is fluid and capable of change. This is encouraging news for anyone who suffers emotional problems.

With positive mental attitude, positive habits (first two most important), physical exercise, and nutrition (what your brain is made of) it's not just possible but inevitable that you will alter your brain chemistry. Not that all your problems will magically dissolve if you start taking control of your body & mind (after all, they are here to teach you) but you will experience some relief is you carry on.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Narz youre absolutely right about the effect of proper nutrition on mental health. Ive seen it in myself since I improved my diet. When your daily food intake consists mostly of fat, salt and sugar in various combinations, theres just no way youre going to have a positive mental outlook. Garbage in, garbage out.

 

[CartesianFart]

You are what you eat.

 

[Babbler]

Talk to a professional, not us no-nothing chuckleheads.