"physician has prescribed this medication for me is to prevent my migraine attacks"

I have been on paxil for about a year now, and the primary reason why my physician has prescribed this medication for me is to prevent my migraine attacks. Oh, let me tell you I do not have as many deadly headaches as I used to have but now I am suffering from many side effects.

I first started @ 10mg and now I am taking 40mg which my doctor says that is usually the(kick in dosage). I have my own business I am forgetful, with a careless attitude, I shop at the mall every week and spend from $250 - $1,500 a week, I currently own 132 pairs of shoes, I have gained 30lbs,I eat alot, I am trying to diet, I do not eat beef nor pork, But I LOVE SWEETS>>>>>>.

I must say that Paxil has helped me with my headaches I am not suffering nearly as much as I used to.

The side effects I have experienced: I have night sweats, weight gain, short term memory loss, muscle spasms in my legs, no sexual desires, irritable at times, impulsive spending, easy to talk to people about any and every thing, always tired, can easily go asleep, do things that I normally would not do, ringing in my ear, hands swelling, breast size 36C to now 38 D, clothes from 8-10 now 12-14, .,

I am not a happy camper with all of the side effects I am having however, this mild depresion that I am going through as my doctor calls it, will get better in time and he says that I will probably be on this medication called Paxil for a very long time.

I am dammed if I do and dammed If I don't.

-- submitted by SG,

"back at the doctors office with nausea extreme tiredness and electrical charges"

I am so frightened, sometimes I don't know what to do. I was put on paxil in november 1999, after going to the doctor for nervousness over a bad break up. Everything in my life was great until I decided I didn't want to take any type of drugs any more. I had met someone and we discussed having children. It was then I discovered I have a very bad problem. I took myself off the medicine feb, 1 2000. I was fine until about the third day, it was then, I found myself back at the doctors office with nausea extreme tiredness and electrical charges. He said I would be fine if I halved the dose making it 10mg for a week and the next week a quarter making it 5mg. 10 days ago I tried to quit. I gave in after the 2nd day . I then found myself calling the doctors office explaining to him the way I feel. He tells me I will be fine and wrote me a prescription for Xanax which is studied to cause birth defects. I refuse to take it under the circumstances. Nothing seems to help. I'm losing my life as I know it. I have quit my job after 11 years and am physically miserable, I feel sick, tired,dizzy,electrical charges,shaky,and totally miserable. I am very frightened, the doctor seems to ignore what I am describing like I am making it up. I need help.

-- submitted foreverluvme, 37

"Paxil is effective for social anxiety disorder"

I tried Paxil for 7 days in response to advertisement that it is effective for social anxiety disorder. In that period, I experienced just about all of the side effects that are listed to some degree. Worse than the side effects was the feeling of being drugged, similar to how you would expect to feel on pain medication. I found the feeling intolerable, to the point I was dreading having to take another pill. I stopped taking the drug on the 8th day, and did not experience any of the withdrawal symptoms. To the contrary, I felt very refreshed and clear headed the next day. I have concluded that drugs are not the answer to social anxiety, or any other kind of anxiety for that matter. My mother has "panic disorder" and is being "treated" with a variety of drugs, including Paxil. She walks around in a stupor most of the time, and is completely dependent on psychiatrists and their prescriptions. I will shoot myself before I allow myself to end up like her. Only by facing your fears directly can you overcome them. If something doesn't feel right, trust your instincts, not doctors or the marketing people at companies like SmithKline Beecham.

-- submitted by pgrub1, 39

"many doctors aren't well informed about what Paxil can do from a negative perspective"

I wrote last week about my problems with Paxil.... namely my withdrawal symptoms of having a dull headache and MUSCLE TWITCHES. The twitches are what bother me the most because it makes me feel like there is something wrong with my body/brain rather than it being a withdrawal effect of Paxil. Anyhow, I am still having these twitches to varying degrees and I cannot tell yet if they are disappearing to any extent. I am hoping they go away with time but its hard to know if/when they will.

What made it worse was that I spoke to my doctor's nurse two days ago and told her about the muscle spasms I was having all over (and especially near my right eye).... the response I got was that the dr. (a psychiatrist) said she didn't feel these muscle spasms were likely to be due to Paxil because I hadn't taken hardly any in 4 weeks (only one 10mg pill 10 days ago). Of course, that made me feel worse and made me feel like there is something medically wrong with my body or brain.

However, I get the feeling that this doctor is just very uninformed about the negative effects this medicine can have and doesn't really understand the length of time it could take to get this medicine fully out of your body.

I want to stress this to everybody. PLEASE READ THIS:

I think what you are going to find (and this is just my opinion) is that many doctors (NOT all) aren't well informed about what Paxil can do from a negative perspective. They know what it can do positively but when people start getting withdrawal effects (or side effects) that aren't the "usual" side effects (like sexual problems or gaining weight), the Doctors just scratch their heads or disagree that it is due to the Paxil.

Don't let any doctor tell you that it CAN'T be because of Paxil because I think it can be (in many cases) but the doctor just isn't educated enough on this drug to know. Doctors are HUMAN too.... don't make them into all-knowing Gods.

If anybody out there has muscle spasms/twitches as a withdrawal effect, please contact me via my Email address above.

-- submitted by Joe, 29