Drug info - Girlfriend just started Paxil (Paroxetine)

[youdontknow]

So my girlfriend seems to me to have anxiety problems. She has drastic mood swings and sometimes it just blows my mind. Like we can be sitting there playing around joking around laughing and having a good time and then BOOM in the blink of an eye shes pissed off. Its really wierd. I tried telling her that i think shed be happier on some medication for it. So after a couple months of trying to convince her to talk to her doctor about it she finally did yesterday. Her doc scribed Paxil. Does anyone take this or know someone who takes this and can tell me if it works good? Or just tell me about it in general. Side effects and what not?

[ATWA]

Paxil has various side effects. You can search them on line. One is sexual. It is also addictive in many people. However I would be concerned in this case because Paxil really is not indicted for "mood swings". More for depression that is unipolar. So if you see that the Paxil is making her more crazy then stop it. Or have the doctor stop it. If it makes her all hyper and manic then you know it is the wrong drug. Paxil is a really messed up drug. I think.

[Coconut]

Paxil (paroxetine) is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor family.

Like all SSRIs, it can have some serious side effects which you must be on the lookout for as she may be oblivious to them. It may cause mood swings (ironic, eh?), fatigue, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, sudden dizziness (also known as brain shocks/zaps) and so on.

Another common side effect of SSRIs is emotional numbing or blunting which may persist for months or years after treatment has ceased.

SSRI withdrawal syndrome occurs when a person is not tapered off the drug slowly enough when they are quitting. Read up on this as doctors cannot be trusted to do this properly in my opinion. It can sometimes take weeks to months in order to taper properly, depending on the half-life of the compound.

Also, if she gets pregnant, she should stop taking it immediately and avoid ingesting any drugs whatsoever.
Now, SSRI antidepressants do help a lot of people. She may receive a huge benefit from being on paroxetine. But they are notorious for their side effects and withdrawal which I urge you to look out for. My personal experiences on citalopram and sertraline were not pleasant. I am still suffering from brain shocks as a result of sertraline withdrawal, which I came off a couple of weeks ago, and suffered them after citalopram too.

Sudden mood swings do not, to me, sound like an anxiety disorder. But what do I know?

[ticc]

swim was on it for anxiety and mood swings. swim found taking 10mg a day was better than 20mg! im also very little (53kg) so yea. works well on mood swings in swims opinion better than citalopram (wich swim has been placed on before).

paxil side effects can be awful, the worst in swims opinion is the sexual side effects (carnt get off!!) swim could go for 2-3hrs and its not really enjoyable either (feels like your heads gunna explode) but after some months of getting swims body and mind use to the medication it seems to go away mostly. take note of coconuts write-up dont "cold turkey" antidepressants, when the time comes to be "medication free" taper off very slowly.

paroxetine helped swim because it was the right medication for swim, if swiys girlfriend isnt seeing any improvement over some months get swiy's girlfriend to speak to her doctor, being on the wrong medication for swiy isnt a good thing.

hope that helps