Paroxetine - Whats your experience?

Hi all, this is my 3rd day being diagnosed with PND and prescribed paroxetine. I am hoping that the side effects will subside very soon as i feel like its very noticeable that Im acting weird. I feel like im on ecstacy but without the good buzz just the hot/cold sensations, shivering, dry mouth and I constantly need to chew gum oh and yawning. I feel a bit paranoid too like everyone is looking at me and wondering if im on drugs. Please tell me your experiences with paroxetine...

Hi Floss,

I don't currently use any psych meds (But I realise that might have to change if I can't keep managing 'stuff') but I thought that the government MedsSafe websites Consumer Info Leaflet on Aropax might be of use to you? You can save or print it?

http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/Consumers/cmi/a/Aropax.htm

Yeah, I do remember the Aropax yawns, jaw-breakers almost. I also had trouble walking in a stright line (and driving etc) but some of that had other medical origins.

We all have different reactions even tho we might be taking identical dosages - but it does suck all the same, eh?

Take care of you eh?

hey thanks paddy, ive been searching those med links for paroxetine and its not listed for consumers. Will check out aropax now. Thanks for the heads up

wikipedia is also a good source of info floss, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paroxetine

I have a friend on Aropax who says it helps him, and he hasn't experienced any side effects. Apparently the coming off it is the part you have to be careful with.

hey Floss, keep with it eh, the side effect of any meds, usually taper off after a week or 2...they can suck, but hopefully the end result will be well worth it for you! (and as for people looking at you wondering if you are on drugs - it can often feel that way cant it - but im sure they are not)

Please be careful using a 'resource' such as Wiki to educate yourselves about mental illness or meds. Anyone can be a wiki contributor. Not all of its contributions are soundly based.

Incidentally that goes for stuff you might find here at TBBD too. Use with due care.

You will notice that I only recommend Medsafe as a reliable reource on presecrion meds in NZ. Its consumer info is sometimes not so easy to track down; correct spelling and Capital letters seem to be critical in using its search function.

For instance, to find their Consumer Information Sheet on paroxetine, you actually have to type Paroxetine into its Search Box AND select to search in Ingredient Name. That search will lead you two two hits - Aropax and Loxzamine. Same Leopard, different spots? I dunno. I'm not an expert.

So its not necessarily intuitive. Well, not our kind of intuitive, anyway.

But yeah, please use some caution if you are searching the Net or books for your answers. We are all different, we don't all present with a full range of potential symptoms and reactions and we are not necessarily the best people to judge the applicability or reliability of what we are finding out. The Net can trawl in and harvest a lot that is of no real relevance or use.

Drift Net-style trawling the Net for answers comes with risks. Please wear a life jacket or something if you're going to go fishing online for 'answers'.

Thanks,
Pat.

PS. This isnt a dig at you, JK and its good to read one of ours saying that not all the known side effects need be a problem for an individual.

I often use Wiki - but for mental illness stuff, I prefer sites where there is some accountability and the authorities quoted, actually exist.

Pat.

Thats ok Pat, we all have our opinions. Personally I have found wiki to be useful as it generally contains more information, and a references section at the bottom where each point is valididated by supporting references. It's true that anybody can contribute, but information without references are quickly removed.

I agree with you though, you should always be skeptical with ANY information on the internet as to its reliability. The medsafe site you mentioned is a very reliable source.

I think wiki helps present a balanced view of issues, as even though medsafe is government, there may even be some things even THEY dont want you to know.

(My university degree is in this area which is why I feel like i know what I'm talking about)

i'm afraid i would go with reliability of information. I had heard that wiki is made up of some dubious sources

I totally understand that it differs case to case, person to person. I was just after some real experiences, trying to find some common ground ya know? I dont know anybody in the same boat as me. But anyway, I am feeling much better today, side effects arent as strong so Im hoping things are looking up.

I took Aropax for a while and had no probs with them However when they changed to the generic version they didn't seem to be as effective so I changed to something completely different.

Whats the generic version?

To be honest I can't recall the name now but it is meant to be the same as Aropax and is what they are prescribing now instead. Unless they changed again since I was last on it well over a year ago.

ok thanks bluebird. Im on Loxamine so thats probably it.

YES that is definitely it. As soon as I saw it I recognised it.

Day 8 and going ok. Had a bit of a turn yesterday, I was in the middle of a conversation with a client when I felt short of breath and high pulse, and got a bit sweaty and shaky. Dont know if this was side effects or a panic attack but the feelings lasted till I got home. I managed to control it though but I still felt nauseous all evening.