Paroxetine

[Rossco]

I've been a visitor here for ages, but this is my first post.

I've been prescribed Paroxetine as medication for my Social Anxiety, but having read the side effects, i'm very reluctant to start taking it. Has anyone here had any positive/negative experiences with Paroxetine?

[arth67]

welcome

although heavily promoted for SA its really just another prozac type med

dose range is 20 to 50 so start with 10 for a week or so then up dose to 20 then wait 2 to 6 weeks to see if it will help you, if it does it will be very helpful for your SA

[mcsboy8]

now that all the ssris went generic except lexapro, paxil is basically no different from prozac and it has withdrawal effects and drug-drug interactions so dont use it and also its half life is short so i suggest prozac for sa

[RockiNToM]

The difference actually is, that Paroxetine/Paxil is FDA approved for SA and Prozac is not. Since Prozac of the two is more stimulating, and Paroxetine/Paxil is more sedating. I know because I have tried each of them. I find Paxil the far better of the two for social situations concerning anxiety.

paxil is basically no different from prozac and it has withdrawal effects and drug-drug interactions so dont use it and also its half life is short so i suggest prozac for sa

Again prozac shouldn't be used for SA. Generalized anxiety disorder perhaps fine. SA and you're gonna find some people hiding under the bed as it can worsen their anxiety to new levels.

Plus an extremely long half-life does not always equal best solution.

[jim_morrison]

As Rockintom has pointed out, paxil overall is considered a better SA treatment than prozac, however in pediatric cases, there are some considerations;

From http://www.crazymeds.us/prozac.html

"Prozac is the only SSRI and modern antidepressant above for use for anyone under 18, and for good reason. Its long half-life makes compliance less of an issue. If your kid happens to miss a day's dose now and then, it's not that big a deal. Whereas with Paxil and Effexor missing doses for even one day can start the hell that is SSRI discontinuation syndrome, and they have the worst instances of it. The syndrome is bad enough for adults, but would be beyond a nightmare for kids.

Also by being the weakest of the SSRIs Prozac keeps kids from getting too much serotonin, which is also a huge problem. Serotonin syndrome is potentially fatal, and while giving kids a med like Paxil (paroxetine hydrochloride) is unlikely to be fatal in of itself, it will be suck-*** enough to cause the kids either start or ramp-up self-injurious or suicidal behavior because they are now feeling a hell of a lot worse from the meds they're taking that everyone tells them are supposed to be making them feel better."

[Catlover4100]

I think paroxetine is actually an SNRI...but I could be wrong. I was on 20mg on Paxil for a month and it did nothing for me. Then the dose was increased to 37.5mg - and it still had no effect. But the same drugs work very differently on different people, so you may have some luck. I really didn't experience any side effects, but I wasn't on it that long either.

[GSH]

Originally Posted by Catlover4100

I think paroxetine is actually an SNRI...but I could be wrong. I was on 20mg on Paxil for a month and it did nothing for me. Then the dose was increased to 37.5mg - and it still had no effect. But the same drugs work very differently on different people, so you may have some luck. I really didn't experience any side effects, but I wasn't on it that long either.

Uhh...you must be thinking of Effexor @ 37.5. Paxil comes in 5,10,20mg doses and it is definately not an SNRI. It you wanna sleep through life, take Paxil. It is one of the most sedating SSRI's available.

[mcsboy8]

again, the ssris help with anxiety and prozac and paxil work basically the same since they r generic now, you might feel more anxious on any of them but most of the time it helps with anxiety, prozac might not be fda approved for sa but it helps for most people, i have many friends who are psychiatrists and they all agree although on all the pill books you might be convinced only zoloft and paxil works but believe me they work basically the same, prozac is the golden standard for sa and depression

[RockiNToM]

Well it sure wasn't the golden standard for me, and other people who suffer from SA have had similar experiences. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm merely saying that there are way too many mixed reponses for Prozac with SA for it to be considered the golden standard. If you want to talk non-FDA approved for SA, then a more golden standard would be Lexapro since this usually has more positive responses in terms of side-effects tolerance.

[mcsboy8]

different meds work differently on people and alot of people i know used prozac and it worked for their sa but you know, its arguable, many psychiatrists also argued that prozac is indeed supposed to be the golden standard for sa and it is the golden standard for depression, i believe it but some people claim it dosent since it can be psychosomatic

[britisharrow]

I did not experience any side effects from Paroxetine at all, I was on it for about three months. There have been reports that it has increased thoughts of suicide in young people, these claims are highly debated and controversial.

I am not a doctor and so I cannot tell you that you will not experience side effects. What I do know is that thousands of people are on Paroxetine and are not experiencing even mild side effects.

If you are worried about the potential side effects you should maybe bring this up with your doctor, who will be able to reassure you of the drug's side affects and the likelihood that you will get them.

[Medline]

Originally Posted by mcsboy8

again, the ssris help with anxiety and prozac and paxil work basically the same since they r generic now, you might feel more anxious on any of them but most of the time it helps with anxiety, prozac might not be fda approved for sa but it helps for most people, i have many friends who are psychiatrists and they all agree although on all the pill books you might be convinced only zoloft and paxil works but believe me they work basically the same, prozac is the golden standard for sa and depression

They (SSRIs) are not "basically the same" - some are more effective than others and have a better side effect profile:

http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/...10-list-65291/

[mcsboy8]

actually not exactly true, they all work on the same receptors in the brain and different people tolerated them differently, true some are more effective on more patients than not but each have its strengths and weaknesses like for depression prozac is the best ssri for most people, in the past paxil was best for social anxiety and some people still argue it still is but since they all went generic, all of them help for anxiety about the same, its just it dosent help for some people as well, for some of the people i know prozac works better for anxiety than paxil, all the generics of the 3 originals are basically the same for anxiety and depression

[Medline]

Originally Posted by mcsboy8

actually not exactly true, they all work on the same receptors in the brain and different people tolerated them differently, true some are more effective on more patients than not but each have its strengths and weaknesses like for depression prozac is the best ssri for most people, in the past paxil was best for social anxiety and some people still argue it still is but since they all went generic, all of them help for anxiety about the same, its just it dosent help for some people as well, for some of the people i know prozac works better for anxiety than paxil, all the generics of the 3 originals are basically the same for anxiety and depression

All SSRIs inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, but 'they don't all work on the same receptors', read about the pharmacology of the different SSRIs and you will (hopefully) understand this. Zoloft and Lexapro are considered the 'best' SSRIs for major depression:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19185342

INTERPRETATION: Clinically important differences exist between commonly prescribed antidepressants for both efficacy and acceptability in favour of escitalopram and sertraline. Sertraline might be the best choice when starting treatment for moderate to severe major depression in adults because it has the most favourable balance between benefits, acceptability, and acquisition cost.

...but since they all went generic, all of them help for anxiety about the same...

That makes no sense at all.

It's easy to say Prozac works best for depression, but much harder to back it up. For the the meta-analysis above 117 randomised controlled trials with 25 928 participants were reviewed by the way.

[mcsboy8]

Escitalopram is actually one of the worst SSRIs to use,citalopram is a much better choice possibly even the worst, zoloft is the 2nd best of the ssris for mdd, people can argue about it but zoloft is best to use for first time antidepressant users and prozac for mdd in general, prozac and zoloft are the best antidepressants for mdd and lexapro and paxil are the worst, paxil helps more with anxiety than depression making it useful for only dysthysmic disorder more times than not

[Medline]

Originally Posted by mcsboy8

Escitalopram is actually one of the worst SSRIs to use,citalopram is a much better choice possibly even the worst,

That makes really much sense again.

Originally Posted by mcsboy8

zoloft is the 2nd best of the ssris for mdd, people can argue about it but zoloft is best to use for first time antidepressant users and prozac for mdd in general, prozac and zoloft are the best antidepressants for mdd and lexapro and paxil are the worst, paxil helps more with anxiety than depression making it useful for only dysthysmic disorder more times than not

As most of those statements are simply not true you can't back them up with data from big randomized, controlled double-blind studies, can you?

[mcsboy8]

ummm i said that citalopram is a better choice than escitalopram which is the worst antidepressant to use, i dont know why you keep arguing about this just becuase its based on you opinion and experience but its mostly not true.
i have researched on this based from studies books and psychiatrists and patients so..

[Medline]

Originally Posted by mcsboy8

ummm i said that citalopram is a better choice than escitalopram which is the worst antidepressant to use

Sad that you can't interpret a simple abstract of a meta-analysis correctly, but interesting that you think the S-isomer of citalopram is one of the worst SSRIs to use and the R-isomer "is a much better choice".

Originally Posted by mcsboy8

i dont know why you keep arguing about this just becuase its based on you opinion and experience but its mostly not true.

Your statements are based on your 'opinion' and mine are based on scientific facts.

Originally Posted by mcsboy8

i have researched on this based from studies books and psychiatrists and patients so..

Could you please name the studies and books that back up your statements? All the info should be up to date of course.

[mcsboy8]

Your "facts" must be based on opinion, no offence but it would be wonderful if you can show me the "scientific facts". People argue about this all the time believe me so research the antidepressants again and find out the best one to use.

[Medline]

I gave you the link to the meta-analysis, which proved many of your statements incorrect. I don't want to invest my time to show that your made-up 'facts' are wrong - instead I prefer to help other people on SAS like I have always done. Talking with trolls never fascinated me (which doesn't imply that you are a troll of course ).