PDOC recommended an antidepressant

Hello everyone,

I just got back from my PDOC, and we talked about various antidepressants that I could go on. The one that we ended up settling on was Paxil. Before we move forward with an actual prescription though I wanted to do some additional research on its affects, so I was wondering if anyone else has tried Paxil, and if so, what was your experience? Things like unforeseen side affects, side affects that it made you experience, factors that it positively changed, and any other information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again, and stay safe everyone!

Hello, BrownHat22!

I've been on several antidepressants over the years. None of them has done much for me. Only one, though, distinctly made me miserable - Paxil/paroxetine. Psychotropic meds are distinctly individual in their effects, so your experience with Paxil could turn out very different from mine.

Thank you, I will keep it in mind.

I have only tried 2 antidepressants. Paxil being my first. I had a terrible reaction to it and to this day we are not sure why.
It put me into long, constant panic attack. Vomiting, hallucinating and trembling. I started at 30mg, halved it for the next 3 days and then I couldn't continue taking it. The reaction lasted weeks.
I'm taking pristiq now and it is working so well, with the odd bad day.

Obviously every medication will effect everybody differently. And my reaction seems to be unheard of lol.

Ok, thank you.

I was on Paxil for a while a few years ago and didn't have any bad side effects

I took Paxil a long time ago. Worked fine until it pooped out.

Thank you, I'll keep it in mind.

Thank you. Was there anything in particular that caused it to stop? Or did your body just normalize to it?

I tried Paxil once but changed in less than 10 days. It made me too restless and nauseous. But my doctor told me she found it helps a lot of people. As Rohag said, pmeds works really differently to each individual. I haven't found anything help me for now, but keep trying different doses and different meds.

Thank you. I know that it works differently for everyone, I just wanted to get a general idea of everything.

Paxil didn't help me. And I had TERRIBLE withdrawal syndrome.
Of course your experience can be different

Thank you. If I may ask, was it longer or more intense than other antidepressants? I ask because Paxil supposedly has a noticeably shorter half-life compared to other antidepressants, meaning that it gets out of your system faster.

No, not very long and not intense.
My T told I would have no problems with withdrawal.
But I felt like I was dying. My T was really surprised... So I don't think it's common reaction.

Alright. Thank you again. That is very helpful.