I think that paxil does work for some people. I know it helped my husband this past year. He was on other medication, which in turn caused not only sickness, balding and weightgain, but also depression...man...he about drove us up the wall. Then one day when we both had to go see our family doctor...I went in first and the doctor asked me about R's moods...I told him that we were going crazy with him. He was very depressed, and angry...and not sleeping, not moving off the couch...etc...So...to make a very long story not quite so long...He put R on Paxil...within a few days, he was much better. Strange tho...he didn't like taking them...so would stop...off and on...I could always tell when he was taking them and when he wasn't.

The doctor also tried me on paxil once...but they made me dizzy and nausaus...so I was switched to something else.

Reading the post about the person who said Paxil is like a placebo and so therefor cannot be addictive

i would like to meet this person and have you stay with me for a week

i am four weeeks into Paxil withdrawal and i call it Paxil hell

it is disgraceful

i had all sorts of things going on

Headaches, elctric shocks running through my body, numbness of my whole body which still has not gone away, Low blood sugar and i still feel like i am going to fall over every time i turn my head (vertigo)

Your ignorance is a disgrace

sorry to be soo harsh but a post like that feels like a slap in the face

Depression is all in my head? Wow, I'm looney tunes, huh? That's nice to know.

I certainly don't 'feel' as if I am suffering from some sort of dillusional self-incurred cycle of 'willing' myself to get well.

I agree with DuPont. There are certain people in the world who have this wonderful ability to "shame" people who are struggling with depression. Isn't that lovely.

Let's try to build one another up instead of tearing each other down. This is just an opinion, but I feel that criticism, negativity and "shame" tactics do NOT belong in this part of the forum. (Or any other part of the forum!)

Danwoody, thank you for posting. Trust me, I believe that it is NOT at all "in your head." It's the delicate and difficult and prolonged process of going off of a helpful but yes, "addictive" drug.

I put the "addictive" in quotation marks: I don't know whether it's an addiction or not, but it does change your brain chemistry and ergo, when you go off of the drug, your brain chemistry also changes.

Garrison, your kind words, as always, are insightful and much appreciated.

With only a very few exceptions, I think that the posters here are kind, compassionate, friendly and understanding so I hope that one or two upsetting posts will not make anyone avoid this place.

Hugs to all,

Natalie

It is best to be informed and know both extreme ends of the scale and then find a middle ground that suits one, as an individual, best. What works for one does not necessarily work for another.

People who take anti-depressants (and those closest to them) need to be aware, responsible and slightly aggressive about saying so if it is not working. Yes ... aggressive .... because assertiveness does not flow easily or naturally when one is depressed and what might feel like aggressiveness is often necessary assertiveness.

There is a tendency for loved ones to take the "Doctor-knows-best/Doc-is-the-expert" attitude or be struggling themselves to not hear what is being said. Lilwannabe put it aptly with {......I told him [the doctor] that we were going crazy with him. ...}. Your blunt honesty got your husband a medication that was better suited.

{Somersize:...I do study psychology by the way so this is not just random bs....} On the other hand there are doctors out there who are dismissive, arrogant (know-it-all), and judgmental. Somersize is exhibiting signs of this attitude - these are the doctors that I have been avoiding - since you cannot tell (especially when you are depressed) what they really think of you. Their opinion affects everything you do (your treatment, employment, driving licence, insurance premiums etc). Yet until recently in the UK, the patient was the only one who had no access to these notes. Even with the Law changed I remember the struggle I had to get hold of my doctor's report to an insurance company. More than six months down the line I finally got a glimpse of the report and wider implications of my depression all those years ago.

I do not (now) tarnish all doctors and patients with the same brush. I'd just like patients and loved ones to be more aware and informed.

{Tigra1965: When used properly as a tool toward providing assistance in dealing with the REAL issues or causes behind anxiety and depression, medicine can be very beneficial.}

I agree. When used properly being key. It has to be used properly by ALL concerned. I see evidence of how the NHS/Care in the Community is failing some of the most vulnerable people. I got the "Do-you-know-how-much-you-are-costing-the-NHS" routine 25 years ago - I didn't need it. Elderly people who have paid their contributions ALL their lives do not get treatment when they need it. There is a bigger picture. … but I am drifting off-topic.

Take care,

I find this thread very interesting since I have been on Paxil for years and as we speak am trying to wean myself off slowly. I have been taking it for anxiety, not depression. I feel like crap now and biting my poor hubbys head every time he gets anywhere near me. So.....not addictive...hah? Bull, if it is not addictive, then why do I feel like I want to start taking the full dose again? Does anyone have any experience wit St. Johns wort? Would it help or will I just be replacing one addiction with another?

I do believe Paxil has helped me a lot, but now it is time to try it onmy own.

Tanya

I was in your boat around three months ago

my advice to you, is first of all take it very slow

if you can get the liquid paxil then do so because you will be able to drop your dose in increments of 1mg every week or so

While knowing that those close to you will not ever be able to understand what you are going through, try to be patient and if they start to question you just show them my post

Dont take that extra part of your dose that you are longing to take because you will end up in a spiral but im sure you know that

Drink lots of water and try to believe there is an end in sight

i find it extremely hard somedays but it is getting better as it will do for you

Good luck and health to you, i truly mean that

Dan

Thanks Dan, I will need it . I am on my 5th day of half a dose..10mg. Is that too drastic? I am hoping to do half for about a week or two and then go to half every other day. Does that sound reasonable?

Has anyone around here ever experienced withdrawel symptoms from getting off of Effexor XR?

Tanya im sure its different for everone

BUT

I did the same

i was on 20 mgs down from my highest 60 mgs which i didnt take for long because i literally didnt get out of bed

I dropped from 20 mgs to 10 mgs like you seem to have done

I then tried 10 mgs every other day and i got withdrawal

so i did 10 mgs one day and five mgs the next

this worked fine but it concerned me that i was taking two differnt amounts of the drug

so i got the liquid form and weighed out 7.5 mgs every day

i then droppeed about 1mg every five or six days until i was taking 1 mg a day

I took 1 mg a day for about a week and stopped

I had a little withdrawal (bad dreams, electric shocks (zaps), numbness in fingers and face etc )

The worst of which cleared up in the first week

Now four weeks into post paxil i still have two fingers which are numb but getting better every day

Low blood sugar which is the worst along with very slight vertigo and irratibility.

It sems to be getting better and the symptoms get fewer and far between

So thats me being as honest as i possibly can

Its not sooooooooooo bad though and an end is in sight so if you like follow what i did and good luck to you

Youll be fine

Dan, how did you get the liquid form of Paxil, can I just ask at the pharmacy? All those withdrawals scare me. I had missed a couple of doses once and man, did I feel sick. Scary stuff. But I'll keep at it. Thanks a lot for your help.

Somersize,
You appear to be very judgemental and lacking in compassion, I hope you are not planning to be make a career in psychology, because with your blind attitude towards others on this subject, if you were to counsel someone, they could suffer further depression and anxiety. It is obvious you do not know what you are talking about. You should walk a mile in a depressed persons shoes.

...are better left unsaid, you know?

The art of TACTFULLY stating one's opinion comes from trying to respond to others the way that you would want them to respond to you...and holding your tongue when you cannot do so.

Saying that depression is all in one's own mind is basically similar to saying that depression is just some sort of make-believe problem that people just need to "get over".

Most people do not appreciate being told that the problems they are struggling with are imaginary. Depression is a significant problem...and it is a problem that many MANY people deal with.

Forgive me if I sound crass, but there are certain times in life when it's best to simply remain silent rather than speaking far too hastily on a subject we know nothing about.

It makes no difference where depression comes from...all in the head...or all from my big toe...who cares? The point is that there are many brave people here in this thread who have decided to take action and DO something about the depression and anxiety in their lives.

I have a lot of passionate feelings about this subject and some of the things that have been said in this thread...and for the sake of maintaining peace I think I will just step out of the discussion for a while.

I just wanted to clarify that no one said that depression is all in our heads. Rather, it was stated that certain individuals responded to a placebo just as well as the real drug. For those few individuals depression could be resolved with "brainpower".

BUT NOT ALL PEOPLE WITH DEPRESSION CAN CURE THEMSELVES WITH "BRAINPOWER", RIGHT?

I want to be certain that I do not misrepresent anyone here, and I must deeply apologize if I have done so...although there is something about this that still rubs me the wrong way.

I totally agree with Garrison, Fiona, and with osuzana here. I did not come to this board, or to this forum, to get involved in arguments or to be perturbed. I think that depression is one of the most difficult things for people to deal with and that combative posts are not helpful. The fact that somersizer says that she (or he) has studied psychology is meaningless: I, too, took Psych 101 in college and that does not make a huge difference in how I perceive my own emotions and my depression. I learned about things like the Hawthorne Effect and the Skinner Box and the studies on how easy it is for people to be blindly sadistic.

I got a huge red flag when I read that S. believes that Andrea Yates should burn in hell. I continue to come here because almost all of the posters here are sympathetic and I have learned a lot and I hope that perhaps I can sometime help somebody.

While I don't have much scientific understanding of the mechanisms of depression, I have plenty of experience and that can often help much more than all the scientific citations in the world.

Natalie