# Started Paxil today (my first SSRI), what should I expect?



## Phyra (Jun 1, 2011)

Hey guys,

After a good 6 months of heavy therapy for my SA, PTSD, and depression, I finally broke down and asked for meds. I was put on 10 mg once a day of Paxil (if it helps, I'm 115 lb, 19-year-old female). I've read all the literature the doctor gave me about it, and I've taken the first dose, but I'm still a little nervous about starting a new medication of this sort. Can anyone tell me what you've experienced on this medication? Side effects? How long did it take you to feel a difference and at what dose? I always trust actual stories from real people over watered down statistics.


EDIT: Also, everything I've read said that Paxil is notorious for messing with your libido. Is this side effect really as common as it sounds? And how bad is it?


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## Xande (Jul 18, 2011)

Hey,

I've never tried Paxil, but I have been on Lexapro(another SSRI) for a while. Typically it seems like you won't feel any better until a few weeks of taking the medicine.

You might want to check out the link below where there are reviews on different SSRIs from other members.

http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/f139/


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## Cuauhtemoc (Jul 22, 2010)

I think it's a little bad for females, for males it mainly causes delayed orgasm, which is great in my opinion.
I felt the effects of Paxil from the first day, but 10mg seems like a very low dose, even for a small person.

I personally got no bad side effects with Paxil, since I've been on it my life is like heaven. I can't barely remember the last time I felt bad lol, everything seems to shine
There's a thread I made some days ago, it's pretty detailed.


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## weebeastiebaby (May 15, 2009)

Cuauhtemoc said:


> I think it's a little bad for females, for males it mainly causes delayed orgasm, which is great in my opinion.
> I felt the effects of Paxil from the first day, but 10mg seems like a very low dose, even for a small person.
> 
> I personally got no bad side effects with Paxil, since I've been on it my life is like heaven. I can't barely remember the last time I felt bad lol, everything seems to shine
> There's a thread I made some days ago, it's pretty detailed.


Why is it bad for females????????

I think it took about 3 weeks for me to feel a difference. I was on Paxil for 4 years (13- 17). I definitely noticed a difference the first 2 years. At first I was on 15 mg and my mom told my psychiatrist I was getting sort of dis inhibited. I don't know what she meant because I just felt less shy. He reduced the dose to 10mg and I felt better for a couple years. I still had social anxiety, but it wasn't completely out of control. I could go to school without thinking people were staring at me. The side effects I noticed were fatigue and very slight memory loss. I was also a bit apathetic, but not to the point of depression. After 2 years though I got depressed. Coffee made the depression almost tolerable though. Four years into my treatment with Paxil all I wanted to do was sleep all the time and no amount of caffeine would make me feel better. I got fired from my job because I was groggy all the time and my memory was pretty awful. There were definitely other factors that could have led to the depression; my IBS was at its worst and I had developed some mild ulcerations in my instestines. This led me to go on independent study my senior year because I felt like crap all the time and was too embarrassed to tell my friends. Basically, its better than nothing imo.


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## weebeastiebaby (May 15, 2009)

I just read the part about libido lol. I think it really depends on the person (like all side effects). It wasn't really an issue for me since i was young and not in a relationship, but when I got depressed the thought of being intimate with someone was pretty disgusting. I think that if it works for you loss of libido shouldn't be a problem. I was around the same weight as you when I was on 10mg and it was probably a little too low.


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## Cuauhtemoc (Jul 22, 2010)

No memory loss for me, I just don't care about remembering every little detail, especially in social situations.


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## Bacon (Jul 4, 2010)

Paxil is working well. Its the most powerfull SSRI iv used. It levels me out and prevents negative emotions.........ex. i cant cry on it.........BUT i can still feel positive emotion and laugh and be happy with my family! Its working. The Emotional Numbing on it can kind off cause a zombie effect but my ADHD med makes me get up and get ready for school work and college essays. So its working nicely. on 40 MG


Side effects that have been lasting and haven't gone away is No sex drive and Anorgasmia (Unable to ejaculate, Painfull delayed ejaculation. And My appetite is a bit higher on it iv seen some minor weight gain.) But its working much better than zoloft did! Zoloft turned me into a bitter lifeless zombie and i was always negative and REALLY Zombie with muscle twitches and Diahriaa and i felt so speedy and restless........zoloft was terrible!


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## Phyra (Jun 1, 2011)

Alright, so contrary to my goals you guys haven't been able to calm me down.

I've been on the pills for two days. Haven't felt anything different yet. I'm already having...trouble with intimacy due to a change in birth control. My birthday is on Saturday and I have a big romantic night planned. I almost wonder if I should stop taking the pills now and start again in a week when an increase in problems wouldn't be quite as much of a letdown if it happens.

I had to stop taking ritalin because I felt like it was causing me issues, so it is something in me that has been affected by medication before.


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## decadeAndAHalfOfSA (Jul 11, 2011)

Give it at least a month; all SSRIs take awhile to work. Hopefully it works for you. I didn't have any libido problems or any side effects when I tried it.

I was pretty much a non responder to all SSRIs I took (I've tried most of them). I didn't notice any benefit and usually no side effects when I tried them. I don't know why.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

With SSRIs one can expect failure & disappointment in most cases. Not a positive view, but my honest view based upon experience with them.


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## King Moonracer (Oct 12, 2010)

Well, you wont be as depressed thats for sure..... But you wont be.. Anything

You will become emotionless, and feel like **** because SSRIs screw with you sleep schedule. 

Id rather be depressed than feel like a fukin ghost walking around in thw matrix.

200mg zoloft


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## Cuauhtemoc (Jul 22, 2010)

Bacon said:


> Paxil is working well. Its the most powerfull SSRI iv used. It levels me out and prevents negative emotions.........ex. i cant cry on it.........BUT i can still feel positive emotion and laugh and be happy with my family! Its working. The Emotional Numbing on it can kind off cause a zombie effect but my ADHD med makes me get up and get ready for school work and college essays. So its working nicely. on 40 MG
> 
> Side effects that have been lasting and haven't gone away is No sex drive and Anorgasmia (Unable to ejaculate, Painfull delayed ejaculation. And My appetite is a bit higher on it iv seen some minor weight gain.) But its working much better than zoloft did! Zoloft turned me into a bitter lifeless zombie and i was always negative and REALLY Zombie with muscle twitches and Diahriaa and i felt so speedy and restless........zoloft was terrible!


Yes, I still have emotions, but only the good ones. I laugh, I have fun, I love my family...It acts like a filter, it filters out every bad emotion.
I think it's the closer you can get to heaven while in earth, I feel like I'm walking on a sunshine everyday, tons of disposition, I've always slept a lot, like 10-12 hours a day, even before SSRI's, and it didn't change much lol
People are unfair to SSRI's, they're great if you want to feel like I just described. If you want to feel miserable, crying like every little thing, than yes, they suck.

Obviously, they don't work with everybody, some people biochemistry are different, but it's worth a try...
Also remember that many people who try SSRI's have mental disorders, so they are not exactly the most reliable, some of them have depression, SA, GA, bipolar disorder and tons of other things...Paxil is not magical, and if you have tons of mental diseases I cannot guarantee it will work.
But if you were like me, with strong social anxiety and a little depression(mainly caused by the SA, since I couldn't make friends), it works just fine.


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## Phyra (Jun 1, 2011)

Cuauhtemoc said:


> But if you were like me, with strong social anxiety and a little depression(mainly caused by the SA, since I couldn't make friends), it works just fine.


Yeah, this describes me. I just graduated from college at the age of 18 and it's pretty much been a roller coaster, not helped by the SA (and the SA has been worsened by it). My doctor wanted to put me on meds for the SA years ago, but I refused. But now that the crippling depression has caught up with me, I figure it's time to at least give it a shot.

I don't know if it's messing with my sleep schedule, or if I already am just feeling better, or if it's just the placebo effect, but this is my third day on it and I woke up at 6 am feeling rested and...not tearful. When I was younger I was a total morning person, but for the last year or so I haven't been able to get out of bed before 10, and even then it was very difficult. I've been needing 10-12 hours of sleep a night, and all of a sudden I'm sleeping just 6-7 (like I used to) and feeling normal with it. I don't think I could lay around in bed all day if I WANTED to today. My whole body is just bubbling, like I need to go for a run (which I will shortly).


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## Cuauhtemoc (Jul 22, 2010)

That's great, you are probably kinda like me.
I was not one of these suicidal guys, with bipolar disorder, ocd and tons of other stuff. I was just that, very shy. And obviously that caused some depression, nobody wants to be alone(well, maybe people with schizoid personality disorder).

At the beginning I felt very little need for sleep, but then it went back to normal, at the first weeks of paxil I was sleeping like 5 hours and feeling great. Now I sleep a little more, but never more than 10 hours(except on vacations).

Also I didn't feel like a zombie as some people describe, much to the contrary, I had tons of energy, like I never did before.


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## xDan (Apr 8, 2015)

UltraShy said:


> With SSRIs one can expect failure & disappointment in most cases. Not a positive view, but my honest view based upon experience with them.


It's unfortunate that no SSRI worked for you (except Luvox which assumably you have never had). In your case I would get onto Nardil - obviously only if you feel you need it.

________________________________________________________

My experience on Zoloft was mixed (max: 250mg), it definitely helped in some ways, but at the same time it just didn't help with other things - I am more talkative but always jittery and self-conscious in public. Paxil is my next option since it has a generally good reception for SA, less so for Depression though. It is sedating and I think I need something sedating, and not something which makes me jittery. Lexapro would be another option for me, but I feel Paxil is more aimed at SA and Lexapro for Depression.

But we *all* have different underlying causes for our SA, different severities and different brain chemistries etc. So for some people SSRI's are not the answer because you do not need the Serotonin reuptake inhibition - whilst for many that may not be the case. Nardil targets many neurotransmitters at once which is probably why it is likely to work. But, if a lack of Serotonin is the cause of your SA, you are best with SSRI's or SNRI's since they are a lot safer. I personally think that if one SSRI has some positive effect on your SA, another is more likely to do so - it is trial and error though because SSRI's are chemically very different (they aim to increase Serotonin but do so in different ways) - which is why some are useless for one and life changing for another. :grin2:

I have looked at this forum and found this to be very true - what works for one person hasn't worked for another, even some people claim Nardil has failed for them. Paxil and Lexapro seem to be (possibly by chance) the most popular around here, whilst on the other hand Citalopram and Prozac are criticised a lot for their lack of effectiveness. Zoloft is very mixed, pretty much 50/50.


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