paxil/pexeva

[zsandoz]

im starting pexeva which is the same paroxetine as paxil but with a different salt (mesylate instead of hydrochloride) and the PI sheet freely admits that the salt part does nothing but break off in the gut and paroxetine does all the work on the brain. anyways i havent taken this stuff since i was like 21 its been 6 years and im at a much different place in my life. does anyone have any stories about paroxetine? particularly about the side effects. thanks!

[chimpmaster]

im starting pexeva which is the same paroxetine as paxil but with a different salt (mesylate instead of hydrochloride) and the PI sheet freely admits that the salt part does nothing but break off in the gut and paroxetine does all the work on the brain. anyways i havent taken this stuff since i was like 21 its been 6 years and im at a much different place in my life. does anyone have any stories about paroxetine? particularly about the side effects. thanks!

I took Paxil for a year recently. It was very effective, but i had some weight gain problems and possibly some poop out. I am now on prozac and I personally find it better, but paxil is an excellent ssri.

[zsandoz]

im starting pexeva which is the same paroxetine as paxil but with a different salt (mesylate instead of hydrochloride) and the PI sheet freely admits that the salt part does nothing but break off in the gut and paroxetine does all the work on the brain. anyways i havent taken this stuff since i was like 21 its been 6 years and im at a much different place in my life. does anyone have any stories about paroxetine? particularly about the side effects. thanks!

I took Paxil for a year recently. It was very effective, but i had some weight gain problems and possibly some poop out. I am now on prozac and I personally find it better, but paxil is an excellent ssri.

dear chimpmaster, did it have sexual side effects? if so was it worse than or the same as prozac?

my pdoc said to watch out for those, especially with paroxetine. i generally dont get them from SSRIs, although i get them from opiates (loss of libido, difficulty reaching orgasm). im not worried about the weight gain because if i gained 10 lbs. it might even be an improvement - i thought that tshirt was funny that said "i gained 10 lbs, ask me how!", in my case it would be appropriate!

EDITED: i was quite pleased that i didnt feel nausea after taking my first pexeva tablet. the nausea would hit me right after my zoloft every time i took it, even with food and it really sucked. hopefully it is not as severe and doesnt develop over time with pexeva (aka paroxetine)

[Velvet Elvis]

I was on paxil for a couple years. It kicked ass for anxiety but orgasms generally worked out to be more trouble than they were worth. Once I got into a relationship I changed ADs.

[zsandoz]

I was on paxil for a couple years. It kicked ass for anxiety but orgasms generally worked out to be more trouble than they were worth. Once I got into a relationship I changed ADs.

does this start immediately? with the variable but low half-life (21-26 hrs) you'd think you would be near steady state in a couple days. my pdoc talked as if it was almost 100% going to happen, and i could understand how something like this would be undersampled and reported as say only 25%.

from reading the PI sheet, it sounds like paroxetine does a little bit of a number on your liver (though its no prozac). luckily im only also metabolizing clonazepam, but i feel so much more relaxed on it than i did on zoloft. i almost didnt realize how activating the zoloft had been, and the effects it had on my stomach.

[Velvet Elvis]

It's takes SSRIs a while to start working after they reach steady state levels since they cause actual changes in receptor density or something like that. It's gradual over 4-6 weeks.

[zsandoz]

It's takes SSRIs a while to start working after they reach steady state levels since they cause actual changes in receptor density or something like that. It's gradual over 4-6 weeks.

ive noticed improvement quicker, but im also cross-tapering straight from zoloft to paxil. i still dont know why the different ranges of SSRI side effects occur with different frequencies, if almost all the major ones are all linked to serotonin transporter (reuptake) blockade

[Loon-A-TiK]

i've taken both normal paxil and pexeva for years before, and LOVED them. they made me feel better than any drug before or since, except maybe zyprexa.

i couldn't tell the difference between either one.

i had the side effects of modest weight gain (about 5lbs, and i weigh 115lbs), and sexual dysfunctions. the weight gain went away when i stopped taking the drug and the orgasmic ability actually came back when i was 6 months into taking paxil.

for a long time, i was only taking lithium and paxil (like during college, when lithium made me dumber than a rock, like i needed that then!).

i'm not the pharm expert, so i have no idea how these substances work in the body or hurt the liver. i just know that i felt a hell of a lot better.

i stopped taking pexeva eventually because of the sexual side effects. i switched to wellbutrin. i miss paxil because of its calming effects.

[Velvet Elvis]

It's takes SSRIs a while to start working after they reach steady state levels since they cause actual changes in receptor density or something like that. It's gradual over 4-6 weeks.

ive noticed improvement quicker, but im also cross-tapering straight from zoloft to paxil. i still dont know why the different ranges of SSRI side effects occur with different frequencies, if almost all the major ones are all linked to serotonin transporter (reuptake) blockade

I missed where you were going from one to another.

Have you dug around in here?

http://www.preskorn.com/books/ssri_toc.html

[zsandoz]

It's takes SSRIs a while to start working after they reach steady state levels since they cause actual changes in receptor density or something like that. It's gradual over 4-6 weeks.

ive noticed improvement quicker, but im also cross-tapering straight from zoloft to paxil. i still dont know why the different ranges of SSRI side effects occur with different frequencies, if almost all the major ones are all linked to serotonin transporter (reuptake) blockade

I missed where you were going from one to another.

Have you dug around in here?

http://www.preskorn.com/books/ssri_toc.html

im a big fan of preskorn, but sometimes he simplifies things too much.. like i wonder why paxil has the sexual side effects, and his explanations (weak affinities for other sites of action) dont work there.

the only thing i could think of is that the different SSRIs have different sites of action WITHIN the serotonin transporter, as well as different volumes of distribution, and thus maybe they hit certain serotonin transporters harder. other than that there are plenty of other variations between all the SSRIs i think, so there could be many explanations, and none i guess are really testable.

[nightshade]

I'm on Paxil Cr 37.5 mg seems too be doing the trick, but after I lose my Medical Assistantance, my copays are going to go through the roof again

In June it goes from being 3 dollars back to 30 dollars.

[Deepster]

I was on Paxil CR/25mg for about 10 years before I decided to take myself off it without medical supervision. Withdrawal was a cakewalk, as I did it over a 3 mo. period. I felt great after the first two months starting Paxil. Then I sorta went into year long periods of hypomania....thus my DX as BPII. I still don't know if I am BP(medication induced) or just MDD, Anxiety Disorder, Panic disorder, and agoraphobia. I now only take Pristiq/50mg daily and klonopin, up to 1mg daily. I can say that the entire time I was on Paxil, I was totally sexually dysfuntional. However, life on Paxil after about the first 3mos became a life of surrealism. It was like I was living on a set in a Monet painting. I came to hate it as I knew this was NOT REALITY that I was experiencing.

Anyway, this is just a glimpse into my "Paxil Life" which became a totally seperate identity as to who/what I really am. As a matter of fact, I can only blame Paxil and my lack of self-education for years of hypomania, and over 100K of debt. I have experienced no hypomanic episodes since going off a straight SSRI, and I won't be going back there again. I did give Celexa a 90 trial, and found that it fucked me up sexually, physically, emotionally, and mentally(med induced psychotic hallucinations, unable to breathe, color distortions, it was like an acid trip, and YES, I have "been there").

In all honesty, I cannot after 7 months on an SNRI(Pristiq) say it's doing any good. But, I know that my depression is under control, and the klonopin(always my savior in mood stabilization...not for everyone!) has been a good regimen for ME.

Trazodone, for sleep, also boosts the effectiveness of the SSRI component of Pristiq, and a few times a week Ambien helps with sleep issues.

Deepster

[buddha443556]

Paxil seemed to make me worse, apathic (which is my constant state now). It agitated me, I couldn't sleep. Made my PTSD even worse, didn't need that. Withdrawal, really didn't like the brain zaps which lasted for a couple months.

[Guest Nate S.]

I had been attending the University of Richmond for 2 years when I decided to finally see a doctor for what i figured to be depression. I was right, and i was prescribed Paroxetine HCL over the summer before my junior year. I thought it was great, I was no longer depressed, I was sleeping better and being nicer to my family and friends. After one semester however, my GPA took a huge hit and my love for math, (Math-Econ major) was replaced with that for philosophy and art. For a while I just told myself that I was just maturing to a more expansive view on the world, but I soon realized that i couldnt even get good grades in my philosophy classes. I deduced that I should try waining myself off of paxil in hopes that change would come. Indeed it did, and even though all the terrible withdraw symptoms occured, i feel like I can once again think clearly and definitley, instead of the spacey, wonderous thoughts that had started to consume me. Paxil changed me, in good ways and bad, but for the sake of my future and education, the bad affects outweighed the good ones.

[melita]

I have taken Pexeva 30mg for a little over a year. I have gained around 50 pounds and I have been eating better than I was before I was on the med. Needless to say, I am getting married this year & wanted to drop those pounds so I started weaning off. Everything was fine until I got down to 10mg. Now I have this horrible feeling in my brain (and the zaps sometimes)- it feels just like my brain is mush & I feel very lightheaded. I cannot concentrate on anything and the simplest tasks seem very daunting. I never want to leave the house or do anything (not surprisingly). I also failed my eye test at the DMV (I had NO idea that this medicine could harm my eyesight). I had tons of side effects when I first started the med & each time I increased my dose, but those went away pretty quickly & while I do think this medicine did help me mentally (with depression & somewhat with anxiety), it has made my self esteem even worse than it was due to gaining tons of weight & I think my depression is even worse than it was before I started the med. Personally, I wish my doctor had put me on something else. This is hell to wean off of. Oh and the one time I forgot to take the medicine, I started throwing up & I literally thought I was going to die (& I have a high pain tolerance). I would have gone to the hospital, but I was on vacation & there were no hospitals anywhere near. Don't forget to take a dose ever!

I am hoping to start a new med this week and that the doctor can help me get relief as my brain is killing me. There is really no good way to explain the way it feels. It is just awful.