|
Share your experience: submit a drug review
Below are Paxil CR (Paroxetine) reviews, ratings, comments submitted by patients and caregivers. Based on a total of 8 ratings/reviews, Paxil CR has an overall score of 6.62. The effectiveness score is 7.75 and the side effect score is 6.50. The scores are on ten point scale: 10 - best, 1 - worst. This information is not vetted and should not be cosidered as clinical evidence. | | Paxil CR review by 27 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | |   |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | Moderate Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | depression, anxiety, OCD |
| Dosage & duration: | | 37.5 mg taken 1 time per day for the period of 3years plus |
| Other conditions: | | none |
| Other drugs taken: | | none | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | reduced depression, anxiety and obsessions. Prevented inter dose withdrawl I had with regular Paxil |
| Side effects: | | NO side effects when taking, but HORRIBLE withdrawl side effects if I accidentally miss a couple of does in a week, or try to wean off. |
| Comments: | | N/A |
|
| | Paxil CR review by 37 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Moderately Effective |
| Side effects: | | Moderate Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | depression |
| Dosage & duration: | | 12.5 mg taken daily for the period of one year |
| Other conditions: | | none |
| Other drugs taken: | | none | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | It reduced some of the side effects of depression such as insomnia, frequent crying and feelings of hopeless. |
| Side effects: | | Weight gain (25 lbs.), difficulty concentrating, cravings for carbohydrates, lack of interest in sex. |
| Comments: | | Withdrawing from the drug was done slowly, with a gradual reduction over a six week period. Treatment was accompanied by talk therapy. The withdrawal from the drug itself was difficult, as it led to the emergence of anxiety and panic attacks and a new case of mild depression. |
|
| | Paxil CR review by 44 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Considerably Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | ocd |
| Dosage & duration: | | 25 mg taken 1 per day in the evening for the period of since February 2000 |
| Other conditions: | | generalized anxiety; allergies |
| Other drugs taken: | | singulair and astelin | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | I felt reduced anxiety and compulsions; less need for perfection; better able to live with "good enough"; less stress and happier; no more depression. |
| Side effects: | | Ihad to stop nursing; constipation (must take 2 stool softeners per day); it killed my sex drive; skipping more than two days causes serious headaches, after three days of missed meds you go into withdrawal...much like heroin withdrawal. Never have I been so ill or wanted to die. |
| Comments: | | Along with psychotherapy, I started taking prozac, with no effect after 2 months. I switched to paxil with constipation and I needed at least 10 hours of sleep to come out of it each morning. I switched to selexa with no effect. I then tried zyprexa which caused me to gain 10 lbs in a month, gave me memory loss and I started lactating again. By then, they had come out with paxil-cr (extended release) and I have been on that ever since. I would like to switch to something that doesn't kill my sex drive and make me want to die when I go off of it, but I am afraid to stop without the proof of something else working better. |
|
| | Paxil CR review by 27 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | anxiety/IBS |
| Dosage & duration: | | 10 mg/day taken daily for the period of 1 year |
| Other conditions: | | None. |
| Other drugs taken: | | None. | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Significantly and quickly reduced anxiety (within 2 weeks). In turn, digestive problems (IBS) related to anxiety were significantly improved. Greatly improved my quality of life. |
| Side effects: | | As long as treatment was taken consistently, side effects were minimal. This medication does not seem to mix well with alcohol - memory loss and increased intoxication were experienced when alcohol was consumed. If a dosage was missed, side effects included unpleasant sensory experiences (like electrical sparks, "zapping"), dizziness, and disorientation. A strong cautionary statement: withdrawal from this medication may be extremely unpleasant. The overall experience I had with this drug was diminished only by the harsh symptoms associated with discontinuing the drug. The effects included heightened irritability, and strong sensory effects described previously. The drug dosage should be tapered; I quit taking the drug "cold turkey" and in retrospect it was a poor choice. I estimate that it took a couple months to stop experiencing the withdrawal symptoms. |
| Comments: | | A single 10 mg dose was taken daily. I logged my progress by journaling my emotional and physical state at various points in the treatment. |
|
| | Paxil CR review by 43 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Moderately Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | anxiety |
| Dosage & duration: | | 37.5 cr (dosage frequency: daily) for the period of 10 years |
| Other conditions: | | dizziness,nausea,some sadness |
| Other drugs taken: | | none | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | completely ended panic attacks,most sweating,most blushing,much discomfort. |
| Side effects: | | more anxiety at first for about 3 weeks. some headaches,nausea |
| Comments: | | I started the medicine 8-10 years ago and took the medicine religously to begin with. Took about 4 weeks to really make a difference. However, did notice change after only a couple weeks. I slack off many times and after a day or two of missed pills I notice dizziness and mild headache plus some nausea. Not good to do, but it happens. After being on the medicine as many years as I have, I don't think it is as effective as others may be, but I have tried many...Prozac,Zoloft and numerous others I don't remember the name of and nothing worked as well for me as Paxil..Another note is that anxiety runs in my family and a few aunts and uncles in my family have had the same good luck with Paxil. I often wonder since we are related if it treats something in our brain the same as it seems to work for this family??? Something to think about if you know someone else in your family that suffers from depression or other mental illness. |
|
| | Paxil CR review by 34 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Moderately Effective |
| Side effects: | | Severe Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Anxiety/Panic attacks |
| Dosage & duration: | | 25 mg taken daily in the morning for the period of 1.5 yrs |
| Other conditions: | | sinus |
| Other drugs taken: | | Klonopin | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Controls the anxiety and fear of being without breathing. |
| Side effects: | | GAIN WEIGHT (60 pnds) fron 125 lbs to 180 lbs (5'4"). Lazyness, sugar and candy cravings, depression form gain weight, sleep a lot, no concordance, No sex, confussion, nightmares, moody, constinspation at the begginng, face breakouts, intolerance, short of breath, headeach..among others. |
| Comments: | | Begginng dose: 25 mg for 1.5 yr.(may 08 to dec 09).
Dec 09: want 2 have bbs..so I talked 2 my Doc and I start with 12.5 this week (dec 7, 09). To end the process.
If I can turn back time..OMG..I used alternative treatments..no drugs.. |
|
| | Paxil CR review by 24 year old male patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Highly Effective |
| Side effects: | | Mild Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Obsessive Compulsive Disorder |
| Dosage & duration: | | 50 mg (two 25 mg) taken once in morning for the period of Going on 8 years |
| Other conditions: | | High Anxiety/Panic Attacks from OCD |
| Other drugs taken: | | None | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | It allowed me to feel good enough to ignore and not be bothered by persistent thoughts and anxiety that I could not ignore before. Basically it leveled me out, where the anxiety didn't affect me anymore. |
| Side effects: | | Getting on the drug was tough, because I endured insomnia, sweating, loss of appetite, high-anxiety, shaking, hands, and restlessness. After about 2-3 weeks, however, all those symptoms went away, once my body got used to it. I did have some weight gain, but I was really skinny to begin with. |
| Comments: | | I've dealt with anxiety since I was a kid as well as obsessive thinking. It continued to build until I was 17 and I had a major panic attack, which I could not calm down from. My psychiatrist put me on Paxil CR and I worked up to 25 mg. The dosage made a big difference, though I still had moderate levels of anxiety, but I could function. About a year and a half ago I was hit with another major attack that send me into a relapse for about 2-3 months, then I upped my dosage to 37.5 mg and within a week I felt fine, even better than I felt before. Now a year and a half later, I found myself in another relapse and after a week I released that all this time I was not at a high enough dosage because my anxiety and obsessive thoughts would still creep in and cause me distress. So my psychiatrist agreed that I was not at my ideal dosage and I am now taking two 25 mg in the morning which equals 50 mg, which is still a fairly moderate dosage considering other patients that were on 80 to even 120 mg. I just started taking it, so I should start feeling even better within about a week or two. I've accepted that I may need to be on this for the long haul, which is fine. I look at is as nutrition for the brain, or like taking insulin for diabetes, it allows me function and enjoy life. |
|
| | Paxil CR review by 34 year old female patient | | | Rating |
| Overall rating: | | |
| Effectiveness: | | Moderately Effective |
| Side effects: | | Severe Side Effects | | |
Treatment Info |
| Condition / reason: | | Anxiety/Panic attacks |
| Dosage & duration: | | 25 mg taken daily in the morning for the period of 1.5 yrs |
| Other conditions: | | sinus |
| Other drugs taken: | | Klonopin | | |
Reported Results |
| Benefits: | | Controls the anxiety and fear of being without breathing. |
| Side effects: | | GAIN WEIGHT (60 pnds) fron 125 lbs to 180 lbs (5'4"). Lazyness, sugar and candy cravings, depression form gain weight, sleep a lot, no concordance, No sex, confussion, nightmares, moody, constinspation at the begginng, face breakouts, intolerance, short of breath, headeach..among others. |
| Comments: | | Begginng dose: 25 mg for 1.5 yr.(may 08 to dec 09).
Dec 09: want 2 have bbs..so I talked 2 my Doc and I start with 12.5 this week (dec 7, 09). To end the process.
If I can turn back time..OMG..I used alternative treatments..no drugs.. |
| |
|
