what do you think

[PESCI]

My doctor has put me on 10mg paxil as well as 5mg xanax for my anxiety. it seems to be helping although i have only been taking it for about a week.  has anyone been helped by taking paxil?

[Pum]

Yes but it took about 3-5 weeks.  A good sign that you are feeling better sooneer but still give it longer to get the full effect.

[tamvt]

hi ive been on paxil 10mg for about 6 yrs and the benifits are great i couldn't leave the house now i have a normal life again except for the past couple of weeks i keep thinking that im going to have a heart attack whenever i have a chest pain.sat i went to the er thinking i was dying and the dr told me that my ekg came back pristine and i was fine just a pulled muscle well off to the drs today to get blood test just to put my mind at ease good luck

[Jessl]

I have been reading through the forum and notice quite a few people are on a rather high dose of xanax everyday. I also did this, although my dose was a lot lower, and was recently told this is a very bad thing to do. As my psychiatrist said, "xanax is a hit and run drug" meaning it has a very short half life and is incredibly addictive. It works really well if only taken when there is a real need, but only occasionally.

When taken regularly, the physical body quickly develops tolerance to it and so the user must continually take more and more to get the same affect and avoid withdrawal symptoms. I developed depression from it after a few weeks on it and was tired all the time. I was then told how hard it is to get off it and that it can have severe withdrawal symptoms, and most people withdrawing must be put on other drugs to do so.

I dont mean to scare anyone but the doctor never told me this when it was prescribed and i really wish they had. I would never have gone on it if I had known.  

[sparkeler]

5mg seems like a high dose of xanax to me too. Although, I use xanax 3 times a week along with my lexapro to treat my anxiety/depression.  I will do 5 days of just the 10mg of Lexapro and 3 days of 2mg of xanax & 10mg lexapro.  

I suppose I use the xanax more so now to just relax at night on the weekends.  My week days are so chaotic & busy.  I do watch myself though bc it can be addicting.

[suzi-q]

I take 50 mg. of paxil (wow!  it is high compared to you!)  and 30 mg daily of buspar.  Buspar is a drug for anti-anxiety and works very well with Paxil.  It is a med that you take daily...maybe that would be better than the Xanax.