Please Help!!! SSRI question

[lisa4484]

Yesterday I took my first dose of Paxil. I was prescribed 20 mg but only took half. I took it around 6 pm. I have been feeling really sick all night and morning. I have diarrhea, severe nausea, dizziness, INCREASED anxiety, shaking and insomnia. It's weird because I feel sleepy but everytime I almost fall asleep I have severe anxiety feeling in my sleep and wake up shaking or I have weird dreams. Is all of this normal? I will not be taking this medication again but I just want to make sure that I am okay. I also take xanax and ambien. But they are all prescribed by the same doctor and he said they were fine. I even called the pharmacist at CVS to make sure before I took the paxil and she said they were all fine just not to take the xanax or ambien within 8 hours of each other because it could cause increased drowsiness. I have never felt this bad before. I don't know what to do. How long will this feeling last if I don't take this medication again?

[elfie123]

Same thing happened to me when i took lexapro and I also took half a dose. The nausea and dizziness were unreal. The weird anxiety/ sleepiness combination, too.  Sometimes SSRI ( like Paxil) cause these precise side effects at the beginning of treatment. When will you feel better? Check the half life of Paxil. Just for example, the half life of lexapro is 32 hours and it took me 3 days to go back to normal after a single dose.
Of course, I'm not a health professional, just a fellow anxiety sufferer. By all means, call your dr and tell him how you feel.
In case you do decide to continue the paxil, most people say the side effects subside within a week or two. However, each case is unique, so please, call your dr.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Tina

[tinkerbell1124]

Sometimes people have bad reactions to medication. Sounds like you did. I'd say it would take a day or to to get out of your system to feel normal again. BUT I'd call the DR to let him know what it did to you.