Is this normal, or am I having an adverse reaction?

[MRC7]

I just started on Paxil yesterday as an anxiety treatment, and was instructed to take 10mg for 2 weeks before raising the dosage to 20mg, which should be my maximum dosage. Since I took the first 10mg pill yesterday, I started experiencing insomnia, tremors, headaches, fever and cold sweats, dizziness, diarrhea, nausea, and increased anxiety. I understand that these are fairly common side effects, but I'm just not sure that they are commonly this bad with others. I slept for 2 hours total last night, woke up at 2am to my jaw chattering, feeling hot and cold all over, and my leg muscles were acting up. I got up to get a drink, and immediately felt sick...I didn't even make it to the bathroom before throwing up. I threw up thrice more following that, then tried to get back to bed, and ended up laying there for 6 hours, unable to sleep though my eyes are stinging from lack of sleep. I also found earlier in the day yesterday that my eye coordination was not up to par. I work in the area of literature, so am used to skimming through documents and articles without problems. Yesterday, I found that I had to highlight the areas I had read, otherwise I was unable to read the article line by line without getting lost.

I'm amazed that all of these complications came about from one dose of 10mg, and got to wondering whether I might be having an adverse reaction, or if side effects are supposed to completely incapacitate you? If so, how do people manage jobs, families and life in general while on this medication?

Also, this pill has doubled my feelings of anxiety. I'm shaky, my digestive system is in overdrive, my jaw chatters, my stomach is tied in knots, and my muscles are all out of wack...my doctor said this stuff would calm me...I don't feel calm. I just took another 10mg this morning, but had to spend all night talking myself into it first. This is a very unpleasant experience...

Can you let me know if this is normal? And if so, how long will these side effects last?

[mjbrady]

Ms. Sandra Y forgot to ask you if you are on any other medications, over the counter supplements, natural health products, herbal teas? Cough medicines? Or other prescription medications? This seems like a very extreme reaction and I'm concerned that it could possibly have been serotonin syndrome. Have you adjusted to your medication yet?

[Sandra Y, RPh]

What you've described are indeed common and known side effects to Paxil. It is not an allergic reaction as you would develop a rash or experience tingling or swelling of your tongue and throat.

Studies have shown that the side effects will gradually decrease with continued treatment over 4—6 weeks. Only 1-2% of patients experiencing these side effects discontinue the medication.