heart palpitations

[patrica]

I was put on 20mg Paxil because of my anxiety of heart palpitations.  I found the Paxil to actually give me worse heart palpitations?????  Is that possible????  I stopped it yesterday because I had three days in a row where my heart would flip flop around for 5 beats or so and I got extremely dizzy.  I also was feeling still really anxious when on the Paxil (5 weeks).  Would the Paxil give me more heart palp??????  Thanks.

[HFHS MD - RG]

Any SSRI like Paxil, can make the symptoms of anxiety worse in the beginning. This is due to the reaction of your body as the it adusts to the medication.
Most of the time, the dose is cut in half (ie. 10 mg Paxil x 1 week) as the body slowly adapts to the medication. This strategy decreases the incidence of the side effects that individuals experience from the medications. As your body becomes adapted to the medications, the medication is given at its standard dose.

[Pamelina]

It is important not to stop the medication without your psychiatrist's recommendation, especially since Paxil needs to be titrated down.  In fact, the problem may be that you started on too much Paxil.  You may need to decrease to 10 mgs. for a week or two before upping the dosage.

I am not a doctor, but I do have a significant mental illness, and I urge you to contact your psychiatrist immediately for a recommendation.  Remember, your psychiatrist is your partner in combating your illness, and he can't be effective without accurate and up-to-date input from you.

Best wishes,
Pam

[katnevada]

Paxil was really bad for me also. It actually induced anxiety attacks and i had MORE frequent heart palps. I got off that stuff quick! However, am on buspar and it seems to not bother it. (also was on serzone, but that zombied me out)