Paxel

[Merciful54]

One of my best friends was just admitted to a hospital ( Mental ) to be treated for his 3.5 year battle with depression and anxioty.   the doctors are starting him on Paxel and I wondered if anyone knows the side effects of this drug, the time it takes to start to work and if it is the right drug for his disorder.

Thank you.

Murciful54

[briankxx6]

If it works for a person, than take it. there are a lot of older drugs that work just as well, and with less side effects, but may not work for everybody. I am not a fan of the Zoloft and Paxil. I did notice that interesting change that seems to happen a week after taking paxil, at the time my doctor told me, it does not work that way and needs a month to kick in. Can these types SSRI Anti-depression cause thoughts of suicide, OH YEAH!, can they cause side effects that seem worse than the treatment itself, again... yes.. They are not for everyone, and doctors now, I hope see that.. IF an AD works for you, great, but it may take trial and error ( unfortunately) to find one that works, oddly enough, it seems that the older more tolerable are not as profitable for pharmaceutical companies and they stop making them... It is sad when money is more important than human life.. but that aside.. a person who swears that prozac works the best, can not really recommend it, because what works for them, does not mean it will work for you..  This is not what u wanted to hear, [I] just want you to try to be patient and careful. I had been on a lot, and each change and new dosage dropped me deeper into a depressive and suicidal state.. The thought of a gun to my head, actually calmed me down.. and made me want to live another day, knowing I had a way out.. My doctor diagnosed me as BP2 disorder, if it has since been renamed and numbered, lets just say it's the more severe version..  He insisted on increasing the dosage of the drug, which made me get worse, and have nasty headaches.. I eventually gave up on the doctor, and did the opposite of what he said for me to do.. (not recommending it, but) Here's the kicker, The depression subsided, and the suicidal thoughts disappeared.. as for the bi-polar part.. It's been 3 years, and except for some minor depression (shorter days and lack of sunlight), I am fine. My depression has never been as bad as it was 3 years ago.. No more thoughts of a gun to my head..
and yes, Someone was wrong, I had been on AD's, half my life.. I am not saying u should avoid anti-depressants, If they work for you, great, all the power to u, and I wish u the best.. But I wonder if I ever had deep depression in the first place and especially bi-polar disorder.. On the meds, I could be happy and depressed and crying at the drop of a hat.. off the meds, my moods are more balanced and the depression I have had has been very minor.. downside is that I now get really bad headaches again..  and they stopped the production of midrin.. something I used for vascular headaches..  You should beware of the point that when u are changing from one AD to another, it takes a grace period of about 30 days,  while one wears off and the other kicks in. I do not think enough studies went into the drugs like zoloft and paxil, and a patient should always be cautious about what a doctor prescribes, more so with AD than most other meds.. Find out what you can about the drugs and ask the doctor questions, if u feel the doctor is not giving u the answers u seek, or enough pros and cons, find another doctor.. DO be sure the doctors rule out everything else, before you are put on that stuff.. if there is another chemical imbalance in the system, that needs to be dealt with, it could be causing the depression.. If u are under the age of 24, be careful about the meds as well, under 18 is a bad idea.. yes, kids can suffer from depression, but we as a society can't just give our kids drugs to deal with them because we are too lazy to actually help them the proper way.. Counseling and psychologists are a better bet, the ones that tend not to be able to prescribe drugs, do a better job and have more training in the area..  MD's and psychiatrists are not gods and should never act that way.. psychiatrists are MD's, and well it was explained this way to me, psychiatrists take 3 credits in psychology  and 4-6 years in medicine.. psychologist take 4-10 years in psychology, the psychologist can always request the medical doctor to prescribe meds as needed, and some have DEA licenses to prescribe meds... I am not saying psychiatrists are lame, but, I tend not to be as comfortable with them as I would with someone who has worked more with human life versus case studies on paper in books ( no offense intended on that).
( I have seen two shrinks and they both needed to get out more and quit pushing the drugs.)
both suggested counseling, but do not provide it themselves, which I always thought was weird...  Depression is serious, as serious as any other medical disorder. But we still treat the body and mind separately, instead of together. If one is malfunctioning, the other will suffer.. If you suspect u are falling into or are depressed, you are not being selfish, and seeing others worse off than u are, won't help u, if it does, u are not as depressed as u think and meds are probably not required.. You don't always cry and feel under the weather.. If u still stereotype what u should feel like, you really need to quit it.. Anyone can suffer from depression, even that happy camper co-worker and it is nothing to be ashamed of.   If u suspect you are falling into or are depressed GET HELP,  Antidepressants can help, but they are not miracles cures and should not be dispensed by themselves w/o  support. As uncomfortable as it may be to u, talking it out with someone DOES HELP, preferably a psychologist... (especially since friends might start avoiding you because you are not happy enough for them....btw, they are not true friends if they are not there for you, in good times and in bad..)
If u survived this winded text and it did not put you to sleep, there might be something wrong with u... if reading it does not bore you to sleep, nothing will.. cheers, good luck.. :)

[Jennifer375]

If your friend is caught in a terrible depression, Paxil is one option that may help. It IS hard to guess how he will react though so as a good friend , do keep your eyes open for worsening symptoms until it seems the storm has passed. Iv had a bad reaction to some SSRI's, but I know people who have been greatly helped by some of them.. and unfortunatly it seems the only good way to know for sure which the case will be, is as Hensley said, trying them.

What you can do to help is like I said, keep an eye open for strange comments, weird behavior,, be sure to STRONGLY discourage your friend from putting any other sort of chemicals into his body like alchohol, drugs, or even OTC herbals. And if you see him acting , well 'bizzare' or if he complains about things feeling 'unreal' (or even complains he feels out of body) then alert somone who can help asap. I honestly think these reactions are less common than it seems because when something doesnt work we complain but when they dont we do... so the complaints here such as mine with SSRI's may be most of what you see,, but there are people who find peace with these chemicals and Im hopeful your friend will be one of them.

*Bows in respect and apprication*       Jennifer