honeydunce

News story on Paxil Addiction:

 found testimonies that I can relate to..all too well.

 the following post is from a Paxil forum, posted in 2000:

 Well, I made it. It has been nearly a year now, and I have survived. To date, I have managed to get 6 other people off that damned pill or one of it’s bastard brothers. It hasn’t been easy. One poor guy was put on it by his doctor to help him deal with the stress of having a light case of asthma. The doc kept upping his dosage over a 6 month period because he was feeling increasingly violent towards his girlfriend for no reason and finally attacked her and his mother(something he had never done before.). After that, he sat down and read all the information I have been putting together for the past 10 months. He is on suicide watch and is taking himself off slowly because his doctor refused his request to get off the stuff and instead upped the dosage.  

Anyway, in all my searching, I have found a few books and authors that helps those trying to understand what is happening quite a bit. “Toxic Psychology” is wonderful. It deals with ssris and other drugs of that nature. I think every doctor should have to read that book instead of quoting what the drug reps tell them. 

As to myself, I can now read an entire book without crying from confusion, and I remember what clothes I have on. I no longer think about killing myself or those I love and my sexual drive is recovering slowly. 

However, I am still living with the effects of this pill. My children are a little distant from me because of what that pill turned me into. I have placed them in councling and it seems to be helping. All of it, all the negative feelings they are expressing, go back to the time I was on that pill. My marriage is in ruins and my husband of 16 years and I are discussing divorce. Too much happened, and he too is hurt. My liver has recovered well, but my heart has not. There was serious damage done to it and my new doctor doesn’t know if it is repairable. I am still packing around most of the wieght even though I go to the gym every week and workout. My doctor has tried medicine to bring it down because of the heart damage, but I have only managed to loss about 15 lbs. 

There is life after Paxil, but you have to fight for it. Hard. And then, during this battle, you have to face what damage was done. My motto has always been that which does not kill us makes us stronger. It has never been more true. 

You can do it. Alone or with a new doctor, you can do it. Turn it into a quest. Research, research research. Find others in your circle of family and friends that are on the stuff and show them the information you find. Give copies to your doctors. Make every day of the withdrawl a fight to study and learn. Get angry. Write letters. Tell anyone who will listen. Keep a diary. Write in it everyday. Everything you feel, no matter how horrible. Pages and pages. I did. And it helped alot. 

There is life after Paxil, or Prozac, or Zolofft and all the others. 

To date over 19 million Americans are on ssris. That number is expected to double in just two years. And more and more doctors are refusing to take their patients off it, instead upping the dosage or switching them to other ssris. Someone has to stop it. 

Who better then the ones that have been through it.

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It took me too long to decide, I should have decided the first day I took this drug. I have lived for 12 years in a life of unreality. I have been off Paxil now for three months, and I am just starting to remember life as it really is. I really believe these Perscriptdion ADs are just a part of the Capitalistic System, and aren’t really there to help the people but to help the Drug Companies. I think a cup of coffee or tea, a joint, or a glass of wine is a more natural, and reasonable way of medicating through stressful times. I was a Paxil Junkie for 12 years, it made me a Zombie. Never again will I go along with establishment methods of solving problems with the use of Chemicals, a big mistake. I know you will appreciate your decision when you look back on it years from now.  

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It has been 2 years since my paxil hell that lasted more than 6 months and I am still paying the price.I used to be a Registered Nurse with a MBA, yeah I still have the degrees I just can use them. I was fired from my job and landed in jail because of my inablility to make sound choices and the lack of caring about the outcomes of my actions. The world is all rosey while your on Paxil. Your life falls apart and you are left with the pieces. I feel robed of my life. I went from making over 1200.00 a week to 200.00 a week. I have lost my credit, my house, and my ability to have a good job ever again.I am more depressed now than before I took Paxil.I can never have my reputation back, but it would be nice to be compensated for my pain and suffering and the destruckion of a great life once lived.I am angry and hurt and lost and confused.I have a hard time with each day, knowing it will not get any better.I want to curl up in a ball and never get up.

But I have a child to raise and I can’t hardly do that any more.  

 

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Last year, as I was facing my final two semesters of college, I thought I’d seek assistance for being a little shy. I thought it’d be helpful to lose the shyness so that I could better function in the seminar classes that I had to take prior to graduation. Further, I believed that it would help me when I finally went out to look for my first big job. I talked with a psychologist and a psychiatrist, and they finally gave me Paxil. Paxil makes one do things he or she wouldn’t normally do. It makes you care about little to nothing other than, perhaps, making yourself happy. One just stops considering the consequences. Prior to taking the drug, I had a 4.0 GPA, a perfect driving record, perfect credit, and got along well with just about everyone around me. Within two weeks of going on it, I received my first ticket for allegedly running a stop sign. The police officer actually had me get out of the car because my eyes gave him the impression that I was on Meth or drunk. Another cop pulled up in a second car to cover me from another angle, while holding a flashlight on me. They treated me like I was dangerous or something! When I told him that I was taking Paxil, he informed me that I could be arrested for being under the influence of it. Eventually he let me go. 

  

Finally, I was cold toward my family and friends. I was not too worried about hurting anyone. People became objects to me. I had no emotions. I felt little to nothing. My thoughts were not right. When you don’t care about anything, you can be a destructive individual. When I finally tried to come off the drug after a couple of months, I had difficulty doing so. I became very sick with flu-like symptoms, but I never get sick from the flu. For about a month, I threw up three to four times a day. I couldn’t get the thought of dying off of my mind. My regular physician couldn’t help me get better. So I eventually entered the hospital. After a night there, things started to get better. I threw up just a few more times. Even though I quit the drug, I couldn’t make the consequences magically disappear. They’re still there, and a model life has been destroyed. Now I’m shy again. And who knows? Maybe Paxil damaged my brain. I don’t feel like I’m as sharp as I used to be. Thank God I didn’t physically hurt anyone else or myself (other than the minor injuries sustained in the auto accident). I imagine that it can be much worse for others, especially those who have serious personal problems prior to taking the drug.

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