Posted by Bob on September 30, 1999, at 12:52:00
In reply to thanks Bob...., posted by jennyann on September 30, 1999, at 12:19:58
I'm not partial to anything -- except perhaps clonazepam. When I've forgotten to take it in the AM, I certainly know it, feel it, by noon ... I know what it prevents. But there is some subtle, undefinable something that has been different since I've been on clonazepam ... I don't know what it is, but I know it's there, and it's the only med I'm truly grateful to be taking. (btw, clonazepam = generic klonopin; I'm also on zoloft and nortriptyline.)
Paxil, from the start, was a nightmare for me. The only thing it did was support me enough to keep my nose above water, and thank God the waters were still at the time. I felt complete emotional detachment from my life, except for the slightest trace of sadness ... which made things worse. It let me know how bad I felt to be missing things -- in all the emotional silence, that shred of sadness was like a scream. But no matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't cry. Not a single tear. It was truly maddening. After giving it two months, I demanded to switch. So did my GP -- SSRIs were playing havoc with my cholesterol and he wanted me off of them altogether. So, after a bit of a wash-out period, I was to start wellbutrin. Two days into tapering off the paxil, the withdrawal hit. Rage. Terror at beign outside or around people. Whole body shakes. It felt like my nerves were on fire. I started up on the Wellbutrin and all of that disappeared immediately. That period where I was starting up the wellbutrin and washing out the paxil wound up being one of my best months or so on ADs, but the effects of being on either one alone scare the hell out of me, and wellbutrin hasn't had the same boosting effect from/with prozac, either.
So that's my paxil nightmare in a nutshell...what p*ss*s me off so much about it right now is the add for paxil in this week's TV Guide, up in the color pages very near the front. While the ad might be a blessing in general for trying to ride Bob Dole's "ED" coattails and bring social phobia into the realm of disorders that it's okay to admit you have and to talk about, it's blowing waaaay too much sunshine about itself on that first page, giving the impression that its as gentle as an herbal tea or something. Of course, that first page of the ad is followed by a two-page spread of the drug monograph, printed in about 6-point type, and 90% of that being contraindications, warnings, and side-effect information. ARgh!!!!
Sorry ... just had to vent. I'm glad it works for some people ... I just wish it had NEVER entered my life.
Grr
Bob
poster:Bob
thread:12306
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991001/msgs/12333.html