Posted by pegasus on May 4, 2009, at 13:29:05
Hi everyone,
I've been on Paxil for around 5 years, and it has been wonderfully effective for me. It completely changed my life for the better. But there are side effects which I don't love. The one that is hardest to manage is that it makes me want to eat all the time, and so I've gained weight. I'm pretty good at managing it, and I compromise by keeping my dose low, but it's so much more of a struggle on Paxil than off.
I was willing to live with it, until recently, when I had some other medical issues come up. The most problematic is that I've been struggling with pancreatitis, which is really painful. It's triggered by eating certain things, and by eating large amounts. So, the Paxil is not helping me manage the pancreatitis.
I tried recently to go off the Paxil, and things seemed pretty good for about a week. Then I started noticing things going awry, in this order:
1. More and more times when I felt that old familiar depression, like life was such a burden, and I was always pushing through molasses to do anything.
2. Increasing irritability, and getting more upset by smaller problems. Plus totally unable to manage it. I'd know I was being unreasonable, but I simply could not be reasonable.
3. All of my emotions seemed turned up to 11 on the volume dial. Happy became crazy excited, and sad became slogging despair.
This is all what I was like before Paxil. I figure after 6 or so weeks, maybe the withdrawal was resolved and I was just back to my old self? Which I don't much care for. It just wasn't OK to be this way, especially as the mom of a small child. So I went back on.
Now I'm wondering whether it's worth switching to Lexapro or something. I like myself so much more on Paxil than off, and my recent adventures with going off were so unpleasant, that I'm reluctant to mess with something that's working. But, on the other hand, if it can help me lose some weight, and stop eating stuff I shouldn't, it might be worth it.
Any advice or comments? Maybe I just need a little courage?
Peg
poster:pegasus
thread:894217
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090426/msgs/894217.html