Paroxetine for Social Anxiety Disorder User Reviews (Page 4)

• Cha...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 23, 2018

"I started Paxil around 4 months ago. I started on 20 mg. The side effects were horrific, but I stuck with it. It made me sick, I was shaking, but all that didn't last long. I felt a difference after around 5 weeks. Then I increased to 30 mg after 2 months. The 30 mg honestly changed my life. I've gone from being anxious with anyone, including family, when talking to them, to being so much more confident and anxiety-free. I did up my dose to 40 mg, but it screwed everything up. I had increased anxiety, feeling sick, it was awful. Now I'm back down to 30 mg. It's honestly changed my life, and it was my last hope! I've tried every other medication out there. Stick with this, you will see a difference."

• Rox...
• May 29, 2017

Paroxetine "Got a big rash on my abdomen that got increasingly painful and itchy. An allergic reaction to the medication (I wasn't taking anything else at the time). This was a shame! Because the medication had a substantial effect on my social anxiety. The first few days I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster, but then I started to really enjoy social interaction, I could understand why people talked to other people for fun! Only ended up taking it for a little over a week but wanted to share my experience in case anyone else is experiencing a rash."

• xDa...
• October 31, 2015

"Seroxat (Paxil) has been amazing for my anxiety so far. I started at 10 mg and am now at 30 mg. It started to work at 20 mg, though I felt a slightly higher dose would be beneficial, and it was. I may step up to 40 mg, though I am aware that the additional benefit onto 30 mg is minimal, especially considering it is beginning to show beneficial effects. I was previously taking Lustral (Zoloft) at the maximum dose of 200 mg, and although it helped my depression immensely, the effect on my anxiety was minimal. Paxil is rather the opposite. Because social anxiety is my main issue, I much prefer Paxil, though if it were depression I would choose Zoloft. I have been on Paxil for over 2 months."

• dav...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 17, 2022

"I took this drug for 3 months at a dose of 20 mg. At first, increased anxiety and insomnia for the first week. It actually lowered my social anxiety and negative thoughts, but also lowered my motivation level. I slept 12 hours a day, couldn't climax or cry. I decided that life without emotions is not life, and I went off the drug, which was also not a pleasant experience - I had to cut the pill into 1/8 parts."

• Anonymous
• July 13, 2010

Paroxetine "I was on Paxil CR 25 mg for 5 years and 37.5 mg for about 1 year. My doctor and I decided to wean me off due to feeling that it wasn't working as it used to, and I didn't want to increase the dose. The weaning process went too quickly, and I suffered withdrawal symptoms-brain zaps, brain fog, crying, severe mood swings, just to name a few. I also had a rush of emotions that were hidden from being on it. My family and friends said that when I first started taking it, they noticed that I had been withdrawn, but they thought that I was happy because my anxiety was gone."

• Tyr...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 21, 2020

"I have been taking Paxil 10 mg a day in the mornings. Side effects were minimal and subsided within a couple of days. It’s been 3 weeks now, still no side effects. Hoping it works during weeks 4 or 6. My doc is going to up my dose to 20 mg on week 4, so I’m going to be patient and wait until it kicks in and let you guys know how I feel."

• kal...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• June 7, 2020

"20 years on this. It works quite well, I used to have totally crippling social anxiety. Now I have it mild to moderate and can have relationships, career, etc. It took a couple of months to know it actually did something. I'm now on 40 mg, 20 mg works also, but not as well. I might consider trying up to 60 mg. I do augment with Propranolol 40 mg 1-4 times a day, and I feel it really helps for the physical symptoms. Side effects: hard to reach orgasm, restless legs (countered with Gabapentin 600 mg 1-2 hours before bed), memory not great. Having tried some other drugs for social anxiety (Gabapentin and Buspirone, as well as a myriad of OTC stuff), I am convinced I feel Paroxetine is quite potent. I would like to try an MAOI-type drug, but in my country, they are not really available without a special license, and even with it, there is some hassle of getting it from the pharmacy, etc."

• bra...
• July 11, 2009

Paroxetine "My son, then 12, started Paxil for social anxiety after going to a new school. The pediatrician gave us none of the warnings about the drug. He started him on 10 mg/day for 4 weeks and said, 'We know this dose does nothing, but we need to load him. After 4 weeks, fill this prescription for 20 mg/day.' At 2-3 weeks, my son was raising his hand and greeting teachers in the hall. At 4 weeks, he initiated a belligerent locker room incident with a boy who mocked him. After doubling the dose, he was verbally aggressive to us and ran away. When we found him, he was soaked in sweat. He later told a friend he'd 'felt like jumping off something but didn't know what.' His doctor had no idea how to wean him. We found a psychiatrist who did."

• Ann...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 4, 2018

"In 11th grade, Doc prescribed this to me when I told him I suffered from social anxiety and GAD. He gave me some Paxil samples to try. The first few days I felt tired and numb. I also felt like something was trying to control all of my negative thoughts. At night, when I was watching TV, I felt a wave of panic hit me. That was my first panic attack. I never had one before. I had to lay on the bed and talk myself out of the rapid heartbeat and sudden terror. A couple days later, I was practicing tennis with my team. Out of nowhere, my vision went black, but I was still conscious. I told the coach that I couldn't play anymore that day because I wasn't feeling well. He thought I was making excuses and told me to run 5 laps after practice. Anyway, I had to sit on the bench and calm myself down. I basically experienced a panic attack and nearly blacked out. The next day, I took myself off of it cold turkey. I ended up having heart palpitations the entire day. Not the drug for me."

• May...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• October 8, 2021

Paroxetine "I was on 3 SSRIs before Paxil for social anxiety, and this one worked the best. I was a year and a half on it, but unfortunately, I started to shake too much, and I got black spots on my legs like someone punched me. My psychiatrist told me it was from Paxil, and I got hot, burning in some areas, which hurt. I had to quit Paxil, I was on 30 mg. Now I tried to quit, and my anxiety is slowly coming back. I was thinking of trying Zoloft because everyone is saying that it's great. So, yeah, sad, but I hope I will find some drug that will work great for me."

• Mm9...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 1, 2020

Paroxetine "I started taking Paxil after being SSRI free for 8 months. Side effects of citalopram were worrying in the long run. My very good memory was suddenly poor, and when I drank alcohol, I could barely remember the night. So I stopped the Paxil. But I could only live with my mind for 8 months. I had panic attacks at work daily, and it was too much to take. I'm 25, so having social anxiety is a nightmare. Paxil. Initial side effects of Paxil were bad considering I only started on a 5 mg dosage! Ringing in ears. Tingling in my arm. Constant and for weeks! Side effects stopped, and I really did feel better until now. 3 months in. And my hair is falling out in chunks. I'm female. My hair is thick and curly and one of the only things I liked about myself. Liked, because now it is thinner by half. I googled a link between Paxil and hair loss, and although poorly reported, I wasn't the only one that has experienced this. Pills are not a cure. This is not a cure. It's a disease."

• Kat...
• November 24, 2017

"Came back again, saw my old comment on paroxetine (katharinne24). Everything was going great until I decided to stop it for some reasons. After a week, I was feeling tremors inside of me without shaking from the inside. I have been on the pill since January 2017. So I guess it was the withdrawals. It feels terrible. I talked to my doctor about it, and he said if I stopped them, I would go into depression. Which I know I can do this without them. People who are thinking about starting paroxetine, please be open-minded about it. If you're planning to have kids later on in the future, the withdrawal symptoms are really bad. I hope this helps you guys. I know it's hard. But try without the pill. Good luck to everybody that has anxiety."

• Leg...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 4, 2018

"This medication really didn't do much. I took it for 6 weeks on 20 mg. I didn't have really any side effects besides extreme tiredness and extreme lack of motivation. Now, 6 weeks in, I was still super anxious and depressed. It really did nothing for me at all. It is supposed to be the best for social anxiety, but I didn't experience anything beneficial. It was really just a waste of time."

• PER...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 17, 2017

"Been on Paxil for about 3 months, starting my fourth. It's been helping me a lot with my panic disorders and social experiences. My mg for Paxil is low, 20 mg. However, whoever is starting this medication, don't get discouraged; it will take (1 month) time for Paxil to kick in, but it will be worth it. A big con is that ejaculation time got delayed."

• Mic...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 14, 2018

"I came back to report the efficiency of this medication after I initially posted in February. The medication has been working very well. It controls the anxiety symptoms, makes me outgoing, and even controls negative thoughts. The only con is, as others mentioned as well, weight gain. For every mg, you gain 1 lb or 1 kg (depending on exercise, diet, etc.). I tried both approaches: to eat healthy and exercise, with no success to lose weight, and to eat small or very little, again, no weight lost. This is the only downfall for me. As I said, I have been on this med for 3 1/2 months. Overall, it is worth taking."

• Jak...
• June 12, 2018

"I have been taking the generic version of Paxil - paroxetine (20 mg tablets) once a day for nearly a year now and can say that it has definitely helped with my social anxiety. I finally feel like I can talk to people in a serious manner without starting to feel completely under pressure. Those that have social anxiety know exactly what I am talking about. It also helped me with my sexual performance and caused me to last much, much longer than I used to be able to in bed. This had some downfalls at first, but eventually, I was able to train myself to peak at will after a certain time during sexual intercourse. I also want to touch base on drug use while on this drug, I rarely drink, only on special occasions. As far as alcohol goes, I noticed that I would get drunk much quicker than usual and feel much worse the coming morning. This caused me to adjust how much I drink when I do drink."

• Soc...
• February 1, 2016

"I was put on this for 4 months. A lot of the panic attacks went down, but more stress was added. The side effects for me were easier bruising, nausea, fatigue, migraines, etc. It caused me to skip school a lot, and I got behind, so it added more and more anxiety and was not worth it. I recommend no medication and therapy for social anxiety, and to help stomach aches and headaches, use tiger balm and gin-gins (you can buy them at Whole Foods stores)."

• bin...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• June 14, 2015

Paroxetine "Paxil is good at first, but the 'good' influence will wear out as soon as your body gets used to it. While on it, I felt confident, but only on the surface (the med alleviates the physical aspects of SA). On the inside, however, I'm filled with self-doubt, negative thoughts, jealousy of naturally confident people, etc. It also made me careless, not give a damn about socializing, so I'm less interested in social situations, more isolated, fear people's views of me. Anyways, please do not consider taking it as it's only a temporary fix. I was dumb enough to believe the success stories written here and tried it. I now have trouble quitting because of the nasty withdrawal symptoms."

• ron...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• June 21, 2019

Paroxetine "Paxil is a terrible medication. It did not help me, I was worse. It took 6 months to get the side effects off, and it's been 1 and 1/2 years, and I still have panic attacks and claustrophobia. They don't last long now. Don't take Paxil or Zoloft, they are both bad meds."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• July 27, 2012

Paroxetine "I don't think Paxil ever worked for me, and it always made me feel really bad, but I think my social anxiety was a lot better. I feel much better now without Paxil, and I'm on Zeldox and Lamictal, but I'm getting pretty bad anxiety, so I'm trying to find a good medication for anxiety, and especially social anxiety because it makes me feel really bad at university. I was on Paxil, Risperdal, Lamictal, and Zeldox before, and I was always extremely tired. I think I'm less tired now, but I can't remember how tired I was before. I was on Paxil when I was 13, and it also made me feel really bad and didn't do anything for my depression, and it didn't help. I'm 24 now."

• Anonymous
• July 29, 2008

Paroxetine "It changed my life. I had severe social anxiety. I felt better by the 3rd day."

• Min...
• March 22, 2016

Paroxetine "I'm on Paxil one year, eight months. I'm a new lady, really nice and social now. I can go anywhere I want. The world knows I'm a new person. Thanks, Paxil, for giving me my life back."

• SJM...
• November 9, 2014

Paroxetine "It really works! But I gained 14 pounds."

• sja...
• October 20, 2015

Paroxetine "Has changed my entire life. Only side effect is delayed orgasm."

• Ann...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• June 5, 2024

"At first, no difference just made me feel tired. After six weeks, the sun began to shine and the sky was blue, my anxiety/depression lifted. Made life better for me."