r/paroxetine

So, i am on day 15 of a 10mg -> 6mg taper.

I was starting to feel slightly better these days symptom-wise, but tonight I am feeling awful again. I can't help but wonder it's normal or I just missed my morning dose. I really can't bring me up to remember if i took my medication this morning.

Did any of you guys feel bad at this day of taper or is it unusual?

I juste stopped 20mg of paroxetine yesterday bc I didnt have any more money to see my therapist. I was at 60mg but had to take less for the same reason and I was fine but now my whole body hurts I cant stand up without having my head spinning like crazy and I have nausea (I have huge emetophobia)
I spent my day crying and praying I don’t throw up
I’ so scared to go back to the time I was feeling constantly sick

I'm looking for a bit of advice here.

I've been taking 30mg of paroxetine for a little over a year now and it's been a godsend for my anxiety.

Here's the catch, I'm debating switching because I'm in a new relationship and I would like to have sex with him and actually feel it internally. Ive discovered I cannot really feel anything when he's inside and it makes me sad and disappointed. Externally I feel things just fine.

I've been on other meds before and I was able to feel things. I'm just wondering if it's finally caught up with me. But I'm also kind of scared to decrease my dose and be anxiety ridden again.

I have an appointment with my dr next month and I think I should really talk to her about it. But at the same time...I'm nervous to go off of this and not have something else work as effectively.

Tldr: should I switch meds?

Hi, I've been taking Paroxetine for 9 days now for severe depression. I started at 10mg and I've been on 20mg for the last 3 days.

The first week on 10mg was extremely difficult. I basically spent the entire week lying on my couch. I had constant panic attacks and horrible anxiety almost all day, along with dizziness, nausea, vomiting, shaking and extreme fatigue.

Since increasing to 20mg, the panic attacks seem to have calmed down and I don't really have nausea or vomiting anymore. However, I now feel extremely weak, especially in my legs. My legs sometimes shake and I have this strange feeling inside them that's difficult to describe, almost like they're being tickled from the inside.

In the evening, I also feel like I've developed restless legs. When I'm sitting or lying down, I get this extremely uncomfortable sensation in my legs and feel like I HAVE to keep moving them. Moving them is basically the only thing that relieves it.

Has anyone experienced something similar during the first couple of weeks on Paroxetine? Did the weakness, shaking and restless legs eventually disappear as your body adjusted?

I'm already contacting my psychiatrist about these symptoms, but I'd really like to hear other people's experiences.

So every morning I take my paroxetine and at night when I’m going to bed I take a melatonin, I don’t know how but tonight I mixed them up, so this is the second one I’ve taken today, will I be alright? Do I just not take the paroxetine I normally do tomorrow morning to even things out and then go back to normal?

I initially started on 5 mg for the first 2 weeks and then titrated up to 10 mg. I'm actually feeling normal again and don't feel the need to drink a ton

Hi everyone! I’m a 31F with GAD and agoraphobia, with a bit of OCD sprinkled in there. I am at a point where my physical symptoms are too extreme for me to manage without medication, and unfortunately my experience hasn’t been the easiest with finding the right med for me.

I wanted to share my experience to see if anyone w similar responses to me can tell me if venlafaxine or paroxetine (Effexor/Paxil) worked better for them.

Lexapro didn’t touch my anxiety and made me gain 10 kgs/20 lbs.

Prozac and Pristiq did nothing for me

I had mild improvement with Zoloft

I am now on 75 mg of Effexor and I honestly really like it, it improves my mood and has lowered my anxiety somewhat, however I wanted something to really tackle the agoraphobia aspect of my anxiety. My psychiatrist mentioned that paroxetine was very good for this, but what worries me the most is the weight gain aspect of it.

Can someone that has tried both these meds share their experience w it? Thank you!

I posted on here before so I took Paxil for ppd and ppa I started from 10mg to 40mg but I was still dealing with anxiety so I switched to Paxil cr 37.5mg in like 2 months on this dose I got stable. I was almost a year out ppd and ppa so I thought I could get off Paxil cr. I went from 37.5 to 25mg for a month then 12.5mg a month then zero. Had terrible withdrawal went back to 12.5mg helped with withdrawal but anxiety was still there went up to 25mg. I’ve been on 25mg 10 weeks . I definitely see improvement I did get better but anxiety is still there chest tension it isn’t as intense as it was but it’s still there. Mood got better but still down. My sleep is still bad too I wake up 2-3am and wake up early like 7am I get like 5-6 hours of sleep even thought I take Paxil cr in the morning. I started ashwaganda 2 weeks ago it has helped with the chest tightness but it’s still there. I think it’s a cortisol issue cause as soon it hits 8pm I’m normal no chest tightness no anxiety. My doctor is telling me to go up 37.5mg but idk if it will make things worse but also I don’t know if 25mg will get better since I’m almost going to make 3 months on it. Please help I don’t know what to do.

If I’ve responded really bad to lexapro 10mg after 3 weeks and doctor wants me to cross taper to paxil, is 5mg lex and 10mg paxil going to work without having crazy side effects or should i just do 20mg paxil off rip and ditch lexapro

Hello everyone. I want to give some context. I’ve been on paroxetine 40 mg for 9 months now. And it mostly was completely fine. I had a great experience.

But one strong side effect it did: it completely killed my libido. I basically turned into asexual. And a few days back I had my first sex, I couldn’t get hard for awhile and even when I did, I couldn’t orgasm. It was terrible and I kinda feel embarrassed about it. Considering this was my first time. I quit cold Turkey for 3 days now and I started to feel some withdrawal symptoms.

Need help, advice and support.

I have been on 10mg paroxetine for about 3.5 years now. It was literally life-changing for me. I started doing regular therapy about 6 months after starting, and went consistently for 3 years. I finally "graduated" therapy a couple weeks ago because my therapist and I agreed I've got a good tool belt of coping skills and my anxiety/depression are basically nonexistent. I never would've gotten here if I hadn't been on the paroxetine first.

However, paroxetine caused me to gain so much weight. 30-40lbs since I started. Now, granted, I've had some life style changes as well, but nothing that would cause such drastic weight gain. And the weight gain lines up with the exact timeline of starting the meds. I've tried eating fewer cals, working out, everything and can't lose any of the weight. Since I feel so confident in my ability to tackle life now, I'm wanting to taper off the paroxetine and see how it goes without it.

Has anyone tapered off 10mg after being on it for so long? I know it's a relatively low dose, but the withdrawals I see people talk about are scary as shit. And after being on it for years I worry that it will be worse. TIA.

47M. Married, 2 grown kids, good career. I went to a doctor yesterday for the first time in 17 years. Fear of doctors and dentists. "White coat syndrome," as he put it.

Severe anxiety. "GAD?" Couldn't do a blood test. Triggered me to break down.

Long story short, he prescribed Paxil 10 mg once a day.

I've been reading on this. I see I can't quit this cold turkey, and its going to give me some sexual problems. Yet, I don't know what to expect. This is my first time ever taking a drug for a prolonged period of time. Doctor told me to take it before bed as it causes drowsiness. So I did that last night.

What can I expect? Please provide some helpful insight and advice. Thank you. Appreciate anything.

I am a 26 year old female on paroxetine 20 mg. I first began paroxetine 10 mg when I was 17 due to severe panic attacks, depression, and agoraphobia. Before the stress, anxiety, and depression I was a very motivated student and aimed for the stars. It wasn’t until after my competition season of senior year that I began to experience severe anxiety and depression. I began to have panic attacks in the middle of class. I was so close to dropping out of high school until my doctor had prescribed me paroxetine 10 mg. I remember I had no symptoms from it but I do remember that the anxiety and panic attacks did not go away immediately. It took quite some time for the medications for me to be comfortable with being in large crowds. I’d say about 5-6 months with the help of my support system.

I had been taking 10 mg very consistently up until this year. I am now an elementary school teacher and last school year was extremely harsh on me. I felt like I was playing mommy instead of being the teacher to multiple students and I completely got burnt out and overwhelmed by it. I began to experience the anxiety and depression again in January of 2026 but tried my very best to get over it and remind myself that i’ve gone through tough situations before.

In May of this year I decided to seek help again as I was terrified that if I didn’t seek help, my career and love for teaching would end. I began therapy and also upped my dose from 10 to 20 MG and began taking 25 MG of hydroxyzine, Vitamin D, Magnesium Glycinate, and L-Theanine.

I will say the first few days felt like absolute bliss.. I felt like all of the voices and overthinking in my mind came to a halt.

Week 2-6 were extremely tough. I had experienced an increase in anxiety and agoraphobia. Hell, I was even afraid to drive on the road or stay home alone. I had grown extremely comfortable within the walls of my home that I began to fear what lies outside of these walls. So i spoke with my therapist and she suggested exposure therapy. After week 5 I immediately began to have at least 2 social events each week and tried driving in my neighborhood. It wasn’t easy but I forced myself to do it.

By the time week 7 rolled around I had no problem with reconnecting with my friends and making plans with them. I did still feel a bit anxious but it wasn’t as bad as before.

When I hit week 8 I noticed the depression subsided and despite the anxiety still being there, it wasn’t always a 10/10 but instead a 3 or 4/10 which is great progress!

Once summer was over it was time to go back to work. The morning anxieties weren’t as bad, I wasn’t waking up with a racing heart beat, or feeling like i have to throw up. On the first day of staff work day, I did feel a bit of anxiety during one of the meetings but I was able to take a few deep breaths and force myself into connecting with colleagues which made me feel better. (I also feel like I was anxious because I had only slept 4 hours the night before).

I am currently 11 weeks and 2 days into my 20 mg of paroxetine, 25 mg of hydroxyzine, Vitamin D, Magnesium Glycinate, and L-Theanine. I also had my first week of school this week. I will say I was nervous BUT zero panic attacks this week which is a plus. OH! I will say that I did cut out caffeine completely. I noticed this week I’d begin to get tired at around 12-2 PM so sometimes in the afternoons I’d have to tell myself that I’m just tired and not having a panic attack or anxious.

I feel like i’m slowly getting my life back on track!

So I've been on paxil for 30 years. Yes 30 years! I started when I was 22 and I'm 52 now. A year and a half ago I managed to come down from 30 mg to 20 mg first from 30 to 25 where I had really no discontinuation symptoms but 25 to 20. I was getting hot flashes and very vivid dreams. But that passed soon enough and I've been on 20 since then.

I recently been seeking help with alcohol addiction. I saw the psychiatrist within the program yesterday. We both agreed that it's probably time to get off of paxil so it looks like now there is about a 1-month plan to get off, but I will be also going on cymbalta one month seems really fast. I really hope I don't have any discontinuation symptoms, but hopefully the cymbalta will maybe mask those symptoms. Either way it's definitely time to make a change. I I haven't really had access to a psychiatrist in many many years. I've seen other therapists such as registered social workers and psychotherapists and psychologists who cannot prescribe medication and my GP is not a psychiatrist so she felt it was best to just keep me on paxil until I could get a psychiatrist recommendation. Has anyone else ever gone on this route that is coming off of paxil but starting another antidepressant?

I have tried to switch 3 times and failed. You would think since Ssris work similarly they would work. Even high dose Zoloft did nothing for me, no side effects either besides crazy eye zapping but that's gone away.

The only thing that does anything is Paxil, but the most common side effects yes I have. Yet it's the only thing that works. The side effects are the most out of anything ever though has anyone tried something that has worked for them well?

So last year i had an epsiode of anxiety and my doc upped my dosage from 30 to 40mg daily and it worked wonders for about 2 years. About a month ago i had a car accident and anxiety came back. Is it possible that the med stopped working? I did not have any side effects at all. I am afrid to up the dosage again cuz of the possible side effects. Any tips other than contacting my Doc again? Any experience?

I quit paxil cold turkey after using it for only 10 days and now i am nauseous headache brain zaps etc

Hi, I’ve been on 10mg for 5 days after having a series of panic attacks. I was having some mild side effects but nothing to really worry about the first days.
But now I cannot get an erection and have a slightly numb feeling in genitals.
I realise that I was not well informed when starting the medication, but I feel like this will not be beneficial for me with these detrimental side effects. I looked it up, and apparently this is common? Is that true?

I was thinking of stopping the medication, would that be safe at such a low dose after my short 5-day period?

Hello! I have panic attacks where I scratch myself or sh in other ways to try and ground myself.

About 4 years ago I saw I psychiatrist for the first time and started on sertraline and klonopin (as needed) because I was very unstable in my crowded college dorm. I think if I were to have been properly warned about ssri discontinuation I would have steered clear. I’m not sure that ssris truly made my anxiety better because I definitely still had panic attacks.

About 2 years ago I wanted off and started tapering (under supervision with NP). I failed miserably as I could not tolerate the brain zaps and new anxiety. My NP then put me on Paxil “because you can be on a lower dosage” which sounds like stupid reasoning because even though it was 12.5mg compared to 150mg of sertraline, it was doing the same thing?

I move again and start a big girl job and decide I really really want to be done and know what to expect. Right? Wrong. I tapered off Paxil with Prozac in the span of about a month.

It’s been about 3 weeks since my last dose and I’m experiencing the brain zaps, dizziness, and nausea like last time. Additionally, and most frustrating, my panic attacks are off the charts. I’m having at least one a day which means my chest, neck, and arms have been littered with scratches and scabs for weeks. Basically any time I experience normal adrenaline (walking quickly, an unexpected surprise, work stress) my body fully overreacts and I panic. I’ve definitely been leaning on the klonopin to get through my work days but I don’t like that. On top of that, I’ve been actually depressed which I don’t think I really was before, I’m having cycles or crying and intense, irrational thoughts (ie. I should just quit my job because I can’t handle basic stress, I’m worthless, etc).

Obviously this is not ideal. I see my psychiatrist tomorrow and I’ve drafted up some plans. I trust him but I also really would like some other professional or patient opinions.

I’ve tried beta blockers and clonidine in the past and I don’t think it helped then but I’m willing to give it a try now.

I’ve also researched the liquid hyperbolic taper where you decrease 10% for months. Has anyone had success with this? I’m scared to start from square one and just take pills all over again, but a plan where I am micro tapering sounds like it might work?

I feel pretty against starting back up at my original dose or trying a different ssri because my symptoms are new, leading me to believe it is withdrawal and not relapse.

Honestly any advice is welcome and I deeply appreciate any comments 🙏