Effexor with paxil
Common Questions and Answers about Effexor with paxil
effexor
in the case of Effexor (Venlafaxine) it is ok to start most SSRI meds (Including Paxil) without first tapering down on the Effexor. In fact many people take Effexor along with an SSRI med as part of their treatment.
Effexor is different enough from Paxil that the odds of an adverse interaction is very uncommon. Now you would not be able to do the same with another SSRI like Zoloft, Lexapro, Prozac, ect.
SSRIs often interact with the metabolism of lots of medications. Paroxetine (Paxil), Fluoxetine (Prozac) and Citalopram/Escitalopram (Celexa, Lexapro) are inhibitors of CYP2D6 - the enzyme responsible for metabolizing lots of medications. Fluvoxamine (Luvox) is inhibiting another enzyme.
Sertraline (Zoloft) do not have this side effect, and Venlafaxine (Effexor, a SNRI) is also perhaps a good choice, as itdood said.
My own advice is to taper down very slowly on the Paxil if you want to stop taking it before taking another med. Effexor will not necessarily substitute for Paxil, so you could find yourself suffering Paxil withdrawal and thinking it's a side effect of Effexor, nor should you be taking both at the same time since that could lead to an overload of serotonin. Do you have a psychiatrist or a regular doc?
It would probably be more helpful to the person asking the question if you took your arguments with each other off to your message board. Whatever effexor did to one and whatever paxil did to the other is not a competition. As both of you said one time or another, people have their own experience with medication and react the way they do individually, and cannot be applied to ALL, just because you experienced it. Everyone goes through things in different degrees, different variables, etc.
How quickly did you go off the Paxil to the Zoloft? It sounds like you've got some withdrawal mixed in with side effects, especially since the Paxil is making you feel better. It's a very tough drug to quit for many people, and if you move quickly from drug to drug you don't know if it's withdrawal from the old drug or the new drug.
It does depend on the person, but statistically, the most severe withdrawals for the most people by far are with Paxil and Effexor. Whether Lexapro has fewer side effects or just different ones is again dependent on you, not anyone else. It might be, it might not be. You have to try it to find out. You might want to wait some period of time after stopping the Paxil successfully before you try something else just to give your brain some time to try to adapt to normal first.
I too have GAD and depression, it can be a challenge to figure out which medication is the best since each person is unique. Can I ask a couple questions?
Are you seeing a psychiatrist for your medications? The reason I ask is because many people get their meds from a general practice doctor when really we should all be getting them from a psychiatrist, they are the ones who truly understand mental health issues and the meds used to treat them.
Have you or are you in counseling?
I'm confused -- are you saying that you're on Effexor and Zoloft and Paxil at the same time? Or Prozac and Paxil at the same time? You can't do that unless you've tapered down slowly off the Paxil -- you can't take two drugs that target serotonin at the same time if you're still at a medicinal dose of the first one.
For me, my weight gainer was Paxil, which is more likely to be a big weight gainer than Effexor because Effexor is a stimulating drug that affects norepinephrine as well as serotonin, while Paxil only affects serotonin, but I gained 50 pounds over a period of years. When I stopped I almost immediately lost 30 of those 50 pounds, but not the other 20.
no, i went several months trying natural things like 5htp and omega oils. i do think it's much easier going from one antidepressant to another. i went from paxil to effexor with no problems, now i'm back on paxil. if you start the celexa then the withdrawal will probably go away. for me effexor was the worse antidepressant i've ever taken. if you take celexa i hope it works for you. take care.
I have been taking Paxil for PTSD for several years. It has also markedly helped with my fibromyalgia , irritable bowel syndrome, and urinary incontinence.. When I first started taking it, it caused me to lose 27 pounds. I have heard from doctors that after a while the Paxil can "turn on you" and start causing the same symptoms it was alleviating, such as weight gain, anxiety, etc., as well as new symptoms.
It depends on whether, known or unknown to you, depression is a problem. Effexor is a stimulating antidepressant that makes some people, especially those with primary anxiety, more anxious, and wellbutrin is a very stimulating antidepressant. Sometimes wellbutrin is combined with an ssri such as Paxil to combat the weight gain. So you might want to try the Zoloft or maybe Lexapro and see what happens.
Having both worked very well for me. As the Effexor kicked in we weaned off the Valium. I took Effexor 75 mg for three years with very good results (I promise I will get to Prisiq soon.) It did not make me feel immediately better but gradually over time, I realized that I was not constantly worrying about things. I no longer have thoughts that my airplane is going to crash when I go on vacation (three months prior to the trip!). The intial side effects were extreme dry mouth and sweating.
Certain drugs could be responsible like metoclopramide, prednisone, effexor, an antidepressant, paxil, an SSRI, wellbutrin, an antidepressant, Zoloft an SSRI and dextroamphetamine, a CNS stimulant. Consult a neurologist soon who will evaluate you for these symptoms and investigate these appropriately.
Take care.
Just a cautionary note on Effexor. My wife switched from Paxil when it was discovered that it severely reduced the effectiveness Tamoxifen she was taking following breast cancer. She switched to Effexor which did not interact, but now that she's on it, getting off of it to go back to Paxil is very difficult. While she's not "hooked" on it, stopping Effexor can cause some wild effects. There is lots of web reading on this, so just be careful.
I also, recently, have been experiencing the sweating of the face, head and neck. I take Paxil (40mg) once a day and at bed time along with a water pill, Hydrochlorothiazide (25mg). During the day if I exert myself, even the smallest amount, I'm wringing wet. Its disgusting! Unfortunately, it IS a side effect of the Paxil. I was on Effexor from 1987-2001.
I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a good anxiety drug other than Paxil, Effexor or Lexapro. I was on Paxil for years and it worked well for me but my doctor switched me to Lexapro which made me extremely sick as did Effexor. Anyway, now I am about to go back on Paxil because it was the only drug that really worked for me and didn't make me sick but I have one problem.
s no way of knowing how each different SSRI or SNRI will effect someone, and you can switch from Paxil to Prozac, and actually to stop taking antidepressants (especially those with shorter half-lives such as Paxil or Effexor with a half-life of 24hrs) it is recommended to switch to one with a longer half life such as Prozac with a half-life of 4-6 days.
I took Paxil for a few months then switched to Effexor because it was giving me too many side effects (and I was on a low dose)
I can't imagine just stopping an SSRI without weening off of it. I am NOT a fan of them (even tho I still take 75mg of Effexor XR but every time I even look at a dr they want to push it up up up). I was placed on Paxil when I was 9 (they gave it to kids then and it was pretty new as were SSRIs I think) and didn't manage to get myself weened off of it until I was 25 despite the fact it only worked, if it worked at all, for a few months.
I, personally, like Effexor. After being on Effexor XR for about 7-8 years, my psychiatrist switched me to Pristiq (which is Effexor Lite) last year because it was cheaper for me to get than the Effexor was. I can tell you this, it is the best medication for me. I'd been on Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, Zoloft, and some old-school MAOI's. But nothing, nothing, worked as well as the Effexor for my anxiety disorder.
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