Paxil question - Interstitial Cystitis Network Support Forum

photomom · 07-11-2004, 05:10 PM

If you take it, do you take it in the morning or at night?

I just started it 4 days ago and can't take it in the morning like prescribed. I get to tired and can't function so I am taking it at night now

Also has it helped you with your IC?

I took Evail and it made things worse for me. I was a crazy woman and I felt like I wasn't able to void well while on it.

TIA!

HillaryD · 07-12-2004, 01:53 PM

I'm on Paxil Cr and I take it at night, because it made me too sleepy as well. I think it has helped my IC because I am not as stressed as I used to be and not as depressed. But, I am also on Atarax and Elmiron, so I can't say for certain that it's the Paxil that has helped, but in my mind it has. I wish you luck!

ad8123 · 07-19-2004, 07:38 PM

It was helping and yes it usually makes me sleepy I take mine at night.

A bad bit of news about the Paxil though I was taken off it for 5 days to have a test done and I went into wothdrawl (my dose was 10mg but i was on Elavil for 8 months before that). The withdrawl was the absolute most terrible thing I have gone through, they made me start taking it again even though I have not had the test yet and after I get to feeling better my primary said she wil start to ween me off. I am not sure how I feel about this med, it was really helping with mood and anxiety (I get very tense when a flare begins and that makes it worse this helped) but I hate being dependent on meds and this is my 2nd antidepresant Elavil made me crazzy and I gained 30 pounds (I am quite a blip now).

I hope they work for you just be VERY carefull if you are ever told to stop them suddenly-say NO!

photomom · 07-19-2004, 07:57 PM

I had a bad flare after starting Paxil, I only took it for 5 days, with in 48 hours of stopping paxil, my flare went away with in hours....... could my flare been from paxil? I had not had one that bad since my first flare in nov 2003. URGH!

blue · 07-19-2004, 08:35 PM

I don't take Paxil, I take Imipramine, and it makes my drowsy, so I take it at night.

Teri · 07-20-2004, 06:38 PM

I had a horrible experience comming off of Paxil. THe drug had quit working and when I weaned off, it took 2 months and I was on a suicide watch the whole time. While the drug worked for me like a miracle drug for 2 years. once it quit working, it was like overnight. Thank God I had my husband and my daughter to help me get thru the withdrawal......

Just be very very careful with it and if you do have to go off of it for testing, start weaning way before the dr tells you to..............

I was so angry with my withdrawal that I thought every shrink should have to go on it just to see what it was like trying to get off of it.

wishing you the very very best~

mayray518 · 07-20-2004, 10:33 PM

It's strange how differently people react to different drugs. I have been on elavil for six years. It has helped with my IC. I had the tiring side effect but nothing else. I have also used prozac for depression (which is an SSRI like paxil). A doctor put me on paxil at a high dose in the old days when I first got IC and I woke up one morning and didnt even know where I was. I had dreamed all night and thought the dreams were true. Couldnt distinguish between reality and the dreams. I went off that pronto. I never had any psychotic reaction like that with prozac. Guess everyone is different.

poetgirl · 07-21-2004, 11:33 AM

I'm taking 12.5 mg of Zoloft at night, along with 12.5 - 25mg of Elavil and have been since April. I'm going to have to stop taking the Zoloft because I really can't tolerate it anymore. I was able to deal with the ocassional sedative-like effect of Elavil by itself because it wasn't too bad, but combined with Zoloft, I find it extremely difficult to get up in the morning, and lately I've just been feeling lousy -- headaches and flat affect. With the flat affect, I feel like I'm trapped inside my body emotionally. I can't stand it. I don't feel like myself at all and don't have any energy, which is starting to depress me a lot! Thank God my boss has been really understanding about my health issues and has allowed me to work from home when I need to (which has been a lot lately because I can't even drag myself out of bed first thing in the morning) but who knows how long that will last. I'm going back to my doctor tomorrow and I think I want to begin weaning myself off the Zoloft.

fireflicker285 · 07-21-2004, 12:49 PM

I found when I first started taking the paxil at 10 mg. it made me very drowsy. I was told to take it at night and still do. I think it helps my bladder slightly, but not that much. I also still take it because the withdrawal is terrible. Tried it and went back on Paxil. As well I take a low dose of Atarax (which zombies me out) and Elmiron. (which doesn't seem to help much). Sorry for being negative. I am in a bad flare for a while now.

ad8123 · 07-22-2004, 12:45 PM

I am giving up on all my meds and getting weened off the paxil, nothing works and I am sick of Mds and thier bills so IC sucks and I have had enough of it. Good luck to everyone else.

peealot · 07-22-2004, 02:25 PM

leanne,
I have been on Paxil for 13 years now. I have slowly gone up on my dose from 20 mgs to 60 now. For the first several years the Paxil worked great. I have had to steadily increase my dose because I would have bad eppisodes. I have heard from a great deal of people that if I ever go off of it to watch out. The withdrawl from Paxil is supposedly horrible. If I could change what I am on I would but I am scared to even try to get off of it. It did wonderful for me for a long while. I hope you have success with it.

Grammy · 07-16-2008, 10:20 AM

Does anyone use this or know if it would help as much as the antidepressants that we are all taking. Like so many of you I have taken so many and I think they contribute to my fatigue and overall feeling of flatness. In Germany St. John;s Wort outsells all other antidepressants. I know that you need to be sure to get pure St John's Wort and you need to be careful about being in the sun but other than that I do not know much about it. Also do not know if it will help with anxiety. So many antidepressants make it almost impossible for me to get out of bed as I am too tired.

stef000 · 07-16-2008, 01:09 PM

Grammy....there is another supplement that is out there that could be better than St.Johns wort....
Its called 5-HTP...and it reacts naturally to the serotonin so then it is more of a natural serotonin enhancer and it has shown to have less side effects...
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/5-htp-000283.htm
hope this helps..