Topic Title: two questions from a first timer
| |  "two questions from a first timer"
, Sun 31 Mar 18:29
Am considering trying SJW rather than doctor recommended medications for generalized anxiety and moderate depression. My doctor is extremely reliable and highly recommends paxil, yet I've read too many horror stories (mainly on websites). Have read countless personal accounts where the doctors are promoting paxil and claiming minimal side effects or withdrawal effects. Now this is exactly what my OWN doctor is saying. So how can all the terrible personal experiences be explained? Am I safe to assume the the people are right and the doctors are wrong? Also, as I lean towards trying SJW, I am absolutely inundated with brand options. This site is helpful, yet discusses every brand across the board creating major confusion for me. Can anybody recommend something they consider to be a "sure thing"?
Posts: 0 | | Registered: Sat 30 Mar 2002 10:53 |
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| | "Re(1):two questions from a first timer" , Mon 1 Apr 05:20
Hi there,
I tried Paxil (Paroxetine here) and didn't like it, although it didn't make my toenails drop off or anything like that :) Lots of people do very well on prescription drugs - bear in mind that people are far more likely to report horror stories than success stories, which is likely why you have heard so many.
However, from what I have read most people seem to have a very positive experience of SJW, which leads me to think that bad experience are few and far between - so far, I have yet to come across any in all my research.
As to what brand you get - as I am assuming you are in the States I can't really help :( but others here likely can...
Posts: 69 | | Registered: Tue 12 Mar 2002 5:43 |
| | | "Re(2):two questions from a first timer" , Fri 26 Jul 17:16
Yes, I agree, alot of the stories people say about some Medications are mostly Horror ones. I rescently was on Paxil(Paroxetine) and I admit it did help my problem. I also had some Side Effects, which were: Headaches, Tiredness, Body Tics, Visual Hallucinations. (Which may or may not have been caused from the Paxil medication, yet i never had the problems before I was on Paxil, could have just been my body confusing me). But everyone reacts to everything differently.
P.S: I'm glad your toenails didn't fall off. =)
Thanks for your time.
Posts: 0 | | Registered: Fri 26 Jul 2002 17:10 |
| | |  "Re(2):two questions from a first timer"
, Tue 2 Apr 01:45
Dmriddle: I hope I don't sound like I'm contradicting your doctor, but I think I can go some way towards explaining what is going on.
Doctors get most of their pharmaceutical info and training from the drug companies, in particular from their representatives. Reps put a lot of time into explaining how to prescribe new drugs, their applications etc. Then the doctor prescribes that drug and everyone is happy. I don't want that to sound conspiratorial, because it's not. It's just exceedingly good marketing and it works. Has anyone stopped to wonder why so many doctor's prescriptions mention the drug's trade name instead of its generic name?
Two more things work against doctors finding out the full picture of a drug's side effects. The first is that it's contrary to the drug companies' interests to provide exhaustive info like that. The FDA is satisfied with a list of them; the actual rates tend to be extrapolated from the pre-approval trials.
The second problem is that patients don't tend to report side-effects back to their doctor. This is especially the case for sexual dysfunction, which is a pretty embarassing area for many patients. Similarly, patients don't generally know what side-effects correlate with the drug directly; often they think they have done something wrong themselves.
When Prozac was first launched onto the US market, it was sold as virtually side-effect-free. We know differently now. For a lot of people, the side-effects are a price they are willing to pay; in a good proportion of patients, they may even have no side effects at all.
Personally, I think there is a big problem with this whole situation. I don't doubt for a second that SSRIs (e.g. Paxil) are highly effective, esp in treating moderate to serious depression. I don't think of them as "evil". But I think SSRIs should not be the first choice for mild to moderate depression, and accordingly I think SSRIs are over-prescribed. And if patients are going to take them, then it falls to their doctors to give the patient a fair idea of what they are in for -- long term prognosis, side effects and withdrawal complications.
Epyx
Posts: 124 | | Registered: Mon 3 Dec 2001 22:11 |
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