Saturday, March 26, 2011

Paxil And Its After Effects

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, commonly designated as the SSRIs are a family of anti-depressant drugs and Paxil is a very vital member of this family. Post traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, general anxiety disorder and social anxiety are certain specific conditions for which this drug has been proved to be very beneficial. In the year 1993, this drug was standardized by the FDA. However, as time went by it was found that this drug has many after effects associated with it. These side effects belong to two main spectrums, physical and psychological. More and more researches have been done on this medicine and it is now suggested that the patient must give a clear and in-depth history of his problem to the physician before using this drug.

Giving a complete history to the doctor is essential because the doctor will prepare the prescription on the basis of that history. For instance, if the patient had history of glaucoma, kidney disorders or seizures; then Paxil should not be prescribed at all. Similarly, combining this drug with certain other drugs is also very devastating for the body. This is true particularly for MAO inhibitors and Paxil combination. Furthermore, it is also advised that pregnant females should not consume this drug because of the birth defects that may take place in the new born baby. Another significant aspect connected with this drug is that addiction is the most strongest for this drug than any other member of SSRI family. Patients cannot stop using this drug and they become even more aggressive, depressive and weak for the next three months after eliminating the usage of Paxil. Therefore people must have complete knowledge about these aspects before they start taking Paxil.

As mentioned previously that this drug has both physical and psychological after effects, the physical side effects are as follows: fever, allergies, gastrointestinal problems, problems linked with heart beating, unusual high or low levels of blood pressures, etc. These are more common side effects. Sometimes the after effects arise due to the over dosage of the drug. These after effects are more harmful than the above mentioned ones. They involve seizures, kidney stones, facial flush, coma, tremors, dizziness and many other problematic issues.

As far as the psychological after effects are concerned, it has been reported by many researches that this drug can cause an intense increase in depression, rather than lowering it. Similarly, the patient may also suffer from hallucinations, obsession, manias, delusional thoughts, suicidal ideas and different forms of anxiety. However the severest outcome of using Paxil is the disturbance and itching of the sensorimotor system, known as Akathisia. In the worst form of Akathisia, the patient becomes so much aggressive that he can harm himself as well as all the people around him. That is why rate of suicides is highest in these patients.

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