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From: Alex
Date: 14/07/03
Time: 22:33:29
Remote Name: 65.19.129.213
I am surprised to hear that you are considering a lawsuit against Paxil. Why did you get on Paxil in the first place? Every drug, and I mean every drug, will have some kind of side effect if you are on it for an extended period of time and you try to stop taking it. Let's be adults here. Your threat to bring a lawsuit, in my opinion, is no different than the people that made the decision to smoke, full well knowing that smoking is detrimental to your health and addictive, and now are filing lawsuits. I know I'm comparing apples and oranges here but I think you see my point. You might find your fight to get off Paxil a little easier if you were not looking for someone to blame.
Three years ago I was in a situation (divorce, remarriage, step-children, new position at work, building a house) that put this (at the time) 42 year old, healthy male, under a mountain of stress. I had seen a doctor about some unusual stress related symptoms that prompted my doctor to put me on Paxil. "Well," I thought to myself. "Paxil? Me on Paxil? No way! I'll work this out by exercising and rest." So I refused to take start taking a drug for, in my opinion at the time, crazy people. That little decision ended me up in the emergency room, one week later, with wires attached to my shaven chest looking for heart problems. I decided right there in the emergency room, that I had better give Paxil a try.
I have been taking Paxil now for three years and this drug has allowed me to have a normal, happy life with only minor side effects. I got through my divorce, finished building my dream home (a log cabin), got through the initial stages of learning to deal with step-children and coming to love them like my own, and getting to know my new wonderful wife. I believe that Paxil helped achieve those goals and I thank the medical community from the bottom of my heart for making Paxil.
But I knew from the very start of my taking Paxil that some day, when things settled down in my life, I was going to want to stop taking Paxil, and I also knew that getting off of a drug that made such a dramatic difference in my life would not be a cake walk. My doctor that prescribed Paxil to me three years ago told me that Paxil is not supposed to be habit forming but, as I stated earlier in this dissertation, I knew from the very start of my taking Paxil, that getting off of a drug that made such a dramatic difference in my life would not be easy.
Well, four weeks ago I asked my doctor to take me off Paxil. Since then I've had the sweats, insomnia, trouble with irritability, and periods of depression that have lasted for days. But I'm not blaming the makers of Paxil and, with God's help, I'm going to get through this.
The point that I am trying to get across is, don't blame someone else for your problems. I don’t know the situation that you are in that put you on Paxil in the first place, but now that you feel that you are ready to stop taking a drug, concentrate on that. Try to exercise, get all the rest that you can, and try to eat right. Ask God to help you through this. I believe that if you take on the stress of a lawsuit, you will end up back on an antidepressant.