WhosDepressed.org

When I was forced to share my life with Seroxat (paxil).

If I had of been warned of the dangers of Seroxat use back in 1997, I would never of dared take Seroxat. Glaxo’s updated information leaflet on Seroxat is unrecognisable. There is already a ban on prescribing Seroxat also know as Paxil to under eighteen year olds. Also the ban is extended to eighteen to thirty year olds which was announced on the 13th of May 2006. Glaxo are fighting a losing battle and it won’t be long until we have to wait for a complete ban.

Since the early eighties Glaxo have known about Seroxat’s torturous side-effects in their clinical trials. A high number of innocent people have committed suicide, murder and suffering due to Glaxo and the medicine regulators. Marriages have broken up, couples have split up and families torn apart.

I blame both the medicine regulator and Glaxo for not informing the public that Seroxat is a dangerous drug for all age groups. Seroxat does more harm than good. People say it helps them but in actual fact it upsets the salts stored in your body and your liver function. Also Seroxat raises your cholesterol levels which blocks up your arteries. This leads to poor circulation and eventually heart disease. So this drug does not benefit anybody, it causes serious health problems on top of the life-threatening side-effects.

I endured a whole range of symptoms from Seroxat; panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, paranoia, circulation problems, social phobia, no sex drive, heavy periods, insomnia, skin problems and high cholesterol. I was hooked on Seroxat for seven long years. Two years ago I stopped taking it for good and now I’ve got my life back. I didn’t want to share my life with a drug that was soul-destroying.

I was prescribed Seroxat in 1997. I was amazed how my panic attacks disappeared and I seemed more enthusiastic about life. In 1998, I missed just one tablet by accident, within six weeks I was severely depressed. The only thing that occupied my mind was death. It destroyed my well-being.

A year later in November 1999 in Ireland, my doctor prescribed Paroxetine. He said that it was exactly the same as Seroxat. Less than six weeks later, the nightmare began again. The Paroxetine was made in Cork, Ireland and the Seroxat was produced in the UK. We received a letter from Glaxo stating that they could have slightly different ingredients. This could explain my withdrawal symptoms.

In December 1999, I was admitted to hospital due to an overdose. In October 2003, the same thing happened again. I was told to change back to Seroxat as the Paroxetine was out of stock.

My body had just adjusted to the Paroxetine. Six weeks later, I went downhill fast. I was admitted to a mental hospital. For eleven months, I was tortured mentally and physically. In December 2004, I tried some herbal tablets for just twelve days and the nightmare was over.

In August 2005, I was again admitted to hospital. I was obsessed with jumping off a high building and nearly followed it through on a number of occasions. I went for a cholesterol test and it was unusually high. This was odd as I ate a healthy diet. Seroxat was definitely linked. My circulation was really poor which contributed to my depression. The summer months were just as cold as the winter months.

This depression was affecting my relationship with my spouse. We nearly broke up over Seroxat withdrawal. But my spouse didn’t want to be beaten by Seroxat. He was concentrated on getting me better without Seroxat coming between us. He is a very patient and understanding person. He never blamed me for trying to kill myself, he knew Seroxat was responsible. Unfortunately, he had to watch me twenty four hours a day, as I was a danger to myself. This put a terrible strain on our relationship. He lost his trust in me through this terrible time but we defeated Seroxat in the end. I was very lucky to have his support throughout Seroxat withdrawal.

We tried everything to get me better, we tried fish oils, st. johns wort, sam-e, 5-htp, threelac, nothing worked, all it did was drain our bank account.

At the end of November 2005, we both got our lives back after we researched Japanese detox foot pads. They draw out all the toxins from your body. The pads contain bamboo vinegars and a few other important ingredients. You put each one on the soles of your feet before you go to bed. You leave them on until you get up in the morning. Then you wash your feet as they will have some residue. The first time I used them, when I woke up, all my symptoms disappeared. I actually felt better than I ever felt in my life. I have had no more panic attacks or suicidal thoughts and my cholesterol levels are back to normal. These pads saved my life. Make sure you stop taking all/most medication before using these detox foot pads as the pads will have to work much harder in order for your body to recover properly. As you know prescription drugs are a toxin. If you want a healthy body, stop taking all prescription drugs as they don’t help you, all drugs have side-effects which affect the body.

Steps to fight Seroxat for good:

· detox foot pads

· drink at least 2 litres of mineral water daily

· balanced diet

· exercise daily

· vitamin C ( body does not store it, so you need to add it)

· garlic tablets (good for your heart)

· vitamin B complex ( only if you aren’t eating enough fruit & vegetables)

· stop taking all antidepressants and the birth control pill (I am not a doctor, this is from my own experience, I strongly advise you to consult your doctor before thinking about coming off any medication!)

Try to eliminate fizzy pop, as it’s the worse type of food to put in your body. The sugar content is far too high. Cut down on eating cakes, biscuits, sweets, chocolate, ice-cream and processed foods. Try to buy fresh rather than frozen foods. Keep away from tinned foods unless it’s tinned tomatoes.

I want to help people not to be dependent on seroxat withdrawal as quickly as possible. I learn’t the hard way! The more people depend on Seroxat, the more Glaxo are making. If you have any questions concerning the above information, please email us and we will try and help. Don’t be beaten by Glaxo! Seroxat is going to be banned in the next couple of years. Glaxo will be the sufferers!

Remember, you will get through this.

All the best.

Susan

I’m 23 and I live in London. I started taking Seroxat nearly 5 years ago.

It was originally prescribed to me to stop me having panic attacks. I wanted to come off it for quite a few years but when I stopped taking it, I was so ill that I had to start taking it again.

Doctors kept telling me it was impossible to be addicted to them, so I didn’t know what was wrong and I carried on taking them.

I suppose it’s not the doctors’ fault, it’s the drug company I blame because they don’t acknowledge that there’s a problem. I wouldn’t have started taking Seroxat if I’d known.

It’s taken me nine months to wean myself off it completely and that’s been pretty much nine months of feeling ill for the majority of the time. It’s been far worse than anything that I had before I went on the tablets.

Research

I basically had to draw up a withdrawal programme with my current GP, who’s been great. I was on two 20 milligram tablets a day. At the start of the year, I cut down one day a week to half a tablet.

So, on Monday, I’d have half a tablet, then one tablet each day for the rest of the week. I’d do that for two weeks. Then it would be Monday and Tuesday on half a tablet and I went on like that until I got to the stage where I was on half a tablet every day.

But even those small reductions in dose were making me feel bad. So, I switched to a liquid version of the drug in August. You squirt it into your mouth with a syringe, which tastes pretty bad. But at least it made it easier for me to cut back the dose.

I’ve done an awful lot of research on the internet and I’m certainly not the only one having problems. There are lots of chat rooms and message boards and probably 80% of comments about Seroxat are about the problems people are having when they’re coming off it.

Permenant flu

I feel Seroxat has stolen years from my life “Helen”

It’s not totally one-sided. Some people have said they haven’t had any problems. A lot of people acknowledge that the drug has been quite helpful to them and it’s reduced their depression or their anxiety.

But I feel Seroxat has stolen years from my life. I’ve felt more like an 80 year old than a woman in her ‘twenties’ recently. I’ve had nausea virtually every day and insomnia every night since I started cutting down my dose.

Other withdrawal symptoms I’ve suffered are headaches, muscle pains, trembling, like having permanent flu really. The worst thing, though, is the head shocks. They’re like electric shocks zapping through my head that really throw me off balance.

The withdrawals have had a pretty serious impact on the rest of my life. I should be going into my final year studying for a Masters degree.

Responsibility

I flushed all the remaining tablets and liquid I had down the loo “Helen”

But I’ve taken so much time off for illness in the last nine months that they’ve told me I’ll have to take a year out and finish it next year. I’m already in lots of debt and I’m not sure whether I can afford to do that, so I’m very angry.

I took my last dose of Seroxat at the end of August. I flushed all the remaining tablets and liquid I had down the loo.

Although I’ve been feeling rough since then I’m determined not to start taking it again. I hope I can start living a normal life now.

I’m glad I kept the video diary of my withdrawals for Panorama. Not because I feel proud that I’m on television and people are going to see what is going on with me, because I don’t really want that.

But I think I have a responsibility to make sure that people can see that you can’t always believe everything you’re told by doctors or drug companies.

GlaxoSmithKline strenuously denies claims of serious side effects and insist that the drugs are a safe, effective treatment.

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The same thing happened to my partner Susan, Susan had been hooked on Seroxat for 7 years, and I can tell you, those 7 years were the worst of our lives, Susan had tried to take her own life many times and it was hard for me to deal with, I hung on in there, I knew that I could get Susan out of this addiction, it took several years, but I did it, without the help of doctors or evil drugs such as Seroxat. I don’t want to talk to much about this as it hurts to much to think about the past.
I am pleased to say that Susan is now 110% better and she is now enjoying her life to the full and does not take any form of medication.

We are now taking Glaxo to court as they failed to inform us of such serious side effects…. Keep looking here for updates.

Simon

If you have been affected by Seroxat and have suffered side effects, you may be able to claim compensation, click here for more details (UK residents only!)

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In 1996, I went to my doctor asking him for advice on how to deal with my mild anxiety, he gave me a drug called Seroxat , my doctor told me to take them for 30 days and that I would be better once I’d finished the course of tablets, I thought no more about it, I took the tablets for 30 days and once I had finished the treatment, I felt better, the doctor said I didn’t need anymore tablets, little did I know that this evil drug was to affect my life in a big way.

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Soon after I stopped taking this drug, I had strange thoughts of wanting to jump off bridges, this wasn’t like me, I am a happy, outgoing person, within weeks, I had slipped into a deep depression, I shaved all my hair off, I started to drink, I gained weight, I could not work, I had no idea what was causing this…. I went back to the doctor and he put me back on Seroxat, after a while things picked up and I started to feel better, only, once the treatment had stopped, I started to slip into a depression again with thoughts of self harm..

I read the leaflet that came with Seroxat and it assured me that it was safe to take and it did not mention that the drug was addictive, for which it was….

Had I have know this, I would NEVER have taken Seroxat, why did Glaxo omit such important information from the leaflet, findings have shown that Seroxat knew about this critical problem and failed to include this in their leaflet… they include it now….

It took me several years to get back on track…. and I am pleased to say that I am 100% better, I do not take any form of medication at all.

Simon

Sarah Thompson was prescribed Seroxat for depression three years ago. She was just 16 at the time.

She had never had suicidal thoughts before taking the drug, but within a week had began self harming.

She told the programme: “I’d never thought about suicide before I took Seroxat and when I was taking it. I was obsessed about death it was part of my every day life.

“I would cut myself mainly and then I started to burn myself and found other methods, but it was mainly cutting myself to start with.

Three years on, she has strong views about the regulation of the drug: “Looking back at what happened to me because of Seroxat, and the great affect it has had on my life and to my relationships with my family and my future.

“I don’t think that the regulators are doing their job properly, because they allowed me to take a drug that has in effect taken away part of my childhood.”

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Graham Aldred’s wife Rhona was prescribed Seroxat for depression in 2001. She was depressed and anxious but not suicidal.

She wasn’t keen to take it at first, but her husband reassured her.

He said: “When Rhona brought the drug home she said to me she had some reservations about it and I said, ‘don’t be silly, this is England, this is a country where you can trust medical regulation’.

“Now she was right and I was wrong.”

However, shortly after starting on Seroxat, Rhona became very restless, agitated and had terrible nightmares. After 11 days on the drug, she drove to a secluded country lane, and killed herself.

Graham told the programme: “This is what the Regulator doesn’t seem to understand - that there are people on the end of all this.”

Adrian was 19 years old when he took Seroxat. It had been prescribed to him by his GP to help control his temper

His mother Dawn had hoped to get him on an anger management programme, Adrian was prescribed the antidepressant instead.

But after taking Seroxat for just 26 days, Adrian committed suicide. He was discovered by his parents Dawn and Chris who had dropped by his flat with some shopping one Friday night.

When they knocked on the door they got no reply, but they realised someone was wrong as he had left the light on - something Adrian never did when he went out as he was short of money.

Adrian’s dad Chris took his wife home and went back to the flat alone. He eventually broke in and discovered that he had hung himself.

He told the programme that he noticed a difference after Adrian started taking Seroxat: ” He sort of changed. He was like very quiet within himself. Even his friends commented it wasn’t Adrian. It was like with them he wasn’t saying much at all, or joking, he wasn’t jokey like he used to be.”