Hello,

I just recently go tup enough nerve to go to the doc, he has put me on paxil and xanax. I am scared b/c he said to take it once a day. I started today and it has made me quite drowsy. I hope this doesn't last too long b/c it will effect my work. I am also scared about gaining weight b/c I am getting married next june and i have been trying to loose weight. I hope it helps but I also hope the side effects are worth it. ALso, wanted to ask, I am supose to meet up with some old friends for drinks this weekend, both say not to drink. Does anyone have any helpful info on this or has anyone drank while taking either meds? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Quote from debill:

Either I enjoy my life while taking the meds or I live miserably. I choose to try to enjoy life.

I could not agree more with debill here. I too was nervous about all the scary stories you hear. I don't take Paxil, but I have been taking Lexapro for 7 weeks. I feel 100 times better. I still worry a bit about what might happen down the road, but for the time being I am happy and living my life, and that is what's important. You know that old saying, if you die tomorrow what would you do today? Well, I certainly wouldn't sit around with anxiety fretting about what a drug might do to me..I would take whatever I could to have the best day of my life.

Quote from mousse:

Hello,

I just recently go tup enough nerve to go to the doc, he has put me on paxil and xanax. I am scared b/c he said to take it once a day. I started today and it has made me quite drowsy. I hope this doesn't last too long b/c it will effect my work. I am also scared about gaining weight b/c I am getting married next june and i have been trying to loose weight. I hope it helps but I also hope the side effects are worth it. ALso, wanted to ask, I am supose to meet up with some old friends for drinks this weekend, both say not to drink. Does anyone have any helpful info on this or has anyone drank while taking either meds? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Hi Mousse..I take Lexapro and Xanax. I have had no problems drinking on either of these, however if I take more than one Xanax and then drink (usually if I am in a particularly stressful situation) I almost ALWAYS get a terrible hangover headache. If you take too much of one or the other in combo it seems to make a bad hangover, but one xanax and a few drinks shouldn't hurt. I don't think the Paxil with alcohol will hurt either.

I dont' want to discourage you but I feel I need to be honest about what this drug has done to myself and others I know who've taken it. I took Paxil for 4 years and gained way way too much weight and it was a monster to come off. Even weened off it for weeks and it didn't help. I've heard and seen others on Paxil gain weight. Many get that bloated look in their face, I did too. Doctors say there are other SSRIs less risky on weight, Paxil is the one known for weight gain. I had a great metabolism until Paxil. I weighed 100 pounds, couldn't gain weight for anything, then after Paxil I just packed on the pounds. It was sad.

After quitting, I lost 10 pounds in 6 days (just water weight alone I believe). Going off of Paxil is not fun at all, I felt more anxious that I'd ever felt in my life and I thought I was going to lose my mind, strange strange thoughts. There has to be something better than Paxil but that's my opinion and you should trust how you feel on it. It helped me but was not worth the weight gain. Stupid psychiatrist NEVER told me it could make me gain weight because he DIDN'T know. My ob-gyn told me to get off it because he could tell what it was doing to me. He said Paxil was well known for LOWERING metabolism.

Funny, the makers of Paxil should be sued for not putting it down as a side effect. Had I know, I would have saved myself all the grief.