Hi everyone, :)
Well I went to the doctor today and he switched me from Paxil to Effexor.
I have posted a few times on here in the last few days about meds and my panic attacks, so I thought I'd post this, partly to fill you in and let you know how that goes for me, and partly to see if anyone has made this switch, etc.
When I was on Paxil about 3 years ago for about a year in total, it worked great for me, and to sum it up, it got me to the point where I could funtion normally and deal with the panic attacks as "myself" (whereas before I was WAY too "down" to face them -- I could barely even feed myself).
This time though, I went on Paxil and it had different effects. I started on 10mg for 2 weeks and then 20 mg for 2 weeks. It has sort of helped but not tons, and I seem to have developped pretty bad insomnia. I went to the doctor this morning and he said that it doesn't seem to be doing much, and it could be causing the insomnia, so he's switching me to Effexor.
I've done my homework and found out that Paxil works on the Seratonin in your brain, and Effexor works on both the Seratonin and the Norepinephrine in your brain. So maybe that'll be more effective for me! (In my case, I do feel that there's a chemical imbalance, and I'm not affraid of or against meds)
:quest: Is anyone else on Effexor and having success with it? I'd especially like to know if anyone has switched from Paxil to Effexor! [b]PLEASE[/b] don't post anything negative about Effexor in response to this though -- I'm sure you can all relate to the way that hearing bad things (including side effects) will just make me worry more and make the anxiety worse, but if anyone has anything encouraging to share about this, that would be great!
I will let you know how this goes for me, and I hope to hear your success stories! :) [b]PLEASE[/b]
