My dr placed me on these 1 week ago (25mg) has any one had any luck with this med and symptoms of perimenapause

I do not have first hand experience with Paxil, but my sister's husband went on it for anxiety. She said he really mellowed out but for some reason he decided to no longer take it and whew-wee, she said he actually went through withdrawal and was quite short tempered. Her son was on Zoloft and he pretty much went a little paranoid coming off it. You might ask why they are all on anit-depressants; well it's because doctors dole it out like Pez candy. I believe in researching any drug before taking it. I still don't understand why doctors cannot differentiate between depression and anxiety; there are drugs for each. However, and here is my point, as you do your own research, see how many times the description indicates that they do not really know how the drug works. "They don't know how it works"?! This is what FDA approval buys us as consumers ?!
A week ago, I would have said give me an anti-anxiety med; gee, in fact I did. My doctor suggested Effexor, an antidpressant, because "anti-anxiety drugs are addictive." What a doofus, so are anti-depressants ! I saw enough negative info about Effexor to say no. I've since decided to try very hard to deal with the anxiety head-on without drugs. I did internet searches on anxiety and I learned that ,as it is, I am anxiety prone as I am somewhat of a perfectionist/control-freak. I don't know if you are a religious person, but I also actually searched for God and Anxiety and found some things that were helpful to my mind. We'll see how it goes.

Paxil is wonderful if you have an anxiety disorder or temporary depression according to some friends I have.
But, I am starting to REALLY believe that if the Dr. is faced with a perimenopausal women with a variety of symptoms (he reads hallucinatins) the first thing the Dr. does is prescribe antidepressants.
I think this sucks-that is what they are trying to do to me. I may be a bit down in the dumps but it's cause nobody in the medical field will listen to me! My mom and G-mom went thru before 45, so why not me. I think a lot of women our are depressed at this stage, and the situation gets worse due to having the medical people tell them over and over that "all your tests are in the normal range, there does not appear to be any problems with your hormones"! In other words-there's nothing wrong with you--it's female hysteria. Bullpucky!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Normal is relative-It depends on who you are related too (think about this statement).
If antidepressants work for you then great :) and power to you! But, it may not work for everyone.
I had a very bad reaction to the stuff my dr. put me on and since I won't take it anymore he is blowing me off. (Still?, Agian? Hmmm, I'm not sure)
I wish you the best and hope everything goes well
Regards--R

[This message has been edited by MagnaV45 (edited 10-01-2003).]