My husband had been on 20 mg of Paxil for about 2 months and it didn't seem to help him. His doctor just switched him to 100 mgs Serzone. Anyone else on this medication? Your thoughts about how it works and any side effects you have experienced. He has been on it for 2 days now and tonight he experienced severe pain in his stomach and got sick.
Is your husband splitting it into two doses taken with food?
Serzone killed my sex life so I got off it after about 6 weeks. Yes, at first it did make me sick at my stomach, but that went away. Hope it works out for yall. Here is a good source of info on drugs.
<A HREF="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/nefazodonesystemic203491.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/nefazodonesystemic203491.html</A>
I've been taking Serzone for about 1 1/2 years. If I remember correctly, I was sick to my stomach for the first week or two in the beginning. But I think almost all the AD's I've taken have done that to me. Fortunately, it's a side effect that didn't last. The only noticable side effect I have now is that it puts me to sleep. And if I try to stay awake after taking it, I feel like I'm drunk or something. Taking it at night before I go to bed seems to have resolved that problem, though.
However, I'm not so sure that extreme stomach pain is a run-of-the-mill side effect. I only felt like I had a mild case of the stomach flu. You're husband might consider calling his doctor to make sure it's nothing to worry about. His pharmasist should be able to tell him more about Serzone as well. These meds almost always seem to have some sort of side effect. I always make sure that they are more tolerable than the depression. After all, it's not really worth it when you're not depressed anymore but you feel lousy all the time anyway. Kind of defeats the purpose in my opinion.
It's possible that's part of withdrawl from Paxil. Have him down on Paxil; don't have it stopped abruptly. Start the Serzone 50 mg split in 2 doses[instead of 100mg] for 2 or 3 days while taking 15 mg of Paxil for a week. Gradually go down to 10 mg of Paxil while increasing the Serzone. I had no bad side effects from Serzone; a headache when I increased the dose for a day [I was up to 500 mg eventually]. It did give me insomnia though, and did not help me, but Paxil did. Go figure. I hope Serzone helps your husband.
Joy
My husband is supposed to take 100 mg of Serzone TWICE a day. He stopped taking Paxil completely last Friday - cold turkey.
A friend of mine said that her husband had flu like symptoms when he got off Paxil. Also, I thought that you were supposed to get off meds slowly not cold turkey.
Thanks for your thoughts. He did not sleep last night and is very emotional today. I told him he needs to see the pyschiatrist not GP!
I've been on Serzone for quite some time (can't remember exactly) and I can't honestly say whether it's helping or not; it's definitely not helping ENOUGH. This was my experience: I don't remember the dose my GP started with, but it wasn't doing anything so he upped it to 150 twice a day. I would only remember to take it once/day so I was only getting 150 total. When I eventually switched to a psychiatrist, she said 150 mg. would be a child's dose. She put me on 300 mg. once/day to start. The only side effect at that point was dry mouth in the morning. It still wasn't doing much so she raised the dose to 450 mg. once/day. She said the typical range of doses for adults was 300 - 600 so I was in the middle range. At the 450 mg. dosage, I began having "trailers" in the morning that lasted for about an hour after I got up. It's like a ghost image that is especially noticable with movement. When my arm moved, I would see a ghost like image that was just offset slightly - kind of like a double image but just a portion of the double image. I ended up seeing an eye doctor and getting new glasses - which didn't help - before finally calling the psychiatrist to ask whether it could be the medicine. She said it was fairly common - so we've dropped my dose back to 300 and the problem has lessened. I agree that a psychiatrist is best suited to manage these types of meds. (My GP ASSURED me that the visual problems were NOT related to the meds.)
I have just started on Serzone, and am experiencing much stomach distress. Is this normal? Also I wake up around 5 AM each day and cannot go back to sleep because of the abdominal pain. I roll around in bed and can't get comfortable. Does anyone else have these problems? I am taking 50 MG in the AM and 150 before bedtime. Am also taking a small dose of Trazodone with the Serzone, and a sleeping pill. Any comments? Thanks for your help.
[This message has been edited by kato_cat69 (edited 01-24-2001).]<p>[This message has been edited by kato_cat69 (edited 01-24-2001).]
I was given Serzone by my pain management doc to help me sleep. 500 mg's before bedtime. I also experienced some stomach pain at first. But I didn't take it for very long cause it would actually make me nervous and jumpy and not sleepy.
I just got off Paxil cold turkey last week myself, and was switched to Prozac. I had horrible flu-like symptoms for like 5 days straight, and am still not sure if it was the Paxil withdrawal, or my body getting used to Prozac. I puked for 2 days and haven't eaten anything other than soup for a week. I'm finally feeling better now. It could very well be the change over to a new drug, and the body getting used to the lack of Paxil. Who knows. Everyone's body reacts differently.
Getting off Paxil cold turkey will produce those symptoms. Your doc should have had you wean down on Paxil slowly and when you were down to about 15 mg, start to take 10 mg of Prozac. This would have alleviated most of your flu-like symptoms. I'm glad you are feeling better now. Prozac is working for me; I hope it does the same for you.
Joy
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by struggling:
<B>I just got off Paxil cold turkey last week myself, and was switched to Prozac. I had horrible flu-like symptoms for like 5 days straight, and am still not sure if it was the Paxil withdrawal, or my body getting used to Prozac. I puked for 2 days and haven't eaten anything other than soup for a week. I'm finally feeling better now. It could very well be the change over to a new drug, and the body getting used to the lack of Paxil. Who knows. Everyone's body reacts differently.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
