DOSE:

oral

Pharms - Paroxetine

(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

175 lb

I keep hearing about the addictive properties of paroxetine, and have never experienced this problem. I began taking Paxil in early April and continued for about three months, until I ran out, basically. I found that in order to avoid increasing dosages, parachuting the dosage helped the intensity as well as shortened the duration of the high. Parachuting, for those who don't know, involves crushing the pill to a fine powder and swallowing it wrapped in a small square of tissue (toilet paper or Kleenex). The effects I got off it were probably due in part to other things I was on at various times, including Marijuana, alchohol, and once, mushrooms (though the mushrooms didn't seem to enhance or detract). Since I normally took it in conjunction with marijuana, my high was affected by it.

The effects I commonly experienced included an inability to hear very well anything but bass-range sounds. I struggled to hear my girlfriend talk while sitting right next to me, but could easily hear the rumble of traffic and of the washing machine. I had an odd visual effect that made everything seem like it was shot on Super-8 film through a green bottle-end, very odd, uncharacteristic thoughts that tended toward the dark end of the spectrum, usually having to do with the death of others, usually perfect strangers & in rather graphic ways. I had absolutely no reaction to temperature. I'd go from air-conditioning to a 95-degree day and not really notice the difference. I had a lack of emotion or desire to speak to anyone, including a sensation that nobody really noticed if I was in the room and that I may not, in fact, actually be in the vicinity of anything I was seeing.

I was unable to sleep even though extremely drowsy and experienced a somewhat dreamlike state, and most bizarre, a sensation of time slowing down so much that everything looked and sounded as though it was happening in an extremely viscous corn-syrup. I did have friends who claimed that all they got out of the Paxil (approx. 80-100 mg) was extreme sleepiness, however. On the come-down, everything seemed too glaring, loud, and fast, and I felt a sensation like wind on my skin at all times, and a feeling of springiness in my legs.

Typically I didn't take anything until about 3 or 4 pm, which meant I was awake until it wore off enough to allow me to sleep at about 4 am. Parachuting seemed to abbreviate the effects by about 3 hours, but the effects were somewhat more intense. I managed to reach 120 mg without any more serious side effects than dry mouth and some slight vertigo, and getting off it gave me no problems at all. As far as learning anything, all I discovered from the experience was that, obviously, the experiences of others are a rather difficult guide at times for knowing what to expect, and that occasionally, you'll be caught by surprise.

Exp Year: 2003	ExpID: 25630
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jul 7, 2007	Views: 22,415
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Pharms - Paroxetine (148) : Not Applicable (38), Retrospective / Summary (11)