I have been on 10mg-20mg paxil for about the last year or so and I really love this drug, if I didn't have to work for a living I would probably just stay on it. I just feel good and able to handle anything. I took it only for anxiety as I've never really had depression. I had a slightly diminished sex drive but honestly not bad. The problem is the anticholinergic effects make me pretty tired, and I makes it harder for me to think and learn new things which I don't like.
In the past 3ish months i've tried:
Lexapro 5mg for 3 weeks: Gave me depression for the first time in my life for a few days, then I just felt pretty numb, great for anxiety though. Seems to have killed my sex drive on it though.
Sober for a whole month: Felt obviously more clear headed but I really couldn't relax well unless I took some propranolol and had a few beers, I also felt a lot less emotionally resilient.
Prozac for 17 days 10mg every other day: Felt very good in the beginning and I felt extremely horny in the beginning which was nice. Lead to a lot of insomnia and leg aches, then drastically increased anxiety and fear, had first panic attack of my life. Brutal, basically quit on the spot and went back to paxil to just be stable again.
Right now I am on day 6 of zoloft and it feels like prozac-lite, except I have very little sex drive and I cannot catch my breath. Also experiencing depression. Very good for social anxiety though.
I also don't tolerate dopaminergic stuff well (nicotine, adderall, ritalin, vyvanse) they all make me pretty depressed and kill my sex drive so I would prefer to stay away from things like that.
I logically know that I need to just stick with one of these for a full month to see if I can get the benefits but it sucks. Anyone find a good paxil replacement out there?