Social phobia symptoms and conditions

I took paxil when I was around 24 years old. The stupid psychiatrist (who was so cold, and never smiled, and then asked me to tell her how I felt) at the time never warned me about NOT stopping it cold turkey. So one day I did stop and I experienced symptoms already described by other people: extreme relapse into depression and anxiety, felling like I "wasn't real", social phobia, agoraphobia and feeling suicidal. Now I am on Effexor and my doctor says "there are no withdrawal symptoms". I was put on Effexor due to a diagnosis of major depression last 6 months ago and I believe it was all precipitated by hormonal birth control. All the doctors and psychiatrists I spoke to about the possible link between hormonal birth control and depression and anxiety told me there was no link (or that it was very rare). I hate the attitude of the medical community:(

I was diagnosed with PTSD, Major depression and social phobia back in 1996, when i was 17. I was being treated by a quack psychiatrist who prescribed me Zyprexa in 1998. I never heard or seen things that others couldn't hear or see until i took this drug. Let me tell you i've probably been on a third of the pills in a PDR but NEVER have i been on a drug that destroyed my life like Zyprexa. It caused me to have angry outburst. Zyprexa caused me to have SVT (Supraventricular Tachycardia) in which my heart would nearly race out of my chest. It also caused me to have Sleep Paralysis in which i was seeing demons. Zyprexa put my athletic body into a chronic fatigue and hypersomnia and i gained 150lbs in 15 months of taking this drug. The quack psychiatrist no longer has a license to practice...it seems he had many patients die on his meds. I filed a class action lawsuit against the drug maker of Zyprexa that is still in effect. 10 years after taking this drug the weight will not come off and it's caused me to develop health problems such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol.

UPDATE

I stopped taking Yasmin April 2005 after being on it for 3 years. The my dehydration levels are just abut normal but it took 8 months to get there. The other symptoms went away after 6 months. Thank G-d I am back to normal.

This is my original post while I was taking it. I cant believe I wrote it! If you have horrible side effects they will go eventually when you stop taking it.

""I have been taking yasmin for over 3 years. I suffered from painc attacks and anxiety about 10 years ago, I thought it was beacuse I was in a stressful relationship, but looking back I was on the pill so maybe that has something to do with it!

Anyway the first 2 years on yasmin was fine, the only side effects I had were spotting and leaky nipples(what the hell!).

During that time I had occasional anxiety, frequent asthma, mood swings, depression, insecurity, lost my social skills, became extremely sensitive, no sex drive, fatigue and constant dehydration. I had no idea that any of the above could be side effects. My doc told me there were no side effects, but thats not what it says on the leaflet

Anyway the last couple of months I have has the worst anxiety, panic attaacks, severy dehydration which can lead to a migraine, zero tolerance to salt, severe social phobia, weight gain, sever mood swings, have fallen out with half my family, inability to concentrate, blurred vision, fuzzy head feeling, no motivation to do anything, don't go out and don't know what the hell his going on!

I have 2 wondeful kids and an amazing husband. I stopped yasmin 2 days ago for good. I feel poisoned. I had no idea yasmin was a diuretic and thats why I have suffered from dehydration.

This is the wierd thing, yasmin was fine for 3 years then all my side effects became much worse in one go. I just want my life back. ""

It scares me to think that I was taking something that could mess me up so bad. I use the diaphragm now which can be a little inconvenient but at least my hormones are normal.

hi everyone,
Ive been of Yasmin for about 8 months now, i am surprised that no one mentioned on eof the side effects as Cellulite. I am tall and slim, and have a little cellulite on my bottom. When i was on Yasmin, i literally had cellulite from my bottom, all the way down the backs of my thighs to the back of my knees.
i also experienced the social phobia and low self esteem and definatly weight gain, but i stayed on it because it made my boobs bigger (and perkier!) m back to my diminished size and my boyfriend and i are sick of using condoms and was thinking about going back on the pill.. until i read this information!

I have been taking yasmin for over 3 years. I suffered from painc attacks and anxiety about 10 years ago, I thought it was beacuse I was in a stressful relationship, but looking back I was on the pill so maybe that has something to do with it!

Anyway the first 2 years on yasmin was fine, the only side effects I had were spotting and leaky nipples(what the hell!).

During that time I had occasional anxiety, frequent asthma, mood swings, depression, insecurity, lost my social skills, became extremely sensitive, no sex drive, fatigue and constant dehydration. I had no idea that any of the above could be side effects. My doc told me there were no side effects, but thats not what it says on the leaflet

Anyway the last couple of months I have has the worst anxiety, panic attaacks, severy dehydration which can lead to a migraine, zero tolerance to salt, severe social phobia, weight gain, sever mood swings, have fallen out with half my family, inability to concentrate, blurred vision, fuzzy head feeling, no motivation to do anything, don't go out and don't know what the hell his going on!

I have 2 wondeful kids and an amazing husband. I stopped yasmin 2 days ago for good. I feel poisoned. I had no idea yasmin was a diuretic and thats why I have suffered from dehydration.

This is the wierd thing, yasmin was fine for 3 years then all my side effects became much worse in one go. I just want my life back.

If anyone has had similar side effects to me or just wants to talk please email me.

I have been taking approximately 12 mg. of Gabitril a day for a little over a year for my social phobia. My psychiatrist started me off at 2 mg.,then at 4 mg. and now I'm on 12 mg. a day. The major side effect I notice is anger and hostility. I don't know if this is a side effect of Gabitril or if Gabitril only intensifies the anger and hostility that is already there. I keep having these angry outburts on the job and wonder if this is going to cause me one day to be terminated from my job.

I've just been through two weeks of inexorable synthetic-hormone hell (the surreptitious diuretic notwithstanding.)

Now, my life was no walk in the park prior to my two week consumption of Yasmin, but thanks to the extremely painful cystic acne break-out and yeast infection with subsequent smarting vulva, alongside exacerbation of my depression and increase in suicidal ideation/social phobia, plus vaginal spotting nearly everyday since my period stopped, I can safely claim all notions of the aforementioned 'park' (and any nearby verdure) have been concreted over with planning permission granted to a pharmaceutical drugs monopoly peddling this toxin to unsuspecting women.

I should have known something was awry when the pill's inaugural admittance to my body was met with a severe bout of vomiting and I have been feeling intermittently nauseous all throughout my course.

I truly believe just this short spell has marred my mental discernment and judgement, I'm sure my partner would concur also, the culmination of this shift in mood being my decision to split with him! I have been feeling so detached and downcast with ever-decreasing interest in sex, and this is some volte-face for a 23 year-old with a former intractable hankering for online pornographic password cracking!

Doctors should not be prescribing this symptomatological timebomb as a 'safe', 'symptom-free', 'good fit' to swathes of the female population undeserving of their first ever panic attack, or to put a slightly less reactionary spin on it: their first ever foray into the searing world of vaginal thrush with an irascible helping of labial discomfort.

When I awoke two days ago with a shooting pain in my buttock, I realised I'd reached the point of no-return! My oestrogen/progesterone limen was reached and I hastily discontinued use. I'm not even sure if the buttock was just waging a sublimated protest or if it's also a pandemic side-effect but when one's gluteus maximus undergoes a paraleptic surge you know it's time to abjure this hormonal cartel.

I must also add, in common with many people who've written here my breasts are also extremely tender and sizeable.

I have promptly stopped taking Yasmin and would implore others to do the same before things escalate. It is regrettable that so many women ply their bodies with these pharmaceutical drugs on a long-term basis solely for the purpose of contraception. I don't think it is a healthy lifestyle choice not least because when you loose your own physical homeostasis and sex drive, vicariously subjecting your body to an unnatural regulatory system it is not a good situation for any relationship. Therefore, the very modus operandi of the pill becomes obsolete anyway.

Background - 26 yr old female, debilitating agoraphobia/social phobia - tendency towards obsessive compulsive behaviours on alternating days 100mg/50mg been on for about 10 months. originally on effexor xr, but had a nasty allergic reaction.

Good things:

able to sleep better than i have in years
no more tears! (usually anyway)
able to leave my 'safe places' without having a freak out
no weight gain... actually i've lost weight (thanks Dr Atkins!)
able to interract with other humans again

Bad things:

attention span of a goldfish (constant brain fog)
diarrhoea to begin with (gone now)
very easy brusing
bizarre vivid dreams (although better than prev nightmares)
constantly fatigued - especially at my desk job
missed dose = mild electric jolts through system AWFUL!!
sex drive killer :(

I would go the Zoloft over my old life anyday, even with the side effects. I am planning to study next year so want to drop the dose so I can actually concentrate instead of re-reading stuff over and over but am a jot worried about the getting off. I feel as though I've 'dumbed down' alot as I just can't concentrate.

I'm taking alternating 50mg 1 day/100mg next. I was prescribed this for debilitating social phobia/agoraphobia (with a tendency towards obsessive compulsive behaviour) - which resulted in mild depression, so essentially it's been prescribed for anxiety.

I also have been having VERY weird vivid dreams (although that makes a great change from not enough sleep and constant nightmares). I have also found that I'm extremely lethargic.

No weight gain, and I've found it has helped me alot with respect to allowing me to leave my 'safe places' - (I'm getting past the letterbox now!!) as I feel much more relaxed most of the time.

If I forget a dose after a while I feel as though I'm putting my finger in an electric socket and getting a mild electric current running through every few minutes. It's really awful.

My attention span has also dropped to that of a goldfish. I can't concentrate on anything for any length of time - which is rather unfortunate as I having a 'thinking' job, not a 'doing' job. It's like I'm constantly tired and hung over.

We are experiencing in-crease in anger control(Short-ness with each other). Drowsy after more than nine days still. Paranoid thoughts still accurring. Sex drive has just started to come back. We are also on HIV medications,Myself also taking xanax for anxiety. Dont know whether this is because of the other medications or not.My anxiety levels has in-creased, as well as my social phobia and sleep is producing realistic dreams now. Other medication i'm on are: Xanax 2.5mg,tenofovir (once at night),3tc(twice daily),propanolol(10mg) 2x at night, Pzotiphan(3 at night)sandomigran, Abacovir(twice daily),losec(Two at Night),imodium(when needed), Panadiene Forte(when needed. The drug avanza also 30mg(one at night) gives me a very strange taste in my mouth every morning and my urine reallly smells as my boyfriend noticed too. I'm a gay man, Aids positve 16 years nearly seventeen years now.