18 year old tells GSK like it is

I really feel for this poor soul. I have re-produced the letter to GSK in its entirety, purposely leaving in the grammatical errors as it truly shows the pain and suffering the poor individual went through.

The symptoms within their letter to GSK pretty much sum up how I felt. I too suffered from Acid Reflux (still do) I wonder now if Seroxat caused this? Anyway, read on:



The truth about Paxil
by Stephen E. written to GlaxoSmithKline plcPosted Wed June 26, 2002


Drugs have become a booming business today, and your products are very important -- critical even -- to many millions of people. I'm on one of them, and that's why I feel compelled to send you this complaint about effectiveness at your company. Specifically, my complaint is about Paxil. I am really furious about this.

First I want to start off by saying what a horrible company you are and that I am currently talking to a lawyer about joining the many current lawsuits against you people. I started taking paxil when I was 16, soon after losing all inhibitions for life and followed by several suicice attempts and panic attacks, as well as many side effects that I had no idea could be related to paxil. Now after 2 years and one try to try and quit going through horrible withdrawl effects that YOU KNEW ABOUT and didn't tell me or my doctor I now know that these side effects are caused by YOUR product, these side effects iv had for over a year now but never thought it had anything to do with paxil because YOU PEOPLE didn't warn me of: (I also am developing a muscle spasm disorder only after 7 days of wheening off of your product in a 10 mg drop.) And by the way, don't bother asking for a release to see my medical information, because you won't get it. You deserve to pay me and thousands of other people for the pain that you have caused.

My Depression and anxiety sympoms worsed. I never had depression before I started on the meds, and my anxiety actually got worse in some cases. -Panic attacks, I never had a panic attack before on paxil, and experienced them more times then I wanted to after starting on your mind altering poison.-Hot surges running through my body with proufous sweating. -Horrible nightmares or aggressive dreams, dreams of having battles with people from past. Alot of the time I have trouble remembering if something happened in a dream or in real life.. -Obsessive thoughts.-I got these before on the medicine so it is hard to say that paxil is to blame. Though in alot of aspects it has gotten worse, or stayed the same, and isn't paxil supposed to make it go away?

-Just can't seem to feel any more. Just don't care anymore. Feelings of "who cares" and "fuck it"-Perhaps the most common side effect that YOU don't warn us about, the most common one I've ever seen in my research. This happened almost immidiatly after starting the drug, only caring about a video game, not caring if I showered or brushed teeth, not caring if I had a job or went to school, I found myself knowing I would grow up to be a homless loser when I grew up and I didn't care.I didn't care that we were broke and we might now lose the house because of me and my mom has to now work 2 jobs as a single parent to two.

Feeling like a zombie. No emotions. Unable to feel "normal" sadness or cry at all. Excessive or "fake" happiness.-This is also another common side effect YOU don't want people to know. The fact that these drugs are just a "band-aid" of sorts, it made me unable to feel sadness and happiness. This wasn't constant, because at alot of points during the years I would be able to feel sadness, and it was horrible, much worse then sadness I had before I was on the drug. The only thing I couldn't experience was happiness, I had the fake happiness alot, like something good happening in the game I would be extactic, but if something bad happened in the game I would think of suicide, I would begin to cry over anything ect ect.

Severe dizzyness, fear of passing out or losing control.- Alot of the time I would have to hold on to the walls when going to the bathroom or down the stairs to stop myself from falling downstairs. -

Sleeping with lights on because of the fear-this happened alot earlier, I would keep the TV on with no sound just for the light, I never knew why.

-Feeling disconnected,foggy, feeling of unreality or drugged out-This is a big one, which hurts my concentration, which is another side effect i list later.

-Heart palpitations-i get this quite often

-Tightness in the head-i get this alot, also the back of my head gets numb.

-No personal identity/opinions of your own.-This is constant, I never have any opinions of my own and constantly feel like I don't have my own personality.

-Feelings of being unnable to function like a normal human being.-these thoughts have plagued me for years.

-Hate to go out or be around people. Also may hate people, not even comfortable with familiy-this was the problem that got me onto the paxil, though its hard to say if it got worse, I know it hasn't gotten better.

-Feeling like it will never end.-again these feelings have haunted me since I started on these drugs.

-Urge to jump from a moving car.-maybe a few times, it is hard to remember

-Extreme head pain-maybe once or twice a week I will get horrible headaches, I've tried taking asprin etc but nothing works.-I'm not sure I will ever be my old self again or be normal again.-I'm Convinced of having some rare and fatal disease constantly. I have been in and out of hospitals for over a year, thinking I have a heart problem, gunna have a heart attack, thinking I have a tumor, as soon as something went wrong, weather a sour throat to a pain in my toe I thought I was going to die of some rare and fatal disease.

-Fatigue and problem in hands(predominantly left) tingling, mild to severe tremors, more pain and slight stiffness may spread up arm into sholder.-i get this alot, mostly just tinglings and tremors, sometimes pain would move up to my sholder and I would panic thinking I would have a heart attack. This happens 4-8 times daily.

-Heavy bleeding from the nose.-there was a time were I had nose bleeds,(where i was convinced of having some rare disease) it went away in a few weeks.

-Nausia, gastrointestinal problems, feeling bloated and full.

Acid reflux disease, severe flatulance.-I have acid reflux disease, and even though I've tried every drug to treat it, it hasn't gotten any better, I still feel nausiated for a few hours after I eat, as well as severe flatulance, if i were to count, i would guess that I burp at least 2,000 times a day and fart at least 1,000.(keep in mind these are 24-48 hour days) My doctor is stumbled on how I could have gotten Acid Reflux Disease

-Memory loss with apathy, trouble concentrating. Trouble focusing, hard to read words.I have very bad memory, often I'll stop in the middle of the sentance searching for a word to say. I don't concentrate, days that I have gone to school when I'm off of paxil I wouldn't be able to concentrate or focus. Before on these drugs I passed all my classes as well as wrote a novel(I like to write, I used to write alot before I was on the drugs, whereas I just didn't want to write it, and now its at the point where I can't even remember most of the ideas I had for stories.). Also I can watch a movie, and then the next week wonder if I saw it, and tell my mom that I want to go see this movie and she complains that I just saw it.

-Manic/depressive episodes-this happened alot, specially if something bad happened in the game, like I died or lost an important item ect.

-Chills-This happens to me at least 4 times a day, even in the heat my entire body will just shake in one fast jerking motion from the top to the bottom, it only lasts maybe a second or two.

-Head jerking and muscle spasms. REM(rapid eye movement) that leads to insomnia, Tremors, sudden jerky movements of muscles. -I've had these for alittle over a year now. Mostly my legs and arms will jerk suddenly without me wanting them to, it happens more at night. Rapid eye movement keeps me up at night, and I'm up basically till I'm so tired that I just pass out because of REM in conjunction with nausia and constantly having to sit up and burp because of the acid reflux disease -Feelings of hopelessness and feelings that you are out of control.-I have feelings of hopelessness alot, like the only way to get out of it is suicide etc.

-Suicidal-perhaps the most dangerous side effect hidden from our eyes, I have read dozens of stories of suicide because of paxil. I especially found the 8 million dollar reward to the family of the man who shot his wife daughter grandaughter and himself quite interesting. At the drop of a hat I could become suicidal, even if the littlest thing went wrong I thought of it, even though I'm horrified of dieing, and constantly thinking i have some fatal disease. -Inner restlessness, feeling that something is not right but I am not sure what, but it is there haunting me in the back of my brain.and its there all the time, and it drives me crazy, it is hard to explain but best described as Morphius said in the movie the matrix "You don't know what it is but its there, like a blister on your brain, haunting you."

-Worsening or delayed cure of acne.I started getting acne after i started on these damn drugs, since then I've tried everything to get rid of it, and currently on two prescriptions from a dermatoligist.

-Severe hot flashes while asleep, wake up covered in sweat every night

-Severe mood changes. Anger and violent one second, then happy, then very very sad. Very rude and short tempered all the time. At first I hadn't noticed it but my mom often complains about how rude i am, and I am very short tempered about things, fighting with my mother or brother I'll flip out and start screaming and cursing for little arguments.

-Heavy Sweating all the time. -Urge to drink excessively, sever dry mouth.This is constant, I can not leave my house without a water bottle, and if i do my mouth gets very very dry and I start to panic thinking I'm goign to vomit, never happened before I were on these drugs. -Feet stay cold, can never seem to get them warm at all, cept right after I get out of a hot shower. -Need for increased dose for same symtom, tolerance. I started with 10, then 20, then 30, then 40, then doctor wanted me to go to 60. I originally was till I found all the research proving your drug to cause all these problems.

-Sleepy all of the time, but cannot fall asleep, Insomnia caused by REM. When i do fall asleep I sleep ALOT 13+ hours a night. Like I said before about my insomnia, but when I do sleep I sleep for 13+ hours, even if I was awake for a normal 10-12 hours, when I first started and before I got the REM I was awake for 12 hours, then slept the other 12 which led to halting of going to school.-Visual and Audio Hallucinations.If i look at my wall for awhile I can see paterns, or people moiving around, once at a friends house I was looking at his curtains in the dark and saw spiderman swinging from buildings. Audio wise I hear ringing all the time, as well as humming or buzzing, sometimes doorbells and phones ringing.

-Breathing problems. Feelings like I am going to stop breathing, tightness of chest, feeling that something is wrong with my breathing.This happens all the time, and is happening as I'm typing right now, usually its tightening in my chest or feeling like my throat is closing.

-Muscle and joint pains. -Itchy, rashes on legs, knees, under arms and back. This isn't constant but many times during the day I find myself unable to stop scratching these parts of the body. -Pain in the lower left hand side of the stomach which mild to very often, usually its just nauisa tho. -Self mutilation,cutting myself.

-Changing myy mind every minute, decide to do one thing, then decide to do another, decide that a spoon is clean, then decide its dirty and get a new one-Lethargic, very weak, ,no energy to do anything, lost all inhibitions to do anything.

-Mild to Severe constipation on and off, coupled with diareah the times that I've tried to get off of your death pill.

I'd like to direct you to www.drugawareness.org where they have publiciced medical journals about the effects of paxil that YOU do not warn us about, especially including withdrawl and side effects. Now I don't believe in god or anything but I believe you people are sick. You should be taking these pills and see how you like it. I know people will do anything for money but this is just too much, your hurting hundreds of thousands of people for life, and like i said before, don't even think about asking me for medical release because you will not get it. You are a lieing manipulating evil company and I and many other people won't rest until the world knows about these horrible things that you don't want the world to know

Frankly, I guess I'm not surprised by this latest problem because I've been very dissatisfied in the past. I definitely won't be a repeat customer of yours, and I definitely won't recommend you to people I know.

Here's what I think GlaxoSmithKline plc should do: take paxil OFF the market andpay the people you hurt money for thier pain and what it has done to thier lives!.

I hope to get a response from you soon. This is a very important matter, not just for me but for all consumers of your products.