Paxil death
A friend, AW, died today. Well, more friend of a friend.
We don't think it's suicide or foul play (though both are plausible with this guy). If it was suicide, he would have made arrangements for his dog, who was his faithful companion through so many rough patches. I wish like hell I could take the dog.
My boss was this guy's best friend and the closest thing AW had to family. This means that the boss is going to be all out of whack for a couple of weeks. Bossman already looked very harried today. Arranging the funeral is going to drag him down, of course.
The guy was a good guy overall. Had a horrible temper, was in trouble with the law enough to have to move around the U.S. But he was always very sweet to me and was loyal to his friends. I'd just talked a while on the phone with him on Friday; we were exchanging very DIRTY jokes. This sucks.
One of his employees found him in bed, cold. He was prone to bouts of depression, so he had just started taking his Paxil again. Until I hear otherwise, I'm blaming it on that drug from hell. I remember what it was like being on the stuff; you might as well have filled my skull with lime jello. They keep finding unpublished side effects for the crap, and I have no idea why they let it stay on the shelf. Some of the scarier withdrawal symptoms I personally experienced include:
• memory and concentration problems
• Panic Attacks
• an unconventional dizziness/ vertigo
• the feeling of shocks, similar to mild electric one, running the length of your body (This occurred whenever I would turn my head too fast. It was the worst symptom by far)
• an unsteady gait
• hypersensitivity to motion
• nausea (from the electric shocks and the vertigo)
• "scratching sound" inside one's head/constant white noise in the ears (this was also pretty awful)
Also, there was some strange vision distortion. It seemed like when I would turn my head, my vision took a second to catch up. It's the main reason I don't really enjoy drinking. That "room spinning" sensation reminds me too much of Paxil withdrawal.
The drug has helped people; I'm not saying it hasn't. It helped me get on my feet after the worst period of my life. But there are other drugs out there that do the same thing. Can't we prescribe those and keep the Paxil locked away until we've tried everything else? Damn.
[i wish i'd gotten my hands on you when you were 13]
We don't think it's suicide or foul play (though both are plausible with this guy). If it was suicide, he would have made arrangements for his dog, who was his faithful companion through so many rough patches. I wish like hell I could take the dog.
My boss was this guy's best friend and the closest thing AW had to family. This means that the boss is going to be all out of whack for a couple of weeks. Bossman already looked very harried today. Arranging the funeral is going to drag him down, of course.
The guy was a good guy overall. Had a horrible temper, was in trouble with the law enough to have to move around the U.S. But he was always very sweet to me and was loyal to his friends. I'd just talked a while on the phone with him on Friday; we were exchanging very DIRTY jokes. This sucks.
One of his employees found him in bed, cold. He was prone to bouts of depression, so he had just started taking his Paxil again. Until I hear otherwise, I'm blaming it on that drug from hell. I remember what it was like being on the stuff; you might as well have filled my skull with lime jello. They keep finding unpublished side effects for the crap, and I have no idea why they let it stay on the shelf. Some of the scarier withdrawal symptoms I personally experienced include:
• memory and concentration problems
• Panic Attacks
• an unconventional dizziness/ vertigo
• the feeling of shocks, similar to mild electric one, running the length of your body (This occurred whenever I would turn my head too fast. It was the worst symptom by far)
• an unsteady gait
• hypersensitivity to motion
• nausea (from the electric shocks and the vertigo)
• "scratching sound" inside one's head/constant white noise in the ears (this was also pretty awful)
Also, there was some strange vision distortion. It seemed like when I would turn my head, my vision took a second to catch up. It's the main reason I don't really enjoy drinking. That "room spinning" sensation reminds me too much of Paxil withdrawal.
The drug has helped people; I'm not saying it hasn't. It helped me get on my feet after the worst period of my life. But there are other drugs out there that do the same thing. Can't we prescribe those and keep the Paxil locked away until we've tried everything else? Damn.
[i wish i'd gotten my hands on you when you were 13]