I was prescribed a drug called Seroxat after several panic attacks. The active substance in Seroxat is paroxetine. At first I was sceptical, but it turned out to be a great help for me.
When I started taking the drug my dosage was 10 mg. The side effects I got was a persistent, but mild headache. I stepped up the dose from 10mg to 20mg after the side effects wore off. On the full dose I didn't experience any 'high' or something like that. My mood was altered, I was more calm, never very happy or very sad/angry. I rarely got any panic attacks, maybe two times the whole year I took the pills. One is not supposed to drink alcohol while taking the drug, but my physician said it was ok in small quantities. The only effect I noticed was that I got drunk faster than I used to.
After a year I stepped down the dose with the intention to stop using seroxat. First I stepped town to 10mg one day and 20mg the next. After one month I stepped down to 10mg every day. The last few weeks before i stopped taking the pills I took 10mg one day and 0mg the next.
After I stopped using the drug I experienced the worst panic attack in years. And I was generally more anxious than I used to be when I was on the drug. I was told that this was normal, and that after a couple of weeks I should be less anxious, but not as calm as I was taking the pills. This turned out to be true. The second week after I stopped taking the pills I was less anxious.
