I just started taking 20mg of Paxil in the mornings, today is the 2nd day on it. Yesterday I felt fine, no side effects other than drowsy for afew hours.
Today however, has been worse. I've felt fine all day until about 9pm. I got anxious, jittery, felt like I couldnt keep still. I felt like my arms and legs HAD to move. I also felt like a little zap in my middle back a few times. The past week or so Ive been feeling like I have a lump in my throat that will not go away, and nauseous at least twice a day.

Its now 10 minutes til midnight, and I'm bearly starting to feel better. Is this normal? Im so scared, and really not sure what to do. I've called my ER and the nurse, who happens to be a good family friend, said I could come in but its an unfortunate side effect but I need to call my doctor in the morning.

I hate to ramble..but I feel like at least here somebody will understand me. This anxiety is just sudden onset, I have never felt this weird feelings until three-four weeks ago, does that usually happen?

Any advice really would be helpful to me.
Thanks in advance,
Whitney.

I think it's quite common to have side effects like this from SSRI's. I know I did. Your body needs time to adjust to the new medicine and it may even increase your anxiety for the first little bit. Once your body is adjusted it is like you are not even on anything. You just feel like you again.
Try to do some deep breathing, talk to a friend, do something to distract yourself. Don't add more fear to your panic. Everything is completely fine and you will be alright. Anxiety can give you that weird feeling in your throat, like there is a lump. I get that too and when I first started getting it I was convinced it was a tumor or something, but rest assured it will go away.
Anxiety plays some weird tricks on your body. It does things that you can't even believe have anything to do with anxiety, but they are.
Try to rest and have a good sleep. Tomorrow is a brand new day.

Hiya Whitney Sorry that you've been having these side effects from your Paxil. All the symptoms you've mentioned are those of anxiety. There are many self-help books out there that can help you understand this disorder and ways that you can manage it. Learning relaxation skills such as deep-breathing and meditation can help soothe your symptoms away. I wish you well . . .

As mentioned above, it takes a while for the SSRIs to begin to work and the initial reactions and feelings when you start taking them can be pretty bad. Each person tends to experience these things a bit differently, but what you are going through is normal. Hopefully things will stabilize for you soon.