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The 21st century has been a remarkable age of innovation, ingenuity and invention, and the human race has progressed incredibly far in only 10 short years. Everything from telecommunications to personal computing to engineering safety and medicine has seen major strides in progress, and this is no more evident than in the world of pharmaceuticals.

America and Great Britain have led the charge in creating and distributing drugs and medications that cure disease, relieve chronic symptoms and ease pain of all kinds, in a safe and beneficial way. Unfortunately, with such a huge market for pharmaceuticals now, there were bound to be a few drugs that, on balance, do far more harm than good. In the case of the powerful anti-depressant Paxil, there is a strong argument that this is certainly the case.

Paxil, originally designed to treat cases of clinical depression, anxiety and manic disorders, has been at the center of a years-long legal firestorm. This controversy has led to discussions on everything from the dangers of an over-medicated society, to the role of ethics in creating drugs and on what the process should be as far as oversight of these medications. The answers are not easy, but with a general overview of Paxil, and Paxil side effects, some of the major concerns become a little clearer to the average observer.

Paxil Lawsuits and Suicide

One of the worst, most troubling side effects of Paxil is its connection to children and teens committing suicide. And though Paxil is an anti-depressant, prescribed to patients that suffer from depression, most of the cases of suicide occur in patients exhibiting no signs of being at risk for committing suicide. Though the exact medical correlation has not yet been established, there is plenty of data to suggest that a correlation does indeed exist between Paxil and suicidal thoughts in teens and children.

Paxil PPHN Relationship

The most worrisome Paxil birth defect is Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension in Newborns (PPHN). This condition results in a newborn's heart being unable to pump venous blood into itself due to severe pulmonary vascular resistance. This condition results in blood being pumped, instead, through fetal channels that were not designed to facilitate this type of blood flow. This can lead to all sorts of developmental problems, and it can cause severe heart strain. It is treatable in some instances, through complex surgery, but the survival rate is often very low for infants and newborns.

What Paxil Is, and How It Works

Paxil is an anti-depressant that works in the brain by inhibiting some receptors of serotonin, which has a psychological “numbing” effect that can help alleviate many types of depressive mental disorders.

Is Paxil Addictive?

The makers of Paxil insist that the drug is not addictive, though there is now a clinically determined condition known as “Discontinuation Syndrome” related to the severe withdrawal process of patients coming off of the drug. Some patients report the symptoms as “electric shocks in the brain” while they come off of Paxil, which can make it extremely difficult for many patients to cease use of the drug.