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Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
31–40 of 282 posts
Re: Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
#32I don’t usually post here, especially on such personal topics, but feel I should. I’ve been on SSRIs and SNRIs for some time now (Pristiq, and now Zolof), and can definitely attest to the some of the changes described in the article. I clearly remember reading the documentation in full that came with both drugs before starting each, and the mentioned side effects were only mentioned in passing, along with possibly ev…
When I was in my mid-20s my doctor wanted me to take blood pressure medication because when I went to her office in the morning I had blood pressure of 150/110. I told her I wanted to see what I could do on my own first.
I cut out salt and caffeine, increased potassium and exercised every day. I went back in two months and my blood pressure was 120/80. She took it four times because she didn't believe it. I think the primary thing was the caffeine - it just gives me a temporary but strong spike in blood pressure.
Years later, a doctor prescribed me Lexapro. I actually picked up the prescription. But I never took it. I started exercising every day, started mindful meditation, removed sugar from my diet, read the book Learned Optimism and did the CBT-like work in there. Ended up never taking the SSRI but haven't had anxiety in 7 years. (btw Learned Optimism was recommended to me on HN).
Some people definitely need medication - I worked with a guy in his early 20s that had cholesterol of 400+. I saw him eat oatmeal every day for breakfast and lunch and then saw his cholesterol go up to 420. I'm sure there are people that need SSRIs. But it does seem like doctors at least prescribed it to me when I didn't need it.
Re: Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
#33Wellbutrin has the opposite effect. It makes you feel 15 years old again.
Re: Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
#34Wellbutrin has the opposite effect. It makes you feel 15 years old again.
One thing I find super interesting is how that side effect is pretty inconsistent even in the same person. I’m currently on Wellbutrin/Zyban/Bupropion as a smoking cessation aid and am not having that side effect this time. But last time I was on it for the same reason… oooooohhhhh boy, yeah, it’s a good thing that I had a partner who was good with that!
Re: Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
#35I don’t usually post here, especially on such personal topics, but feel I should. I’ve been on SSRIs and SNRIs for some time now (Pristiq, and now Zolof), and can definitely attest to the some of the changes described in the article. I clearly remember reading the documentation in full that came with both drugs before starting each, and the mentioned side effects were only mentioned in passing, along with possibly ev…
When I was in my mid-20s my doctor wanted me to take blood pressure medication because when I went to her office in the morning I had blood pressure of 150/110. I told her I wanted to see what I could do on my own first. I cut out salt and caffeine, increased potassium and exercised every day. I went back in two months and my blood pressure was 120/80. She took it four times because she didn't believe it. I think the…
Probably eating the oatmeal that made his cholesterol get higher.
There are now tons of research coming out about how cereals (wheat and corn specially) are basically the culprit of a lot of diseases that in the past were blamed on "fat", and also that this past blame was partially due to corruption (for example coca-cola literally gave six digits money to Harvard scientists so they would lie and say sugar was safe and the culprit for people problems was meat).
Re: Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
#36Ugh. Yes. Not meaning to be crude here and I’m incredibly sympathetic to the men I date, but as a woman in her late 30s it’s hard to find a man my age who doesn’t have problems getting / keeping it up. Most of them link back to antidepressant use. What about modern society drives the need for such widespread use of antidepressants? Is that something we should be willing to give up? It hasn’t always been this way, has…
What about modern society drives the need for such widespread use of antidepressants?
Honestly, the "about" is that we've developed medicines that aren't nearly as horrible as the medicines of yesteryear. Prozac wasn't marketed until the 80's, and a lot of other things have been marketed since then. Marketing is key too - it is really hard to take this stuff if you don't know something is available. And misery has been with us for quite some time.
Is that something we should be willing to give up? Well, no. Giving up antidepressants means that people suffer more. We could work on reducing the general population's suffering and anxiety. We aren't 100% sure on how to do this, it seems, but we know things like easily affordable health care and a safety net helps out lots.
It hasn’t always been this way, has it? Actually, yes. And no. I'm not convinced that housewives that used to take vallium in the 70's were taking it because they were happy, for example. We didn't always think to write about this stuff - doubly so when going on about it could get you in a non-modern mental hospital. The 'no' is simply because we can do something about it now. I like to think we are more compassionate overall now, but I have no real reason to think this.
Re: Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
#37I wonder when we're going to find out better ways to alter the body without causing deleterious entropy. Surely pills and shots are not a solution for everything and are only present because of their easy testability. We need better methods and aggressive creative problem solving and the funding to incentive it.
Re: Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
#38Wellbutrin has the opposite effect. It makes you feel 15 years old again.
That’s because Wellbrutin is an NDRI (norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitor). It’s a stimulant.
It’s actually a third-line medication for ADHD and is sometimes used with other medications to counteract the sexual side-effects of other medications.
Re: Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
#39I took SSRIs for a year in my late twenties. They had no effect on my depression, but resulted in permanent sexual dysfunction. My own fault for not properly researching the potential long-term side effects, I suppose, but it certainly wasn't raised as an issue by the prescribing doctor either. I hope someday there will be cure of some kind.
When did the sexual dysfunction begin? During treatment, immediately after or was there a delay between the time you stopped taking the medication and when it began?
Re: Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
#40Ugh. Yes. Not meaning to be crude here and I’m incredibly sympathetic to the men I date, but as a woman in her late 30s it’s hard to find a man my age who doesn’t have problems getting / keeping it up. Most of them link back to antidepressant use. What about modern society drives the need for such widespread use of antidepressants? Is that something we should be willing to give up? It hasn’t always been this way, has…
> What about modern society drives the need for such widespread use of antidepressants? There's little space for compassion and sociability. Most people in the West spend 8 hours a day working through an endlessly growing backlog of demands, all the while justifying each hour to clients and managers, then go home to drink and watch TV or scroll through news feeds. Our brains are not suited to constantly worrying over…
"There's little space for compassion and sociability"
I would argue there is more space now than there used to be.
I mean, women were basically property at one point, with changing degrees of freedom. You might not get out of the house much, depending.
Folks working as servants around 1900 basically had to do what their employers said, even if that meant you simply weren't allowed to have a romantic partner.
We kept slaves, and unfortunately, some folks still do.
We are probably lucky to spend only 8 hours a day on things, and I'm really happy that housework doesn't take up a lot of time now. Doing housework or working long hours doesn't grant you much space for compassion nor sociability.
The television and feeds are hobbies and entertainment. The folks in the past did similar stuff, and they had their own outcries - books, bicycles, women's ankles, and so on.
Drinking has been with us for literally Millenia. The amount of drunkards has varied alongside whatever it is we feel is "too much" - in other words, drinking daily wouldn't be strange if that is in the culture, but it is possible that same culture would frown on daily drunkenness.