Sexual Sides (males stepin)

[rms]

Was wondering if you guys could share your stories regarding sexual side-effects (libido included)

:/


Thanks

[Locky]

Sure I'll jump in on this one. I've been on Paxil since 2000. I never really had a sexual side effect. That could be becuase I was 19 when I started it and I'm now 25. I think age helps.

[rms]

wish I could say the same...

Paxil (not only but surely the main factor) is guitly for TOTALY KILLING any sort of sexual or emotional activity...thing is I already missed the suposed "golden years"...

[Locky]

Well when you are in withdrawal the last thing you want is sex...unless your just a freakin maniac...

[Light]

No sex drive on effexor. Raging sex drive in withdrawal.

[Katesmom]

LossLeader has some really good posts on this, esp. from when he first joined. Go to his profile and look at some of his old threads.

[imokay]

sex drive....sex drive....sex drive........hmm something about those words seems familiar to me.........I just cant put my finger on it though...

[Amaya's Nana]

Prior to Paxil, I had a very health sex drive. Once I got on Paxil, it could take over an hour to reach orgasm (if I ever did!!!). But, once the drug took effect, I didn't care if I had an orgasm or not, much less WANTING sex. No more Paxil and like magic, sex drive comes back and so does the ability to have an orgasm.

Everything about Paxil sucks!!!!!

[altostrata]

On Paxil, my orgasm was very much diminished (although it was better than on Prozac). Sex drive was completely absent.

I became complete anorgasmic in discontinuation. I'm a middle-aged woman, taking DHEA, which adds testoterone in women, seems to have stimulated sex drive some and improved anorgasmia a bit.

I had always had a strong sex drive and healthy orgasm before. I miss it.

Anybody here -- did your doctor tell you about sexual side effects before starting you on an SSRI? Mine didn't, and acted surprised when I told them about it, although they happen to the MAJORITY of people taking SSRIs.

Doctors think if they don't tell us about the side effects, we won't talk ourselves into feeling them. How can it be ethical not to inform patients of the side effects whose probability is greater than 50%?????

[scotty]

Originally Posted by altostrata

Doctors think if they don't tell us about the side effects, we won't talk ourselves into feeling them. How can it be ethical not to inform patients of the side effects whose probability is greater than 50%?????

This is the rationale for every adverse effect with these drugs, and it opens up the Pandora's Box of "It's your disease, not the drug".

[Chrysalis]

When I mentioned to my doctor that I didn't have any sex drive on Paxil he suggested that maybe something else was wrong with my marriage. End of conversation.

Margaret

[LCrawford67]

Originally Posted by margaret

When I mentioned to my doctor that I didn't have any sex drive on Paxil he suggested that maybe something else was wrong with my marriage. End of conversation.

Margaret

You know, I get madder and madder every time I read one of these doctors made an assinine comment like that! Did you just slap him, Margaret?

I haven't had a horrible time with libido on Paxil. Is it like it used to be, absolutely not. But, it's not as bad as a lot of other people have.

[scotty]

Originally Posted by margaret

When I mentioned to my doctor that I didn't have any sex drive on Paxil he suggested that maybe something else was wrong with my marriage. End of conversation.

Margaret

And yet we have people who will fight that "Your doctor knows best".

[LossLeader]

Hope this makes sense - I didn't get any sleep last night, and I'm feeling very fragile. Warning: LONG post.

Before taking Zoloft, I had a pretty high libido. While I was on 50mg (=20mg Paxil), for a while my libido got stronger if anything - probably because I was feeling better in general - and it also had a Viagra-like effect on erection, which I realise is pretty much the opposite of what it's supposed to do. I had extremely delayed ejaculation, but I didn't really mind because, once I'd had enough sex for the night (usually after about 3 or 4 hours ) I could always have an orgasm through, uh, self-stimulation... although it was a bit annoying to never have an orgasm from someone else doing something to me. Girlfriends occasionally used to raise an eyebrow at that, but usually after 3 or 4 hours of sex they were too tired to raise anything much. It was a pretty good deal.

Then, after about four years, I began to poop out. Decided to stop taking the stuff, cold turkey (those were the days when no one EVER gave you any advice about these drugs). Amazingly, I didn't get any real withdrawal to speak of, that time - but immediately, I had terrible premature ejaculation. I assumed this would pass soon... but it didn't. After a month or two, me and my girlfriend were both pretty sick of it, and although I had no evil w/d symptoms, I was starting to feel pretty depressed. So I thought "life's too short", and went back on.

My doctor said "why did you stop?" I said "because it wasn't doing anything for my depression anymore." He said "maybe you should try a higher dose, then." So I went back on, at 100mg (=40mg Paxil).

For about three months, everything was wonderful again sexually. Monstrous sex drive, no problems, everything was great. Then I started to notice that it took a bit more work to maintain an erection. Then I started to notice that sometimes, it was hard to get an erection in the first place. Then I started to notice that, very occasionally, I couldn't get an erection at all (I put it down to tiredness).

After a year at 100mg, I was really starting to have problems. One night, I ended up in many males' dream situation, something that I thought only happened in dirty movies - my beautiful girlfriend brought her beautiful friend into bed with us for the night. And I could hardly get an erection. As red flags go, that's a pretty big one. I told myself it was probably because I'd had a few brandies earlier in the evening. Yeah, right.

Anyway, a while after that we split up (because of my strange behaviour and emotional chaos) but soon I had a new girlfriend. The sexual dysfunction retreated in the excitement of a new relationship, and things were ok again, but still with occasional "problems": that Viagra-like effect had certainly disappeared. A couple of years later, when we split up, I hit poop-out BIG TIME. And those sexual problems got a lot worse.

I decided 100mg a day was a bad idea when I found myself being prescribed Viagra by a doctor, who said "it's nothing to worry about, plenty of men take it." I was 32 years old, in good shape, and being prescribed Viagra. This was Not Right. I finally faced up to the truth. I decided to cut back to 50mg again, this time weaning (or rather, "weaning" - I was put on that alternate days program that's guaranteed to screw you up). Unfortunately, the premature ejaculation was back even when I stabilised at 50mg, so I decided to stop altogether. I'd always told myself "you can't take these for your whole life", they'd pooped out anyway, I was NOT going to raise the dose again, and by this point I was really only taking them for the sexual effects... which had become a negative. So time to quit.

The premature ejaculation is still as bad at 9 months off as it was at 1 month off: 30 seconds at best (although there have been periods inbetween where it has got slightly better - though only up to 5 or 10 minutes - but never for very long, and pretty randomly). I tried 5-htp, which worked the first time I used it, but never after that.

Also, my orgasm is extremely weak compared to pre-SSRIs and compared to what it was while on SSRIs (which was fine). Sometimes in early withdrawal, the orgasm would feel more like passing water than anything sexual - I'd get NO release at all. There has been some improvement in this, but not as much as I'd like.

The one good thing about coming off was the fact that I was no longer impotent. I actually became hypersexual for a while - like being a 14 year old boy again. Recently, though, I started to become semi-impotent again, which terrifies me. I'm hoping this is a symptom of stress (I'm having a very bad 9 month dip) rather than a new development that's going to hang around. Perhaps I'm just so uptight about all this it's having that effect. Perhaps my sex drive has just dipped again because of the heavy w/d symptoms, and I should just leave it alone for a while. Or perhaps this is permanent. Who knows?

Sex is the most important thing in my life - not in a shallow way, but I have always been a sensualist, and I've always found sex with someone I really like to be the one thing that makes life worth living. It has been the major mental problem I've had all through withdrawal. When I get suicidal these days, it's not from the overwhelming misery of withdrawal anymore - it's purely to do with the loss of my sex life, and the effect it's had on my sense of identity. I am TERRIFIED that this will never get better, or not for many years. I CANNOT live like this much longer. When it was just extreme premature ejaculation that was the problem, I had a last resort option of going back on a tiny dose of SSRIs to ease it. If impotence is going to become a long-term problem, then obviously that is no longer an option, even a last resort.

I probably sound like some kind of sex-obsessed idiot, but I'm really not... I just place a lot of importance on it, and it's almost a holy thing to me. Without it, I feel very very alone. Perhaps there are psychological issues here - in fact, I'm almost certain of it. But so what? It's me, it's how I am, and it's not something that ever needed changing because it's always brought me much happiness. No therapist could talk me out of being a naturally carnal, sensual person. And besides - how many young men would be OK with the idea that they may never get to have sex properly ever again? I don't think there's anything weird about that.

I wish I had something positive to tell you.

[benny_man]

I am now 4 1/2 months off.
I first noticed right after the stoppage of paxil that I had become impotent just about.It was so hard to get an erection and at that point they were weak and of no use,But when I did get this poor(If I even could get one) erection it would Deflate right there after I obtained that erection.(could not maintain it)
This past month has seen A little improvement thank god.I hope this is not just the fluctuation That lossleader was having ,No offense.,I hope this is the start to getting back to normal.
I still suffer from Premature Ej..,This has gotten a tad better.
But my improvements are that I am somewhat able to obtain an erection a little better and My libido is up a little bit.
Like I said I really hope this is not a high point just before I go into a dip with this.I really hope this improvements go to the full extent and stay there!

Loss leader ,I was looking foward to your views on what I had to say in my initial thread about Dr.Lin and that one theory you mentioned from him.
I told you why I can understand him saying that,Did what I say make any sense to ,Or can you relate to it in anyway?

I was actually looking foward to your views and opinions on everything I had to say in particular sexually on my thread.
Did I scare you off?
DO you have a stressed life loss leader?
Maybe is your life not stressed but you create excessive stress and worry in you head.
I do this.
I believe it's a big reason why I suffer sexually.
I stress and worry my self so much that I have a horrible sex life.
I remember you said your sex life actually improved after you started paxil at first.Well mine did in ways as well.My libido lowered a bit at first but everything else was better for me .I felt more into it, more involved ,I Could last very long,Bottom line ,I felt like the world's greatest Pornstar!

So maybe the SSRI's somehow made us feel so much like Confident studs and took away are worries and fears because of the ANtiDepressed effects that we were feeling from taking these drugs. that maybe by this, we were actually able to perform better and enjoy better in that respect.

What if we are creating are own problem with are worries- stress,depressed behavior and Anxiety.
I really don't know the answer to this,But when you do' let me in on it.
I really hope all get to feel better sexually .
I am with Lossleader on this one,The happiness in my life is sad to say somehow based on how good my sex life is.
For me this is sad ,but hey'' that's me. I wish I could work around this,But I am a very Passionate person sexually.

[Bern]

Originally Posted by scotty

And yet we have people who will fight that "Your doctor knows best".

My mother being one of them.

[MikeyC]

Hello, I am new here. My Doctor prescribed paxil to me 2 years ago for situational depression and anxiety. I guess I have the same problem which is kind of hard to talk about. Now my Doctor wants me to take Viagra but i don't want more pills. what can i do? He says the problem is normal and its normal to just take Viagra so i dont have the problem

[BanjoDan]

I had the same thought when Paxil hit my libido.. and I did try viagra, and let me tell you I NEVER felt worse. It made me fell so sick in combo with the paxil Nauseau dizziness, I may have had a hard on so I could have sex, but I sure didn't want to. I would higly reccomend AGAINST mixing viagra with the Paxil. If Paxil is hitting your libido that bad then I would try and wean off one drug instead of adding in another.

[wanttobehealthy]

Hi, I think Paxil can cause a feeling of being "cut off" from sexual feelings--even after working out, sometimes there would be a rush of hormones/feelings in the chest, but for some reason they would not "trigger" any action down below.

I have heard ginkgo has supposedly in studies been able to completely reverse the damage done by SSRI's--does anyone have any personal success stories with it?

[MikeyC]

I like how the paxil works for anxiety and I don't want to go through withdrawel so what drug could I use that is like Paxil but doesn't have withdrawel and doesn't have these side effects?

Why would my Doctor tell me to take Viagra if it will make me sick?

[LossLeader]

Originally Posted by MikeyC

what drug could I use that is like Paxil but doesn't have withdrawel and doesn't have these side effects?

Sadly there isn't one - or half of us would be on it.

Originally Posted by MikeyC

Why would my Doctor tell me to take Viagra if it will make me sick?

You could say that about Paxil.........

In the interests of balance, I took the Viagra once or twice before I quit the pills altogether, and it didn't make me sick. I mean, I didn't feel *great*, but there were no really noticable side effects, apart from very slight dizziness (which is a normal side effect).

[menace]

My problem was not being able to get an erection and then if by some miracle I could get some kind of erection going on I could not go any further if you know what I am saying. No orgasm no nothing. It took about two weeks being off of paxil before I could function down there again. The sexual side effects was the main reason I stopped the drug to begin with.

[Silver]

I feel that I have to chime in on this one. The sexual side effects and the inability to concentrate were the two main reasons I quit Paxil cold turkey a few months ago. I am 43 and was on 40mg/day for nearly a year. Before Paxil I had a very healthy sex drive. While on Paxil I had absolutly no desire to have sex...none whatsoever. Mechanically everything worked as it should. I just wasn't interested in sex anymore. I have read that Paxil is often prescribed to men with premature ejaculation.

[MikeyC]

I guess thats my problem. I seem to have lost the interest. Then if I'm not interested nothing really wants to work well.
Did you get sick quitting cold turkey? I would rather just quit taking it then to have to take a year or whatever.

[Silver]

If you plan to quit, don't do what I did. The physical reaction really wasn't too bad. For me, it was like having a bad flu. Psychologically is where it got me. Coming off cold turkey was analogous to a bad acid trip multiplied by 100 [yes, I had one of those 24 or 25 years ago]. To put it bluntly, going from 40/day to 0 overnight made me suicidal. To make matters worse, I chose to quit at a time when my wife and kids were on a three week vacation in Europe [my rationale: I did not want them to be around me as I was coming off the stuff]. I called work, told them I would not be in for a week, sequestered myself in my house with a bottle of Jack Daniels and bit the bullet. I feel very fortunate and lucky that I am here today.