jmayeux79
Journeyman
Reged: 03/02/04
Posts: 76
Loc: Louisiana
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Hi everyone. This question is a bit on the personal side, but I was just wondering if any of you have found an anti depressent that does not have "sexual side effects". The last medicine I was prescribed was zoloft, and it made me very unresponsive to touch. I stopped taking it because of that. Any feedback would be helpful!
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summer
Veteran
Reged: 05/21/02
Posts: 563
Loc: East Coast
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I was taking prozac, than Paxil as an anti depressant, anti anxiety but the negative sexual side effects just made me more depressed and anxious. On my private side if I could "get it" 24/7 I would, but these 2 meds kicked my sexuality right out of me. I started taking Wellbutrin XL after talking to my Dr about this being a serious problem for me and that is what he prescribed. He said Wellbutrin XL has a very very low risk of the loss of your sexuality, and it has been very effective in treating my depression and anxiety, but THE BEST PART OF ALL IS I feel like spending my days and nights in bed again 
Hope this helps-
Summer
p.s.- You all should have seen the look on the Dr's face when I told him I could spend 24/7 "in bed" 
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jmayeux79
Journeyman
Reged: 03/02/04
Posts: 76
Loc: Louisiana
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LOL....that 24/7 comment sounds like me! I'll have to schedule an appointment with the doctor and ask him about Wellbutrin. That is one I have not tried. (But probably have tried everything else in the book!) Thanks for the suggestion! 
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Julz
Enthusiast
Reged: 11/17/03
Posts: 223
Loc: NJ Shore
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jmayeux~
I've been off Paxil for a little over a year now, and I STILL don't have my "sexual desire" back the way it used to be. Not sure if it is because of the Paxil, or if it is only because I am getting OLD!
Anyway... you may want to check out Lexapro. I'm hearing both + & - on this SSRI, but of them all, this one seems to have the least side effects. Everyone's body is different, and, as with all drugs, what works for another may not work for you, and vice versa. I wish you the best of luck in finding what works for you (and that you get your sex life back on track!) 
Peace,
Julz
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Love never fails. 1Cor 13:8
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voyager
Old Hand
Reged: 04/17/03
Posts: 416
Loc: United States Virgin Islands
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I am taking effexor XR. For the first two months of treatment my sex drive was decreased markedly but after that it came back wonderfully. What destroys my sex drive is HYDROCODONE.
It just takes it right out of me.
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tone
Veteran
Reged: 06/29/03
Posts: 554
Loc: Chicago
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Only wellbutrin well not have sexual side effects. the mental health system likes to give a lot of ineffective drugs that have side effects. i gave up on them after 7 doctors and approximately 20 medications
if you get sexual side effects from one SSRI, youll probably get them from another, including the horrid paxil and lexapro. i suppose most doctors would tell you its worth a try anyway though
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Covergirl
Stranger
Reged: 01/06/04
Posts: 11
Loc: North
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Tone or Anyone else with experience,
Could you tell me what the side effects of the anti-depressant medications are that you took? I was on Zoloft for 6 years and I went off of them because of weight gain and low to no sex drive. I recently tried Luvox and it made me sick to my stomach. I have also tried Prozac and I went a little crazy on that! Not cool! I need advice about side effects to other meds. I have Major Depression, OCD, and PTSD, so I need to be on a medication for those disorders.
Thanx in Advance!
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A pain free day is a beautiful thing...
Covergirl
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classclown
Journeyman
Reged: 02/10/04
Posts: 60
Loc: Misery, I mean Missouri
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I have been prescribed anti-depressants off and on since 1996 to try and control my migraines. The first was Prozac. It killed my sex drive, gave me horrible headaches (not migraines, just really bad headaches), and it caused me to gain a few pounds.
I moved around the country a lot with my former job since then, so I have had many other headache specialists that have wanted to try Prozac in different dosing levels to see if that would make a difference. The only difference that I ever experienced was more weight gain and my sex drive all but completely went away.
So, the next dr that wanted to try anti-depressants for actual depression and anxiety gave me Zoloft and Wellbutrin together. The sexual side effects weren't too bad until they doubled the dosage on both meds to try and control my depression/anxiety. The meds have been effective in controlling the depression and some of the anxiety...but, my sex drive is parked in the garage and hasn't moved since. I was also scribed Klonopin and Ativan for more acute anxiety and they seemed to work okay in the 1 mg form more than the .5 mg.
This was just my experience and I am sure than everybody is different and will respond differently to all of these meds. I will say that Wellbutrin seemed to have less of an effect on my sex life than the others, but still took some of the drive away at either dose.
I wish you the very best and I hope that you find the relief you deserve very soon! If you need anything else more personal, you can PM me and I will give more details if necessary.
Have a wonderful painfree day!
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Classclown
"If we weren't all crazy, we'd all go insane" -Jimmy Buffett
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tone
Veteran
Reged: 06/29/03
Posts: 554
Loc: Chicago
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after not responding to dozens of meds over 7 years, my latest doctor's latest suggestion was for me to read a book by some standford university idiot who never experienced depression in his life. the books sub title was "the pursuit of unhappiness" as if unhappiness and thought-choices were my problem. i cant recommend such a thing for real endogenous depressives.
theres a serious problem in the medical establishment and neuroscience of treating real depression/anxiety. the current medications and the ones they are designing are so crude, flawed, and ineffective. tens of thousands who continue suffer severely from major depression and anxiety and do not get help from these meds, no matter what they try to tell you. for a very good and logical paper on antidepressants that is backed by hundreds of references from medical journals go to:
http://www.biopsychiatry.com
the good drug guide, by dave pearce
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sigmund
Member
Reged: 07/29/03
Posts: 181
Loc: Vienna
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jmayuex79,
From my experience it's best to consult with a psychopharmacologist (MD who specializes in psychotropic meds) because a lot of factors, including family history, past medication history, symptoms go into the decision.
Then the doseage has to be precisely titrated for each individual. There are also meds that counter the side effects. A great psychopharm. instructor discussed sexual problems with regard to men, but said there were meds for women  However, if the zoloft worked well for you except for the sexual side effects and numbness, you might try a good consultation.
I don't think anti-depressants should be self-determined of the complexity of one's medical history. JMHO and good luck.
sigmund
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how can you tell the Dreamer from the one who dreams the dream?
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jmayeux79
Journeyman
Reged: 03/02/04
Posts: 76
Loc: Louisiana
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Well today I went to my doctor and was prescribed Wellbutrin for my depression. He even told me it would help my ADD. (Stimulants don't work well for me with anxiety disorder! ) So I am really hoping this works out for me. I started taking it today. Also I was wondering... this weekend some of my friends and I were going to rent a beach house for the weekend. One of the evenings we were going to go out and probably have a few drinks. I would like to have a couple of beers, but I don't want to interfere with my meds. What do you all do?
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misspiggy
Journeyman
Reged: 02/02/04
Posts: 81
Loc: North Idaho
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I don't take Wellbutrin (or any anti-depressants) but my best friend has been taking it for a couple of years. She drinks pretty often (almost every day) and she has never said anything about it interfering with the wellbutrin. Hope that helps.
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Trampy
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/02/02
Posts: 1241
Loc: Southwest U.S.
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If someone suffers from a Major Depressive Episode that is life threatening, and they have already been unsuccessfully treated in the past with SSRIs, MAOIs, "atypical" ADs like Buspar, Remeron or Welbutrin, tricyclics, several different kinds of anticonvulsants, and one of the new antipsychotics ... in different combinations and dosages ... all guided by a psychopharmocologist or a psychiatrist who specializes in depression medication ... then, unforunately, the logical next thing to try is electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), which has been improved in the past few decades and is now overcoming some of the stigma it has ... because it really works for some people. Unfortunately, many people have an irrational fear of it and have not read the recent studies showing it to sometimes be an effective last resort. Like i said, ECT has improved and it's both more efficacious and the side effects are less of a problem than in the past. Someone responded emotionally to this post, and that's understandable. The stigma is obviously still strong, but it's the treatment of last resort and it is only used when the depression is life-threatening and everything else has failed.
There is also Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) by a surgically implanted electro-stimulator, but that device is now only approved in the U.S. for pharmaco-resistant epilepsy. Cyberonics is waiting to see if the FDA will approve it for refractory depression. Their device is already approved in the EU and several other countries for depression as well as for epilepsy. If the chemicals fail, the last resort seems to be electrical. The ancient Greeks apparently used electric eels for the purpose, so that avenue of treatment seems to have a long history.
Trampy
P.S. I strongly agree with the posts that say people should not be choosing their own ADs. Many family practice doctors don't know much about the many possible drug treatments and just hand out the latest and greatest SSRI that their drug reps reward them for scribing. I would go so far as to say that if you've tried an SSRI or two and they didn't work, you probably ought to be seeing a psychiatrist or other neuro/psycho-medication specialist. Good ones are very hard to find, but they're worth it. If your medical insurance won't pay for it, then pay for it yourself. It might save your life.
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Your mileage may vary ...
Edited by Trampy (03/17/04 11:41 PM)
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Trampy
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/02/02
Posts: 1241
Loc: Southwest U.S.
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Quote:
Hi everyone. This question is a bit on the personal side, but I was just wondering if any of you have found an anti depressent that does not have "sexual side effects". The last medicine I was prescribed was zoloft, and it made me very unresponsive to touch. I stopped taking it because of that. Any feedback would be helpful!
Welbutrin is probably the most "pro-sexual" AD. Women have reported spontaneous orgasms from taking the drug, and it does not seem to interfere with male sexual capacity either. However, the drug is not for everyone and it can often cause anxiety, agitation, and insomnia. If that scares you away, then it's probably not a good choice.
Trampy
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Your mileage may vary ...
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tone
Veteran
Reged: 06/29/03
Posts: 554
Loc: Chicago
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you have to be insane to try ECT. when you take a drug and have horrible unbareable side effects, you can stop it and they will go away. if you get horrible unbareable side effects from ECT (inducing a seizer based on 100+ year old quack technology) like memory loss, worsened depression, cognitive diffucties, you are screwed. its not like a medicine you can stop taking.
a much newer, less uhhh barbaric/insane thing is CES. Cranial Electro Stimulation. though more research into this and depression is needed before its known what freqencies are effective, if any at all.
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tone
Veteran
Reged: 06/29/03
Posts: 554
Loc: Chicago
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Quote:
P.S. I strongly agree with the posts that say people should not be choosing their own ADs. Many family practice doctors don't know much about the many possible drug treatments and just hand out the latest and greatest SSRI that their drug reps reward them for scribing. I would go so far as to say that if you've tried an SSRI or two and they didn't work, you probably ought to be seeing a psychiatrist or other neuro/psycho-medication specialist. If your medical insurance won't pay for that, then pay for it yourself. It might save your life.
Doctors do the same thing. there is no real objective way to know which meds work, they guess. its a guessing game. personally i find SSRIs, Tricyclics, MAOIs, Antipsychotics, and other Atypicals to be the worst drugs i ever took in my life. none of what was prescribed to me helped me the slightest bit, and usually made me feel weird or much worse. i hope others have better luck with these dirty feeling strange medicines.
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lonestar56
Stranger
Reged: 01/31/03
Posts: 20
Loc: Texas
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I am taking SSRI's for generalized anxiety disorder and her are my experiences so far. Started with Paxil, it helped the anxiety but libido went to zero and I gained weight. He tried adding Wellbutrin to counter the sexual side effect and it did not help. I switched to Zoloft, lost the weight, not as effective as the Paxil, but libido still zero. Switched to Celexa, same effect as Zoloft. Last Christmas he switched me to Lexapro. Started working in 4 days. Extremely effective for the anxiety, and best of all no sexual side effect, and I am in a good mood most of the time. Remember all people react differently to all these medications, but I have found the one that works for me.
Good Luck,
Lonestar56
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MAXICAT
Journeyman
Reged: 12/13/03
Posts: 73
Loc: TEXAS
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To my knowledge, effexor is supposed to be very effective. I have not personally taken it, but a relative of mine has, after trying all the above mentioned, and had very good results, without many side effects.
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tone
Veteran
Reged: 06/29/03
Posts: 554
Loc: Chicago
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tramadol has been studied for use as an anti-depressant. offically the only indication is for the treatment of pain. but, of course, official lables on meds by the FDA do not change their neuropharmacology. you can go to pubmed and look for studies on tramadol and depression, or ask your doctor about using it off-lable for depression.
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brian37
Journeyman
Reged: 02/01/04
Posts: 53
Loc: Alabama
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I know alot of people now taking EFFEXOR WITH EXCELLENT RESULTS. 2 friends of mine that had difficulty sleeping and concentrating and after a few weeks they feel normal , regular sleep patterns and all.
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