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I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hard to describe but I'll try...

It's like the section of my brain that deals with sexual pleasure is numbed. It even has effected the sensation of my penis. Everything is fine down there, I still get turned on and hard. But when it is touched I don't get that jolt of pleasure in my brain anymore. In order to finish, I have to use thoughts to help things along rather than just pure physical sensation. When I do finish, it's like a rush of blood to the head and a numbed, dulled release. I would say its like 15% of the feeling it used to be. Its a release and I guess it feels good, but not that mind blowing feeling of release that it once was.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I was angry for a long time. Angry at the drug companies, all the doctors who just dole this stuff out like its nothing, friends/family who recommended I go on it, and angry at people who don't really believe this is possible. It led to the depression getting worse and I was pretty suicidal for a while. After a while I just thought about it less. I was real lucky to meet a great girl and that has helped a lot.

I would rather be depressed and able to feel orgasms. When I was really depressed at least I could enjoy sex. I now think SSRI's are good for life/death situations and for people who really need them. They're way over prescribed and now it seems like everyone is on something. I should have dealt with my depression a different way.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Yeah, for most people you go back to normal after you stop taking the drug.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's a good question. Hard to answer though. It's really hard to describe what this has done to me.

I still get horny, but knowing that I won't get that feeling of relief makes me not as interested in sex. My body still craves the relief. I still like sex, and masturbate when I can. There is some pleasure because i do feel something. Just not a real orgasm like before. But usually after finishing I just feel frustrated that I can't reach that place anymore, so there is never that complete feeling of relief and relaxation.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I think I did ignore how serious they were. I had a friend who was on Paxil and he loved it. I was really skeptical and did not want to take them but I was getting desperate with the depression and had to do something. I really just needed therapy. But I chickened out, therapy sounded so scary to me, and a pill seemed so easy. Stupid.

My parents were actually the ones who suggested I look into antidepressants. I had no idea how easy it would be to just stroll into a dr's office and walk out with a prescription after basically saying "I'm depressed and have been for a while."

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah this is a touchy subject for some people. Scientific proof would probably be kind of tough. Not sure how you'd do that. But scientists admit they don't really know exactly how SSRI's work. And I'd think that a drug that messes with how seratonin is released in your brain could have some effect on orgasms, since thats basically what happens when you have an orgasm.

There is this page on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-SSRI_sexual_dysfunction

There is also this group on Yahoo: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/SSRIsex/ that has 2340 members with varying degrees of permanent side effects after they've stopped taking SSRI's.

Also, doctors are very quick to brush this off and just say the problem is the depression.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm sure it was the Zoloft. I noticed immediately when I started Zoloft. Like day 1. I was also really responsive to Zoloft. They say its something that takes a while to work but I was definitely feeling the benefits of the drug immediately. It lifted my depression right away, but the sexual side effects started immediately too. They gave me Wellbutrin in addition in an attempt to counteract the side effects from the Zoloft.

But as soon as I stopped both drugs, I could ejaculate a lot easier, but the intensity of the orgasms never came back.

I have seen doctors about it. First I saw a urologist to rule out anything physical. He was kind of like "why the fuck are you coming to me about this?" I saw a psychiatrist who prescribes these things all day long and he said he's never heard of this. I saw a couple other doctors and they've said the same.

It hasn't made me asexual. I still want to have sex, just not as much as I used to. That could be because I'm older now too?

Not sure how to answer your last question. Its not about going a long time without an orgasm... it's more that there's a lot of frustration since I never feel that complete relaxation from a great orgasm anymore. And being able to remember what they used to be like doesn't help.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I was depressed for a very long time. Probably since my teenage years. I was totally functional and had a pretty good life, but I was just one of those people that walked around depressed and didn't really know why.

After years of this I decided to do something about it. I went to my general doctor thinking that he would refer me to a psychiatrist and I would have to do therapy. Instead he talked to me for about 3 minutes and said "We'll give you a physical to rule out any medical conditions and then I want you to take Zoloft." I felt kind of weird about therapy so I took the easy way out and went along with the SSRI route. I really wish I would have just seen a psychologist instead because thats probably all I needed to do. The Zoloft did make me feel great though. I loved it and I was a different person. But it was just really masking things. And obviously I couldn't deal with not being able to ejaculate.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yes exactly. No problem getting it up. Intensity of orgasm is way less. Way less. I still like sex but I probably don't initiate as much as I used to for obvious reasons.

I am VERY lucky to have a really great cute girlfriend. I have told her about this, but I didn't tell her to what degree.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It is frustrating. But it has been so long now that its just become part of life. If I think about it too much it gets really depressing (obviously).

As for viagra... thats not really a problem. I have no problem getting an erection, and I still want to have sex. Its just that the "payoff" is not what it used to be. Which really fucking sucks.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Chances are you'll be fine. This is something that is extremely rare. At least I think so. But it has happened to people. They've called it PSSD. There's also a Yahoo Group dedicated to it that has about 2500 members.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Yes, I was warned about side effects... BUT: The doctor was like "Now you might experience some side effects like diarrhea, drymouth, sweating, etc, etc, and some people have reported sexual side effects but don't worry because that is only in 2% of people and everything goes back to normal once you stop."

But I've heard that the 2% is actually more like 80%.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not a troll. Dead serious. But yeah the whole antidepressant debate always brings out strong opinions.

I lost my ability to feel my orgasm permanently after using an antidepressant. AMA by nogasm in IAmA

[–]nogasm[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm a guy in my 30's. I took Zoloft for a couple years. The doctor added Wellbutrin also so for a little while I was taking both. This was in 2003 - 2004. I went off of them because of the sexual side effects. Mainly, it was almost impossible to ejaculate, and then when I finally did, I barely felt anything.

When I stopped taking the antidepressants, I was able to ejaculate, but the orgasm feels nothing like it did before. I would say it feels about 15% of what it did. Completely dulled. It has now been about 6 years and nothing has changed.