Help! Need Advice About Antidepressants!

[SlickTony]

Not for me--I'm satisfied with Wellbutrin. It's my husband. He's on it too, about half the dosage that I'm taking, in order to quit smoking. It seems to have worked. At least he isn't smoking, or if he is, it's very little. He no longer smells smoky and I don't see the flip-top boxes in his car anymore.

However, it seems to be telling on our sex life. He has lost much of his appetite. And when we do it, he's having trouble getting off, kind of like I had when I was taking Zoloft. This morning I woke him up for a quick one before I had to go to work (it was his day off, otherwise he'd have been gone already). I got mine, but he didn't get his no matter what we did, and finally we gave up and I got dressed and went on to work.

I'm surprised. I didn't expect Wellbutrin to do this. It works for me. I am also surprised that after all the stuff the anti-tobacco people have been putting out all these years about how smoking leads to sexual dysfunction because of constricted blood vessels or some damn thing, that things haven't improved.

This is not good. I do not like this. I'm not one of these people (I won't mention any names but I used to be married to him during the 70s) who get their rocks off and then blithely walk off/roll over leaving my partner hanging. I'd feel like I was using him as a sex toy. It gives me a lot of pleasure to see/hear/feel him coming and I'm not going to enjoy it half as much if the pleasure is all one one side.

Has anybody had any experience with the other antidepressants that aren't either Zoloft or Wellbutrin that also aid in quitting smoking? Our doctor wants him to be on it for a year. If this situation keeps up it's going to be a damn long one.

 

[bisexplicit]

There are certainly sexual side effects associated with a lot of antidepressants.

What needs to happen is for your husband to go talk to a doctor. He can switch medications usually, or possibly decrease the dosage.

 

[SlickTony]

Well, I told him to do that. I guess the ball's in his court.

 

[Pyro Paul]

all anti depressants have a common side effect of lowered sexual desire. it doesnt matter which one you take youll still feel the lowered amount no matter what the med.

in truth, i dont think there are any anti depressants that he can take considering wellbutrin and zolooft are kind of the non addicting forms of most antidepressent medication (which most can be highly addictive)

 

[waterkemist]

I took it too.

And I could not cum at all. After a month of no sex at all, my wife put her finger up my ass and massaged my prostate for about twenty minutes. Even with direct stimulation to my cock, I could not cum. Normally, her actions would have me cuming in about five minutes or less. I stopped taking the meds the next day.

By the way, I used hypnosis to quit smoking. It was simple, but I prepared for it months in advance, and wore two nictotine patches at once. Good luck. Has he tried eating pussy every time he wants a cigarette?

 

[DarkMuse]

And I could not cum at all. After a month of no sex at all, my wife put her finger up my ass and massaged my prostate for about twenty minutes. Even with direct stimulation to my cock, I could not cum. Normally, her actions would have me cuming in about five minutes or less. I stopped taking the meds the next day.

By the way, I used hypnosis to quit smoking. It was simple, but I prepared for it months in advance, and wore two nictotine patches at once. Good luck. Has he tried eating pussy every time he wants a cigarette?

My parents used Zyban. Don't know about sexual side effects, though (not like they'd share with me).

My ex had been on Zoloft not long before we got together. He was STILL suffering effects from it after being off it for a year.

Try Celexa as an "anti-depressant"---it's a saratonin inhibitor, and I haven't heard too many people talk about sexual side effects with it.

 

[bisexplicit]

all anti depressants have a common side effect of lowered sexual desire. it doesnt matter which one you take youll still feel the lowered amount no matter what the med.

While it is common, it doesn't mean all meds result in a lowered sex drive.

I should know, I'm on antidepressants and it hasn't effected my sex drive.

 

[Quoll]

While it is common, it doesn't mean all meds result in a lowered sex drive.

I should know, I'm on antidepressants and it hasn't effected my sex drive.

Likewise, I've been on Zoloft and Lexapro, and I still have my sex drive, depression is a far bigger killer of your sex drive.

 

[boston_bbw]

Ditto for me and I am on Effexor.

 

[devils_daughter]

I'm on Fluoxetine (Prozac). I don't get any problems while I'm on 20mg a day, but at 40mg I cannot cum even if my life depended on it...I begged my doc to lower my dose as I figured a normal sex life would have a better anti-depressing effect then prozac, after that I was lowered dosage twice, but have had to increase those two back to 20mg a day and right now I feel so bad that I'm really frightened I'm going to be put back up to 40mg a day. I have to see the psychiatrist on monday..I could really use talking to my bf mum seeing as, even though my parents have also suffered from depression and been medicated for it, she's the only one who's been as bad as I have

 

[SlickTony]

Has he tried eating pussy every time he wants a cigarette?

That would be a good thing, especially for me, as long as he only wanted a cigarette when he was at home.

 

[Lynxie]

While it is common, it doesn't mean all meds result in a lowered sex drive.

I should know, I'm on antidepressants and it hasn't effected my sex drive.

This is true. I was on Paxil and then Prozac, both of which killed my sex drive. This was a huge problem for me, so my doc decided to try Wellbutrin. I've been on it for about 6 months now, and my sex drive has been better than it has been in the last 4 years or so.

Everyone's affected differently by medications. If Wellbutrin's not idea for your husband, he really needs to see his doctor about it. There's bound to be something else he can try.

I'm not on Wellbutrin for smoking issues, though. I take it for depression, and have had the added benefit of the extra dopamine helping me stay motivated to lose weight.

 

[Naked Blade]

Not for me--I'm satisfied with Wellbutrin. It's my husband. He's on it too, about half the dosage that I'm taking, in order to quit smoking. It seems to have worked. At least he isn't smoking, or if he is, it's very little. He no longer smells smoky and I don't see the flip-top boxes in his car anymore.

However, it seems to be telling on our sex life. He has lost much of his appetite. And when we do it, he's having trouble getting off, kind of like I had when I was taking Zoloft. This morning I woke him up for a quick one before I had to go to work (it was his day off, otherwise he'd have been gone already). I got mine, but he didn't get his no matter what we did, and finally we gave up and I got dressed and went on to work.

I'm surprised. I didn't expect Wellbutrin to do this. It works for me. I am also surprised that after all the stuff the anti-tobacco people have been putting out all these years about how smoking leads to sexual dysfunction because of constricted blood vessels or some damn thing, that things haven't improved.

This is not good. I do not like this. I'm not one of these people (I won't mention any names but I used to be married to him during the 70s) who get their rocks off and then blithely walk off/roll over leaving my partner hanging. I'd feel like I was using him as a sex toy. It gives me a lot of pleasure to see/hear/feel him coming and I'm not going to enjoy it half as much if the pleasure is all one one side.

Has anybody had any experience with the other antidepressants that aren't either Zoloft or Wellbutrin that also aid in quitting smoking? Our doctor wants him to be on it for a year. If this situation keeps up it's going to be a damn long one.

Hi SlickTony
As a doctor of Chinese Medicine I use a herbal product produced by Cathay Herbal (www.cathayherbal.com) called Cathay Herbal Smoker's Diet. It is a herbal formula that assists people to give up by reducing/eliminating cravings & withdrawal symptoms. The patient must still have the will to quit - these tablets simply aid the process. The course of tablets lasts for one month (5 tablets 3 times a day). However, they are not suitable for preg women (which I doubt yr hubby is!) or for ppl with gastric/duodenal ulcers.

This is a lot more gentle than taking antidepressants or other phamaceuticals.

 

[Guest]

wellbutrin...

I agree w/ some of the posts above... these types of medication affect everyone differently.

I believe that sometimes Wellbutrin is actually sometimes used to treat the sexual dysfunction that oftentimes occurs in patients taking antidepressents!

That said, it doesn't surprise me that it may be causing the opposite effect on your husband.

Again... ditto on the advice as far as he needs to talk to his doc about what he can do about it... like switching meds.

Maybe you could go to his next visit w/ him and talk w/ the doctor about it w/ him? Just a thought.

good luck...

 

[SlickTony]

We talked some more about this issue, and it came out that he was in the process of coming down with the ferocious cold that he has now.

You would think that a cold would be less miserable once you'd stopped smoking, but in fact, the opposite seems to be true. He felt so bad over the weekend he went to the doctor, expecting to be told, as in the past, that he had sinusitus and prescribed antibiotics, but all he seems to have is a cold, but he felt so miserable he called in this morning. Just as well, his voice sounded terrible anyway, and he has to talk in his work, as he's in tech support.

 

[Lynxie]

I believe that sometimes Wellbutrin is actually sometimes used to treat the sexual dysfunction that oftentimes occurs in patients taking antidepressents!

According to my doctor, this is true. When I informed him of the sexual dysfunction that I experienced on other antidepressants he told me that, should Wellbutrin not work for my depression, it would be possible to take it in conjunction with another antidepressent (particularly SSRIs). The SSRI would work on my depression, while the Wellbutrin cancelled out the sexual side effects. While I personally wouldn't be comfortable taking two antidepressants, it was interesting that this was an option.

We talked some more about this issue, and it came out that he was in the process of coming down with the ferocious cold that he has now.

You would think that a cold would be less miserable once you'd stopped smoking, but in fact, the opposite seems to be true. He felt so bad over the weekend he went to the doctor, expecting to be told, as in the past, that he had sinusitus and prescribed antibiotics, but all he seems to have is a cold, but he felt so miserable he called in this morning. Just as well, his voice sounded terrible anyway, and he has to talk in his work, as he's in tech support.

I'm glad you took the time to discuss the issue more with him, Tony. It's hard to go through "dry spells," but if you maintain open communication about your feelings and emotions with each other, it should really help you to work through it.

FWIW, people trying to quit any addiction usually go through really rough patches in terms of their health. While your husband is doing something that will benefit his health in the long-term, his body is making a huge adjustment now. All his energy's going towards kicking the nicotine habit, lowering his other defenses. Breaking an addiction is not an easy thing to do - I admire him for making the commitment and taking it seriously.