Posted by Rick on August 28, 2001, at 1:03:44
In reply to Re: Rick: alt.panic, posted by Thrud on August 27, 2001, at 3:04:04
> Hi Rick.
>
> I just joined the alt.panic.something? group.
>
> How the heck are you supposed to extract useful info from that rambling mess???!!!
> Most of it seems to be idle chit-chat. From what I've seen, nothng like Babble-land!
> Anyway, I've posted my usual pleading "please help" question and I'll see what I get.
>
> BTW, is there a search engine there so I can cut through the crap?
>
> Thanks again RickDid you try searching at http://groups.google.com/ ?
This is a recently-added service of google.com that searches through several years of newsgroup posts. You don't even have to choose a specific group. Just enter several keywords in the search box, such as xanax and "sexual dysfunction" (i.e., use quotes to make it a string).
When you get your 40,000 results, it will show you the groups that use the terms the most, which will certainly include alt.anxiety-panic. If you want to narrow things down, you can then click on the link to that group to open a reverse-chronological listing of threads on the NG. Then you can re-enter the search terms, but this time click the radio button that says "search only in alt.anxiety-panic." to get a narrower list of postings that might be relevant. Etc. Always be sure to select "view entire thread." Yes, there's a lot of junk, but there may be some good stuff in there. I believe some regular Psycho-Babblers post frequently to alt.anxiety-panic, too.
I spent a few minutes nosing around like that myself and did find some people who complained of sexual dysfunction with Xanax. But frankly, the responses were usually along the lines of "Xanax never causes that, must be related to something else." The latter part of that statement is sometimes true, of course (something alluded to in gibert's last post), even if Xanax *can* cause SD for some, esp at high doses. Why don't you just try to wait it out a at least a few weeks more, and do see if maybe you could cut back a little with your doc's approval.
(I know, easier said than done!)
If that or some of the other ideas don't work, I'd still look into low-dose stimulant augmentation. If you do, there have been so many experiences in Babble-Land alone of sexual stimulation from selegiline that I really think you should consider it.
BTW, I looked for sexual dysfunction in the RXlist monograph for selegiline, too. It made me wonder if you and I were looking at the same site, given that you say you saw sexual dysfunction plastered all over the place. I only saw it once, and was listed in the laundry-list, who-knows-what-really-caused-it section that tends to include everything from hangnails to change of political affiliation. (Which is NOT to say that some people don't occasionally have very atypical reactions, as you know.) The Medscape monograph for selegiline (they try to stay very up to date) listed a "mere" 25 or so "less common" adverse effects for selegiline, and sexual dysfunction didn't make the cut. By the way, I think some of the references to "personality changes" etc. might have referred to elderly Parkinson's patients who had an unusual and maybe inappropriately-expressed increase in libido.
Hey, didja ever notice that the side-effects list for antidepressants always include depression?
If you live in a large metro, I wonder if you could find a psych who specializes in sexual disorders (even if your reaction IS all or mainly drug-induced). Not to *replace* your current guy, who sounds like a good one, but just to see if they might have any ideas for putting a grin back on Mr. Happy's face. Or maybe an endocrinologist? I believe certain hormonal/endocrine profiles could make one more susceptible. (As you can see, I'm just tossing out ideas at this point, some of which may or may not make sense.) If you're overweight or out of shape, maybe diet and exercise could help as well, either directly, or indirectly through anti-anxiety benefits that allow you to get by on less Xanax. (I'm certainly not implyng that that very-fit people aren't prone to sexual side effects, too.)
Rick
poster:Rick
thread:76063
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010822/msgs/76677.html