Posted by lil' jimi on September 21, 2003, at 2:18:23
In reply to PAXIL to LEXAPRO....improve sex?, posted by Micah on September 20, 2003, at 6:05:41
hi Micah,
> Hi! I've been taking Paxil for years with great success for relieving depression/anxiety, but with sexual side effects. My Dr. is switching me to Lexapro. She seems that Prozac was the "Grandfather" and that Lexapro is the "newborn" in this class of drugs. She says I should have on minor, passing, sexual side-effects, if any. What do you guys who have been on Lexapro say about the sex thing? Thanx! >
in terms of when these drugs were introduced, yes ...
... lexapro's been out about a year
... prozac ... a whole heck of a lot longer ... ... more than a decade ...however, drugs are better judged by their effectiveness to an individual than by their maturity ... ... old or new, the best drug is the one that works ... for you ...
ah, but you knew that ... ... still, sometimes it would seem like the pharma reps get the docs all buzzed up about the industry's latest ...
and sometimes our hopes get used too ... ...still there has been some progress, after a fashoin ...
paxil versus lex on the issue of sex SEs, brings up two separate personal experiences which make me much less than objective here ...
... anyway ...
about decade ago i guess, my wife was given paxil for her nerves ... in the oh, maybe a year she tried it, we never heard about any side effects ... ... the loss of her libido caused so much more pain because we never suspected the paxil at all ... we are still recovering ...... so i have some idea about paxil SEs, even though i have never taken any ...
last march i began lexapro ... ... i experienced about a week of anorgasmia ... ... no other sexual SEs at all ... although i had a fleet of other SEs that first couple of weeks ... all of the anorgasmia dissappeared by week 2 of lex ...
the posts on this thread have not had a consistent theme of sexual SEs after the initial adujustment phase ... although initially anorgasmia is not uncommon ... ... my doc mnetioned SEs, "possibly delayed ejaculation" ... ... i'd say that three days is a delay alright ... the exceptions have been those with longer term persistent dysfunction ... ... or those on multiple meds ... ... there have been very few reports of sexual SEs among longer term lex-only users, say more than 6 months ... i would say that it may be zero ...
... i recall there were a few reports of a month or more of anorgasmia, but those folks were so relieved from their depression that it seemed to them as insignificant ...
... some of these folks remind me that i'm not that depressed ...
... and i am truly grateful ...... impressive to me, although not particularly representative, and not real impressive to many others either ...is that... since i recovered from my brief bout of anorgasmia, i have experienced improved sexual response ... ... there have been very, very few similar reports, except at my inquiries here i have seen replies from a few who have had my experience ... but not many at all ...
all that said ... you could not pay me to take paxil ... ... it's just caused too much pain in our lives already
... but you could not pay me to Not take lexapro ...
... it's been better than good to me ...
TAKE CARE !!~ jim
poster:lil' jimi
thread:109458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030917/msgs/262102.html