Posted by Caleb96 on November 26, 2003, at 12:29:29
In reply to Re: neurontin withdrawal » Caleb96, posted by Lynn O on November 26, 2003, at 11:24:40
Lynn:
Several years ago (about '93) I was taking Zoloft for D. It worked great but gave me sexual (no orgasm)problems. At first I didn't even care I felt so great. It was the first time in my life I wasn't looking at the world through a fog. I even got married (two years earlier I never even dated!). I'm still happily married to that same great woman.
Anyway, I complained to the psych about the side effects. Believe it or not, doctors were really clueless about this issue with SSRIs (I'm sure this doesn't apply to Dr. Bob!). I think they just saw an incredible, positive change in their patients and felt like side effects were a minor problem. I would frequently stop taking the Zoloft for 4 or 5 days to get my...ahem, my "woody" back to normal. But having to plan that far in advance kills some of the romance.
Anyway, the psych I was seeing at that time put me on Wellbutrin because it's not an SSRI and it doesn't cause sexual side effects. The problem was it didn't help my D. I was OK for a while, but in the dead of winter I started getting very down and moody. So I went back on the Zoloft just to get some relief.
Many years later, the Zoloft quit working, and I spiralled into a major D episode. I tried Remeron but that turned me into a zombie. All I wanted to do was sleep and eat. That's when I was put on Effexor. The change was nothing short of miraculous. I was better in 2 days. The problem is Effexor has the ole SSRI side effects. (Technically, Effexor isn't an SSRI, it's an SNRI, but it's still a strong serotonin reuptake inhibitor. From the literature I've read, Effexor isn't a very strong inhibitor of norepinephrine reuptake in the CNS, however, it does raise BP so I'm a little confused on this mechanism.) I was put on Wellbutrin in the hope that it would counter the elevated serotonin effect. No dice. I still have the same problems with Effexor. The Wellbutrin hypes me up, which I like because when I was taking Effexor and Klonopin alone, I would get very sleepy if I sat and got comfortable--usually in the wrong place like business meetings!
I've heard of MDs prescribing Wellbutrin with lots of different SSRIs. For some folks, it does counteract the sexual side effects.
Regards and Good Mental Health,
Caleb
poster:Caleb96
thread:49557
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031126/msgs/284091.html