Posted by peacetoy on April 7, 2005, at 6:27:27
In reply to Re: I just can't live this way (meds vs. sex)., posted by Interested on April 6, 2005, at 20:28:29
I can really empathise with your frustration. I'm also gay and have been in a relationship for 9 years.
Last year, my partner started getting very depressed and took Citalopram. It had the paradoxical effect of vastly increasing his sex drive (while doing only a little for his depression)!
I had been on Proxac for 8 years, with fairly minimal sexual side effects (I think). I felt it wasn't working for me anymore and tried escitalopram (Lexapro). Big mistake - it made me feel like a eunuch, and exacerbated the loss of libido I already had from being depressed! And with my partner having increased libido, things became very difficult.
I'm not taking anything apart from EPA (Omega 3), and while things seem a bit better down there, the psychological effects are still there, and I've lost what sexual confidence I had. I've actually been taking a Tribulus supplement that also includes Ginkgo and Arginine, and this has helped physically at least [ http://www.libilov.com/ ]. A lot of damage to my relationship has already been done, though (it's more complicated than just the sexual stuff, but its a big factor).
Mirtazapine (Rememeron) was suggested to me as an alternative to an SSRI, and I'm going to try that if I decide I need to, despite being rather scared of the potential weight gain.
poster:peacetoy
thread:480594
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050404/msgs/481039.html