Koz26
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2015
- Messages
- 146
Does anybody have a success story related to sexual dysfunction? when will it stop?
Hey everyone, I haven't posted in awhile, but I noticed a lot of people complaining of sexual side effects caused by Invega...so I figured I should chime in. I'm 8 months off the injections and I have very minimal sexual side effects. It is difficult for me to get a "full, rock hard" erection, but I can easily get an erection good enough to have sex with my girlfriend. We first started dating when I was around 6 months off Invega, and it was a bit more difficult to achieve an erection then, but I was still able to get one solid enough to have sex. Sometimes it wouldn't sustain itself, but 90% of the time I could maintain my erection until intercourse was done.
I still feel like I get less pleasure from sex...I feel more numb when having sex than I used to pre-Invega. While this does suck, it has made me be able to last longer...which is a nice bonus...and sex still feels really good. Just not quite as good as it used to.
As far as sex drive/libido, I'd say they are back to normal. For example, if I didn't have a gf and a smoking hot girl asked me to have sex, I'm 99.9% sure that I would have a strong desire to have sex with her AND be able to maintain an erection for the entire time. Sex isn't on my mind as frequently as it used to be because of the Invega, but, as my freshman year football coach would say, "If the worse thing that happens to you in life is that you stop thinking about sex all the time, you're gonna have a pretty shittin good life."
So for me personally, at month 6 off the poison, sexual side effects, with the exception of not being able to achieve full, rock hard erections, were no longer a concern.
My biggest concerns now are the cognitive dulling and lack of motivation to do things. I'm 25 and a professional mixed martial artist who used to train pretty intensely for 2-3 hours per day, 4-6 times per week. Now I can barely get out of bed because this whole experience has made me borderline suicidal. I know deep down that I could FORCE myself to train martial arts again...but I just don't have the same drive I used to and fatigue/cardio has become a big issue post-Invega. I just built a home gym at my house to train with a couple friends and try to ease back into it. Hopefully the energy levels and motivation I used to feel start to return soon. Not knowing if this is my new permanent baseline scares the fuck out of me and it's given me crippling social anxiety in addition to severe depression.
That being said, I've definitely made a decent amount of progress since first receiving the injection. I don't walk around like a zombie, drooling on myself anymore. I no longer drool when I talk either...I can now FORCE myself to do things, but the Invega has just made me feel so miserable from its effects on the dopaminergic system in my brain that I still struggle to do things that I used to love doing. To get out of bed and workout feels like a monumental task now and I get tired so quick. I used to be able to practice 10 five minute rounds of mma sparring and loved doing it. Now I'd probably throw up if I sparred 1 five minute round....and I don't feel like I would enjoy sparring the same way I used to.
If I knew for certain that the effects of invega are not permanent then I would feel happy again and experience way less depression and anxiety. It's the "not knowing for sure if I'll ever fully recover" that causes me to have suicidal thoughts quite frequently. I thought I would be recovered after 8 months since my psychiatrist told me the Invega shot should only last around 3 weeks to a month. It's starting to get really demoralizing...it breaks my heart really. I feel so sorry for all of you going through this.
Anyway, I know this post didn't end up being all sunshine and rainbows...but I hope it gives those of you struggling with sexual side effects hope that they will improve significantly with time. As for all the other terrible side effects of Invega, I honestly don't know how long they will last. I just hope it's not forever.