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SNRI side effects

budsnbars712

Bluelighter
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Apr 15, 2011
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166
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NY
I am not really sure where this thread belongs so place it where you feel it fits mods...

I have been on cymbalta for about 3 months now... The sexual side effects are intense... I am able to get an erection but my libido is definitely down as I have to motivation to have sex.. and when I DO have sex, it is almost impossible to ejaculate. I have to try so intensely to ejaculate and it basically ruins sex. I'm doing it just to do it at this point..

My prescriber tells me "I either deal with this in the short term and see if the medication does its job, or I give up and go back to how I was"... I was extremely depressed right before.

Their isn't anything that I can do to help me with this situation? I mean how is one supposed to overcome depression at 25 when their sex lives are basically being taken from them.. Is their anything I can take to increase my labido? Help me ejaculate? I have tried SSRI's before and they did not do their job and they also pretty much gave me the same symptoms. Any help would be appreciated..
 
try a different class of antidepressant, SSRIs and SNRIs are well known for decreasing sex drive and are actually used as treatment for premature ejaculation sometimes.

Or, like your doc says, take 3-6 months to try to pull yourself out of depression, and maybe you won't need antidepressants at all.
 
I am not really sure where this thread belongs so place it where you feel it fits mods...

I have been on cymbalta for about 3 months now... The sexual side effects are intense... I am able to get an erection but my libido is definitely down as I have to motivation to have sex.. and when I DO have sex, it is almost impossible to ejaculate. I have to try so intensely to ejaculate and it basically ruins sex. I'm doing it just to do it at this point..

My prescriber tells me "I either deal with this in the short term and see if the medication does its job, or I give up and go back to how I was"... I was extremely depressed right before.

Their isn't anything that I can do to help me with this situation? I mean how is one supposed to overcome depression at 25 when their sex lives are basically being taken from them.. Is their anything I can take to increase my labido? Help me ejaculate? I have tried SSRI's before and they did not do their job and they also pretty much gave me the same symptoms. Any help would be appreciated..

I'm not a guy, but I had enough side effects on Cymbalta that I had to discontinue it, the worst of which were muscle spasms in my neck and soaking night sweats. If you feel like you're feeling some benefit from Cymbalta, it might be worthwhile to try another drug in the SNRI class (Effexor, Pristiq, etc.)

According to Wikipedia,

One of the major complaints that many users of SSRIs have is the negative sexual side-effects that can be very difficult to treat.[2] Although SNRIs can have similar side-effects, many of them can have the opposite effect of increased libido. Wellbutrin, a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI) and Savella, an SNRI, have been reported to increase libido in both men and women, although some studies have contradicted these reports.[3]

I haven't tried Savella, but I was always able to tolerate Wellbutrin MUCH better (even up to 450 mg) than any other antidepressants I've tried. My reason for stopping it was that it seems to get the job done if I'm mildly depressed, but was never able to completely pull me out of a severe depressive episode.

If you try something else and it's no better (or worse) than Cymbalta, you can always go back on it if you feel like the good outweighs the bad, but there are a lot of other options out there.
 
The worst part about this is that im having "plumbing" issues.... I cannot finish in the bed that much so when I go to urinate.. I finish and It feels like I have to urinate more, I will go back into the bathroom and pee and seamen will come out because it has nowhere else to go... This is a major problem for me as I cannot be living like this...
 
This is a major problem for me as I cannot be living like this...

I think you just answered your own question. If I were you, I'd go back to the prescriber, explain the problem, and ask to try something different that you can hopefully tolerate better.
 
i hope your prescribing physician gave you a more sympathetic response than the one you said he/she did D:

im currently on venlafaxine (Effexor) 150mg, and my sexual side effects only lasted for about the first month. they're still there forsure, but i think a large factor in that is if you're masturbating or actually having sex with another person. in my case when im with someone else, i dont USUALLY have any problems. for the first month i couldnt finish while having sex, but since then the only problem is sometimes i'll go soft.

just in my view, i think its an arousal thing, with the SNRI making it more difficult to become excited and consequently needing more stimulation to finish ya business
(aka having sex with an actual person as opposed to jacking off at home)
 
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