<BR>Hello Everyone, I currently suffer from depression and am on an antidepressant zoloft. It ruins my sex drive and ability to achieve orgasm. I have tried the med. wellbutrin, serzone and they haven`t worked. Does anyone have suggestions on how to make your marriage work while having these sexual problems.

Are you the husband or wife?<P>Is your depression related to your marriage?<P>Are you having any other marital problems?<P><P>------------------<BR>Scott

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Promised Forever:<BR><B>Are you the husband or wife?<P>Is your depression related to your marriage?<P>Are you having any other marital problems?<P>Hi,<BR>I am the wife, the depression is related to the stress of children. I have a three year old and a 13 month old. The only real problem we are having is my total lack of interest in sex. Otherwise we get along very well.<P></B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>

Sorry about all the questions, but I have one more. Were you experiencing a problem with a low sex drive prior to going on zoloft? <P>------------------<BR>Scott

quest:<P>Talk to your doctor. I would have recommended Welbutrin as an alternative to Zoloft. If that wasn't effective, perhaps your doctor could prescribe testosterone to enhance your sex drive (I don't know how accepted or effective this would be to combat the loss of sexual desire due to SSRIs).

Dear Quest<BR>If the treatment gives you bigtime anxiety elsewhere, what is the point? Doctors love SSRIs, mostly because it is so hard to kill yourself with them---so they won't get sued. I have found them to be quite uncritical of the drug, since it meets their needs so well, and you depression disappears. But you want the man machinery to work, too, and that is good enough for me. I had your same experience. The SSRI makes it really hard (couldn't resist the wordplay) to tell what is going on with that part of your body. <BR>You need to be really honest about your depression (an over used diagnosis)<BR>Are you situationally discouraged?<BR>Are you disfunctional without a major anti-depressant?<BR>Talk to your doc about a benzodiazepine. I have found them very useful for short periods--they are out of the bloodstream in 5 hrs or so.<BR>They really can calm you down and the anxiety fades, noticeably.<BR>Dangerous with alcohol, though. Some addictive aspects. <BR>Supplied in .25, .5, 1 and 2 mg tabs<BR>start low--it can work very well<BR>talk to your doc!<BR>I can still fly a plane after a 12 hr drug vacation.<BR>It is effective and sedating enough that you should let someone else drive<BR>(another reason why docs like SSRIs)<BR>Good Luck<BR>Roger<BR>PS also they are an old class--quite cheap<BR>

Hi, Thanks for the replies. My libido before antidepressants was so so. I am a female. I tried wellbutrin and serzone and didn` t like either of them. Why does it seem to be a choice of feeling good and loosing the ability to achieve orgasm. The low libido thing can be worked on, but not achieving satisfaction really sucks. Any other suggestions. Hopefully when my children are older I will be able to be med. free, but the stress of looking after them really gets to me. While on antidepressants I don`t feel as bad and the stress effects me less. I also exercise regularily and eat well.

quest:<P>How long were you on Welbutrin (or serazone)?? The reason I ask is that Welbutrin has some side effects that go away with time, and you should probably give it 2 months to see if it's an effective medication for you.<P>The common side effects are sleeplessness (which can be counteracted with a sleeping pill like Ambien or a tricyclic antidepressant which helps sleep, like nortryptiline) and dry mouth (water takes care of that!). These side effects gradually diminished for me over the course of a month or so, but the first couple weeks were very tough!

Quest:<P>Every time you answer a question it raises another for me. I’m going to make some assumptions here and please correct me if I have it am wrong. You asked for suggestions that would help make your marriage work while your we experiencing this sexual problem. I am assuming that the lack of sex is affecting your husband more than yourself. The ideal situation would be to eliminate the conditions that cause you to feel so stressed, however there may not be a realistic solution at this time. My wife also has a low sex drive. During the times when she is unwilling or unable to become sexually aroused she is usually willing to engage in manual stimulation with me when I need it. This is only a patch to carry us to the point when we can both enjoy sex together. I know that there is no sexual satisfaction for her and there are also limitations for me, but it sure is better than nothing. This would not be the answer for a long-term problem but it works for us for now. <P>Have you tried to hire someone that may be able to help care for your kids for part of the day? What about day care?<BR><P>------------------<BR>Scott

Hello,<BR>I took the wellbutrin for about 4 weeks. I also had been discontinuing zoloft. Since one drug enhances serotonin and the other doesn`t. Also the drug is not effective for PMS, which I luckily suffer from.<P>Yes the lack of libido effects my husband more than myself, but when I have sex, I want to at least enjoy it. About hiring a babysitter, not possible. My husband works shift work 12 hr shifts. Looking after two children so young in age would stress out anyone. My son goes to nursery school 4x a week, so that does help. I guess I will have to suffer until things are more calm in our lives.

Hi,<BR>I forgot to mention the serzone, I was only on it for about one week. It made me feel really spacey, and totally exhausted. I felt really messed up, and also while on the wellbutrin, I felt really moody. That could of been the discontinuation of the zoloft, but my moods were brutal.

You said you were on Serzone for only a week. I just went on to it and was told that it would take 14 days for it to be effective.<P>And it doesn't affect sex drive<P>While your body is adjusting there are some sideeffects like sleeping, just make sure that youdont take it in one dose. <P>Its been a week for me and I am feeling fine after a slight headache (not an actual one.. but that first initial..am i going to get one? feeling) things are good. And I feel alot more in control.<P>All drugs have that setup time, by not giving them a chance you are just going to keep bouncing.<P>J

Hi, <BR>Actually I was on the serzone for over a week, I felt totally exhausted, and messed up. My moods were all over the place. When ever I have started any other ssri, I never have felt like that before. Have you ever heard much about celexa.

Regarding the meds: I am now on Celexa after sexual dysfunction with Serzone, Wellbutrin and Prozac. First 10 days I had some difficulty with orgasm- but no prob anymore. I agree it is so hard to think that maybe we have to choose between feeling good on a daily basis and the occassional good O- but you can have both if you are willing to experiment!

Just a general comment. <P>I just wanted to let you know how much I admire a woman who has little sex drive and wants to do something about it. The fact that you are willing to discuss the problem and do everything you can to change it tells me that you are truly an exceptional wife. <P>I have suffered from my wife's lack of sex drive since our wedding night 12 years ago. I believe that this is a solvable problem, but she completely refuses to discuss it. Even the 1-2 times a month that she is willing, she only tells me to "hurry up and get this over with", and then tells me that I have nothing to complain about. I have begged her to ask her OB-GYN but she completely refuses. I have asked her to try joint or individual counseling but she refuses this also. <P>Sorry for the whining, but I just wanted to let you know that I do admire you.<P>May the Lord Bless You and Keep You<BR>John

This is to IsIt2Late and others:<P>I am dealing with an almost exact situation that you describe. It is what has sent me on a search for answers and lead me to this site. It is very encouraging to see that there are others out here that are really trying to make it better. I have lurked for a week or so and even caught the Dr.'s radio program over the internet.<P>red2

John, <BR>Thank you very much for the compliment, it made me feel really good. I think that individual counselling would benefit you. Maybe the reason your wife doesn`t want to talk about her problem is her way of pretending that there isn`t one. There are a couple of books written for women with low libido and they were featured on the Ophrah Winfrey Show, sorry I don` t have the names. Check out the Oprah.com site or amazon.com and look up books on sexuallity for women. I wish you the best of luck.

quest,<BR>One thing I would suggest is that you try reading the "Song of Solomon" in the Old Testament. If you really consider the imagery used there I think that you will find that it is one of the most erotic and romantic poems you have read and it might really work wonders.<P>May the Lord Bless You and Keep You<BR>John

I have been on Celexa for clinical depression , for about five months. It has helped me tremendously! Please try it. I had a non-existent sex-drive prior to celexa, when I was on prozac. Prozac worked extremely well for me also, but I changed because I had surgery six months ago and I needed something stronger for my post-opperative depression. Anyway, I love sex now! Orgasms are still a problem for me, but we're working on it. If you have trouble sleeping with Celexa, some doctors prescribe Trazadone as a combo. By the way, my mother is going through menapause and spent a long time looking for an anti-depressant that didn't make her spaced out and lose her mind! She had that problem with all of them but Celexa. Now she is doing well, but you do have to give it a little time and tough it out. It gets better. Also, my doctor told me to try Ginko Biloba for the sex drive. It didn't help me, but when my husband took it I couldn't get him off of me! Different stokes for diff. fokes!<BR>