SSRI and Loss Of Interest In Sex

People may look at the complex before they look at the obvious — which is a faster answer and closer to the truth. I happened to be talking and I found three more yesterday. Women.  Young, intelligent, and attractive women, who did not have and did not want boyfriends. All three were part of the mental health treatment establishment.

Men are losing interest in sex

The first time I discovered one of those was some years ago, a few cities ago, and she was a very clever and very talented psychiatric nurse.  She loved her profession, and took good care of people.  She loved nature and animals and plants.  I believe her to have been quite attractive.  She had been turning down dates because she would rather go to her gardening clubs or whatever.

She had also said, without tears or depression, that she expected she would always be alone, would move into the home for old nurses when she was old enough, and die there. She had been on Prozac for about three years. There were a few problems with this. First, nobody had ever talked to her about getting OFF Prozac.  They said she might as well stay on it, since life was that good.

Actually, I have looked at data for depressed folks of varying ages. Sure, there is a risk of side effects, but nobody seems to care.  I cannot remember, off the top of my head, seeing data about the recurrence of depression that suggested anybody needed to stay on antidepressants permanently.

Certainly, nobody under, say, 55 or so.  And she was plenty under.  I mean, there are things you can do to lessen the chance of recurrent depression — psychotherapy, even reading books. And there is the whole question of getting someone off SSRIs.  I have had patients who claim it is impossible.  I’ve had people come to me because the withdrawal effects were horrendous.  Yet I have taken people off easily and (reasonably) quickly with natural substance regimens. It’s not impossible – you just have to know how.

That eliminates many of my colleagues.  Or perhaps they keep their patients on prescription drugs to insure their return and a steady cash-flow.  Naw – doctors wouldn’t do THAT!

There is another problem.  There are drug side effects we know little about or may find hard to measure.  I remember from my days doing clinical trials that at one time, shortly before I left the business, someone adopted a “uniform” side effect reporting system. The trouble with that was trying to fill in the blanks for the questions on the form when the patient is saying things that do not fit in the blanks.

Every one of these mental health professional women had been put on Prozac when it came out, because of the safety and efficacy.  I remember, collecting data, one of the first people I gave Prozac to during clinical trials before that drug was on the market.  She told me that she “felt like a zombie” and that she missed having the full amplitude of emotional expression.  She missed crying at the movies, something she had genuinely enjoyed.  Said she had a feeling of euphoria afterwards — a feeling of euphoria she really enjoyed. Try fitting that one on a uniform side-effects reporting system.

The three women I met yesterday are unlikely to get off their Prozac. They stood in wide-eyed disbelief of my assertions.  Of course, they had just met me and know little about who I really am.  Besides, people seem to have trouble taking advice for which they aren’t paying.  I just reminded them as I remind patients that taking any medication is a choice, and reporting what is going on to a doctor is always a good idea.

If any of these intelligent and well-insured women had gone to a therapist, they could have ended up with some kind of verbally analytic procedure, which obviously would not help.  Or maybe they would be referred for some hormone supplementation, which has biologic risks of its own.  Big ones, like — cancer.

Worse yet, I’ve met two psychiatrists in my 30 years of practice who gave everybody electric shock treatment. Everybody! The first person in whom I suspected a real lack of sex interest had changed her life — the psychiatric nurse — did finally get off her Prozac. If she had any recurrent depression problems, I do not know about them.

She had a date within two weeks, and last I heard, was dating many interesting men, looking for a best boyfriend.

I am convinced that we are looking at a Prozac side effect that the system has made it impossible to measure.  We probably have at least a little of the same side effect with similar drugs in the same class – such as Paxil and Zoloft.  Maybe others, too.

The psychiatric nurse easily agreed her general quality of life had been diminished while she was on Prozac.  She was too undepressed to notice.  When she got off the drug, she suddenly noticed.

Getting a drug past the FDA takes some studies on how it gets into the body and the like.  Nobody ever seems very worried about getting off a psychiatric drug.  That’s been the focus of my private practice for at least the past five or six years.

For the individual, the effect is pretty evident even though I only have one clear cut example. What about the species?  Is this just one of several steps driving humans to …. extinction? People change as time passes.  What affected you in the past may have gone away – as many illnesses seem to do.

Spending your lifetime on a drug when you no longer need it is tragic.  Or having your quality of life changed because of the way a drug reacts in your body – instead of seeking alternatives to control your problems.

I think it is worthwhile for anybody on a psychotropic drug to ask how their life has changed since they have been on a prescription medicine. We researchers have been limited to collecting information on side effects that the FDA and/or drug companies “let” us.

So don’t look toward the government or the drug companies for help.