Paxil and decreased libido and inability to orgasm?!?!

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I tried 3 other medications and Paxil is the only one that was able to help me. The others either didn't work at all (Prozac) or had debilitating side effects such as severe panic attacks and nausea/vomitting (Celexa). With the Paxil, although I have gained some weight (20 lbs), I am now able to handle stress and finally feel truly happy for the first time in 25 years. Talking about the side effects - increased hunger, although this could be due to lessening of anxiety. For the first year, inability to have orgasm, however in the second year on Paxil this side effect went away. Actually, I am on generic version of paxil, i do not have insurance. i purchase paxil off reputable, http://www.pompharmacy.com Good luck with your paxil experience, hope that inability to orgasm will go away shortly.

Definitely talk to your doctor, I know someone who had a similar problem. That sucks, my sympathy.

Talk to your doctor.
I miss that euphoria too, I wish it stayed like that.

So long as you take an SSRI or SSNI medication, you will have this problem. It wasn't worth it to me.

besides that, there is a good chance you naturally cycled out of your depression or got a big placebo effect from the medication. Researchers have gone back and looked at the studies the drug companies did, and it turns out they manipulated study designs and data to get the results they wanted. On average, people with mild to severe depression did just as well on a sugar pill as they did on antidepressants. google irving kirsch for more on this.

so you may be suffering side effects for NOTHING. I got onto this because meds never helped me, but some seemed to help for a month or two, so I went back thru years and years of medical records and graphed my symptoms over time. My moods always cycled according to the seasons and weather (I also looked at meteorological data). I might start taking a drug in april and feel better, but guess what, EVERY year in may and june i felt better no matter what I did. I gave false credit to the medications.

anyhow, irving kirsch's work has been confirmed by others now, and now many websites are saying antidepressants aren't effective for mild to moderate depression, and distorting kirsch's data and saying that they are effective for severe depression, which is not what kirsch found at all. they think it is better to lie to the patient and give them a pill with side effects like you have and I had, knowing that you are getting only a placebo effect? Yep, that is what they do. i go to sites where psychiatrists chat back and forth, and yes, many do exactly that. they know the antidepressants don't work (well, I mean, don't work better than a sugar pill).

so maybe you just got better on your own, or maybe it was a jolt of hope,whatever. If you want to stop the meds, you have to go off them really slowly, or you will get withdrawal, and the doc will say, see? it is your depression coming back, which normally it isn't, it is drug withdrawal. Google antidepressant withdrawal for more. Usually they say 10% decrease per month.

good luck to you no matter what you decide to do. adding viagra, timing my dose, adding wellbutrin, adding adderall, and all the other strategies didn't work for me. Only 5% of people get used to the drug enough that this side effect improves, but it doesn't go away.

PS wellbutrin has less sexual side effects. How about downloading a free moodchart - google it. Then you can see if the meds are helping, or is it just you cycling in and out of depression on your own. No kidding, this is exactly what was happening with me. 15 years of data I went thru.

I've gone through the same thing (I'm 22 and female, by the way). I take Lexapro for anxiety problems, and it is the only medication that has ever worked for me, but I definitely had moments where I felt like it would be better to be off the drugs entirely because I could not reach orgasm. Having said that, though, going off antidepressants is not always a real option - some people simply need them - and it sounds like this is the best drug you've tried, which is an important consideration.

So my advice is to talk to your psychiatrist and ask about possible solutions. Mine added Wellbutrin, which often increases sex drive, and it's worked for me - I don't usually have earth-shattering orgasms, but I can easily have 3-4 smaller ones in a row, and even a smaller one is way better than none, right? So either switching to this or adding it might help you as well. There are other options as well - Viagra sometimes helps, even for women, or even switching the time of day or skipping one or two doses a week. I know it's incredibly frustrating, but don't give up!