Antidepressants & sex life

[Saz432]

So me and my DH have recently got back into the swing of things after having a baby which took its time lol

he saw the gp last week as hes had some trouble with his breathing. Needs an xray but gp says probably anxiety and put him back on antidepressants. He was on them yrs ago but stopped as he felt ok but was making it hard to have orgasms

Hes only been on them a few days and the problem came back, 2nd or 3rd day of taking them. We've had (very good!) sex 3 days in a row and he can't finish. Normally his drive is thru the roof, he still wants to have sex but I can tell he's not as obsessed with it as usual (might not be a bad thing for him tbh!)

Am sure it's the medicine and maybe psychological a bit as he was expecting it. I worry about him and want him to stay on them if they will help him and don't want him to stop because of this.

If you have any experience, could you tell me how long this problem lasted? The whole time you were on it or just until you get used to them?

Your husband is having trouble breathing, and the doctor said it's "probably" anxiety and then just immediately put him on antidepressants? Good god. Antidepressants and not fucking magic pills, and they often cause far more problems than they solve. They are also next to useless for helping with anxiety. Yes, some people in extreme circumstances may need them, but they are insanely over-prescribed and the root issues of the patient's anxieties are never dealt with.

I have been on citalopram 20mg for around 10 weeks now. First month I didn't want sea and up until 8 weeks I couldn't orgasm at all. Sex drive is up a bit and orgasm can now happen but takes a while. Hoping this will get better with time. I think you have to see how things progress with time.

If it were me, and it has been me, I would work on myself through therapy or anxiety "exercises" to try and help myself before just popping pills.

This is quite a common effect with some ssris, personally (female) citalopram affected me but sertraline didn't. If all have this effect mirtazapine is known to have fewer side effects than the others so there are options.

No he has also been referred for a chest x ray. The symptoms he's having do sound more like anxiety but they did an ecg too to be safe - that was fine. Since he's had issues with anxiety/ depression in the past they agreed it would be worth trying. Seems reasonable to me. I think it's more stress to be honest, but will see how he gets on.

Thanks for the tips all - he's on sertraline but early days so will see how he goes

[Antidepressants] are... useless for helping with anxiety.

I take Sertraline for anxiety and find it extremely effective and free from side-effects. However people can react very differently to medication, especially antidepressants.