Sex drive/prozac, cymbalta, paxil?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2003
Sex drive/prozac, cymbalta, paxil?
2
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 4:28pm
Hi, I'm very confused about which antidepressant to take and was hoping to get some opinions. First, a little background. I have taken antidepressants off and on since I was 18 (I'm now 28). I started with prozac and stayed on it until I became pregnant with my first child. After she was born, I tried to not take any meds, because I had a very bad time with lack of sex drive when I was on prozac. Well, I came to realize when my dd was about 7 months, that I really needed to be on something. I tried several different antidepressants over the next year and a half...effexor, celexa, wellbutrin, and an anti-anxiety drug, luvox. I switched so much because I had terrible sexual side effects, and was hoping to find one that worked and didn't have the side effects. Wellbutrin was the only one without the sexual side effects, but it didn't help my depression. I decided to just not take anything for a while, partly because I was tired of searching for a better drug, and also because my dh and I were trying to get pregnant again, and I didn't want to take anything while pregnant (even though they say you can take prozac, I just knew that I'd worry too much and my anxiety would be worse than if I took nothing at all). So for the last 2 years, I've taken no antidepressants. I have almost completely weaned my 11 month old dd so that I can begin taking something. I just don't feel like the person I want to be, kwim? I am very sad, tired, irritable...and I know I don't have to feel this way, so I have decided it's time to take something again. I saw my family doctor last week, and she gave me a prescription for prozac (she's never given me the prescriptions in the past, I always saw a psyciatrist for that, but insurance won't pay for a psyciatrist anymore). Basically, she'll give me a prescription for whatever antidepressant I request, so I just said prozac because I've taken it before and it worked okay (not wonderfully, but okay). So, to get to my question, what drug has the least sexual side effects (not including wellbutrin)? I have heard that paxil does, then I've also heard it doesn't, have those side effects. And what about the new drug, cymbalta? Is it supposed to have fewer sexual side effects? I'm sorry for this being so long...I'm just very confused and don't want to have to try a bunch of different drugs again.

Thank you if you got this far!

Molly
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 8:57pm

((((((((((((((((((((welcome Molly)))))))))))))))))))))


A lot of the time which one works best and has the least side effects depends on you and your body.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Sun, 10-10-2004 - 11:48am

Hi Molly!