Mr Impotence

Question:

Paxil will make your erection problem MUCH worse. In fact you wont even desire sex whatsoever. hat was my experience and my brothers and my brother in laws. andy-cd: – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi All, I Have been on effexor for about a year now (uk xl version 150ml/day dose long release) Ii have found it to really help and have only experienced 1 side effect throughout which is occasional impotence.  Although i have a very understanding partner, it has been a problem , i sought help from my doc last week and she suggested changing to 20mg paxil/day after i ween off the effexor. I am a bit scared about coming off the effexor as it has really helped my bad anxiety and slight anxiety related-brought on depression. I feel as if i am stuck between a rock and a hard place now.Will the paxil provide the similar sort of help that effexor has. And will it lack the side effect of impotence that effexor has unfortunately brought me. Any help or advise for a scottish newbie to this great group would/will fall on very appreciative ears. Thankyou, Andy.

Response:

I took effexor for some time years back and did not have a bad erection problem steve

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Paxil will make your erection problem MUCH worse. In fact you wont even desire sex whatsoever. hat was my experience and my brothers and my brother in laws. andy-cd: Hi All, I Have been on effexor for about a year now (uk xl version 150ml/day dose long release) Ii have found it to really help and have only experienced 1 side effect throughout which is occasional impotence.  Although i have a very understanding partner, it has been a problem , i sought help from my doc last week and she suggested changing to 20mg paxil/day after i ween off the effexor. I am a bit scared about coming off the effexor as it has really helped my bad anxiety and slight anxiety related-brought on depression. I feel as if i am stuck between a rock and a hard place now.Will the paxil provide the similar sort of help that effexor has. And will it lack the side effect of impotence that effexor has unfortunately brought me. Any help or advise for a scottish newbie to this great group would/will fall on very appreciative ears. Thankyou, Andy.

Response:

Sorry to just jump in the middle of a post here.  I just subscribed to ASAP and my reader didn’t download the the previous messages. My reply is to Andy. Andy, Most of the SSRI’s SNRI’s will have some sexual side effects.  If Effexor XR is working well for you, I would suggest you do not switch! Medications to help what we have is all trial an error (and it can be many months or years to find the right combination that works for each of us).  When you find one that really works, it is like gold! I had sexual side effects from Zoloft.  I just had no sex drive while I was on it and it never worked that well for me, though it did make things much better.  I then went to Lexapro 1 1/2 years ago and it was what I now call my "fools gold".  I was pretty much NORMAL for 1 1/2 years to only have the rug stripped out from me about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks ago.  I am now is "crisis mode" with my anxiety/panic and I should be starting Effexor XR tomorrow or Thrusday and hope it helps me (it has helped my father for the last 5 years!). You could try other options for the sexual side effects.  Talk to your doctor about them.  They could try you on a very small amount of Viagra.   That may be just what it takes to get the engine running again. You could also try more stimulating things with your parter.  Maybe watch an adult video, toys, a lot of "petting", whatever. Once I do find the medication that is right from me, you won’t be able to pry it from my cold dead fingers , not even Bill Gates wealth would take it from me. I am really happy for you that Effexor XR is working so well for you. Now that you have the anxiety/panic/depression part of your life under control, take a slow and gradual approach to finding ways to make your sex life with your partner better!  Hey, at least you know you will have a lot of fun testing out new things! All the best, JimD – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Paxil will make your erection problem MUCH worse. In fact you wont even desire sex whatsoever. hat was my experience and my brothers and my brother in laws. andy-cd: Hi All, I Have been on effexor for about a year now (uk xl version 150ml/day dose long release) Ii have found it to really help and have only experienced 1 side effect throughout which is occasional impotence.   Although i have a very understanding partner, it has been a problem i sought help from my doc last week and she suggested changing to 20mg paxil/day after i ween off the effexor. I am a bit scared about coming off the effexor as it has really helped my bad anxiety and slight anxiety related-brought on depression. I feel as if i am stuck between a rock and a hard place now.  Will the paxil provide the similar sort of help that effexor has. And will it lack the side effect of impotence that effexor has unfortunately brought me. Any help or advise for a scottish newbie to this great group would/will fall on very appreciative ears. Thankyou, Andy.

Response:

Hi All, I Have been on effexor for about a year now (uk xl version 150ml/day dose long release) Ii have found it to really help and have only experienced 1 side effect throughout which is occasional impotence.  Although i have a very understanding partner, it has been a problem , i sought help from my doc last week and she suggested changing to 20mg paxil/day after i ween off the effexor. I am a bit scared about coming off the effexor as it has really helped my bad anxiety and slight anxiety related-brought on depression. I feel as if i am stuck between a rock and a hard place now.Will the paxil provide the similar sort of help that effexor has. And will it lack the side effect of impotence that effexor has unfortunately brought me. Any help or advise for a scottish newbie to this great group would/will fall on very appreciative ears. Thankyou, Andy.

Response:

Different meds work differently for different people. Technically paxil is fairly different from effexor, but it really depends what part of effexor is helping you. The only way to know is to try it, and go back to effexor if paxil doesnt work. Now you may want to ask your doctor about trying something other than paxil, since paxil is one of the hardest meds to withdrawl from… Other than that, unfortunatly, there are no easy answer to your question… Only other quick thing that comes to mind is that if it is available, you could use fome levitra or viagra when necessary with your effexor, and then you can leave your effexor alone… One other thing, Perhaps you could reduce your effexor by 37.5 mg, using on of the started pills with a 75mg pill if that is available as an option to you… You have several options to talk with your doc about… jamie

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi All, I Have been on effexor for about a year now (uk xl version 150ml/day dose long release) Ii have found it to really help and have only experienced 1 side effect throughout which is occasional impotence.  Although i have a very understanding partner, it has been a problem , i sought help from my doc last week and she suggested changing to 20mg paxil/day after i ween off the effexor. I am a bit scared about coming off the effexor as it has really helped my bad anxiety and slight anxiety related-brought on depression. I feel as if i am stuck between a rock and a hard place now.Will the paxil provide the similar sort of help that effexor has. And will it lack the side effect of impotence that effexor has unfortunately brought me. Any help or advise for a scottish newbie to this great group would/will fall on very appreciative ears. Thankyou, Andy.

I think it’s bad advice. Of all tyhe antidepressants around Paxil has the worst reputation regarding sexual dysfunction… If Effexor works for you maybe you’d better stay on it (a med that works is a thing to cherish). There are a few other possibilities that can be discussed with your (p?)doc: – adding low dose Wellbutrin, a *stimulating* antidepressant. This may do the trick. The snag is that many anxiety sufferers don’t do well on Wellbutrin because its stimulating qualities exacerbate their anxiety (although this is not always the case). Hopefully in a combo with Effexor this will not be the case for you. One could think about throwing in a benzo for good measure but a/you van;t go on adding meds to treat side effects of others meds and b/if Scotland is anything like England you won’t be able to lay your hands on benzos anyway. – adding *Gingko Biloba*, a herb (don’t do this without consulting the doc) – adding low dose Buspar seems to help sometimes too. Buspar is next to useless as an anxiolytic but I’ve read about it sometimes hekping with SSRIO induced sexual dysfunction. – taking the occasional *drug holiday* which means: don’t take your Effexor on a certain day (consult the doc first) and then you may be very well able to have sex. This may seem unspontaneous and it is, but *if it works, it works* and it often does, as it seems. The obvious snag here is the possibility of Effexor withdrawal symptoms but it can be tried, see what it gets you – the proof is in the pudding. Philip

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