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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
It’s hard to feel sexy when you don’t feel happy. If that unhappiness is rooted in clinical depression, your health care provider may recommend an antidepressant.But it’s vital that you know all of the possible side effects before you sign on – because like most other medications, not all of them are created equal.In fact, antidepressants in the SSRI family (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are known to cause low libido. Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa and Paxil are all SSRIs and all have been documented as having sexual side effects.Dr. Chad Collom, a doctor of nursing practice and board-certified family psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at Solace Counseling in Dallas, Texas, explains why.“SSRIs stimulate certain serotonin receptors that can cause a decrease in dopamine and norepinephrine in an area of the brain, which can have an effect on libido,” Collom said. “Older classes of antidepressants that are not used as much anymore, like monoamine oxidase (MAOIs) and tricyclics antidepressants (TCAs), can have the same libido depressing effect.”Of course, depression itself can cause low libido. In fact, it’s very common in people battling depression – and this presents a bit of a Catch-22.“The risks versus benefits should be weighed,” Collom explained. “If depression is causing significant impairment in one's life, then treatment may be necessary. This should be determined with your health care professional.”So, is there anything you can do to combat the low libido caused by antidepressants?“For men, some medications such as Levitra, Viagra, and Cialis can be of some benefit,” Collum said.“Men should also get testosterone levels checked. Though (it’s) not indicated for women, some studies using Viagra in women have shown positive results with sexual side effects. Women should always get hormone levels checked.”There’s another option as well, Collom noted.“Changing to Wellbutrin (another antidepressant that works only on dopamine and norepinephrine receptors) or adding it to an SSRI can help counteract sexual side effects,” he said.In other words, not all antidepressants have sexual side effects.“Wellbutrin has been shown to have no sexual side effects due to its mechanism of action,” Collom said. In fact, “Wellbutrin can actually increase one’s sex
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