Posted by Cam W. on May 28, 2001, at 11:46:24
In reply to CAM!!! I need help...Effexor XR causing sexual dys, posted by DebbieLynn on May 28, 2001, at 10:18:18
Debbie - There are several potential remedies for the sexual dysfunction caused by serotonergic antidepressants. Someone recently posted (Scott?, Sal?, Sunnely?) a list of these remedies, but I searched the archives and damned if I can find it. Dr.Bob has some good suggestions in the Tips section:
http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/split/SSRI-sexual-dysfunction.html
Any of these treatments work, at best, 50% of the time, but many do work. Unlike you, I have been lucky to have increased sexual function (probably due to a depression-induced dysfunction), much to the chagrin of my wife. ;^)
Adding Wellbutrin can help, but I'd only do this with the blessing of your pdoc. It is one of the several treatments. Hopefully someone will reply with the link I had referred to earlier.
As for the photosensitivity, I have not heard of this with Effexor. What may be happening is that the Effexor seems to dry one out (and increase sweating...go figure) and you may not be rehydrating yourself enough. The dry mouth and skin caused by the Effexor may be caused by a decrease in your sweating mechanism or a lack of "sweatable" liquid in your body. Try increasing your water intake to about 10 - 8oz glasses a day (or slightly more).
Try not to be too afraid of the withdrawl effects of Effexor XR. They occur much more readily with the regular Effexor, than with the Effexor XR. A slow weaning from the drug should prevent this from occurring, but even if it doesn't, there are effective drug therapies (2 weeks of low dose Prozac). Most of the horror stories that you hear are from people who stop the Effexor cold turkey. Even when stopped cold turkey, most people do not have severe withdrawl symptoms and may just feel out of sorts for a day or two. Many of these people do not even attribute this "blah" feeling to the stopping of the drug.
I, myself, knew of the problems when I started taking Effexor, but I also knew that the effectiveness of the Effexor far outweighed and problems that could arise.
I hope this of some help. - Cam
poster:Cam W.
thread:64486
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010522/msgs/64491.html