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[embedded content] Professor David Healy is a world-renowned psychiatrist and a leading psycho-pharmacologist who is studying the condition called Post SRRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD), an incurable permanent illness that can occur after taking SSRI’s or other modern antidepressant drugs. PSSD sufferers say that life feels pointless and that they are no longer able to feel sexual or romantic feelings anymore and can't fall in love either. Many children and adolescents who are given these medications who then go on to develop PSSD say they have no idea what sexual or romantic feelings are like. Life loses all passion. Genital numbness also goes along with the condition and some people report that their skin feels numb all over like rubber and that they are no longer ticklish. Professor
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[embedded content] Professor David Healy is a world-renowned psychiatrist and a leading psycho-pharmacologist who is studying the condition called Post SRRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD), an incurable permanent illness that can occur after taking SSRI’s or other modern antidepressant drugs. PSSD sufferers say that life feels pointless and that they are no longer able to feel sexual or romantic feelings anymore and can't fall in love either. Many children and adolescents who are given these medications who then go on to develop PSSD say they have no idea what sexual or romantic feelings are like. Life loses all passion. Genital numbness also goes along with the condition and some people report that their skin feels numb all over like rubber and that they are no longer ticklish. Professor
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Professor David Healy is a world-renowned psychiatrist and a
leading psycho-pharmacologist who is studying the condition called Post SRRI Sexual
Dysfunction (PSSD), an incurable permanent illness that can occur after taking SSRI’s
or other modern antidepressant drugs. PSSD
sufferers say that life feels pointless and that they are no longer able to feel sexual or romantic
feelings anymore and can't fall in love either. Many children and adolescents who are given
these medications who then go on to develop PSSD say they have no idea what
sexual or romantic feelings are like. Life loses all passion. Genital numbness also goes along with the condition and some people report that their skin feels numb all over like rubber and that they are no longer ticklish.
Professor Healy believes the condition might more common than
previously thought because it unreported as doctors usually dismiss it when
patients say their sex drive has not been the same after taking antidepressant
drugs. These people then feel too shamed to mention it to anyone else. Many sufferers are lonely because their lack
of sexual feelings and romantic passion makes relationships difficult.
A number of years ago the medical journalist, Robert
Whitaker, wrote an article about it but no newspaper, magazine, or online media
outlet would publish it. When the Oliver James, the left wing British
psychiatrist who often writes for the MSM, was asked about it he said it would
be difficult to publish. Apparently, newspapers rely too much on drug company
advertising and don’t want to upset their clients.
Professor Healy is trying to raise money for a $100,000 prize
for anyone who can develop a cure for this dreadful condition. If you wish to
donate, here’s the link below. Please re-blog this post.
David Healy
This Prize is part of a two-pronged attack on the
unwillingness of the medical and regulatory establishments to listen to people
with adverse events in general – not just the sexual dysfunctions mentioned
here. The second front in the attack will be unveiled in a few weeks’ time.
The problem
The idea for a RxISK Prize began with our
involvement with sufferers from Post-SSRI Sexual
Dysfunction (PSSD) some years ago, and soon after people with
comparable problems following Accutane and Finasteride. The motivation and
endurance of those affected has been inspiring.
A complete and permanent wipe-out of your ability
to make love is among the most debilitating side effects of a drug imaginable.
In the case of all these drugs when it happens it affects men and women, young
and old, can appear after a few days on the drug or only after treatment stops.
It can last for decades, perhaps longer. It leads to suicides, the break-up of
relationships and job losses. There is no upside to it.
PSSD shares many common features and looks like it
is closely related to Post-Finasteride Syndrome (PFS), and Post-Retinoid Sexual
Dysfunction (PRSD) triggered primarily by isotretinoin
(Accutane). Isotretinoin is both a serotonin reuptake inhibitor and a
5-alpha reductase inhibitor (5ARI), so it could give rise to PSSD or PFS, or
all three conditions may have something else in common.
We have recently submitted a paper for review
describing 300 cases of PSSD, PFS and PRSD, and we are aware of many more cases
and comparable phenomena happening on some other drugs. There may be tens of
thousands affected as some evidence suggests that less than half of those who
have been on SSRIs for months will regain full and normal function.
There are communities online and linked to
universities researching these conditions as vigorously as the AIDS community
once got involved in the search of a cure for AIDS. The most successful of
these so far have been linked to PFS, with sufferers having created a
Foundation to promote research on this condition. The research done by these
groups have followed up all of the obvious treatment leads but nothing so far
has worked.
More here:
Tony’s Story
This all began in 2005, I was married and life was
pretty normal. I was feeling low and tetchy so I went to see my
doctor. I was diagnosed with depression and prescribed a 10 mg daily dose
of Cipralex. I
started to develop severe sexual side effects within three weeks, a point from
which there has never been any remission. I tolerated the drug for a few months
but decided to discontinue it. I wanted to feel human again, and I was
concerned that if I took the drug for a long period of time it would harm the
marriage. I’d missed my sexuality. I was expecting it to return, but it
didn’t. As the days turned to weeks I became scared. Surely it would
come back?
I have suffered from Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction
(PSSD) now for 7 years. When I speak to people about PSSD, I never use the
terminology ‘sexual dysfunction’. I always explain PSSD as a
complete loss of sexuality. I tell people that I have lost my identity.
PSSD causes many distressing symptoms. I have
no libido; there is no drive there at all, no desire or lust, no propelling
force of nature. I can’t remember what it feels like to be sexy and horny,
I know it was powerful but I’ve not felt it for years. I have a serious
case of erectile dysfunction and trying to get aroused is usually
futile. I have a next-to-nothing response to sexual stimuli. I
experience very little sensation and my orgasms are weak. I don’t
experience sexual fantasies or dreams, neither do I experience normal
dreams. My genital area is numb, almost as if doesn’t exist. I’m only
really aware that there is something between my legs when I need to urinate.
This sexual annihilation is devastating enough, but the feeling of isolation
and lack of interest in life that it leads to are equally as bad, if not worse.
‘Impossible’ to suffer from long-term
symptoms?
I took my concerns to my doctor, and so began many
years jumping through the hoops of the medical system. I saw three
doctors, two psychologists, a psychosexual specialist and a urologist. I
underwent some unpleasant procedures and had a copious amount of tests. I
was sent for a pelvic and abdominal scan, and a cystoscopy. I tried Cialis and
testosterone injections. The doctor that prescribed me the antidepressants
said that it was “impossible” to suffer any long-term symptoms caused by
SSRIs. The urologist completely ignored me when I described the timeline
of events.
I heard many reasons for my condition. I was told I
had male menopause. I was told that I was working too hard when I had a
job; and then when I didn’t have a job it was the fault of being
unemployed. I was told that I needed to be with someone new; or that
society had made me feel inadequate, and countless other excuses. I knew
all these explanations were false, I knew it wasn’t in my head.
I look back at all the appointments I have had and
it makes me laugh – my loss of sexuality was blamed on everything except for
the obvious culprit.
I felt so alone; nobody was listening to me or
could help me. In the eyes of the people that I sought help from I didn’t
have anything seriously wrong. One of the doctors suggested that even if
the drugs had caused this condition, then it wasn’t as bad as other side
effects. I’d like some of these people to experience PSSD for a month, and
then try and insult my intelligence. Seeking help was a demeaning experience
that only compounded the hell of living with this condition.
Both physical and emotional connections have
wasted away
My marriage ended in 2009. With PSSD I had not
only lost the need for sex and the ability to have sex, I had also become
apathetic to any kind of intimacy. I literally had no interest in any
physical connection, and with that the emotional connection wasted away. I
had become passionless and unresponsive to someone that I previously couldn’t
resist. On the few occasions I tried to force the issue, it was degrading
and embarrassing.
Removing something so fundamental is always going
to create a ripple effect, and PSSD is no different as it causes a feeling of
impassiveness about life. These days, life seems to be something other
people do, something I observe but I don’t partake in. I feel detached from my
true self; isolated from society and distant from other people. I am
unmotivated as I am unable to seek pleasure; I live a mechanical and soulless
existence. Without the desire that once drove me I merely go through the
motions. There is no real excitement or fun, no spark or special feeling
inside, no spring in my step – something intrinsic to human happiness is
missing from inside me. I used to put on a brave face and throw myself out
there as much as possible, but it wasn’t real. My life is more hermit-like
now because I don’t want reminding of what I’m not.
Living a lie
My sexuality used to define who I was; it shaped my
personality, it influenced how I expressed myself, how I dressed, talked, acted
and interacted. It drove me; it enabled me to fulfill my physical and emotional
needs. Without it I feel lost, empty and lacking direction, and that I’ve been
eliminated from the game of life. My confidence and ego have been
crushed. PSSD is so profound in its all-encompassing nature, it runs so
much deeper than a collection of symptoms. It’s a very scary thought that I
probably won’t ever be me again, and I have moments of real fear when I think
what I’ve lost. To live with PSSD is to live a lie.
I went to my doctor for help and ended up in a
horrible place; a place that I did not think could even exist. I was given
a drug that ruined my life. The medical system violated my trust and my
body. They took advantage of me during a period of weakness; and then they
left me on the scrapheap.
“Sex isn’t everything” – I hear that a
lot. Well, my sexuality was everything to me.