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Professor David Healy: Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction. A $100,000 Prize to Find a Cure.

Summary:
[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.


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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.

Mike Norman
Mike Norman is an economist and veteran trader whose career has spanned over 30 years on Wall Street. He is a former member and trader on the CME, NYMEX, COMEX and NYFE and he managed money for one of the largest hedge funds and ran a prop trading desk for Credit Suisse.

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