Antidepressants and sex drive.

I agree..

I had some real depressive episodes back in early 2000s... I was driving some mountain roads, heading home from a five day business trip when out of the blue I realized both of my kids would be out of HS and gone in less than 3 years.. I wasn't ready for that.. I guess I'd never really thought about it.. Going from a house where 10-20 members of the HS football team would drop by during the week (at supper time, of course) and my kids were always coming and going really shook me up.. I got a therapist and she had me get my doc to prescribe:
CELEXA.. then PAXIL instead.. I mean I don't like feeling bad BUT I wanted to feel SOMETHING.. nada.. zip.. wife wants sex? OK.. after she has multiple orgasms and I'm sawing her raw for over an hour we'd stop.. literally no sensory uptake for me.. NOTHING MATTERED.. not in the opioid sense where there's a euphoria attached to lack of problems.. I mean NOTHING MATTERED..

so I stopped taking the crap (this is before they made a big deal about not stopping SSRIs cold-turkey)... holy crap!!

talk about paranoia and a sense of being nothing but a brain in agony! it just so happens that my Dad was using Paxil, as was my sister and brother.. they saw dogs in their rooms and woke up at night seeing armed intruders.. I don't think it's meant for my genes..

re: Wellbutrin/Bupropion.. yes.. a very different type of anti-depressant .. minimizes anxiety as well so it's often used a for nicotine withdrawal.. I never can manage to remember the 150 mg 2x daily so I get the once-a-day 300mg time release.. XLNT results..

talk to your doctor. no sexual side effects.. I wouldn't really know I was taking it except I'm thinking it "may" have decreased my interest in reading novels.. I was a voracious reader but probably have read only a dozen books annually these past 15-20 years..

but that might be because I had a bad fall in 2010 requiring surgeries on back/knee/wrists and they'd had me on 240 mg of oxycodone & 30 mg Methadone daily for a few years but I weaned it down..

I've been off all of that since 2018 but still don't have the desire to read like before.. maybe opioids fried my desire (I'm an artist too and don't do anything even if an 'urge' to create arises.. it just goes back to sleep..

my HS valedictorian said she lost her interest in reading after Wellbutrin as well...

but I'd talk with your doctor about this.. our stories are only anecdotal..

good luck to you..
wishing the sun shines again for you..

 

All I know is I haven't choked anyone yet, I'm not in jail, not divorced, have great relationships with my kids, hold a job (didn't say wonderful...) and have a strong sex drive. My wife says I get pretty bitchy when I wasn't taking it, so yay wellbutrin....I'm gonna take it until the day I leave here in a bag. I'm thinking the not wanting to do things that you always liked is all part of the depression..and not everything comes back out of it as it was before. I used to enjoy technology, tools, being creative .... now a lot of that stuff is just frustrating and feel it's an incredible pain in the ass... I try to take myself out of situations that would only lead me to complaining or bother or frustrate me needlessly - like watching the news or dealing with particular people. If you surround yourself with negative things, osmosis is a natural process. I am desperately not trying to become my mother.........yipe..