A personal issue on Citalopram

Citalopram has done wonders for levelling my moods a bit and making sure I don't sink rapidly into any kind of depression or obsessive thinking. Side effects were bad for the first week and then abated, apart from one...

I have a feeling that if I didn't have the numbing effect of the drugs I would feel far more upset about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorgasmia

The doctor tells me that because I've had this reaction to these, it's likely I would with any other SSRI as well. So here comes the dilemma...do I continue the medication despite feeling a bit like half a person because of my lost sexuality?

Anyone with any relevant experience, I'd really appreciate advice. I tried in the sexual dysfunctions forum and I don't think anybody knew what I was talking about.

yes. your mental health is more important than sex. I've lost sexual desire and ability for long periods of time but i think it's more worth taking my meds and dealing with that loss of my life because it wil come back when you're better again and off the meds.

xx

All I can say is the effect is no fun, but since SSRIs make me sick as a dog its hard for me to try to tell anyone to take them for any positive reason!

I am a male who has this effect on Citalopram. I take 30mg a day which I think is a relatively low dosage. I find now that I can only finish during sex maybe one in every five times, at most. I have never really had any issues with this kind of thing before and I can think of nothing else that would be having this effect.

It is extremely frustrating. Like you though Citalopram has helped me immensely to regulate my mind and avoid obsessing over trivialities. I have never considered coming off the medication for this reason simply because my sex life is not as important to me as being able to feel like myself everyday. I think you just have to consider how important an issue it is to you, it really is a very personal thing.

That was a side effect for me too. It wasn't impossible, but, you know... At the time I accepted it because I was very, very depressed and I had to prioritise. Is it something you could live with for a few months? It doesn't have to be forever.

When I switched from sertraline (Zoloft) to vilazodone (Viibryd); sexual dysfunction* stopped.

*On sertraline, I was almost completely anorgasmic, but, thanks to a tendency to hyper-focus, I kept at it until I achieved. Now that I'm stimulants that help with the hyper-focus, the anorgasmia is back, though less severe.

Ah. Citalopram, the first antidepressant I tried and the only one that helped me. However like you I had the same problem that and I couldn't sleep. So I stopped taking it. Tried many others and they didn't help
At all. I found citalopram to be great despite the side effects I experienced and at the end of the day it's not something you will take for the rest of your life I presume so why not take it until the doctor recommends you stop. Sex is not as important as mental health.
Good luck

On Citalopram (or Celexa is what I know it as), I essentially felt like I was neutered. I don't quite remember the other problems I had with Celexa, or other SSRIs other than they made me really sick. They stop prescribing them to me and started me on the other types of antidepressants.

Well, 10 years later, after putting me on basically everything under the sun, I was put on Prozac. Prozac worked really well for helping get rid of the suicidal thoughts, and only puts a damper on my libido, not completely killing it.

i heart my SNRIs. i have NO sexual issues whatsoever. but then i'm also edging into my sexual prime RAWR!!

check this out...it's a great resource for pills & such:

www.crazymeds.us

^ Sorry if I'm going off topic! I just looked at the crazy meds site but now I'm confused! I'm on 200mg sertraline and 150mg promazine but what is the difference between:

citalopram hydrobromide (celexa)
citalopram hydrobromide (citalopram)
sertraline hydrochloride (zoloft)

I thought citalopram was just 'citalopram'

It doesn't mention promazine! It just mentions chlorpromazine hydrochloride but on my meds bottle it just says 'promazine'

mystic