Gen Zers says antidepressants have ruined their sex lives: Im dead inside

Nick Alves was 19 when a psychiatrist offered him the antidepressant Trintellix to treat his moderate anxiety and depression after just a few short visits.Going on the popular selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) — a class of drugs that also includes Prozac — didn’t seem like a big deal at the time.But, when Alves went off the medication after six years, he immediately noticed his genitals were losing sensation.

Over the course of a couple weeks, he almost entirely lost feeling in the area — and it never returned, nor did the high sex drive he once had.“That region feels as sensitive as the skin on the back of my elbow does,” said Alves, now 27 and a commercial truck driver in Massachusetts.He would ultimately learn he suffers from Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD).For many, antidepressants are lifesaving treatments, but, in rare instances, they can potentially cause debilitating side effects that persist for years after stopping the drugs.The medical establishment is increasingly recognizing these SSRI dangers, especially to young people, who are being prescribed them at a growing rate.SNOMED, the National Institute Of Health’s official source of medical terminology for US healthcare systems, recognizes PSSD as a legitimate disorder as of this year, defining it as “persistent sexual side effects” including genital numbness and loss of libido that “can last for weeks, months, or even years after stopping” antidepressants.The condition has also been acknowledged by official medical bodies in the United Kingdom and Australia, as well as the European Medicines Agency.Warning labels for common antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil all list post-discontinuation sexual dysfunction as possible side effects.“People feel pretty awful … and there isn’t anyone trying to find an answer to the problem,” David Healy, a psychopharmacologist and professor of psychiatry at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, told The...