this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
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Mental Health

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Do you think SSRIs are a good idea? (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by Psychonometry@lemmy.world to c/mentalhealth@lemmy.world
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Mild NSFW warning: this post mentions sexual side effects of medication.

SSRIs are the most common type of antidepressant (examples are Prozac/fluoxetine, Zoloft/sertraline, Paxil/paroxetine).

If you have experience with them, do you think they're a good idea?

I came across a paper about side effects which I haven't heard discussed before. Many people know that SSRIs have sexual effects, but apparently they also affect fertility.

This paper describes SSRIs as "gonadotoxic", leading to effects like "decreased sperm concentration and motility, increased [DNA] fragmentation, and decreased reproductive organ weights".

The paper does say "this effect does seem to be reversible", so if you stop SSRIs, your sex organs should apparently go back to normal. But still, some people are on SSRIs for long periods of time, right?

I would be interested to hear others' thoughts, if you have any.

Edit: Thanks for the replies to this post, they're interesting.

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[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I didn't like SSRIs. I found the effects for me to be very, very marginal, and the side effects--weight gain, sexual dysfunction--to be very unpleasant. The Zyprexa I was given (an atypical antipsychotic, I believe) was even worse for weight gain and sexual dysfunction. I preferred bupropion, which had neither side effect. The effects were still very marginal, IMO.

A lot of people have a REALLY hard time getting off SSRIs if they it doesn't work, if the side effects are too serious, etc. Some people report 'brain zaps', and serious withdrawal. Like, really bad. It can take months for the withdrawal symptoms to ease or go away completely.

If it's for depression, I'd look into TCMS. It's probably more expensive up front, but supposedly you can have significant improvement in 50 or fewer sessions.