Have you ever taken antidepressant medication?

[Tacoline]

the only medication i've taken for a long amount of time has been antibiotics. the first time was for a throat infection that cleared up in a week. the other has been some general antibiotic to help me recover from a minor surgery. both of which happened within the past few years, and i've been ace long before that.

i've never taken antidepressants or anything along those lines.

[jovvo]

This reminds me of a topic I made asking a similar question http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/108606-did-you-take-anaphrodisiacs-as-a-preteen-or-teenager/#entry1060936842

It does make me wonder if drugging up people, especially young people, can change their brain chemistry for life, though there doesn't seem to be much of a link to asexuality so far. In my case, I took antidepressants as a preteen and teen (among a plethora of other drugs that also inhibit sex drive, which are called anaphrodisiacs). But on the other hand, I was always different than my peers and that's why I got drugged up in the first place. I think that maybe my orientation is one of those different things about me that would have came to be even without antidepressants and other anaphrodisiacs. Meh, hard to tell.

In the case of anaphrodisiacs permanently changing preteens or teenagers, whose brains aren't entirely developed yet, I could maybe see the medication altering its developmental course and thus affecting them for life. For adults though, their brains are hard-set and done developing… I guess medicine could still have permanent effects, but I think it'd be much more rare for it to actually physically and permanently change an already completed brain. I'd assume with adults, the brain would just go back to business as usual without meds messing with its neurones.

(But I'm also unqualified on everything medical so there's that to consider >.>)

I'd say the chances your asexuality was caused by your past antidepressant use is very likely. These drugs do have permanent effects on the brain, adult or child.

What surprised me is just one dose of an antidepressant is enough to change the brain's structure immediately and apparently permanently. Antidepressants reduce connectivity to parts of the brain.

http://www.newsweek.com/antidepressants-can-change-your-brain-immediately-study-271371

There are no studies that say these brain changes reverse back to normal after antidepressant exposure.

Here's a link to a page about PSSD (post SSRI sexual dysfunction): http://wp.rxisk.org/post-ssri-sexual-dysfunction-pssd-wikipedia-stumbles/

And here's a VERY interesting quote from that page:

"Experiments with rodents have shown that treatment with SSRIs at a young age results in permanently decreased sexual behavior that persists into adulthood and is similar to PSSD (asexuality)."

Here's another VERY interesting quote:

"It also appears as though PSSD (asexuality) might be transgenerationally inherited, at least in rodents, since maternal exposure to fluoxetine impairs sexual motivation in adult male mice"

So exposing rodents to SSRIs at a young age made them experience permanent asexual like effects into adulthood. And if a pregnant rodent mother took an antidepressant during pregnancy, the offspring would experience the same permanent asexual like effects into their adulthood.

I find this very interesting. I wonder if the people here who never took an antidepressant, if their mothers ever took one during their pregnancy with them. That would be very interesting to know.

[jovvo]

the only medication i've taken for a long amount of time has been antibiotics. the first time was for a throat infection that cleared up in a week. the other has been some general antibiotic to help me recover from a minor surgery. both of which happened within the past few years, and i've been ace long before that.

i've never taken antidepressants or anything along those lines.

Interesting. If you don't mind me asking, do you know if your mother took any antidepressant medication during her pregancy with you? I just read a study that asexuality caused by antidepressants can be transgenerationally inherited if a mother took antidepressants during pregnancy.

[Goober]

I'm on two different antidepressants, they help me with lots of emotional/mental things I still have going on. I know the side effects can be a decrease in sex drive but honestly I had already been feeling under the asexual spectrum (feelings mostly, didn't learn about asexuality until recently~) before going on the medication so I really highly doubt that changed anything for me.

[LeeBree]

This reminds me of a topic I made asking a similar question http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/108606-did-you-take-anaphrodisiacs-as-a-preteen-or-teenager/#entry1060936842

It does make me wonder if drugging up people, especially young people, can change their brain chemistry for life, though there doesn't seem to be much of a link to asexuality so far. In my case, I took antidepressants as a preteen and teen (among a plethora of other drugs that also inhibit sex drive, which are called anaphrodisiacs). But on the other hand, I was always different than my peers and that's why I got drugged up in the first place. I think that maybe my orientation is one of those different things about me that would have came to be even without antidepressants and other anaphrodisiacs. Meh, hard to tell.

In the case of anaphrodisiacs permanently changing preteens or teenagers, whose brains aren't entirely developed yet, I could maybe see the medication altering its developmental course and thus affecting them for life. For adults though, their brains are hard-set and done developing… I guess medicine could still have permanent effects, but I think it'd be much more rare for it to actually physically and permanently change an already completed brain. I'd assume with adults, the brain would just go back to business as usual without meds messing with its neurones.

(But I'm also unqualified on everything medical so there's that to consider >.>)

I'd say the chances your asexuality was caused by your past antidepressant use is very likely. These drugs do have permanent effects on the brain, adult or child.

What surprised me is just one dose of an antidepressant is enough to change the brain's structure immediately and apparently permanently. Antidepressants reduce connectivity to parts of the brain.

http://www.newsweek.com/antidepressants-can-change-your-brain-immediately-study-271371

There are no studies that say these brain changes reverse back to normal after antidepressant exposure.

Here's a link to a page about PSSD (post SSRI sexual dysfunction): http://wp.rxisk.org/post-ssri-sexual-dysfunction-pssd-wikipedia-stumbles/

And here's a VERY interesting quote from that page:

"Experiments with rodents have shown that treatment with SSRIs at a young age results in permanently decreased sexual behavior that persists into adulthood and is similar to PSSD (asexuality)."

Here's another VERY interesting quote:

"It also appears as though PSSD (asexuality) might be transgenerationally inherited, at least in rodents, since maternal exposure to fluoxetine impairs sexual motivation in adult male mice"

So exposing rodents to SSRIs at a young age made them experience permanent asexual like effects into adulthood. And if a pregnant rodent mother took an antidepressant during pregnancy, the offspring would experience the same permanent asexual like effects into their adulthood.

I find this very interesting. I wonder if the people here who never took an antidepressant, if their mothers ever took one during their pregnancy with them. That would be very interesting to know.

Er, yea, of course one dose can change the brain, that'd be the entire point of those kinds of drugs. But it doesn't physically alter the actual brain matter by rearranging cells into something different or anything. SSRI's work by preventing the re-absorption of serotonin in the brain, which somehow improves certain neuro connections. When the medication is no longer in one's bloodstream, it cannot affect the serotonin anymore. If it could, we wouldn't have people take a pill every single day. If a permanent brain change is guaranteed, then no one would be taking a pill everyday for their antidepressants.

Also, from your own article, "Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD) [1] is a name given to a reported iatrogenic sexual dysfunction caused by the previous use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants. While apparently uncommon, it can last for months or years after the discontinuation of SSRIs"

It isn't common, and even when it does happen, it can last for months or years… that's not anywhere near an entire lifetime and isn't permanent.

Furthermore, some people take SSRIs while depressed, and then go off the medication as they improve. But, they may again become depressed later in life and have to take antidepressants again. If their brain was permanently changed, they'd have no need to go back on SSRIs.

I can still maybe buy that it permanently effects young humans, but a successful confirmation of that has only been done on rodents as far as the article mentions.

Also, wow, a mother on antidepressants while pregnant? She's lucky if asexuality is all her child ended up with instead of deformities .-.

And, even assuming it decreases someone's sex drive for the rest of their life (though it likely doesn't based on what I've read and your own articles), so? Birth control decreases sex drive, but it doesn't stop the girls who take them from having sex and being attracted to males. Soy beans decrease sex drive and it hasn't stopped many soy-bean eaters from being sexually attracted to other people. Even alcohol decreases sex drive and yet drunk sex is infamously popular!

It would make sense, yes, if libido killers could result in asexuality. But it probably isn't a causation, especially considering how many sexuals took SSRIs and are sexual anyway.

[treeoflife]

I have and still am taking them as an adult, for about the last eight years. Asexuality is something I've only discovered in the last two months, but I don't think the meds have any bearing on me identifying as asexual. Antidepressants can decrease sex drive, that's true, but when I think about life before I was taking anything, I don't think I wanted sex at all. Like many folks here, I just didn't realize that option was even possible.

[Bubblegum Princess]

I took Prozac for about six moths a few years ago, and then it just kind of stopped working so I stopped taking it. I've considered taking a different anti pdeoressant these days, but I fear the side effects. I had a lot of I guess you could say experiences? of asexuality before I ever became depressed or took antidepressants, however. Part of me thinks maybe my sex drive would go back to being mildly existent if I took some again, but I doubt it's the case.

[seneca]

Many kinds over the last 15 or so years. The problem is when dealing with meds is that it's not an exact science. You basically have to experiment until you get things right. A few left me manic, others more depressed. Right now I'm fairly stable, but that can also change. Ah,the joy of depression.

[Member4445]

Yes. Two different types.

They did lower my sex drives, however I was already asexual.

Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction, not the lack of a sex drive.

[anacleta]

Hello, I am not an asexual, I am an unlucky with PSSD (citalopram). Have you ever asked your mother if she took drugs during pregnancy?

http://wp.rxisk.org/asexuality-a-curious-parallel/

[Poots]

I was put on one a few years back but it turned out I was allergic and because of the reaction I had back then it has kinda put me off meds over all... I'm scared of having a reaction like last.

Because I was allergic I didn't really notice what effects, if any, it had on my sex drive. But I was asexual prior to meds and I’m still ace so it probably had no noticeable effects.

I was also allergic, it gave me a really bad rash on my face and neck, my skin started peeling off and my eyelids were swollen shut, I was on them a week

[ThaHoward]

Hello, I am not an asexual, I am an unlucky with PSSD (citalopram). Have you ever asked your mother if she took drugs during pregnancy?

http://wp.rxisk.org/asexuality-a-curious-parallel/

No she didn't. But is this (and the other posts and topics linking to this) some sort of spreading awarness about this site?

And I haven't taken any anti depressants fortunately :)

[jovvo]

Hello, I am not an asexual, I am an unlucky with PSSD (citalopram). Have you ever asked your mother if she took drugs during pregnancy?

http://wp.rxisk.org/asexuality-a-curious-parallel/

Wow, thank you for that excellent link!

I see that article was posted just today. Did this thread influence the writing of that article? If so thats amazing and I'm very grateful to the writer James Bennett.

I wouldn't say that I'm asexual either anacleta because I remember my sexuality before the SSRI. I suffer PSSD just like you. But I FEEL like I've been made asexual. I think PSSD and asexuality could actually be the same, but we can remember what sex was like before our exposure to the drugs.

[anacleta]

Hello, I am not an asexual, I am an unlucky with PSSD (citalopram). Have you ever asked your mother if she took drugs during pregnancy?

http://wp.rxisk.org/asexuality-a-curious-parallel/

Wow, thank you for that excellent link!

I see that article was posted just today. Did this thread influence the writing of that article? If so thats amazing and I'm very grateful to the writer James Bennett.

I wouldn't say that I'm asexual either anacleta because I remember my sexuality before the SSRI. I suffer PSSD just like you. But I FEEL like I've been made asexual. I think PSSD and asexuality could actually be the same, but we can remember what sex was like before our exposure to the drugs.

you say right, and it's terrible, tragic and sad. It's like having lost a valuable and beautiful part of themselves, as being chemically castrated. I spent nightmare months after discovering that I have the pSSD (ie that sexuality would not have gone back after discontinuation of SSRIs), I now I am slowly getting used to it, and that's what I never wanted to accept. I do not want to give up hope to soon be able to re-find myself. I had enormous potential of live sex and passion, and it have been taken away from me. :(

sorry for english, i'm italian.

[Artistofnoname]

This is pretty informative about the effect of SSRI's

[bellabeluga]

I've been on two, lexapro very briefly a few years ago and now wellbutrin for the last six or eight months. I have also been on lamictal, a mood stabilizer, for about two years. I do wonder what effect these have had on me but to be honest it's more important that my mood be regulated than for me to be sexual.

[WünderBâhr]

This is pretty informative about the effect of SSRI's

I don't see what is informative about it, honestly. It's basically someone rapping about their opinions on SSRI's, and anything that doesn't seem to be "natural" (anti-vaccine, meds, etc.). I find it misleading in the way that it generalizes how 'kids' taking medication will inevitably lead them into harming themselves or others and that the medical community and authority figures are out to get them because they hate individuality. That's not to say that there aren't some tragic situations out there, but this video as "informative"? Not the word I would use. Exploitative, maybe...

*modly note* I would like to post a general thought in response to the "medication made you asexual" vibe I've been getting from several posts within the thread and caution participants in this discussion about wording. Speaking of your own experiences is a much different matter than saying or implying "I am sure that you are asexual because of x...", which can come across as dismissive and judgmental. Some quotes from the General FAQ and the Terms of Service (ToS):

General FAQ

I used to experience sexual attraction. Does this mean I'm not asexual?

As previously mentioned, sexuality can be fluid, and it can change over a period of time for some people. If you find that you have little or no sexual attraction to other people now, then you can choose to identify as asexual.

Many asexual people were more sexually active during puberty or another period of their lives. However, at this moment they do not experience sexual attraction to others and identify as asexual.

If you experience a sudden decline in sexual interest or attraction, it may be linked to side effects of certain medications or illness. It is advisable to discuss sudden changes with your doctor.

ToS states:

f. Judgements of other users

Making judgments about other users, especially about the validity of their asexuality, is strongly discouraged. We are here to figure ourselves out, not to put each other in boxes.

I ask that you keep this in mind when posting and consider the variety of community members and their experiences when choosing your words.

Moving to Census forum.

Byanyothername

Asexual Q&A Mod

[Lisi]

I do not want to deny that some medication may make the patients asexual, but it's definitely not true for me. I am taking antidepressants, but I was asexual long before that, even though I didn't know the word. My mother has never taken antidepressants, but I'm actually pretty sure she is demisexual, or grey asexual, or whatever it is called.

[Amy Ghost]

I've been on antidepressants for about 8 years. And I want to quit it.

[Sally]

Again, sex drive/libido has nothing to do with asexuality. Some asexuals have libidos; some don't.

Sometimes if a sexual takes SSRIs, they feel a loss of libido, and they don't like that loss of libido.

If an asexual takes SSRIs, the loss of libido isn't going to bother them, since they didn't want partnered sex to begin with.

[DexM]

I took AD's for ten years. They worked at first but I didn't think that ten years was a healthy amount to be on them. I suffered some severe side effects and they begun to make me feel worse. I gave up while being on them. I eventually came off them and my life was a lot better within a month. I've not looked back since :)

[Skycaptain]

I have never taken such medication, mainly because my doctor (squish) knows that I have an "addiction personality" and we both agree that no matter how depressed I get it would be too dangerous for me to take such medication

[malica]

I was on Wellbutrin between the ages of 12 and 16. My libido was HIGH during those times. Once I stopped taking the meds, it lowered significantly.

[Calvin]

I've never taken any anti-depressant medication despite being told I should countless times. But I feel that it's not for me, I'd rather find ways to alter my mood naturally.

[Xavy]

No, I have never, but this is an interesting poll.

[Oxalis]

Nice poll! My physician put me on Paxil without even referring me to a psychiatrist. Needless to say, that did not work and I later ended up with Effexor (from a different drug family), which I have been on now for about 2 and a half years, prescribed by an actual psychiatrist, and they diagnosed me with major depression. It has been helping more with my anxiety than my depression, but I'm overall much better. I should go within the next year for a sort of checkup/assessment as it's good to keep your psychiatrist informed as to how you're doing. And even though my high school and even undergrad years were terrible, I didn't want to start this kind of medicine until I felt like I had passed that point where brain development was pretty much complete, around age 25. Also it was no bother at all to me if the meds decreased my libido! ;)

[Guest]

Yes I do....the worst side effect is it can make me sleep for more than 12 hours even if I haven't missed much sleep previously.

[TheLandsBeyond]

I'm on Zoloft/sertraline for anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, etc. I identified as asexual before, and I've never had a libido, so obviously the medication had no effect on me in that regard. Still couldn't be happier with my orientation.

[Squirrel Combat]

I haven't, and never will!

[Frigid Pink]

No.