I was on the SSRI antidepressant sertraline for 6 months. I went on this because I was having issues with my mental health. But while on the sertraline I experienced very severe sexual side effects. Basically impossible to get and maintain an erection, next to no sexual sensitivity, feeling or pleasure, and near impossible to ejaculate. So while on the sertraline I didn't manage to 100% stay clean from PMO, but in the 6 months there was no binging at all, and also no edging. I couldn't edge or binge while on the sertraline, it would of been impossible. I was only ever PMOing on very odd occasions while on the sertraline, and any time I did PMO I literally experienced very little sexual feeling, pleasure or enjoyment. Like I am talking close to not experiencing any sexual feeling, pleasure or enjoyment at all. It was literally unbelievable how bad the sexual side effects were on the sertraline, it felt like close to non existent sexual sensitivity, feeling or pleasure, and this lasted the entire time I was on the sertraline, for an entire 6 months. My thinking is this will naturally of gave my brain an extreme break from what it was used to, from extreme edging, binging and feeling extreme pleasure from PMO. I know some of you guys might think well I wasn't 100% clean from PMO, so it's not rebooting. But my brain was used to extreme hits, extreme edging and binging, extreme pleasure, and it never got any of that for 6 months. Like I said basically hardly ever PMOing, and when I did end up having slips, close to no sexual sensitivity, feeling, pleasure or enjoyment. Clearly an extremely weak hit. Actually close to a non existent hit I would say. But now I am off the sertraline, and I have had a few slips on PMO since being off it, and the difference is huge. So yeah I did feel that extreme sexual sensitivity, feeling, enjoyment and pleasure again. But strangely when I did have a few slips I still didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I used to. Well I still really enjoyed it, but I didn't seem to want to edge or binge on it, it was over fairly quickly, and the edging and binging didn't happen. So yeah I certainly do believe that the sertraline did do somewhat of the rebooting for me. There must be brain changes and healing from this, from literally experiencing close to no sexual feeling for 6 months.
This is very interesting! I know I shouldn't get an SSRI just to help with PMO but I have had depression for a couple years now so I should probably go talk to my doctor about that. Maybe he will prescribe me an SSRI and I can experience a similar break from my addictive brain activity like you have had. Thanks for sharing!
I have been on a few different SSRI's over the years. Not to say I have been on SSRI's continuously for a long time or anything like that, but over the last 14 years I have been on a few of them at some points in my life. I do know that they all gave me sexual side effects, but I don't remember any of the other ones I tried causing anywhere near as bad sexual side effects as the 50mg of sertraline. Most of the other SSRI's I had been on in the past, the sexual side effects improved over time on all of them. I would say I did still have some sexual side effects on them, but the sexual side effects did really improve over a fairly short period of time on them. But on the 50mg of sertraline the sexual side effects were so severe it was unbelievable, and they didn't get much better over the entire 6 months I was on the sertraline. Like I said, I am talking on the level of sexual feeling hardly even existing, and this lasted for an entire 6 months. Everyone is different through, one drug might affect someone completely differently from someone else, causing different benefits, side effects etc.
This article may provide you with you some valuable insight: https://cure-erectile-dysfunction.org/antidepressants-and-sexual-function In my non-professional opinion, mental health can and will never be improved with drugs. Mental health is something a person builds over time by having a productive, healthy and fulfilled way of life. If everything you engage in and consume is somehow counterproductive and unhealthy, you will end up unfulfilled, with mental health problems and then some. You can't expect to keep doing what you're doing (whatever it is), have that make you feel like shit, take a drug and magically have your world change. One problem with taking "a pill for every ill" is that most measures of this kind are there to manage disease, not to cure or heal anything or anyone. A classic result of having this type of attitude towards health is that while one condition may "improve," another will get worse or new ones will arise. I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice.
I've never really ran to antidepressants, or any medication for that matter. Quite the opposite, I have usually gone many many years trying to battle my mental health problems on my own, getting therapy, exercise, trying to eat healthy, clean up my life etc. Usually when I have ended up on the antidepressants is when I have got to a point where I have felt like I couldn't take it anymore, and then I have went on an SSRI, as it seems to be the only thing I have tried that has given me significant enough relief from my mental health problems. But I have rarely ever remained on them that long, and do always usually try to work on my mental health through more natural methods. I have only ever went on the antidepressants when I have reached breaking point.
Do you ever change or better your lifestyle or is that not an option? I'm asking about your professional and personal pursuits like work, school, relationships, etc.
