Sertraline advice needed please !

[SJD]

Hi,this is my first post although I have been reading posts on here for months trying to find some answers basically I'm a 42 year old guy who has suffered with social anxiety for as long as I can remember,I get very anxious daily especially when I have to talk in front of other people (at work meetings for example),my heart races before I have to talk and I'm very aware that my voice sounds 'wobbly' from what I understand it's down to the rush of adrenaline.
I also feel very conscious that people are looking at me all the time and can't relax.
I've been given 40mg and 80mg Propranolol from the doctor which helps slightly but it's only good for a while and I need to take the tablet an hour before a meeting or whatever,hardly ideal.
I have now been given Sertraline 50 mg but I'm scared to death to take them,the main reason being sexual dysfunction,I've read many things on the internet about Sertraline causing impotency and even being permanent even after discontinuing the drug !!
Does anyone have any experience in using Sertraline and if so did impotency affect you in anyway ??
Any advice appreciated,thanks in advance.

[Angie 91]

I tried it and had no problems having sex, though note I'm a girl.
However from what I hear, that experience is both brief and rare

[Sarah W]

My libido wavered on it, I think. It seems diminished now (I took it for 10 months before discontinuing in February), but that could be due to other reasons. One thing I want to say though is that I think it made my anxiety much worse. Before sertraline: it was more acute when something was actually there to provoke anxiety in me--after taking sertraline: it became totally chronic and it's only very recently that it's beginning to improve (after discovering that I may have had a vitamin/mineral deficiency). I'm talking about a year and a half of what was probably unnecessary, every-waking-moment anxiety. It may not effect you in this manner, but if you notice that you experience a sharp increase in anxiety after starting it, you may want to consider switching to something else. I wish I hadn't followed my shrink's vague and uninformed advice so readily for so long. I'm sure I could have taken something else. (Though at least the depression I had been in lifted.)

[SJD]

Thanks Angie/Sarah,I think for now I've decided to keep it in the cupboard,where it's been for the last 6 months and not take it,I've bought a few books on NLP and I find listening to Joseph Clough's hypnotherapy audios on Anxiety and Social Phobia really help.
Sarah was thinking that I might be lacking in some sort of vitamins/minerals,I used to take Magnesium as I heard this was good for Anxiety,what were you lacking in ??

[Ponder]

Next it will be the prostate ... LOL after 40+ the doc told me a number of body parts, that will eventually slacken with time ... I've also been told a number of ways to avoid the inevitable as well. For SEX ... yea, antidepressants can lower the drive, however for some of us that get too excited before we even get into gear ... well that can be a good thing. I've kind of been quite the opposite to impotent having to make sure I'm wearing a long shirt for the quick adjustment during those times I have no control. Sometimes I'll joke with my wife, about what got my excited and we'll both have a good laugh. I'm in my mid 40s ;looking forward to hitting fifty sooner than later!

Here's the deal for me ... Short answer to lifting your sex drive is Good Eating, Sunshine, Fresh Air and lots of Exercise; if only mild with healthy living. I'm on a couple of drugs so it's hard for me to pinpoint it, however I do believe before I hit the harder one, my antidepressant was slowing me down some which was no concern for me as my wife had been on a lot of medication herself, which did in fact put her off sex at any rate. I have to admit during that time I was quite frustrated, however now that my antidepressants where kicking in, I seemed not to bothered with it ... NOW ... as my wife is off medication, the shoe is now on the other foot, as whilst I could perform longer on these meds and thought all was looking good ... YES ... some medications will lower your drive.

Like I said ... I start eating healthy and get some good sun and roll like that for a week and next thing before I know it; things are looking UP once again. Life's a bit funny like that I guess. At the end of the day, I simply have to work out what's more important ... my raging anxiety, paranoia, memory loss, panic attacks, and all the other negative affect of being unbalanced VS a good roll in the hay ... Sex is great, but its just not worth the hell I go through in order to be batting off 25 times a day. If I am desperate and really want to make an impression, I'll give my wife a massage instead ... more often than not, she will claim she likes it when the medicine makes me attentive to her needs. I guess being married for over 20 years and having had most of the fun from her teenage years and up ... has seen us having had most of the experience at any rate.

Again ... YEA ... some meds will defiantly reduce you libido. You need to decide what's more import to you. As I mentioned, there are things you can do. I find the more a person relys on Meds, the more the problem is heightened ... I try to do my best to keep myself motivated and work on relationships (what few I have) ... state of mind can really help. Sometimes as well as trying to be healthy, I just try to appreciate where I am at and get creative from there ... looking at things differently in my mind - keeping my mind active with a sense of mindfulness and a spiritual approach has given me all the drive I need to know I'm not dead yet.

SEX is not the Be end all ... loosing a bit of ones urge might be a good thing as it can help to broaden peoples mind from the twisted perceptions hitting the sales boards in our modern times ... if your into that kind urge ... there are a few sites that might get your desire going, I really don't see much difference between it and much of the light porn walking on the street. YEA ... definitely plenty of ways to help override the affect while you have age on your side. Give in to the depression and then yea ... like giving up exorcise, its harder to get things going again ... difficult for a better word.

Not sure if you got anything from that .................. but now having talked about it myself .... I might give the wife a good massage and see where that leads. ;)

Best of luck with it!
PS YES Setraline did affect that way, however I went off it because it also made my depression worse! It's different for different people ... also known as Zoloft ... which is working well for many people in here ... Just not me :)

[SJD]

Ponder,thanks so much for taking the time with your reply,it's much appreciated,,it's certainly given me something to think about,my situation is slightly different being that I'm in a fairly new relationship (18 months),I think I'll see how it goes and see if I can somehow get over this without meds,looking into hypnotherapy and meditation,if not I know that I've got the medication here if I need it,thanks again for your advice,take care :-)

[hudson14]

Cymbalta made it impossible for me to ejaculate but the Setraline hasn't had any sexual side effects on me.

[SJD]

Thanks hudson14,decided not to take it at the moment,giving 5-HTP a go and see what that's like.