rumrunner63 Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Just wondering if anyone else has experienced the "emotional flatlining", fall out of love thing with a spouse or significant other that started on one of these drugs....Prozac, Paxil, Lexapro etc.......?
giotto Posted June 11, 2012 Posted June 11, 2012 yes... my wife has been on them (paxil) for years and they have ruined our marriage. Total loss of libido, lack of emotions, cold as a fridge... I call our situation an emotional desert. But then, apparently, she needs them for OCD. She can't leave without them. She could solve her problems by going to therapy, but why go through such a turmoil when you have your little friend to help you? Don't know about your relationship, but if the problem can be solved by therapy, I would strongly recommend that you talk about it. Or you'll end up like us.
Author rumrunner63 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Posted June 11, 2012 I wish it was as easy as counseling or therapy....anyway, we have been divorced for 2 1/2 years, BUT we have reconciled 5 times and every single time she does a med changeup, or dosage change etc...and it's over. It's just sad is all. She has never been seen by a doctor, just some crazy NP that solves everything with pills. Seems to be quite common in my area of the country.
giotto Posted June 11, 2012 Posted June 11, 2012 I wish it was as easy as counseling or therapy....anyway, we have been divorced for 2 1/2 years, BUT we have reconciled 5 times and every single time she does a med changeup, or dosage change etc...and it's over. It's just sad is all. She has never been seen by a doctor, just some crazy NP that solves everything with pills. Seems to be quite common in my area of the country. oh dear... how can you solve anything if she doesn't even see a doctor? I've got nothing against NPs, but maybe traditional medicine should be explored also? What's wrong with her? Depression? Anxiety? OCD?
spilled_ink Posted June 13, 2012 Posted June 13, 2012 I was in a very intense relationship many years ago and went to my doctor about the stress. The doctor put me on Prozac and my interest in the relationship evaporated. "Flatlining" is exactly what I'd call it; she was still riding the emotional roller coaster but I wasn't.
writergal Posted June 13, 2012 Posted June 13, 2012 I know people on antidepressants who have tried to wean themselves off only to experience horrific side effects. There's a great documentary from 2007 where the filmmaker documents his attempt to wean off of Paxil. Home My mother has been on two antidepressants since my father's death nearly 20 years ago and we all feel like her personality changed dramatically since. I tried Lithium myself after my father died but all it did was "flat line" me emotionally and ruin my motor skills. I was on it for a year and it took me twice that long to wean off it successfully, but I experienced physical withdrawl and panic attacks. I don't trust antidepressants as a result. I think its a marketing scam by Big Pharma. I know I"ll catch heat for writing that statement by people who feel their lives have changed for the better with Prozac, Paxil, etc. But it's based on my own personal experience. I think cognitive therapy among other things like meditation, yoga and exercise can cure depression a lot more safely than taking a drug. All the drug does is alter your brain chemistry. It doesn't actually help you learn better coping skills. But again, this is just my opinion that I'm contributing to the discussion.
Woggle Posted June 13, 2012 Posted June 13, 2012 This is why I never take anti-depressants and am leary about taking medication of any kind.
Feelin Frisky Posted June 13, 2012 Posted June 13, 2012 There is a lot of misinformation and drawing of negative conclusion surrounding this issue. SSRI's are anti-depressants and do not have the properties of anti-psychotics. It is anti-psychotics that have a long well-known history of killing libido and people seem to conflate all medications under one stigma. The SSRI's do have a "sexual side effect" called anorgasmia which makes it difficult to orgasm in some people. It can also cause a delayed ejaculation where when a man cums, the semen doesn't expel and it seems to build up in uncomfortable ways. I don't know if there is a female equivalent but the issue is that SSRI's have specific sexual issues unlike other meds like the anti-psychotics of Haldol, Thorazine. Use of anti-depressants can result in a person showing less emotion. It may be prejudicial to call it "flat-lining". The issues of the real relationship must be factored in so that the medication isn't an easy scape goat. Perhaps the clarity the medication provides simply leads to realization that there is no affection. People get involved all the time in states of emotional disarray and do things with people they don't really know, trust, love. To say that an SSRI is the cause of a down-turn in a relationship is purely a presumption that lets the presumer off the hook. The assertion of "withdrawals" from SSRIs also sounds like a conflation. SSRIs are not habit-forming or addictive. Millions of people take them and there is no rehab for people ceasing taking Prozac or Paxil or w/e. That is just flat out misinformation. SSRIs work upstream of the central nervous system and do not register as a pleasure fix. They simply aid the electrochemical process of serotonin getting from axon to neuron which over time affords a person easier reason and lest intensity from disturbing emotion. Sexual side effects like anorgasmia can be dealt with by such easy measures as taking the medication every other day instead of every day, or decreasing the med, or changing to another. They cause no permanent damage to anyone sexual equipment nor flat-lining of desire. That lack of desire is a separate issue more likely to do with hormones and issues of personality.
giotto Posted June 13, 2012 Posted June 13, 2012 SSRI are known to kill the libido. I know, my wife takes them and I have taken them. That doesn't mean they don't help the person in question. They helped me. When they are taken for many years, though, it's a different kettle of fish. In fact, I think it all boils down to mismanagement of them.
Author rumrunner63 Posted June 14, 2012 Author Posted June 14, 2012 Feelin Frisky.....Do you work for Glaxo or one of the others ? You have obviously never either BEEN on an SSRI or known anyone that has. Do you know what a "black box" is ? Do you understand WHY the FDA made the pharma companies put this warning on their products ? As to your thoughts on SSRI's being unrelated to anti-psychotics your wrong period. PROPERLY used SSRI's have helped perhaps millions of people, but unfortunately they are now dispensed like aspirin and therein lies the problem. They don't uncover "issues" in a relationship, they destroy LOVE, of virtually anything they once held dear. And as I said my-ex never ONCE saw an actual doctor. I have two other friends around my same age, solid 20 year marriages, kids college, careers.....BOTH are in divorce court because their wives "suddenly" found that they weren't happy. Common denominator ? BOTH started taking an SSRI.
frozensprouts Posted June 14, 2012 Posted June 14, 2012 I've always heard that taken alone, antidepressants are only a "temporary" fix, but when combined with other forms of therapy ( counseling, talk therapy, relaxation/massage therapy, what have you) you can achieve permanent or at least long lasting results that don't required medication to maintain. It's also my understanding that each person responds to antidepressants differently, and that it may take several attempts before the" right fit" is found.
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