[CrunchDude]

Hi everyone,

I am so glad I found this forum. I am suffering from OCD (pretty bad), GAD and depression. Also Social Anxiety disorder but they all kind of work together. I have been on Lexapro for about 2 weeks (first 10mg, then 15mg and now 20mg). I have also added Wellbutrin at 150mg (for about 4 days) and once I hit the first week on it, I plan to go to 300mg. I used to be on Paxil which worked amazing (!) several years ago but stopped due to the strong sexual side effects. Lexapro is also pretty bad so a doctor suggested I take Wellbutrin to "cancel out" those side effects. It didn't work with Paxil but does anyone know how effective this drug combination may be (Lexapro at 20 and Wellbutrin at 300)? Aside from being a little sleepy, I have NO OTHER side effects whatsoever. I also take Xanax (anywhere between 2-4mg/day) and my doctor also gave me some erectile dysfunction medication (Levitra at 10mg which I haven't tried yet).

I am SO TIRED of these intrusive, ridiculous thoughts. I am SO TIRED of performing these compulsive rituals. I hope that Lexapro will help.

I enjoy sex and I usually have a high sex drive but these SSRI's do me in every time it seems. Again, does anyone think or have any experience with adding the Wellbutrin and/or Levitra to the Lexapro?

Thanks so much and good luck to everyone in their venture to get better!

[stressGirl]

Hi,
do you have any Cognitive Behavioral Therpy or a good phycoligest who knows about your condtions?
Because I'm on a CBT program I work on at home By Lucinda Bassett. and I have Social anxiety disorder and depression. Plus I'm slowy becoming Obsesseve Composive due to tring to releve my anxiety. The CBT works well but it takes lots of work and time. (It is well worth it though!) I said to myself how bad do I want to get over this without putting so much drugs into my body. We people with anxiety want a quick fix. You Know take a drug and make it all go away. That's what happened to me. I've been on alot of SSRI's and all they did was not help my anxiety and give me side-effects. See the bad thing about anti-depprents is that you have no clue what their going to do to you long term. even though they may releve and cover up, this is fine, (Short term up to one year) But you have to get to the root couse! Because if you don't your pay a price of sparing your Sex life and or blocking your creative thoughts,like poetry,art/craft work ideas. You know stuff like that plus all kinds of other things as well. So take it from me,I've learned the hard way. The trick is to make sure your health is not poor due to (poor diet)and poor vitamin intake (don't go over the RDA vitamin intake though it will make things worse). Cause if your body is run down and in poor health your not going to responed to any anti-depressents. Don't think going to a higher dose of drugs is going to make it work more or better. Sometimes docs can over percribe drugs just to get you out of their office. The brain is one big mystery so taking drugs that are legal or non legal, is fooling with that mystery!

Jul.

[RockedByRequiem]

Hi CrunchDude,
About 6 years ago I was on Zoloft, and it caused the same sexual side-effects you are experiencing. So...They gave me Wellbutrin to cancel out the sexual side-effects, just like you. Started off with either 100mg or 150, cant remember exactly. Then they increased it to 300. And literally right after my dosage was increased to 300, my depression was sooooo much better. I felt immediate results from the wellbutrin. So shortly after, I stopped the Zoloft completely. I have been on 300mg of Wellbutrin since. I can tell you, for me, there is no better anti-depressant out there. The most likely reason for this is that Wellbutrin, unlike other anti-depressants, is stimulating. Unfortunately, I struggle with anxiety as well. And Wellbutrin will NOT help anxiety. And in some cases, it has even made anxiety worse. And I have been on so many other anti-depressants for anxiety(Including Lexapro and Paxil), and they just do not help. So of course, I turned to benzos, just like you, which got me in a world of trouble for the few years I was on them. Even though they do do their job well. Its just not worth it if you can avoid it. However, for the pat year and a half or so, I have been on anti-psychotics. First Zyprexa and now Seroquel. And oddly enough, they have helped my anxiety far more than any anti-depressant ever did. So maybe that could be a route you could look into. I would reccomend trying to get off the xanax. The sooner you can shake that the better. But getting back to your question, yes Wellbutrin worked well for me as far as counter-acting the sexual side-effects. Good luck with everything.

[kscribe]

Wow -- you and I must be separated at birth man. I am a 43 year old male and I also have GAD, social anxiety, depression and OCD. I was taking the same exact combo (the Lexapro AND the Wellbutrin along with the Xanax) but I had kind of a weird experience which I will share.

Yes, the Lexapro did a number on my sex drive. I was unable to climax, and it was driving me out of my mind. I told my doctor about this several times, as it DID seem to help me with my anxiety and OCD (not so much the depression, in my opinion) and he finally reduced my Lexapro to 10 mg (down from 20) and put me on Wellbutrin 150 mg to take in the morning while taking the Lexapro at night before bed.

I did notice a difference (thank God) and was able to get some sexual satisfaction -- but, I guess a little bit of a good thing was too much for me, and I kind of experimented on my own and stopped taking my Lexapro every night as prescribed. I started just stopping it on weekends at first, then I got to skipping it a few times a week -- and I noticed a big increase in my sex satisfaction. SO, I decided "who needs THIS?" and stopped the Lexapro altogether. I WOULD NOT ADVISE THIS TO ANYONE! I had a terrible week or two of increased anxiety and tremors in my hands -- it was awful. Never again will I play around with my meds without my doctor's instructions.

I saw my psychiatrist last Wed and explained what I did and he reduced my Wellbutrin down to 150 mg a day now. He said it's fine that I stopped the Lexapro since it was giving me so many sexual side effects. He was going to try me on Effexor (with the Wellbutrin) but I told him NO - let's just try the Wellbutrin and Xanax for a while and see how I do- I see him once a month, so in a few weeks we can re-assess. So far, I'm doing so much better on the Wellbutrin (150) and the xanax. Oh - he also told me that the bad tremors I was getting may have been FROM the Lexapro or from the Wellbutrin. Since cutting the dose in half, they are more or less gone now!

I feel SOOOO much better now!! Like a new person. It did take about a week to start feeling "normal" again, but honestly I feel so much better. Now I'm just taking the 150 mg Wellbutrin every morning and the xanax when I need it (I try not to take it but ya know there are just those times when I have to have it or I'm very OCD and anxious!)

No more sexual problems -- none! It's a miracle! I would never take another SSRI with sexual side effects again (but that is just me). THAT was depressing me even more, if you know what I mean?

Not sure if there is any way you and I can chat one on one, but if you'd like to do so, let me know. Sounds like we have a lot in common and could probably share advice re: these meds, etc.. Wish you a lot of luck, and hope that reducing/stopping the Lexapro helps you as it did for me. DON'T stop it on your own though - let the doc help you wean off it.
Kevin

[Nealnineteen79]

Hello.

I have been taking 10mg/day of Lexpro for 3 years now (actually in the process of stopping taking it). I did have sexual side effects, in that it took forever to climax, which is one of the reasons I am stopping—that and I had a realization that I have grown into a new person that doesn't need the help of it anymore. Other than the sexual side effects though, Lexapro worked amazingly and really helped me get over a huge barrier in my life that was extreme social anxiety disorder.

Before taking Lexapro I was unable to even talk to people and was always paranoid about people focusing their attention on me and studying every small move that I made. I couldn't handle college and dropped out, couldn't handle responsibilities at work because it meant interacting with people I didn't know. I couldn't meet girls and was drinking a lot of alcohol to try to "loosen up" in social situations.

Now 3 years later I can speak my mind and I have my life back!

Good luck on finding the medication that works for you, but remember that side effects are going to happen so don't let them hinder or take over the positive effects that the medications could have on your life.

Neal