Patients left sexless, joyless and infertile after taking antidepressants are speaking out about what they are calling a silent health crisis.
DailyMail.com has heard from people across the US, Canada and Europe devastated by symptoms they claim have persisted years after they stopped taking commonly prescribed antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs.
Maxxwell Martinis, 24, from Ohio, said he has been robbed of his vitality and confidence since he came off Prozac, one of the most popular SSRIs on the market, two years ago.
He has struggled to get and maintain an erection and is completely indifferent toward sex, which has made it hard to hold down a stable romantic relationship.
Lexi Laios, 26, from DC, claimed that taking Prozac for just a few days caused her genitals to shrink – and they’ve still not returned to normal years later.
Maxxwell Martinis, 24, told DailyMail.com that the drug Prozac has left him without a sex drive and with erectile dysfunction. He was only on the drug for about seven weeks and, though he has not taken it in two years, still experiences devastating sexual side effects
Lexi Laios, 26, was only three days into Prozac when she noticed that her clitoris had shrunk and tissue there felt thinner. She took the drug over a year and a half ago and still experiences numbness and lack of libido
She fears she will never be able to share an intimate relationship with someone again.
Their striking accounts come on the heels of a lawsuit filed by doctors against the FDA, accusing the agency of failing to adequately warning patients of sexual side effects that can last long after they stop taking the drugs.
The FDA has mandated for decades that SSRI makers include a label warning telling users they may cause erectile dysfunction, low libido, vaginal dryness and trouble orgasming.
But thousands of former patients say the symptoms persist long after use.
According to the lawsuit, the FDA dragged its feet in addressing their petition to attach warnings to antidepressants about permanent zapped libido and fertility issues.
Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD) has been acknowledged by the Canadian government and the European Medical agency since 2019.
Mr Maxxwell told DailyMail.com: ‘The impact of PSSD has been profound, affecting not only my physical health but also my mental and emotional well-being.
‘It is difficult to overstate how demoralizing it is to live with this condition, especially when it feels like it could have been prevented with a different treatment approach.’
The landscaper was given Prozac as a long-term solution to manage his severe anxiety.
While it seemed to help his anxious thoughts at first, the loss in sexual function – reduced libido, inability to maintain an erection, and overall lack of sexual satisfaction – has become more distressing than the initial anxiety.
He discontinued the drug less than two months after starting it.
Yet two years later, he still suffers from the same issues, leaving him ‘frustrated and hopeless’. But he hopes his story will help spare people like him from a similar fate.
‘Looking back, I wish there had been more thorough communication about the potential side effects of Prozac, and a more personalized approach to my treatment,’ he said.
‘My experience highlights the importance of considering all possible treatment options and being fully informed about the potential risks.’
It is not certain how SSRIs affect sexual dysfunction long-term, even if the patient no longer takes them.
Dr Bobby Berookim, a men’s sexual health expert in New York, said: ‘We definitely see it all the time in practice, and absolutely the SSRIs have an effect on erection.’
Ms Laios believes that just three doses of Prozac led to sexual side effects that she fears will impair her ability to maintain an intimate romantic relationship with a man
Ms Laios added that while she feels attracted to the opposite sex, and can identify men she finds appealing, her sexual urges are nonexistent
It could be due to structural or chemical changes in the brain brought on the medications that impede sexual arousal.
SSRIs can also impact hormone levels, including those of estrogen and testosterone, which are connected to our arousal levels.
Dr Berookhim added: ‘It’s hard to say what the reasoning of it is, there’s some evidence that ehe receptors in the brain in patients on these drugs longer term tend to get upregulated and maybe that’s why they’re seeing a prolonged response.
‘My own personal thought is I think some of these patients, they’re coming off them and now have a mood disorder that can in and of itself cause sexual dysfunction.’
An estimated 58 to 70 percent of antidepressant users experience some sexual side effects such as low libido.
Ms Laios, now 26, stopped taking Prozac after just three days in 2022.
She said: ‘The first thing that I really noticed after taking it, it’s just like, where your genitals kind of shrink to one degree or another.
‘I just noticed my clitoris had gotten smaller and it seemed like just all the tissue had just kind of withered away a little bit. It just felt thinner, the vaginal tissue and stuff
‘And that kind of that was like the first thing I noticed. My libido had just largely disappeared.’
She added that while she still may feel attracted to a member of the opposite sex, the sexual urges do not appear.
She does not experience normal arousal, saying that there is no ‘genital-brain connection’.
‘I don’t see myself being able to fully experience [an intimate relationship] that with someone the way things are. I think that I could have kids, I just I don’t think I’ll ever feel as close with someone intimately.’
Amanda Clark, 51 from Newfoundland, Canada, took Celexa for 20 years and experienced such severe emotional and sexual blunting that romantic relationships, including an engagement, fell apart
Amanda Clark stopped taking antidepressants months ago, and while she is finally able to feel a wide spectrum of human emotion again, she still suffers genital numbness and low sex drive
It comes as doctors are doling out prescriptions for depression medications at rates never seen before. At least 6.5 million teens and at least 38 million adults have a prescription for an antidepressant in the US.
Decreased libido, changes in ejaculation, and an inability to achieve an orgasm are adverse reactions listed on the labels for Zoloft, Prozac, Lexapro, Paxil, and Celexa.
But none of those labels warn that these sexual side effects could last years after the person stops taking the medicine.
In Canada, health regulators there acknowledged in 2021 that these side effects can last for years.
Officials said: ‘Health Canada will work with manufacturers to update the product safety information for all SSRIs and SNRIs to recommend that healthcare professionals inform patients about the potential risk of long lasting (possibly weeks to years) sexual dysfunction despite discontinuation of SSRIs or SNRIs.’
That language has not yet been put into place, though, according to some patients.
In Newfoundland, Amanda Clark, now 51, was prescribed the antidepressant Prozac when she was in her early 20s to deal with bulimia as well as depression.
She stopped taking it after seeing how much it dulled her emotions and sensations.
But in 2002, a doctor prescribed Celexa for her bulimia and for a time, it worked wonders. But in the last five years, she described become numb emotionally and sexually.
Her lack of a sex drive strained her romantic relationships, including an engagement that ended up crumbling.
She told DailyMail.com: ‘It’s hard to have a partner who wants to stay with you when you have zero sex drive. I couldn’t have long-term relationships.’
Ms Clark added: ‘[Libido] kind of just dwindled, then it got to the point where I was shocked that we even slept in the same bed. That was the year I was going to get married and start a family.’
She decided to safely wean herself off all antidepressants a few months ago, hoping to regain the capacity to feel joy and sadness, as well as her sex drive.
While she does not experience the same blunted emotions as before, her sexual function has not returned to normal.
She blames the medication baby and a family, she said, leaving her ‘alone and scarred emotionally’.
There have not been any sweeping estimates in the US or elsewhere for the number of people dealing with PSSD, but advocates at the PSSD Network show that more and more people are searching for answers online from people like them
The condition known as PSSD is relatively knew, with Drs Antonei Csoka and Stuart Shipko first giving it a name in 2006.
The doctors reported in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics reported that the condition is far more common than researchers previously believed.
Dr Csoka said at the time: ‘On the individual level the consequences are catastrophic, and there may be population-level effects as well.
‘Increasing our knowledge and understanding of these increasingly-prevalent disorders is paramount.’
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