# Low dose Zoloft



## nomad21 (Nov 9, 2010)

Will low dose zoloft 12.5mgs - 25mgs cause sexual side effects? Will it effect desire to have sex?


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## leon21 (Nov 8, 2009)

You have to try it out...I bet it will
Was my first med for SA...ahhh....all the memories


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## Duke of Prunes (Jul 20, 2009)

Likely, yes.


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## Canadian4Life (Sep 27, 2010)

On 50mg for 7 weeks going down to 25mg in a few weeks. I think 50mg is too much,


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## alex999 (Oct 21, 2008)

Any dose would probably lower it. Even on 2.5mg of Lexapro my libido was shot.


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## Bacon (Jul 4, 2010)

I take 50 MG Zoloft and it destroys your Sex drive Libido. And it takes 1-2 hours to orgasm and you need to actually try hard...If you dont you can sit all day and you wont orgasm if your having sex. Also no libido at all. Sex is pointless and i barely feel anything when i orgasm. Zoloft has very high rates of sexual dysfunction. Zoloft and paxil are the worst. Zoloft will destroy your sex drive and caused delayed Ejaculation and thats when u actually try, You have to try to orgasm lol. There's a 60-70 percent chance with SSRI's you will get sexual side effects BUT zoloft works very well for depression. Adding wellbutrin can help counter the side effects.


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## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

MACA has been found effective in counteracting the sexual side effects.


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## Rbk (Aug 5, 2010)

Sertraline is not so bad for sexual drive as paroxetine, really. I will say more - 50mg of sertraline works great on premature ejaculation  It's a great cure for that. Serious problems with sex drive may happen at 150-200mg of sertraline and are comparable to this on 20mg of paroxetine. Of course, I'm talking about my personal experiences in which I've found paroxetine to be much worse in that matter than sertraline. It can looks different in other ppl experiences.


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## Duke of Prunes (Jul 20, 2009)

50 mg was enough to almost completely destroy my function, though not drive. I was 14 or 15 and weighed nothing at the time though, so for a full-sized adult, it may take more than that to do that much damage.


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## nomad21 (Nov 9, 2010)

My god! Are there ANY drugs that increase serotonin without hindering sexual desire, performance or pleasure? 

I tried taking 5-HTP (its expensive, a months supply of zoloft with insurance costs me only $10) at 50-100mgs 4-6 times a day with meals. Although it did NOT mess with my libido. It only "very slightly" helped out in giving me what I needed. 

I would say 5-HTP works for me. But it's tooooooo expensive. Especially if I have to use at least 100mgs 4-6 times a day. And 100mgs didn't do so well. I'm sure 200mgs will! With that amount to take. I'll be wasting around $50-60 (or more) a month. And on something that isn't TRULY doing it's fullest. But then again...isn't killing my libido. LOL

Do these damn pharmaceutical companies put ANY interest into a persons sex life? You know...sex itself IS an anti-depressant. It's one of the lifes and gods greatest gift to all of us! 

Why would they create a SSRI that screws up a persons libido? Do these pharmaceutical engineers have any libido themselves? Seems like they don't! Because they clearly didn't have any concern over it all when creating these anti-depressants.


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## alex999 (Oct 21, 2008)

nomad21 said:


> My god! Are there ANY drugs that increase serotonin without hindering sexual desire, performance or pleasure?
> 
> I tried taking 5-HTP (its expensive, a months supply of zoloft with insurance costs me only $10) at 50-100mgs 4-6 times a day with meals. Although it did NOT mess with my libido. It only "very slightly" helped out in giving me what I needed.
> 
> ...


 You could still add something like Wellbutrin which could counteract that side effect. Didn't work for me though 

To be quite honest the side effect I hated much more than low libido was the apathy and emotional flat state. I would honestly sacrifice my sex drive to be happy if it meant that I could still feel emotions and have creative energy. In fact it would save me from a lot of sexual frustration. If you're not getting any what's the point. Unfortunately the reduced dopamine activity lowers both pleasure/reward and sex drive.

I've heard of people experiencing sexual dysfunction and emotional blunting from 5-HTP. Must just be the nature of serotonin.


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## Duke of Prunes (Jul 20, 2009)

Boosting serotonin to stupid levels to fix a problem with a particular receptor subtype is like fixing a broken window and then smashing the others.


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## CleverUsername (Feb 7, 2011)

Duke of Prunes said:


> Boosting serotonin to stupid levels to fix a problem with a particular receptor subtype is like fixing a broken window and then smashing the others.


So what's the answer then?


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

nomad21 said:


> Do these damn pharmaceutical companies put ANY interest into a persons sex life? You know...sex itself IS an anti-depressant. It's one of the lifes and gods greatest gift to all of us!
> 
> Why would they create a SSRI that screws up a persons libido? Do these pharmaceutical engineers have any libido themselves? Seems like they don't! Because they clearly didn't have any concern over it all when creating these anti-depressants.


They didn't create the sexual side effects on purpose. They were an unintended side effect. They're working hard (pun intended) to make an SSRI without the sexual side effects. Apparently high serotonin levels affect the nerves that control orgasm.

I take Zoloft. At first it killed my sex drive completely. Eventually my sex drive came back, my ability to get an erection came back, but the orgasm problem remains but is getting better over time. :clap


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