The Antidepressant That Makes You Horny As Hell

It sounds like an absurd deal with the devil: you can get back your zest for life but you have to surrender your desire for sex.

That’s the battle a large chunk of our population face every day when feeling depressed, isolated and lonely.

After a big mental battle, they head to the doctor for help and are often prescribed a pill that “will make you feel much better”.

What these health experts fail to leave out – a lot of the time – is that often they will make you lose interest in sex. And an orgasm? Well, you can pretty much kiss those goodbye.

Extreme, perhaps, but that’s a common trade-off made by going on antidepressants, especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Zoloft and Prozac.

The sexual side effects of these antidepressants are well known. According to the experts, these drugs frequently cause diminished libido, erectile dysfunction in men, and delayed orgasm or an inability to climax at all in women.

Of course there are other potential side effects, such as dry mouth and insomnia, but these are frankly bearable insults compared to sacrificing your libido.

So what did science do about this tragedy? They developed a so-called sexy-friendly antidepressant.

In December 2006, the first generic versions of the popular anti-depressant Wellbutrin XL were approved by the FDA. The drug comes in two dosage strengths, 150 milligrams and 300mg. The 300mg dose is generally used for patients with more severe depression and anxiety and patients who don’t respond to the lower dose.

Wellbutrin is not an SSRI and is chemically unrelated to every other antidepressant medication. Medical researchers are still not completely sure how and why it works, but the fact that Wellbutrin can enhance sexual pleasure isn’t really that surprising. The drug increases the activity of dopamine (a key neurotransmitter in the brain’s reward pathway). In fact, drugs of abuse, like cocaine, alcohol and opiates, release dopamine in this circuit “” and so does sex.

In an article in Harpers Bazaar,  Sari Botton describes how at age 47, she went to see her doctor about an antidepressant, but had two firm deal breakers: she wouldn’t take any drug that would make her gain weight or one that would take away her sex drive.

“My doctor prescribed 150 milligrams of Wellbutrin, or bupropion, twice a day, and a month later I had the libido of an 18-year-old boy,” Botton says.

“Everything changed””no more dryness, no more pain. An increased interest in sex. Not to mention that my mood was elevated and I was generally more upbeat. And not only haven’t I encountered the weight gain that people often complain of with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac but I feel as if my metabolism got a boost. Nothing dramatic; I just got a little trimmer without changing my diet or exercising more, though it isn’t clear whether or how Wellbutrin affects metabolism.”

However, Rachel Hess, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, cautions against seeing Wellbutrin as a one-size-fits-all antidepressant and sexual aid, the article read.

“For many women and men, Wellbutrin is an excellent drug for sexual dysfunction,” she says, noting that in preliminary studies, it also seems to be useful for women when taken “almost like Viagra, shortly before sex.” But, Hess adds, “there can be problems with using Wellbutrin that are nontrivial: It can exacerbate eating disorders and anxiety disorders, and it can make some people more prone to seizures.”

Do you believe that this anti-depressant can zap your sex drive?