Can SSRIs help recovery?

Hi, SSRI's can work differently for different people and off-label use is something to discuss with a medical professional but my DH has been on an SSRI (paroxetine) for over a year now so I can just give you what he / we have seen during taking this medication.

Firstly, my DH says he started in his early teens and fapped daily for a long, long time. He is now 38 and maybe saw it reduce a little in the last few years but not much really. He also admits he has watched porn since his late teens too and would always need to fap when he did. It wasn't a huge thing for us before but we have talked a couple of times about him watching porn less.

He started on paroxetine 14 months ago after going to the doctors to discuss anxiety after covid and job worries. They did talk though potential side effects, including sexual, and due to this said medication should be discussed with a partner. What we have seen is that although his general libido has been good still, after about 2 months he said he could feel some effect and after 3 months he said he really was feeling no urge to fap at all, like the need to had just gone away and it was something he didn't think about and this has stayed like this since. He did discuss side effects with the doctor as he did not set out to NoFap but they said unless it was causing a big issue then their advice was to not alter medication.

I checked with him plenty of times and he says not needing to fap is not frustrating as he would think, as the urge and feeling is just not there. He never set out to get to this point but has said that not needing to fap or watch porn help him spend his time better so for someone looking for this then SSRI's may be something beneficial.

 

Good info!
But it can be worth adding that some people experience Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD) and other long term side effects.
I use CBD/hemp to balance my mind and body..

I vape hemp, drink it as tea, eat it baked etc.

cheers

 

From my experience they did not make me less horny. They did make it harder for me to orgasm but since I was using porn at the same time I would watch more intense porn and rub harder so that I could orgasm.

 

I needed more extreme porn because i became dull from them. Tried 2 different meds in 9months. IMO If you're not severely depressed, stay off the meds because they could dull other emotions.

-Duck