Strattera, sexual dysfunction, and Viagra | ADHD Information

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Hi all!

I am a 19 year-old male with a rather bad case of ADHD. I have been put on Strattera and I found it to kill off my erections. I have stopped taking it, and only recently regained my former strength.

I am wondering if a medication such as Viagra could help, and if any of the men (or women with a partner) have had any help from it while taking Straterra.

If there are any other solutions you know of, please tell me.

 

Colin

Hey Colin. I'm 25. I took Strattera briefly when I was 23 and I suddenly knew what it must be like to be 85. Not that it killed my sex drive. I still had the desire, I was just powerless to do anything about it. I don't mind side effects, generally, but that was one I couldn't deal with. Everything was fine once I went off Strattera. I'm back on Adderall now and back to my former self. Wellbutrin is an option that is less effective for ADHD than stimulants, but is generally about as effective as Strattera, and tends to have a pro-sexual effect (thanks to increased dopamine).   shakespeare38630.5559375

Colin,

I have tried 25mg of Viagra while on Straterra, and I can tell you that it worked for me, although it was weird.

I had never needed Viagra before taking Straterra, but found myself experiencing all the sexual side effects the minute (literally!) I took my first dose - 40mg. After taking the Viagra, I was able to achieve a good erection, but the weirdest thing is, it came bits -by-bits - some parts of my penis were engorged with blood, while others were not; for a while, my organ took a contorted shape, something like an "S" - It was the weirdest thing!

One thing, though; it did not help with the burning sensation at the tip, or the feeling that someone kicked you in the 'nads after you ejaculate. And Viagra does nothing for your libido - it only helps getting blood in the penis.

Zorglub38630.530162037[QUOTE=reality]

 

    Strattera is an SNRI drug....  like Effexor.

    A couple of the most common side effects among male users of SSRI and SNRI antidepressants were decreased libido and impotence.

   For most of them, the drugs like Viagra didn't help.

[/QUOTE]

For you?

 

 Akira,

    Sexual side effects such as decreased libido and erectile dysfunction are VERY COMMON side effects of SSRI and SNRI antidepressants.

   In many of the cases, Viagra and other ED drugs DID NOT HELP.

   The best solution was to quit taking the drug.

   On the bright side.... in the thousands of cases I've read about, only one guy had a PERMANENT impotence problem. So, the problem is almost always solved by getting rid of the drug. (No, it wasn't me. I don't do drugs.)

 

 

Reality = Troll

Lies, Lies & more lies come out of this Trolls mouth.

"I have been put on Strattera and I found it to kill off my erections"
that's one thing I read about Strattera that got me upset.

It kills your erections!?!?! shame on Strattera for doing such a thing

to ones penis! lol. but seriously grrr!

 

   ... and then we end up with the USA having 4% of the world's population... and taking 54% of the world's prescription drugs.

   After what I went through and all that I've learned since then... I don't trust doctors, the FDA or drug companies.

 

.

So you shouldn't trust patients and that should be it Shakespeare,  Strattera is only as effective as Wellbutrine?  I've been on it for a few weeks and have not really noticed a great deal of difference.  I am clearer with my thoughts.  Am I expecting to much?  Is this all the drugs are suppose to do?  I was hoping for a big difference in focus, concentration and all that stuff.  Am I expecting to much from drugs?  I have not tried any stimulants yet but liked the clear headed feeling of Strattera.  Do the stimulants do the same with feeling clear headed? my husband experienced the same thing w/ strattera.  yes, viagra helped, but eventually he went off of the strattera because it weirded him out to wake up w/o an erection and he felt like it caused some urinary difficulty.  now he is on ritalin.

 

    Strattera is an SNRI drug....  like Effexor.

    A couple of the most common side effects among male users of SSRI and SNRI antidepressants were decreased libido and impotence.

   For most of them, the drugs like Viagra didn't help.

[QUOTE=Guests]Akira,    Sexual side effects such as decreased libido and erectile dysfunction are VERY COMMON side effects of SSRI and SNRI antidepressants.   In many of the cases, Viagra and other ED drugs DID NOT HELP.   The best solution was to quit taking the drug.   On the bright side.... in the thousands of cases I've read about, only one guy had a PERMANENT impotence problem. So, the problem is almost always solved by getting rid of the drug. (No, it wasn't me. I don't do drugs.)[QUOTE]

Why do trolls not understand sarcasm??? LOL

[QUOTE=Guests]

 

 Akira,

    Sexual side effects such as decreased libido and erectile dysfunction are VERY COMMON side effects of SSRI and SNRI antidepressants.

   In many of the cases, Viagra and other ED drugs DID NOT HELP.

   The best solution was to quit taking the drug.

   On the bright side.... in the thousands of cases I've read about, only one guy had a PERMANENT impotence problem. So, the problem is almost always solved by getting rid of the drug. (No, it wasn't me. I don't do drugs.)

 

 

[/QUOTE] Do you have the same mania against alcohol? I'm just wondering. I don't care about the content of your post, but wondered if you drank. Do you use antibiotics if you get strep throat? Do you have children? If they get sick, do you take them to doctors? Do they have their shots? I'm wondering how "out there" you are? To answer my own questions, I've never been drunk in my life. I use antibiotics. I have children and they see doctors and have their shots. Tell us a bit about yourself. How old are you? What are your credentials? Why do you come here? Thanks. I will await the answers.

 

   A lot of guys on the antidepressant message boards have told me that none of the ED drugs worked for them. But when they got off the a/d, things returned to normal.

   I'd like to know if the patients in that study took 50 mgs of Viagra every day. It failed as a blood pressure drug because it didn't last anywhere near 24 hours that they wanted it to.

   They used to think that the heart attacks associated with Viagra were caused by 'over exertion", but now they've noticed that the drug changes the shape of the platelets in the blood and for some guys, it can bring on a heart attack.

A lot of the people here tell you SRRIs, Ritalin, Adderall, and every other adhd drug works wonders but you don't really take that as fact as you did form your ED board.
I think that says something.
But anyways that would be fairly expensive at dollars a pill. I agree that AD's can cause ED but for you to just say it doesn't help is kindof the wrong info.  I agree the best way to not have to take Viagra and the likes is to get off the AD but sometimes people are willing to try Viagra expecially if they are only going to be on the medicine for a short time or don't really care about sex every day.  The heart attack thing can be a problem but it is age related.  Sometimes you have to weigh the benifits from the side effects.  If the Strattera works great and you don't mind takeing a pill to have sex, great.  If you feel that the medicine has taken away your sex drive and you have a problem with that then try something else .  Shouldn't be a big deal.  Here is a sorta similar example of a choice i made of choseing what i prefer.   I take ativan for anxitey, i have been told i could go back on a ssri, worked great but quit because i like some anxiety, not in excess, at times it motavates me to change what is bothering me but for me i am just as happy taking an ativan when there is to much anxiety for me to handle, i kindof mentally shut-down.  I chose the ativan because i like to have control over when i take it.  I realise that this example is a strech from taking Viagra but they are kindof similar because i diddn't mind taking a pill when i felt the need for it

 JHarman,

   I know a lot of people who stopped taking a/ds but have kept their Ativan and related drugs.  They too feel the need for a little help now and then.

   What really bothers me is when doctors start piling on the prescriptions so you end up taking pills to "fix' the side effects of other pills. I've met guys here who are taking 5 and 7 prescription pills a day.

   Viagra seems to be a fairly safe drug. the latest warning on it was for causing 45 cases of blindness in 28 million users. And almost all of those cases were older, overweight, diabetic guys. So that's better than my personal risk margin of 1 in a million.

   But I still wouldn't take Viagra on a daily basis. I no longer trust any drug to be safe for a long term daily use.

 

Once again this just relates to what i said earlier let that person do what they want.  If they are happy taking those because it helps them then they should be able to do it.  How is this the doctors fault.  Maybe they went to the doctor and said This medicane is working great but i am ocasonaly a little nauseus so the doctor says ok we can either take you off the medicine or let you take vistaril if you need it. Is it the doctors fault if the patients want's to just treat the side effects, No.  There is some times that a certain medicine is the only thing that works or is the only thing keeping them alive and you have to treat the side effects.  The patient should understand and decide for himself.  He can always tell him i don't want to take the medicine anymore
I can cut and Paste also and from this Viagra helps 50-75% of men suffering from ED on SSRIs Here is two completely seperate trials

Treatment of antidepressant-associated sexual
dysfunction with sildenafil: a randomized controlled trial
by
Nurnberg HG, Hensley PL, Gelenberg AJ,
Fava M, Lauriello J, Paine S.
Department of Psychiatry,
University of New Mexico School of Medicine,
2400 Tucker NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131-5288.
geon@unm.edu
JAMA 2003 Jan 1;289(1):56-64

ABSTRACT CONTEXT: Sexual dysfunction is a common adverse effect of antidepressants that frequently results in treatment noncompliance. OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of sildenafil citrate in men with sexual dysfunction associated with the use of selective and nonselective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) antidepressants. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: Prospective, parallel-group, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted between November 1, 2000, and January 1, 2001, at 3 US university medical centers among 90 male outpatients (mean [SD] age, 45 [8] years) with major depression in remission and sexual dysfunction associated with SRI antidepressant treatment. INTERVENTION: Patients were randomly assigned to take sildenafil (n = 45) or placebo (n = 45) at a flexible dose starting at 50 mg and adjustable to 100 mg before sexual activity for 6 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was score on the Clinical Global Impression-Sexual Function (CGI-SF); secondary measures were scores on the International Index of Erectile Function, Arizona Sexual Experience Scale, Massachusetts General Hospital-Sexual Functioning Questionnaire, and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). RESULTS: Among the 90 randomized patients, 93% (83/89) of patients treated per protocol took at least 1 dose of study drug and 85% (76/89) completed week 6 end-point assessments with last observation carried forward analyses. At a CGI-SF score of 2 or lower, 54.5% (24/44) of sildenafil compared with 4.4% (2/45) of placebo patients were much or very much improved (P<.001). Erectile function, arousal, ejaculation, orgasm, and overall satisfaction domain measures improved significantly in sildenafil compared with placebo patients. Mean depression scores remained consistent with remission (HAM-D score

AND

APA: Viagra (Sildenafil) Mitigates SSRI-Induced Sexual Dysfunction

By Ed Susman
Special to DG News

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- May 9, 2001 -- Administration of sildenafil (Viagra, Pfizer, Inc.) appears to diminish the sexual dysfunction which sometimes results from use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in both men and women.

Importantly, researchers at the 154th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association said that because the sexual dysfunction can be overcome with sildenafil there is less need to switch medication in hopes of finding an SSRI that causes fewer sexual problems.

"We now know there are certain facts about SSRIs. They are effective against depression, but about 30 to 40 percent of people will report some sexual dysfunction," said Dr. George Nurnberg, professor and vice chairman of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. "Sildenafil (Viagra) was effective for reversing the antidepressant-associated sexual dysfunction."

He said the SSRIs tend to decrease arousal, cause erectile dysfunction, vaginal dryness, difficulty in reaching orgasm, and other problems involved in normal sexual function.

Dr. Nurnberg included 90 men and women in his study, which was funded by Pfizer. The subjects were randomly assigned to receive either Viagra or placebo.

All the subjects had to score less than 10 on the Hamilton depression scale-an indication that their depressive symptoms were being controlled by the SSRIs. If they had no pre-existing sexual problems prior to beginning antidepressant medication, the subjects were given a series of psychological tests and were started on 50 mg or 100 mg doses of sildenafil in the six-week double-blind study. Patients remained on sildenafil another 17 weeks in an open-label extension of the study.

"Sildenafil demonstrated highly significant improvement in sexual function on primary and secondary measures," Dr. Nurnberg said. Three-quarters of patients said their sexual functioning was very much improved while on sildenafil, compared with 11 percent on placebo, he reported.

The patients who were helped in this study were those whose antidepression drugs were the only cause of sexual dysfunction. If the person was having problems prior to taking the drugs, Dr. Nurnberg said it wasn’t likely sildenafil would help. "But if the guy comes to his doctor and says, ‘I really want to do it, but I can’t’ then the problem is likely to be the [antidepressant] drugs," he said.

The return of desire is indicative that the antidepressants are working; the failure to perform the act is a problem with the medication. While sildenafil appears to help men overcome erectile dysfunction, Dr. Nurnberg said that in women the drug seems to increase blood flow to the genitals and increase vaginal lubrication, making sex less painful and more enjoyable, he said.

In response to audience questions, he suggested that sildenafil was ready for prime time use in selected patients with sexual dysfunction as a side effects of the antidepressants.

However, Dr. Vinod Kumar, professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and moderator of the symposium at which Dr. Nurnberg presented his sildenafil data, said the single study would not be enough evidence for him to consider the drug treatment as standard-of-care.


JHarman1638675.5693865741