SSRIs can cause permanent genital numbness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents jump to drugs for everything now. Most don’t actually try everything first, they want an easy out.

If you’ve spent any time on this forum you’d see that parents usually try absolutely everything snd don’t take the decision to medicate lightly at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents jump to drugs for everything now. Most don’t actually try everything first, they want an easy out.

If you’ve spent any time on this forum you’d see that parents usually try absolutely everything snd don’t take the decision to medicate lightly at all.

Ice been here for over 10 years. I find people worry alot. I find people.will get second opinions from.the de.type of doctor. But I do not see people stepping outside the norm and doing much different at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents jump to drugs for everything now. Most don’t actually try everything first, they want an easy out.

If you’ve spent any time on this forum you’d see that parents usually try absolutely everything snd don’t take the decision to medicate lightly at all.

Ice been here for over 10 years. I find people worry alot. I find people.will get second opinions from.the de.type of doctor. But I do not see people stepping outside the norm and doing much different at all.

Being on DCUM for over 10 years gives you zero credibility. DCUM is not the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents jump to drugs for everything now. Most don’t actually try everything first, they want an easy out.

If you’ve spent any time on this forum you’d see that parents usually try absolutely everything snd don’t take the decision to medicate lightly at all.

Ice been here for over 10 years. I find people worry alot. I find people.will get second opinions from.the de.type of doctor. But I do not see people stepping outside the norm and doing much different at all.

Being on DCUM for over 10 years gives you zero credibility. DCUM is not the real world.

The reply was the poster who literally said "if you spent any time on this.forum" duh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents jump to drugs for everything now. Most don’t actually try everything first, they want an easy out.

If you’ve spent any time on this forum you’d see that parents usually try absolutely everything snd don’t take the decision to medicate lightly at all.

If that were true then parents would not be medicating 6 year olds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents jump to drugs for everything now. Most don’t actually try everything first, they want an easy out.

If you’ve spent any time on this forum you’d see that parents usually try absolutely everything snd don’t take the decision to medicate lightly at all.

If that were true then parents would not be medicating 6 year olds.

I’ve never heard of anyone medicating a 6 year old with SSRIs. My 6 year old was medicated for adhd because otherwise he ran into traffic, ran into walls, could not attend K without hitting other kids, etc. I did a single blind study by not telling anyone he worked with that I was starting the medication. Within one week both the teacher and the bus patrol reached out to me unsolicited to tell me what a wonderful week he’d had at school and how the problems had greatly diminished. He’s in HS and has been able to attend normal schools and take advanced classes without significant issues.

Another child was on SSRIs as a tween, but only for a short period and at a low dose. Our psychiatrist told us most teens only need SSRIs for a short period and standard of care is to do a trial reduction and weaning off after something like 6 months (might have been a year—not sure.). He said it’s rare that teens need to be on them for multiple years.


I have found however that GPs push ssris like candy onto middle aged moms. I talked to my doctor during the pandemic about exhaustion and she put me on lexapro. I promptly gained 10 pounds and was more exhausted and she kept pushing me to just increase the dose or give it more time. She really pressured me. Eventually I just stopped seeing her. I feel like lots of people just want to drug up middle aged women rather than just acknowledging that being a middle aged woman totally s@cks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents jump to drugs for everything now. Most don’t actually try everything first, they want an easy out.

If you’ve spent any time on this forum you’d see that parents usually try absolutely everything snd don’t take the decision to medicate lightly at all.

If that were true then parents would not be medicating 6 year olds.

I’ve never heard of anyone medicating a 6 year old with SSRIs. My 6 year old was medicated for adhd because otherwise he ran into traffic, ran into walls, could not attend K without hitting other kids, etc. I did a single blind study by not telling anyone he worked with that I was starting the medication. Within one week both the teacher and the bus patrol reached out to me unsolicited to tell me what a wonderful week he’d had at school and how the problems had greatly diminished. He’s in HS and has been able to attend normal schools and take advanced classes without significant issues.

Another child was on SSRIs as a tween, but only for a short period and at a low dose. Our psychiatrist told us most teens only need SSRIs for a short period and standard of care is to do a trial reduction and weaning off after something like 6 months (might have been a year—not sure.). He said it’s rare that teens need to be on them for multiple years.


I have found however that GPs push ssris like candy onto middle aged moms. I talked to my doctor during the pandemic about exhaustion and she put me on lexapro. I promptly gained 10 pounds and was more exhausted and she kept pushing me to just increase the dose or give it more time. She really pressured me. Eventually I just stopped seeing her. I feel like lots of people just want to drug up middle aged women rather than just acknowledging that being a middle aged woman totally s@cks.

I know of many children with autism who had to go on a variety of medications like SSRIs, anti-psychotics, etc. due to severe meltdowns that behavior therapy/OT can’t touch. The goal is for it to be temporary so they can actually absorb what they’re learning in therapy. Age and maturity help too.

[Anonymous]

I've heard of SSRIs being used long term for young kids with severely impairing anxiety. It is definitely a last resort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a great study, I think this issue needs higher quality research. From the article posted:

“The survey did not distinguish between specific types of antidepressants, such as SSRIs versus other drug classes, although most antidepressant prescriptions for youth are SSRIs or SNRIs. The data were also based on self-reports, which introduces the possibility of recall bias. Additionally, the researchers could not determine how long symptoms persisted after treatment or whether they were limited to reduced genital sensitivity or included other sexual side effects. The survey did not include baseline measures of sexual functioning before participants began taking medication, so it’s not possible to confirm whether the antidepressants caused the symptoms or simply coincided with them.”

Well that kinda contradicts the "permanent" in the title. And no baseline measure is a huge red flag. Thanks for this synopsis. Agree that higher quality research is warranted.

OP, I think it's worth bringing possible side effects and long term effects to our attention, but chose your words carefully. I did not see any conclusion about "permanent" as the PP mentions. I have a child with autism and we already do ultra healthy diet, with years of OT, ST, groups, individual therapy. An SSRI was a game changer. I got heart palpitations reading your title. If a study actually found permanent numbness then that would be fine to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents jump to drugs for everything now. Most don’t actually try everything first, they want an easy out.

If you’ve spent any time on this forum you’d see that parents usually try absolutely everything snd don’t take the decision to medicate lightly at all.

If that were true then parents would not be medicating 6 year olds.

I’ve never heard of anyone medicating a 6 year old with SSRIs. My 6 year old was medicated for adhd because otherwise he ran into traffic, ran into walls, could not attend K without hitting other kids, etc. I did a single blind study by not telling anyone he worked with that I was starting the medication. Within one week both the teacher and the bus patrol reached out to me unsolicited to tell me what a wonderful week he’d had at school and how the problems had greatly diminished. He’s in HS and has been able to attend normal schools and take advanced classes without significant issues.

Another child was on SSRIs as a tween, but only for a short period and at a low dose. Our psychiatrist told us most teens only need SSRIs for a short period and standard of care is to do a trial reduction and weaning off after something like 6 months (might have been a year—not sure.). He said it’s rare that teens need to be on them for multiple years.


I have found however that GPs push ssris like candy onto middle aged moms. I talked to my doctor during the pandemic about exhaustion and she put me on lexapro. I promptly gained 10 pounds and was more exhausted and she kept pushing me to just increase the dose or give it more time. She really pressured me. Eventually I just stopped seeing her. I feel like lots of people just want to drug up middle aged women rather than just acknowledging that being a middle aged woman totally s@cks.

I know of many children with autism who had to go on a variety of medications like SSRIs, anti-psychotics, etc. due to severe meltdowns that behavior therapy/OT can’t touch. The goal is for it to be temporary so they can actually absorb what they’re learning in therapy. Age and maturity help too.

That’s exactly right. My 6yo is on Prozac and I know several others. We got opinions from four doctors before medicating him. None of us want to medicate young children and if you are in a position where you can’t imagine the prospect of it, consider yourself lucky.

[Anonymous]

It’s not as simple as “try everything else first” or “jump to medication.” If a kid is in crisis they need quick help. Otherwise they experience trauma and that has lifelong consequences. Not every kid can hang tight for months of alternate approaches.

All for continued research and new/improved options but we can’t scare people out of helping suffering kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents jump to drugs for everything now. Most don’t actually try everything first, they want an easy out.

If you’ve spent any time on this forum you’d see that parents usually try absolutely everything snd don’t take the decision to medicate lightly at all.

If that were true then parents would not be medicating 6 year olds.

I’ve never heard of anyone medicating a 6 year old with SSRIs. My 6 year old was medicated for adhd because otherwise he ran into traffic, ran into walls, could not attend K without hitting other kids, etc. I did a single blind study by not telling anyone he worked with that I was starting the medication. Within one week both the teacher and the bus patrol reached out to me unsolicited to tell me what a wonderful week he’d had at school and how the problems had greatly diminished. He’s in HS and has been able to attend normal schools and take advanced classes without significant issues.

Another child was on SSRIs as a tween, but only for a short period and at a low dose. Our psychiatrist told us most teens only need SSRIs for a short period and standard of care is to do a trial reduction and weaning off after something like 6 months (might have been a year—not sure.). He said it’s rare that teens need to be on them for multiple years.


I have found however that GPs push ssris like candy onto middle aged moms. I talked to my doctor during the pandemic about exhaustion and she put me on lexapro. I promptly gained 10 pounds and was more exhausted and she kept pushing me to just increase the dose or give it more time. She really pressured me. Eventually I just stopped seeing her. I feel like lots of people just want to drug up middle aged women rather than just acknowledging that being a middle aged woman totally s@cks.

I think more people than you know medicate their small kids. I once called a psychiatrist for an intake for my 4 year old - I was really looking for help with a diagnosis and medication was not on my radar - and she cut in to tell me that “I do not medicate 4 year olds for ADHD unless it’s so severe that for example they literally cannot sit to eat.” The way she said it, it was pretty clear she got a lot of calls from people looking to medicate 4 year olds for less severe behaviors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.psypost.org/scientists-link-antidepressants-to-long-lasting-genital-numbness-in-young-people/

Here's another thing we weren't told about before rushing our child onto ssris.

You were expecting to be told about something that wasn't known about yet? Talk about vaunted expectations.

SSRIs aren't for feeling a little blue. They are for keeping people alive and functional. Anyone who thinks they'd rather have had a dead kid with non-numb genitals hasn't stayed up all night panicked about their child.

[Anonymous]

I started an SSRI at 15. I have an extensive family history of crippling depression, and several family members have attempted suicide. One succeeded. We did therapy for a few months first, but there was literally nothing wrong in my life. I was successful in school, was physically active, ate well, had hobbies, friends, a super nice boyfriend, got along great with my parents. And most of the time I wanted to not be alive.

Six weeks on an SSRI and I was fine. FINE. I’ve tried weaning off over the years under a doctor’s supervision (I’m 45), and the depression comes roaring back.

Yes, I’ve had some mild sexual dysfunction, and my doctor worked with me to experiment with different medications to address it. I’ve also struggled some with my weight. I greatly prefer those side effects to spending most of my waking hours wanting to die.

I’ve read all the critical articles about SSRIs, how people don’t actually need them, how exercise has a similar success rate, etc, etc. My anecdote is not data, but all I can say is they work for me, and have for 30 years, and I would not be a successful, functioning person without them. I likely would not be alive without them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started an SSRI at 15. I have an extensive family history of crippling depression, and several family members have attempted suicide. One succeeded. We did therapy for a few months first, but there was literally nothing wrong in my life. I was successful in school, was physically active, ate well, had hobbies, friends, a super nice boyfriend, got along great with my parents. And most of the time I wanted to not be alive.

Six weeks on an SSRI and I was fine. FINE. I’ve tried weaning off over the years under a doctor’s supervision (I’m 45), and the depression comes roaring back.

Yes, I’ve had some mild sexual dysfunction, and my doctor worked with me to experiment with different medications to address it. I’ve also struggled some with my weight. I greatly prefer those side effects to spending most of my waking hours wanting to die.

I’ve read all the critical articles about SSRIs, how people don’t actually need them, how exercise has a similar success rate, etc, etc. My anecdote is not data, but all I can say is they work for me, and have for 30 years, and I would not be a successful, functioning person without them. I likely would not be alive without them.

So glad they work for you!