Michael’s Story

Michael

United Kingdom

PSSD 3.5 years

I was on the SSRI Escitalopram for a number of years.  Initially I was only meant to be on the drug for six months or so; I had been suffering from anxiety and was in the middle of making some important decisions.  I was given no proper guidance or warning about the issues of coming off the drug.  I came off the drug quickly over the course of about six to eight weeks and all hell broke loose.  I became severely depressed and very anxious (far worse than the fairly mild anxiety I had experienced before taking the SSRI).  My doctor completely failed to recognise that this was withdrawal and put me back on the drug.

I had further failed attempts before finally learning the truth about SSRIs and under the care of another doctor, I eventually managed to taper off over the course of a year.  With this length of taper I did not suffer from any form of depression or anxiety once I was off the drug.

However, the sexual side effects that I suffered on the drug continued (I should point out at this point that prior to taking an SSRI I had never suffered from any sexual issue and had always been in good physical health).  It is now three and a half years since I took the last SSRI tablet and my sexual function has still not returned to normal.  I am lucky in that I am not one of the people who have completely lost all function; however, every aspect of sexual function has been affected.  I also have emotional blunting and am not able to feel romantic love (this issue is as devastating as the physical symptoms).

When I went to the doctor all those years ago I was suffering from some anxiety.  She gave me a drug that has left me with something a thousand times worse.  I would never have taken the drug in a million years if I had known it could cause this.  It is very hard to put into words the affect that this has had on my life.  Every day I think about it, and every day I am reminded about it – it is fair to say that it has affected almost every aspect of my life.  It has also caused a great deal of stress to my family (parents) as they can see the affect it has had on me.

The really hard thing to take is that this condition has been known about since the early 1990’s, and reports to medical regulators were being made as early as this time – but it has been ignored and thousands have been left to suffer.  My whole life I have led a healthy life style, especially in terms of diet, but one trip to see a doctor and I was given a drug that has caused so much damage – the biggest mistake of my life and one that I will never make again.