Duh Headline of the Day—If You’re on Meds

Thanks to Joe for sending this article from Boston.com, excerpted below:

Such sexual symptoms have long been known side effects of the popular Prozac class of antidepressants, but a growing body of research suggests that they are far more common than previously thought, perhaps affecting half or more of patients.

And a handful of recent medical and psychological journal articles document a small number of cases in which sexual problems remain even after a patient goes off the drugs.

“This is such an upsetting issue,” said Aline Zoldbrod, a Lexington psychologist and sex therapist. “There are people for whom SSRIs are really life-saving, I think, but the idea that someone would have to choose between getting out of the darkness of depression and having a good sex life is horrible.”

Dr. Zoldbrod is right — it’s a horrible choice to have to make. The article also quotes Dr. Richard Balon, a psychiatry professor at Wayne State University, who’s my new favorite person for saying, of research on loss of libido: “The [pharmaceutical] industry, understandably, has no interest in funding this.” No surprise there.

Also not surprisingly, the comments for this article devolved into pro-meds/anti-meds. Why does it have to be that way? Why can’t we all just get along?

liz | 11:42 AM | Uncategorized