More than just serotonin?

[Guest guest]

Here's an interesting article: http://www.currentpsychiatry.com/article_pages.asp?aid=9131 (Dec. 2010). One of the tables shows which receptors (including norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and dopamine) various SSRIs also act on. Here's one quote from the article: "SSRIs may reduce levels of nitric oxide, which is necessary for mediating penile vasculature changes needed for erection." I've been wondering ever since I discovered this group whether taking nitric oxide orally or applying it topically might help. I was talking with my pharmacist yesterday. His wife is taking Effexor and wants to get off. I warned him about lingering effects and suggested nitric oxide topically. He said that it might work & he was going to try it.

BTW, in the article substitute "he or she" for "he", even where the discussion is about erectile dysfunction. And where it reads "penis" you should interpret that to mean "penis or clitoris" even if the author doesn't have a clue. And ignore their pandering to "researchers" who "can't distinguish between sexual dysfunction caused by depression and sexual dysfunction caused by SSRIs".

If you have a sympathetic doctor, you might ask him/her to let you try verious things, like nitric oxide (oral and/or topical); dopamine; drugs that stimulate production of adrenaline (but watch out for heart side effects), such as Sudafed, taking it just before having sex; and cyproheptadine, but read up on that before you start taking it.

Ann