Hey Lemmy friends. I have been on 75mg of Zoloft (sertraline) for 2 years and I recently asked if something could be done about my lower libido. The doctor added Wellbutrin (bupropin). I started off with 100mg SR, and then my doctor switched me to 150mg XR. I have noticed a rise in anxiety over the past few weeks. He originally wanted me to reduce my sertraline (Zoloft) dose, but as my anxiety increased, I decided to go back to 75mg. (Dr. told me I should increase if I felt the need). It has been a little over 2 weeks and yesterday was the first day I felt my anxiety symptoms start to go back down.
I’m considering asking if I can increase my Zoloft (sertraline) dose to 100mg XR to see if that is the “magic” combination as I feel like the Zoloft could use a boost. (Have been thinking this for months now)
Anyway, I wanted to see if there are other Lemmy folks out there who take this combo and how things are going.
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I haven’t combined them directly, but I have taken both Sertraline and bupropion at different stages in my life. I agree that Sertraline eventually takes a toll on your libido, smothering it like a wet blanket over a fire. I can also attest to some people having an increase in anxiety with bupropion because that shit made me want to claw my skin off. I always felt like I was seconds away from exploding while I was on it. It’s difficult to describe. I stopped taking it after a few weeks because it made me an edgy mess.
To overcome the lack of libido on Sertraline I just “practiced” by trying to initiate intimacy with my partner (or myself), even when I didn’t feel like it, because eventually I could “get in the mood” and it became easier over time after reminding my body that it was, in fact, fun to have sex. I also noticed increasing my activity level by working out a few times a week helped quite a bit with increasing my libido.
Eventually after changing jobs, finding a good workout regimen, and reducing my alcohol intake, I was able to get off the Sertraline and my libido came back after a few weeks.
That’s just my experience though, I wish you the best of luck.
I had a similar experience. The sertraline helped with anxiety/depression but did lower libido. Finding alternative strategies for the anxious or depressive moments and weaning off the sertraline helped in the long-run. I think using a counselor to dive more into understanding why you feel anxious or depressed in that moment could be helpful to finding a strategy without medication (or at least as much) if they’re having unwanted effects.
For instance, I had pretty bad anxiety when I people whispering. It made me think they were talking badly about me and I felt bad about myself. I eventually realized with a counselor that had low self confidence and reminded myself of the mantras that helped me through that specific moment. “They probably have a million other things to talk about other than you. What they’re saying is not meant for your ears. And even if they are, they’re opinion has no bearing on your worth as a person.”
So I’ve never tried sertraline but I am on Bupropion for my depression. My experience with that has always been that the Bupropion is basically a magic bullet when it comes to my depression but it gives me weapons grade anxiety. Personally I found that Buspirone in combination with the Bupropion worked really well. The Buspirone on it’s own doesn’t touch my depression but it does fix the anxiety cause by Bupropion. I’ve never had any sexual side effects from either medication. In fact I didn’t even get any start up sideffects from the Buspirone at all which is weird for me because normally I get really bad start up sideffects.
So I increased my dose of sertraline to 100mg and I can feel things starting to settle down a little. I’m going to see how this combo goes for a couple of months. I’ll check in with you all later as I progress through my new and improved brain chemistry. Ha! Here’s to improved mental health for all!
