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One 23-year-old has offered her own horror story when it comes to SSRI medication, detailing a bizarre and unexpected genital-based side effect that could impact her for the rest of her life.
It is unfortunately well documented that taking Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors – which you might know more simply as SSRIs – can lead to a decline in both sexual performance and overall libido, yet one particular case study has shown that the impact potentially reaches further than you might expect.
SSRI medication is predominantly taken by individuals suffering from mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety, as they increase the serotonin levels inside your brain which then regulate your mood and emotions.
Many people have testified how life-changing these can be under the right circumstances, and hundreds of millions of people have taken them worldwide in order to treat their own conditions.
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However, the experience of 23-year-old Lauren Friedman might make some think twice about opting for SSRI medication, as she details the sudden and extreme side effect she suffered in relation to genitals.
The MAHA institute hosted a Mental Health and Overmedicalization Summit recently, inviting Lauren to discuss her experience living with what's referred to as Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD), calling for further research into the treatment and its impacts.
"Sexual dysfunction is one of the most common and reliable side effects of SSRIs," Lauren explains, "in fact, 50 to 70% of all patients taking these will have sexual side effects."
She goes on to explain the impact that she has experienced after coming off the treatment, revealing: "For me, I clearly hate to talk about this, but my clitoris is completely numb, as if it's the back of my elbow.
"I have no sensation internally [...] it's like a sudden onset chemical asexuality that just never goes away," she continued.
She also argued that it is a "form of chemical castration" due to the risk of developing permanent nerve damage to your sexual organs, although data from Harvard Medical School has urged that it's likely not always as extreme as Lauren's argument might make it seem.
"If medication is the problem, sexual side effects sometimes subside with time, so it's worth waiting a while to see if the problems diminish," the health center advises, adding that if the problems continue then you can take a number of different steps to mitigate the problem in the future.
