Antidepressants for PE (Zoloft/Sertraline)

[venom888 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close venom888]

Just a little update about taking Zoloft for PE. I'm on day 5. They say it takes 5-10 days to see the effect on PE and I have noticed either no or little effect as of yesterday. I'm sure it'll kick in though.

But, the reason for this update is to say that you should not take this option lightly. The side effects have been awful. They say they go away after about two weeks. First three days I was super sleepy all day, yesterday I felt fine, but then last night I felt the worst I probably ever have in my life, for a half hour. Thought I was going to throw up, weak, blurry vision, loud ringing in my ears, sweaty, head felt really hot while body was cold. It was like being really drunk and then some. It was scary. Hopefully things are better tonight.

I'm only taking half of my prescribed dose of 50mg. Studies in PE show some improvement at 25, about double improvement at 50, and only a bit more at 100, with some people experiencing inability to ejaculate or ED at 100.

I'm going to soldier on for now and see how it goes. So yes this is an option but read up on the Zoloft Reddit to see how bad it can affect you.

[venom888 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close venom888]

Just a quick update:
Day 10 of Zoloft, day 4 at the full 50mg. Used my fleshlight today and didn't notice any improvement. Which is weird because since the first day at 50mg I have a numb-like feeling in my penis when stimulating it. It's like an internal numbness; I don't think sensation is actually down much.

I read studies again and they reported full effect at about 3 weeks, with a third of the effect after each of the first three weeks (ie increasing time before climax). So starting to wonder if this will work for me. The studies show about 1/3 of people didn't really respond.

Hopefully it's still just too early and I'll see improvement in another week.

Side effects persist -- general flu-like feeling off and on, and nausea, especially at night.

[BigO AdministratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close BigO]

Sertraline will destroy any drive you have, stay away from that stuff unless sitting on the couch half brain dead is how you wish to sped your time.

The Navy doc prescribed me that crap when I was younger because they said I had an explosive temper which may have been true but after a couple of weeks I told them I would not take it any longer.

The temper was due to a dumb bitch of an ex-wife and after she was gone I was cured

[venom888 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close venom888]

Varies from person to person. I spent a week reading tons of posts on the Zoloft subreddit, and reviews at drugs.com, and most people don't have any real issues with it, just the initial few weeks of side effects (which vary from mild to horrible). For some people it kills their sex drive, others it increases it. If you mean general drive/motivation, I only saw people saying it gave them more, due to decrease in anxiety and negative thoughts. Dosage is also a big factor. But yeah I'll see how it goes.

[venom888 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close venom888]

Day 11, and I don't think I see a difference :/
This (50mg) was the optimal dose in studies, with 100mg sometimes causing loss of erection or inability to orgasm, so hmmm. Hopefully it still just needs more time to kick in, but I have a feeling it's not gonna do the trick for me.
My dr wanted me to do 100mg, because of the anxiety, and I talked him down to 50, so I guess if need be I can try increasing.

[venom888 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close venom888]

Day 16. I saw a real difference today. Less sensitive. Did have to pause many times still, but in between any pauses I was able to be faster and more stimulating (using a fleshlight). I can't be sure yet that it was from the Zoloft, as it could be a fluke (a year ago I had one odd day where things were 10x better). I've also been doing the Thomas Stretch about 3x/day, so that could be helping, but since I've been doing daily stretches for a long time, I don't count on that. It could also be that I was just less aroused, as often lately I've been masturbating out of curiosity and not horniness.

I do notice a few other things:
1. it seems like it's a little harder for me to get aroused, mentally. Like porn is not as mentally/sexually stimulating/interesting to me. But I can't swear it's from the drug. Could be just from the routine
2. I notice when I ejaculate the velocity is way less. This seems like it'd be physical, not something the drug could do, but I still assume it's the drug
3. Side effects 98% are gone by this point. Sometimes I wake up at night feeling nauseous, and then I just go back to sleep. Very rare that I have any effects during the day. Also that weird numbness I had in my penis when I first started taking the 50mg, it went away after just a day or two.
4. I do feel calmer / less anxious. More content. But still get anxious over some dumb stuff.

[Couchdog Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Couchdog]

50mg has my EQ fucked right now.

[venom888 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close venom888]

50mg has my EQ fucked right now.

How long have you been on it? Has it caused that problem the whole time?
If you're in the first few weeks it may get better

[venom888 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close venom888]

Another update:

The session from two days ago was not a fluke. I had another today and it also went really well. I actually was tiring myself with the fleshlight. 20 minutes. And I was fully turned on at the beginning. I did still have to take frequent pauses to not hit PONR, especially at the beginning, which remains frustrating (and would be problematic with a girl on top, in control), but only very short pauses, and in between those I was able to go fast and hard. What usually happens too is after getting really close to PONR a few times, I kinda hit my stride halfway through and then am less sensitive. This has always been the case, but now it really unlocks extra speed/roughness - tho the loss of feeling is actually kinda of negative now as well.

I'm hoping to see more improvement over the next few days, to maybe get rid of the need for frequent pauses, but if I don't see that in the short term, maybe I can still achieve it through continued stretches etc

Also I didn't do any stretches today, and not much yesterday either, so it was a good test today.

At this point I would be pretty confident going into sex. It'd be hit or miss at the beginning, but overall it'd be good. And not nearly as bad of a start as used to. Additionally, a FL might be even more stimulating, and with sex I'd have a condom on, so that'd help further.

If this holds, I'd call myself 80% cured. Tho I will still work on my APT and tightness. Some people will say that taking a pill is cheating or lazy, but I have no qualms about it. If the pill changes my serotonin levels, it very well could be that other people who don't have PreE issues just naturally have the same levels that I have post-pill. Even if not, I don't care. If it gives me a good sex life, whatever. I'll take the pill. For me personally, it also is making a difference in my mood and anxiety, so it's a win-win.

[PYT Member Find all posts View Profile Close PYT]

I'm back on the Zoloft to give it another try, I'm on 25mg and will move up to 50mg I think in a couple weeks gradually.

[PYT Member Find all posts View Profile Close PYT]

(BTW I'm taking it mainly for depression & anxiety so please leave me alone pegasus I'm not looking for a magic pill but if this helps with PE I'm much happier to risk taking it)

[venom888 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close venom888]

If the Zoloft causes you weird effects, there are other similar drugs you can try. I read that on average it takes people three SSRIs to find the right one. Zoloft seems right for me though.

[venom888 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close venom888]

I decided I'm only about 60-65% cured, not 80%, so I'm upping my dose from 50mg to 75. Mostly because of the sex thing, but also because I have some unnecessary anxiety still. Wasn't an easy decision because I want to take a minimally effective dose and 50 has helped a lot (with pe and anxiety). I don't want negative side effects or to numb myself emotionally. But I'll try 75 and see how it goes -- I can always go back to 50. And my dr wanted to do 100mg from the get-go, saying 50 was very low, so...

Will post updates later. Will probably take 2-3 weeks to see a difference. It may be that the remainder of my issues (the need to pause very frequently throughout ; ponr issues the first couple of minutes) are physical, not chemical.

I continue to work on the physical side of things with stretches and trying to fix my apt.

[peforever Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peforever]

I decided I'm only about 60-65% cured, not 80%, so I'm upping my dose from 50mg to 75. Mostly because of the sex thing, but also because I have some unnecessary anxiety still. Wasn't an easy decision because I want to take a minimally effective dose and 50 has helped a lot (with pe and anxiety). I don't want negative side effects or to numb myself emotionally. But I'll try 75 and see how it goes -- I can always go back to 50. And my dr wanted to do 100mg from the get-go, saying 50 was very low, so...

Will post updates later. Will probably take 2-3 weeks to see a difference. It may be that the remainder of my issues (the need to pause very frequently throughout ; ponr issues the first couple of minutes) are physical, not chemical.

I continue to work on the physical side of things with stretches and trying to fix my apt.

I have pre-e as well and 5 years ago went to urologist and got Zoloft, but never tried it. I preferred drugs that were taken just before second than taking a medication all the time. Tramadol works great and even at 25 meg, I have great control. I believe all PRE-e is about keeping pelvic floor relaxed. These medication due the same, they make you relax and pelvic floor is relaxed when taking them. I have been doing yoga (lots of pelvic floor excercises), strengthening flutes and core and abs and also doing both normal Lajin and Y lajin stretch. Now, I have much better control specially in some positions, I can basically last long by holding light RK while in any standing position with my legs on the floor. I still need help in missionary but planks and core has helped with that as well. I would say the following really helps Hindi squats, child pose, glute bridge, plank , hanging knee raises, lots of hip stretches and lajin. Also breathing is very important, learn diaphragm breathing and Rk.

[venom888 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close venom888]

SSRIs can also be taken on-demand a few hours prior to sex, but I wouldn't recommend that because usually you get some rough side effects if your body is not adjusted to it yet.

I see physical vs mental being debated sometimes on this forum, and I think one thing not being considered is chemical -- something you have no control over or ways to fix without drugs. So I don't believe drugs to be a cop-out. Our bodies do a lot of things subconsciously via chemical reactions, to control our emotions and body functions. With my anxiety, it manifests in physical ways much stronger than it does in mental ways. Meaning, I don't consciously or logically worry or feel anxious about something more than just a tiny bit, yet it will cause my body to react to a high degree, eg diarrhea, sweating, increased heart rate, numbness, stumbling over my words, etc. And again this is without being consciously aware of anything but a small amount of nervousness. So I think with sex or even masturbation, the same thing can happen to us. Obviously it's related because the drug that treats anxiety also treats PreE... And some thoughts that cause a tiny bit of anxiety or other chemical release during sex (eg being a little self-conscious when trying out a new position, or thinking certain sexual thoughts) would always push me toward ponr. So I think it's an option people should consider without feeling like they're cheating.

I don't think the medicine has relaxed my pf muscles. That's not really how it works. I mean, not in a constant way (it's not a muscle relaxer). But during sex/masturbation, your chemistry is more level and so your body isn't reacting to spikes in chemicals that trigger those kinds of involuntary things such as tensing up, ejaculation, etc

As I say, definitely physical and mental can be factors, but brain chemistry also varies from person to person and can be the problem/solution.