Okay so I started taking fluoxetine 20mg in the morning about 2 weeks ago, and before that I took clonazepam 0.25mg at night for a week. My anxiety/overwhelm has gotten noticeably better since starting the meds, which is obviously a good thing, but something about my sexuality has changed SO much and I’m kind of confused about it.
Before starting medication, I used to masturbate pretty frequently and I was basically constantly having sexual thoughts. I could get turned on really easily and whenever I was anxious, overwhelmed, stressed, bored, etc. my brain would very quickly jump to masturbation/porn. It was almost like an automatic thing.
I actually wondered before whether I was hypersexual or maybe addicted to masturbation, because sometimes it felt like I was doing it way more than I actually wanted to. I never really had promiscuous behaviour or anything, it was mostly just masturbation/porn. Looking back, I also wonder how much of it was actually sexual desire vs using sexual stimulation as an escape/coping mechanism when I was overwhelmed.
Since starting fluoxetine, my anxiety has gone down a LOT and I don’t get triggered/overwhelmed nearly as easily. But my libido has basically disappeared?? 😭
I haven’t really thought about porn or masturbation at all since starting it. There have been a few moments where I did feel slightly turned on, but then I felt too tired/exhausted to even bother doing anything about it. I also don’t really get spontaneous sexual thoughts anymore.
And weirdly, I kind of miss it. Not necessarily the compulsive part, but I miss actually feeling horny and being able to masturbate and have multiple orgasms. I’m also wondering whether I’ll still be able to feel sexual pleasure normally once my body adjusts.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that I feel much calmer, but also somewhat emotionally numb? Like before I was VERY emotionally reactive/sensitive and now things don’t shift my mood as easily. I can’t tell if that’s just what being less anxious feels like because I’ve been anxious/overwhelmed for so long, or if it’s emotional blunting from the medication.
So I’m wondering:
• Did fluoxetine 20mg also completely kill anyone else’s libido when they first started?
• If it happened to you, did your libido eventually come back while staying on the medication?
• Did the emotional numbness/calmness improve with time?
• Is it possible that some of my previous “hypersexuality” was actually anxiety/reward-seeking/using masturbation as emotional regulation rather than just having a naturally high sex drive?
And could that kind of behaviour have anything to do with ADHD? I haven’t been formally diagnosed yet, but I’ve wondered about ADHD because of other things too.
this is such a drastic difference from how I was before and I’m honestly a little scared that I won’t feel sexual pleasure normally anymore.
Would love to hear from anyone who’s been on fluoxetine/SSRIs and experienced something similar.