Abel’s Story

ABEL

SPAIN

AGE: 18

PSSD – 3 YEARS

This story begins in 2017, when I was 15 years old and, suffering from  depression and social anxiety, I was prescribed abilify.

The first time I noticed that my sexuality went off I thought was due to stress: my sexuality, which had always been very lively, became non-existent I noticed it well because I was used to masturbating frequently, since the early years of my puberty, a habit that suddenly disappeared when I started abilify. Later, I knew that they were side effects of abilify.

Before taking it, I hadn't already inquired on the internet, I didn't find that some sexual difficulties such as "a decreased libido and difficulty in reaching orgasm affected about 1 in 10 people taking SSRI or SNRI antidepressants". I took it innocently, and in a few weeks the antidepressant did for me what it should have done: I recovered from depression, I felt less uncomfortable, so much so that I started to make some friends, to have new experiences with them.

 I continued the therapy for 2 months, during which time I did touch myself and I didn't have a single orgasm. Towards the end of that period, however, I met a girl with whom I had the first contacts and sexual experiences. I had explained to that girl that I was suffering from side effects that made my genitals unresponsive, but that I was happy anyway to have those experiences. and I decided that I wanted to reduce the drug to get it off completely, so that I would finally have sex with my full sexuality. And so I did, with the agreement of the psychiatrist.

It was only 1 month later when I started taking a new medicine called Xeplion, which I had been prescribed against my will. At the start I didn't take it and I was hiding the pills I was supposed to take, but my psychiatrist discovered it and ordered Xeplion through a needle. I was taking Xeplion throughout the summer.

After xeplion I started taking another medicine called Venlafaxine. This sort of medicine is a SNRI. I took it for 2 or 3 months, I don't remeber it quite well. After that I never took any medicine again and I have gained no improvements in my condition.

I tried to seek help from my psychiatrist, but she just ignored me and said that it was impossible for this condition to be there if the medication was eliminated within a few hours of having ingested it. The same thing happened with the other psychiatrists I sought help from.

One good thing is that pssd has not impacted my life with my family or friends, since I have not said anything about my condition. Having pssd makes me feel desesperate and worried since I am 18 and there is no current cure.