u/Important-Pie1753

Dear All. I want to share few of my insights regarding pssd and document them here . hope this will be useful for you guys . I suffered from anxiety since my younger days . i remember the anxiety peaked during when i was in grade 10 where we have to appear for school leaving certificate examinations. during that time i used to have intense tension headache many days a year and also many other psychosomatic symptoms which was l, now i believe after looking back, was, all the manifestation of the anxiety . I was unaware of the psychiatry discipline and thankfully me with my dad went to a neurosurgeon for the consultation . he ordered an mri and everything came out normal . Obviously the scans were normal as it was just an anxiety underneath. I still remember during that time I was able to form strong romantic relationship and my crushes were very very strong . I was also a very well performing student who always performed well academically so i was always among the top A+ grade students of my class. Now looking back i realize the anxiety and my those traits and characteristics coexist together . You might wonder now i realize it now . well when i got into medical school my anxiety got intense due to increased workload and also i had to stay in the hostel for the first time in life. It got to the point of unbearable pain and suffering from the anxiety . It is this time when i went to a psychiatrist and he prescribed me escitalopram 5 mg and venlafaxine 37.5 mg . he later increased the dose to 10 mg escitalopram and 75 mg Venlafaxine which i took for two years . Then i noticed something different . The pain and suffering from anxiety had vanished so had the motivation of performing well and also the capacity to fall in intense romantic love . I felt literally indifferent to the girls of my class . before during my highschool and school days there always used to be alteast a girl upon whom i used to have intense crush . all that had vanished . Then i realize the anxiety and most of the sexual function exist in the same domain of the braina and you silence one you automatically silence the another . I saw tremendous returning of my old pattern while on Bupopion . I got back my anxiety , heart palpitation and also tension headache back but also I got back my intense attraction to females around me , strong morning wood , I even had crush on one of the coworker . Alas , I could only take Bupopion for a month as i had ringing sensation on my ears and my doc switched me to mirtazepine . now i am on mirtazepine . I will see if I will get better and if anything does not get better i will switch back to buporion . My time on bupopion was like a window to me . It made me realize that my capacity to love , to have intense romantic involvement is still there but it dampened possibly by ssri and snri that i took . So you see guys anxiety as well as sexual function are dopamine powered and if you turndown the volume of one another will automatically turndown . It will take years and years after quitting medication to bring those receptors back to normal state and you might get your anxiety back as well. this is specially those suffering from mostly anxiety. You either have to loose anxiety and sexual function both or be with anxiety as well as your normal sexuality . I would suggest anyone who is suffering from anxiety not to visit psychiatrist and try to manage it by CBT , exercise and other approaches as far as possible , else you may risk loosing your sexuality and most importantly ability to love along with your anxiety . Looking back if i was given the chance I would choose my younger self with anxiety and ability to love deeply and competitive me rather than what i have become now . I have become a calm person who is in overall 'present in the moment ' but inability to find attraction in women and not so competitive . its true that dopamine is the reward seeker and excess serotonin makes you calm and happy and content with everything you have in the moment.