Hi all, I'm Dan and I've suffered problems with depression, anxiety and social anxiety pretty much most of my life.

After being on it since 2001, I quit Prozac four years ago. I was on it for two and a half years and I found it almost instantly helped my depression. I became a new man, more active, lost weight, felt inspired and motivated, tried new things. The tedious, monotonous grind of my 'normal' life suddenly transformed and I actually *enjoyed* being alive. Though I was still shy, I accepted my social problems and became far more comfortable being me/'me'.

One of the things that initially put me off about taking Prozac back in 2001 was its widely reported 'sexual side effects' problem. As I was so depressed, and sex wasn't really an issue (being that I was so shy I never got any anyway!) I took the plunge. Surprisingly, I found that I actually had an increased libido/sex drive whilst on the drug.

The drug kind of stopped working for me in early 2003. I was getting depressed again, my emotions were dead and I wanted/really needed to feel things again, so I stopped cold turkey and had a massively bad withdrawal. My whole world felt like it had fallen apart, I couldn't stop crying, I lost my mind, it was pure depression and I had a breakdown.

One thing I noticed afterwards, though, was that my sex drive seemed to be low, far lower than it was even before I went on the drug. My actual desire/libido seemed to have vanished for the most part. Sensitivity 'down there' seemed to have diminished to around half of what it was, the body-mind interface felt weak and grey and empty. It kind of felt (and still feels) kind of 'separated'. Without thinking too much, I put it down to depression, as did my doc (who prescribed me Celexa, which I was afraid to take due to my withdrawal from Prozac.)

Over the last 18 months, I've got to the point where I can manage my depression/anxiety fairly well without meds but I still have virtually no libido. Even when depressed in the time before Prozac, I still had a big interest in sex and everything worked great 'down there'. Now, I barely ever think about it, only on fleeting occasions, and I've just met the love of my life and need these things to work! I mean, I do have a lot of depression and anxiety still, and these may be contributing factors, but it just feels so weird.

I've read up lots about 'PSSD' (Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction) and in some cases this thing can be permanent! Reading up about it has put the fear of God into me.

I've thought about going back on Prozac to see if my libido comes back but, if it doesn't (and it has been caused by PSSD) I don't want to damage my libido any further.

Has anyone had this experience and has going back on Prozac helped??

(Or am I eternally damned?...)