hummingbird358

Are there any depression/anxiety meds that do not cause sexual side effects?

My son is 20 and is suffering from depression and anxiety and continues to drink alcohol. His Dr. prescribed 10 mg of lexapro. I honestly think it is not helping. I know he was upset over the sexual side effects so I don't know if he continued to take it or not. His depression is getting worse. He rarely gets a bath and his is becoming more isolated. He continues to go to college but now his girlfriend left him for some time away since he is always drinking on the weekends and does not want to leave the house. She called him psycho this past week and he was just horrible. Always says he will stop drinking but never does for more than a week. This past Monday he said he screwed up then on Friday he was back to drinking again when all H*** broke loose again. Now he is on the pity me train and no one wants to listen. I told him to face it like a man and admit he needs help. I get "don't talk to me like this".... Sick of his actions. I honestly don't know where he picked this up because my husband or his grandfathers ever treated their women like this. He is so self absorbed.
He agreed to see a therapist now but I told him I wanted him to do outpatient rehab as well. I was told that I can't make his medical decisions for him... My answer was.... "well I won't need to shortly because they will be made for you because the road you are on isn't going to end well." He said he knew that...

bigsombrero

Sounds like you are asking several questions and voicing some pain. Sorry to hear you're in this situation.

I took a drug similar to Lexapro (Zoloft) while drinking. I stopped taking it properly due to the reasons you'd mentioned above, and also continued to drink heavily. Shortly thereafter I was prescribed Prozac and also Klonipin - which I also took sporadically due to my drinking. I also stopped bathing frequently and also broke off my relationship with my long term girlfriend...of course, I was 36 at the time and not the age of your son. Long story short, I ended up having seizures due to alcohol withdrawal and those jarring moments got me sober.

I take Lexapro now, but I've been sober close to 3 years and I take it properly. To hell with the sexual side effects - I am serious about my mental and physical health and I am in the business of staying alive and happy. Your son should not be putting the cart before the horse.

The more you try to tell him what is good for him, the more he will probably go against it. Sad but also possibly true. He'll need to learn the hard way and that can't be fun for a mother to watch. But the key here is to take care of yourself. There's a great Friends and Family forum that can be a great help to you here on SR. Check it out, I think you'll find some great support there. All the best to you and your son!

Astro

I've taken Lexapro, Zoloft, and EffexorXR but always sober and as prescribed. SSRI's and alcohol do not mix.

Plure

Yeah, alcohol is a depressant and Lexapro is an anti-depresssant, so taking Lexapro with a drink greatly reduces its effectiveness (or so my Pdoc said). The sexual side effects aren't great, but they do fade after you've been on Lexapro for a while. I take Lexapro and Buspar (anti-anxiety med), the latter of which has helped with those unwanted side effects.