[MonikaT]

Hello MonikaT.

If you ever do decide to go back on anti-depressants and are concerned about losing your sex drive, I recommend talking to your doctor about trying Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin may be helpful with countering the lack of interest in sex caused by anti-depressants.

It certainly sounds like you've put a lot of thought into NBE. I'm wondering though how do you reconcile the knowledge NBE may impair your ability/interest concerning sex knowing your fiancée wants to continue having sexual relations with you?

Bupropion (generic Wellbutrin) was the first antidepressant I tried. Believe it or not, it initially caused ED, but it went away after a few weeks. However, it made me incredibly irritable. It was a struggle to be polite to co-workers and others who mattered, but there is a clerk in the pharmacy at a nearby Walmart who probably still remembers me. I've kind of decided if my life ever sucks so much I need antidepressants, it is time to change my life rather than trying to change myself. I should have quit my job rather than trying to cope with a horrible situation.

Given Wellbutrin increases norepinephrine and dopamine, I tried mucuna pruriens (velvet bean extract), which is a natural form of L-Dopa, to bump my dopamine levels after going off all antidepressants. Nothing changed. L-Tyrosine and L-Phenylalanine both also convert to dopamine and norepinephrine. I take a gram of each, half in the morning and half at bedtime. Supposedly, Lexapro and Effexor are both SSRIs, and the excess serotonin kills the sex drive and erections. Dopamine is supposed to oppose that. None of that has worked for me which is what led me to testosterone, maca, and BS. In the past, I also tried horny goat weed, muira puama, longjack, tribulus terrestris, avena sativa (wild oats) and yohimbe, all to no avail.

I'm not sure how to keep the sex drive going enough to keep my fiancée happy. Maybe if my nipples keep getting stimulated regularly through ordinary, day-to-day activities, I will be horny enough to keep her happy. This has been an interesting development. I would be happy with nothing more than nipple stimulation. As I mentioned, they've always been an erogenous zone for me, but now it has reached an extreme. I have kind of gathered from other posts that this is not so unusual. It might just come down to having to force myself which hasn't worked so well up to now, but then I've also been very hypothyroid in addition to having low T.

My work schedule also hasn't helped. I work rotating shifts of 8 10-hour days on and 6 days off. I just finished 3 months of graves and start 3 months of swing in a couple days. Swing fits my normal sleep-wake schedule the best. Graves sucks the life out of me, and I've never been a morning person so days is really hard for me.

I guess if I can't overcome the effects of the herbs, I can live with the breasts I have if it means keeping her happy, assuming we manage to stay together. I'll know more after tomorrow.

She has never complained about my ED. Her complaint has been that I seemingly withdrew from her physically. We've both had a lot of stressors the past 18 months or so, and we've both sort of withdrawn from each other.