Symptoms: Brain zaps, emotional blunting, sexual dysfunction
Venlafaxine 2021. Eventually got off it in 2025. Went onto Trazodone. Venlafaxine was okay, but permanent sexual dysfunction (anorgasmia). This is intractable and long-term in my case. After the hell of getting off Venlafaxine with terrible, persistent discontinuation effects, I went on Trazodone.
Within 3 weeks I began to develop sinus problems, ocular problems, and then severe asthma.
It's not trivial to take psychoactive medication. Psychiatrists tend to be so busy and impatient that they do nothing much more than hand waving and say, "Oh, it's probably stress related, take a serotonin antagonist, go for sex therapy," or worse, "Just be grateful you're not depressed."
I'm in the psych profession. I used to be supportive of depression medication. Now I'm really not so sure at all. The number of serious side effects that people get landed with is a huge problem.
People do not like to speak to their psychiatrist about sexual side effects. If they do, they seem to get glib advice about "drug holidays," "dose reduction," or a dopamine agonist, and if this doesn't work, they go through the hell of tapering the drug off and trying new things.
Just beware of trusting naively, and be assertive about saying how you feel. Sexual function is a whole side to a relationship that can get terribly hurt.
Speak up and be assertive, please.