7 replies to this topic

[Girlfriend]

Hello to all. This post is about toxin excretion and dermal absorption between lovers.
Drug interactions are not news to me. My son routinely enhanced Heroin with Xanax and my mother was dosed into a stupor in the nursing home with a stack of 6 different cholinesterase inhibitors. I rescued my mother but lost my son to overdose.
Recently, I became the girlfriend of a man who was on Prozac. His depression and anxiety are normal reactions to chronic stress in his life. Sudden divorce, prospect of losing the farm, economic ruin and loss of identity. SSRI delayed ejaculation problems in bed began my research on anti-depressant neurotransmitter musical chairs. His dose had recently been doubled to 80 mg, by a doctor standing in for his regular doctor. My reading suggested this was a pretty high dose. Rather than increase Prozac to feel better, I thought maybe he could decrease beer and increase sex. Meditation didn’t seem to be an option.
My boyfriend is open minded and cut back to his 40mg dose, then went back to the doctor thinking he could get something to help quit alcohol. He had been shaking with the 80 mg Prozac. He had also been drinking up to 20 beers a day from the get go with Prozac. so....The doctor took him off Prozac and put him on Cymbalta. She made this new med choice even though he had gone to her for help with his alcoholism. He stopped shaking and drinking immediately increased.
I gave him some Ashwagandha and tried to explain that with Cymbalta, he was now doping two neural pathways instead of one along with everything subtle and barely understood dynamic balance that those circuits are connected to..
Searching Cymbalta interactions with alcohol withdrawal brought me to this forum and, again, thanks for being here. I have truly learned from the candid information and experience of the community.
Now, the point of this post. The Cymbalta made him sweat a lot at night. When we are together, he easily complies with my less beer more sex (all natural serotonin/dopamine bump) strategy for anti depression. After 3 nights of intensive skin to skin, Cymbalta-sweat-soaked, residual-Prozac-anti-climax-endurance sex, I started feeling a little drifty and somewhat as if the world had altered to not full slow motion, but kind of a hydrostatic nudge into a lower range. I don’t drink or do drugs- prescription or otherwise. Could be lack of sleep, but this felt more dissociative and detached. I noticed my emotions were a little flat for a woman newly in sex raptured love and for all that rowdy time in bed I hadn’t truly climaxed. We are not kids and I know myself.
So, I reasonEd that his beer beleaguered liver wasn’t metabolizing the Cymbalta completely and a lot of active ingredients were being sweated out, like the neurotoxins they are. All that Cymbalta sweat being rubbed into me and soaked into my skin as we slept wrapped around each other, was being absorbed through my skin, just like cattle wormer is absorbed into the bloodstream when we pour it in their backs.
This kind of collateral-doping information or caution to lovers does not seem to appear anywhere. I’m recording my experience here so others can consider if it is similar to their own situation.
I ran this past my boyfriend, especially the part about now we were both sexually numbed out, and he pronto stopped taking the Cymbalta. I also tried to explain that the longer he took it the more his brain and glands would get habituated to being doped and when he did finally quit he might go backwards with depression. He should hit half life of the 40 mg Prozac he had been on this weekend, then coast out with the Ashwagandha. This was his first week on Cymbalta.
The beer is up to him, as always with alcoholics. Self medication is self driven. My issue is doctor driven medication that exacerbates harm.
So...all the good information this forum helped me understand this nuanced situation a little better. His Cymbalta exposure was brief and hopefully we will find equilibrium. Every one of you are brave warriors.

[Girlfriend]

Guess this is posted in the wrong place. Maybe you can move it, Mr. Hat.

[fishinghat]

No problem with the location.

 

The dr probably put him on Cymbalta as there is some research that shows it can lower the desire for alcohol but having said that there is also an indication that it makes alcohol consumption even worse in a small percent of people. 

 

The note on skin absorption is an interesting one and I have seen no research on dermal excretion of Cymbalta but perhaps...

 

With one week on Cymbalta I would imagine any withdrawal would be limited. Dropping the 40 mg of Prozac, well that could bite some. While not as bad as Cymbalta that is a substantial drop. Watch for signs of digestive issues. 

 

Not only are all antidepressants linked to ED but also loss of testosterone production. Many members have experienced that as well including yours truly. Cymbalta and Effexor are the ones most strongly linked to loss of testosterone per my drs, forums and a few court cases. All the sexual issues with STOPPING antidepressants are covered in the ebook on the section called PSSD (Post ssri sexual dysfunction). Most people experience a return to pre-antidepressant function after about 3 months but it can take as long as 6 or 7 years. There are however some who permanently loose all sexual function to never return. At this time there is no treatment for PSSD. 

 

I hope this helps answer some of your questions. If you want more specific medical journal information most of that can be found in our free ebook. I will also look into the dermal excretion of Cymbalta tomorrow. 

[invalidusername]

Read with interest....

 

Much like Hat, this had not been considered as a factor - the absorption factor of touching skin. Plausible, but to what extent I could not say... so I too looked through my usual routes of research to find just one article, but with interesting information;

 

"Percutaneous absorption may provide a feasible route of administration for the tricyclic antidepressants which may lead to improved compliance with fewer gastrointestinal side effects."

 

 This is from the abstract - the full paper is held by OUP, so cannot access - but located at the following URL;

 

https://academic.oup...edFrom=fulltext

 

Why there is no further research related to this following such a statement I do not know. An anti-depressant "patch" would seem like quite a logical means of administration. But again, your account relies on the component excretion which is understandably not something readily researched, but an interesting point nonetheless.

[Girlfriend]

I appreciate your consideration that this is a plausible conclusion. As science, only suitable for the Journal of Irreproducible Results, but as an anecdotal report, it’s something to think about. In real life it’s never just a few controlled experimental variables to consider, but countless shifting networks of variables. I’m a good observer and do believe that in this instance, under somewhat extenuating circumstances, I soaked up some trace SSRI. And, he did manage to ejaculate 3 times in 3 days....another very direct delivery system to a highly vascularized area. I read 70% of metabolized Cymbalta was excreted in urine, so why not in semen as well. Not trying to be graphic, I just think women should wonder about these things.

[fishinghat]

Regarding antidepressants in semen.

 

https://www.psycholo...-antidepressant

Subjective

 

https://pubmed.ncbi....h.gov/12049024/

 

There are a couple other medical research articles that suggest semen may act as an antidepressant in women.

 

I could find no articles examining the possibility of antidepressants in sweat.

[Girlfriend]

I thought I would post an update on this situation. My friend stopped taking the drugs at the time of the original post and did not experience any emotional setbacks. No digestive issues. After the Prozac was out of his system the delayed ejaculation faded away and the sexual rodeo settled down to leisurely love making with timely climax. He says his mind has not been this clear in years and it’s been wonderful to see him coming out of his sedation and confusion, lack of appetite, sexual chaos and unproductive rumination. He drinks a lot less beer and I do think the Ashwagandha helps to open up the mind and body to more efficient metabolism and circulation. Neurotransmitters flow better. It’s an adaptogen and it’s effects vary between individuals. Good luck to all and ,Girlfriends, what goes into your boyfriend does, one way or another, go into you. Talk to him.

[Girlfriend]

Some specific information.
My friend is 55 years old. He has been taking 300 mg of Ashwagandha once a day since he stopped taking 80 mg Prozac, then 40 mg Prozac then a few days of Cymbalta on Feb 26- Almost 30 days ago. I suggested he take Ashwagandha to help reduce cortisol levels and mediate stress. I read that it was known to boost testosterone, but that was not part of how I was thinking it could help him. Reviewing Hat’s comments, I see testosterone levels can be lowered by Cymbalta.
After about 3 weeks on Ashwagandha, my boyfriend said, I am waking up with erections for the first time in years. When I first met him he was in the habit of taking Viagra to get going. I asked him to please stop doing that so we could figure out what was going on. So, he did. He sure does not have a problem in this regard now and he wholeheartedly- and he is not an herbal or holistic thinker- attributes it to the Ashwagandha, which he calls Husquevarna. He used to call it Hippie Medicine, so he’s upgraded it quite a bit with the new name. So, for those struggling with Cymbalta Syndrome sexual dysfunction, I think Ashwagandha is worth a try. https://draxe.com/nu...agandha-dosage/