I would to talk about a condition that is a little less famous than Covid19...
It's called Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD) and it's a persistent iatrogenic (= drug-induced) condition that affects some people who have used SSRI or SNRI drugs, i.e. the classes of serotonergic antidepressants most commonly used today, prescribed mainly for "Major Depression", but also for 'Anxiety Disorders' and 'Eating Disorders', and in recent years their use has been extended to other pathological situations, such as pain therapy, sleep disorders, panic attacks and some forms of headache.
The first case reports in the literature date back to 2006. It is a serious impairment of the sexual and sometimes emotional functioning of the individual, who becomes unable to react to sexual stimuli and sometimes loses the ability to feel emotions, developing symptoms such as genital anaesthesia, anhedonic orgasm and emotional numbness, to name but a few.
Given the difficulty in highlighting that these dysfunctions are iatrogenic in origin, given the fact that "sexual dysfunction" is generically considered a common symptom of depression and other mental disorders, it took several years for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to conduct a thorough review of spontaneous reports and case reports of people with PSSD. It concluded in 2019 with a new Warning for antidepressants of the SSRI and SNRI classes: 'in some cases sexual dysfunction may persist after treatment discontinuation'. A rather ambiguous phrase, isn't it?
In 2020, the leaflets are up to date. The authors and specialists who have been following patients with PSSD for years rather see that year after year the condition shows no improvement, and appears permanent.
Scientific research is taking its first steps. A first epidemiological study is about to be conducted. Several aetiological hypotheses have been proposed. From alterations in neurosteroids, to epigenetics, to Transient Receptor Potential at the level of the small nerve fibres in the genitals.
I invite those who suffer from PSSD to keep up to date and to get in touch with patient communities. We are the first ones who must move to spread awareness and draw attention and medical research to the problem so that a cure can be found, so let's not lose hope.
If you have any questions to explore this topic further, such as links to scientific literature, patient communities and specialists involved, I am available.
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J Submitted December 25, 2020 at 11:26PM by Annaclet https://ift.tt/34IV76u