Shop 'til you drop

January 25, 2005 8:21 PM

The sexual doldrums caused by the likes of Zoloft can apparently be counteracted by drugs like Wellbutrin. If by "counteract," you mean "cause a two-hour orgasm while shopping."
posted by stupidsexyFlanders (53 comments total)

I'm clearly shopping in the wrong stores...
posted by deborah at 8:28 PM on January 25, 2005

"I'll have what she's having."
posted by Dipsomaniac at 8:43 PM on January 25, 2005

Sign me up.

By the way, I hear Psilocibin can have a similar effect.
posted by delmoi at 8:47 PM on January 25, 2005

Oh my God... they'll never want to have sex with us again. The sales will make Viagra's revenue look like pocket change. I'm buying stock in Pfizer and GSK.

*head asplodes* at the ramifications.
posted by zoogleplex at 8:54 PM on January 25, 2005

I must have been eating the wrong shrooms...
posted by sourwookie at 8:54 PM on January 25, 2005

Well, if that doesn't cure depression, nothing will.
posted by Mitrovarr at 9:06 PM on January 25, 2005

Macy's, having rolled over and gone to sleep, could not be reached for comment.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:09 PM on January 25, 2005 [1 favorite]

I've been on Wellbutrin for a year and nothing like that ever happened to me.

Maybe it's a girl thing. Dammit.
posted by davy at 9:15 PM on January 25, 2005

"This is Igor. Using electric current, I gave him a four hour orgasm. He had fun, but unfortunately, he turned out like this." -- Dr. Bernardo
posted by RylandDotNet at 9:15 PM on January 25, 2005

First person to find a Canadian online pharmacy for Wellbutrin wins!
posted by fluffycreature at 9:21 PM on January 25, 2005

weapons-grade pandemonium wins!
posted by jimmythefish at 9:34 PM on January 25, 2005

I hear that this drug to stop smoking (zban? I forget, it begins with Z) is really wellbutrin. Hmmm, quiting smoking sounds lots more fun than before!
posted by Goofyy at 9:52 PM on January 25, 2005

Goofyy -- You mean Zyban? It, and Wellbutrin, are both formulations of buproprion. Different dosages for different purposes, I imagine...

I've heard about the powers of Wellbutrin before, but this.. whoa... off to the shrink I go!
posted by greatgefilte at 9:59 PM on January 25, 2005

IANAD, but Wellbutrin is usually indicated for depression patients who are experiencing unwelcome sexual side effects on other SSRIs.
posted by Vidiot at 10:23 PM on January 25, 2005

davy, it's not a girl thing-- I'm one, been taking Wellbutrin for years, and the only frickin' side effect I got was insomnia.
posted by Shoeburyness at 10:50 PM on January 25, 2005

Oh crap. Now I have to tell an old, tired and blue joke. Heavily paraphrased:


This guy sits down near this girl in a lecture hall for yet another boring lecture.

After a while, he sneezes violently, and after he sneezes he pulls out his wang and wipes it off.

The girl is obviously creeped out, but being fairly unflappable she ignores it.

After another short while he sneezes again, and again wipes his nethers afterwards. And a short while later, again. And again. And again.

Halfway through the lecture, the unflappable girl can't take it anymore and snaps "What the hell is wrong with you? Can't you keep that thing in your pants or what?"

And the guy startles and turns to her and says apologetically, emphatically "Oh, I have an allergic condition I'm taking an experimental medication for, but one of the unfortunate side effects is that whenever I sneeze, I orgasm."

"Oh, that's terrible!" says the girl sympathetically, "What are you taking for it?"

"Uhm, pepper?"
posted by loquacious at 10:58 PM on January 25, 2005

Wellbutrin is usually indicated for depression patients who are experiencing unwelcome sexual side effects on other SSRIs.

This is true.

You know I read somewhere that pigs have an hour long orgasm. *Googles* Hmm, apparently a half hour. Well, that's something to squeal about, all the same.
posted by y2karl at 11:03 PM on January 25, 2005

People can have hour long orgasms as well, and longer. Even men can have them. Tantric sex works. But it's a whole lot of work.
posted by loquacious at 11:10 PM on January 25, 2005

Just changing the sheets.
posted by y2karl at 11:16 PM on January 25, 2005

This is insane. Welbutrin is evil shit. It's been known to make people MORE depressed. Who the fuck is this doctor?
posted by shmegegge at 11:53 PM on January 25, 2005

This is insane.
How?

Welbutrin is evil shit.
Why?

It's been known to make people MORE depressed.
This is the problem with psychotropics of any kind. The effect varies from person to person, and from time to time. The woman in the article is highly likely to be an outlier case. Odds are probably better that Wellbutrin will make a randomly selected person more depressed than give them spontaneous orgasms - but this is why the doctor says "take these for a couple of weeks, then come back and tell me how it affected you".

Who the fuck is this doctor?
"RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D." would be my guess.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 12:34 AM on January 26, 2005 [1 favorite]

I took Wellbutrin at the same time as prozac for a long time, in order to keep me from wanting to just sit around all the time...my doc called it an 'activating ingredient.' Worked pretty well.

Because this was her first episode of major depression, the chance of a recurrence was only about 50 percent.

Oh, okay, as long as the chance is only 50 percent.
posted by bingo at 12:44 AM on January 26, 2005

Yaknow, you can take your chances with sketchy, side-effect inducing drugs for your 4-hour orgasm -OR- You can directly stimulate the pleasure centers of your brain. Personally, I'll take the guaranteed euphoria.
posted by Parannoyed at 2:23 AM on January 26, 2005

Let me be more clear, then.

When a doctor, knowing that a pill (like wellbutrin) has serious side effects that include the exact opposite of what they're supposed to do (in this case, exacerbating depression rather than relieving it) and proceeds to write up an article that amounts to little more than lip service to the drug... that's insane. Or maybe not insane. Maybe the term should be "shilling for the corporate entity." I mean, who the fuck really thinks that the New York Times needs to be publishing free advertising that Wellbutrin can give women hours-long orgasms in the supermarket? This is precisely the opposite of professional ethics, in my mind.

I call Wellbutrin evil shit, btw, merely because of the experiences of the 3 people I know who have been on it. Caveat Lector.
posted by shmegegge at 2:49 AM on January 26, 2005

A friend once reported orgasming on the bus after having her clit pierced - I was most surprised she thought this was a good thing. Maybe I'm a prude, but I can't think of much worse than having a 2 hour long orgasm in a public place.
posted by handee at 3:07 AM on January 26, 2005

I just want to know what doctor you can actually talk to on the phone or get an appointment with the next day. I'm generally lucky to get an appointment within a week, at which point I'm usually better anyway.
posted by octothorpe at 3:55 AM on January 26, 2005 [1 favorite]

Welbutrin simply acts on different chemicals than an ssri. It is not a bad drug. I have taken it. I have taken Zoloft. As far as sex goes, choose Welbutrin.
posted by konolia at 4:18 AM on January 26, 2005

I've been taking Wellbutrin for several years now. It works, plain and simple. Never had a 2-hour orgasm with it, though.

Basically, it works to keep the dopamine levels in your blood up. Dopamine is, of course, one of the body's happy chemicals.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:00 AM on January 26, 2005

I thought two hours of shopping caused orgasm in almost all women.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:12 AM on January 26, 2005

shmegegge - I'm sorry your friends had problems, but there are legions of people that it has helped. Maybe you should do some research on the relative numbers of those who have good and bad experiences before you go and declare "evil shit" a drug that lifted me (and many others) out of debilitating depression.
posted by Irontom at 6:33 AM on January 26, 2005

I couldn't get Bugmenot to work so here's a link to another article.
posted by Eekacat at 6:51 AM on January 26, 2005

It would be swell if people would stop describing their own experiences with various antidepressants using the imperative--i.e., "go with Wellbutrin for sex, not Zoloft." And to say "Wellbutrin works" is about as accurate as saying "Sauerkraut is tasty." No two people will have the same reaction and/or side effects with a given drug. Wellbutrin knocked me on my ass, which was not helpful. Zoloft works *for me.* It might not for you. And if the medical literature ever turns up any more anecdotal evidence about someone having spontaneous orgasms while taking Wellbutrin, I'll be very surprised.
posted by scratch at 7:01 AM on January 26, 2005

What a horribly irresponsible article.
posted by Hildago at 7:02 AM on January 26, 2005

I've been taking Wellbutrin for years and this has never happened to me! Maybe I'm not taking a high enough dose. : )

I didn't have any of the sexual side effects on Zoloft. Paxil, however, was another story.
posted by SisterHavana at 7:08 AM on January 26, 2005

"...so I suggested stopping the antidepressant. She liked that idea, but then paused and asked, 'Do I have to stop the Wellbutrin, too?'"

Welcome to over-medicated America. So she gets back normal sexual function by taking one pill that counteracts one effect of another pill, and coming off the one, she wants to stay on the other thinking it will continue to counteract something she's not taking. It is actually quite possible that she "burst the dam"; I've seen cases where after periods of supressed sexual response you get hypersexuality as if the person had been "storing it up". After that, the article indicates that she simply went back to normal functioning. But we all want a magic pill to take.

"Not feeling well? Dipping down? Roughed up edges? Depressed? Everything is black and blue. I'll tell you what I'll do: here, take these."
posted by Eideteker at 7:27 AM on January 26, 2005

I suggested stopping the antidepressant. She liked that idea, but then paused and asked, "Do I have to stop the Wellbutrin, too?"

We both laughed.

And then she cocked her head to one side and smiled tentatively, "I'm serious. I don't want to stop the Wellbutrin."

I smiled encouragingly. "You don't need it now, Susan. You are over your depression."

Instead of returning my smile she pulled a small handgun out of her purse."Write the fucking prescription, Doc!" she said with clenched teeth.

I wrote out the prescription.

Sadly, Susan can't get her Wellburtin in the county jail where she is awaiting her trial.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:48 AM on January 26, 2005

... But she and her new girlfriend say they can manage without it.
posted by orange swan at 7:55 AM on January 26, 2005

Am I the only one who has never been on a physician prescribed* psychotropic drug?


Lysergic Acid Diethylamide is another story. A very long, long, long story. I think they should prescribe that more often. 2 days in a nice padded room with video games and crayons. Yep, that should fix just about anyone.
posted by daq at 8:10 AM on January 26, 2005

MY 2c - stay the fuck away from those drugs - learn NLP or hypnosis instead www.nlpu.com, www.hypnoschool.com, www.paulmckennatraining.com etc
posted by tranceformer at 8:11 AM on January 26, 2005

Yes, there are many over-medicated people in the world, and yes, there are doctors who prescribe drugs to patients who might do better with therapy, or exercise, or hypnosis, or voodoo. But there are a LOT of people out there who suffer from serious, chemically-based depression and those people's lives can be literally saved with the use of some of these drugs. So saying things like "Welbutrin is evil shit." or "stay the fuck away from those drugs" makes you sounds like a fucking idiot.
posted by gwint at 8:43 AM on January 26, 2005 [1 favorite]

Also, for those interested, here are three askme threads on the subject: one, two, three.
posted by gwint at 8:57 AM on January 26, 2005

Here's a link to a reg. not req. version of the same story.
posted by Count Ziggurat at 9:38 AM on January 26, 2005

Personally, Welbutrin has not had the same sexual side effects as Zoloft (and in fact, seems to work better as a whole). However, the fact that I am taking it with ritalin has given me an abnormally high pulse rate (blood pressure is fine, pulse is worrying). I'm going into a doctor to see what I can do about this soon, but remember kids, too much dopamine can be a bad thing.
posted by Hactar at 10:43 AM on January 26, 2005

My doctor said it was impressive that my body handles lithium and a SSRI without reaction. I now know that his
definition of "impressive" was flawed.
posted by honeydew at 12:11 PM on January 26, 2005

Am I the only one who has never been on a physician prescribed* psychotropic drug?

You are not the only one, but we are becoming rarer. Still, rarer doesn't mean rare. Most folk don't take the stuff. A US report: "Ten percent of women 18 and older and 4 percent of men now take antidepressants."
posted by pracowity at 1:52 PM on January 26, 2005

Irontom, I honestly couldn't care less if Wellbutrin worked for you. When I put "Caveat Lector" at the end of my statement, it meant "Reader Beware" because my statement was precisely my non-medical opinion based on personal and indirect experience. I was referring largely to the POSSIBILITY of the drug to act "evilly" for patients, because a doctor, knowing of that possibility should avoid writing unethical irresponsible advertisements for the drug for nationally syndicated newspapers.

If wellbutrin worked for you, good. That's completely irrelevant.

And I still think it's evil shit, so there.
posted by shmegegge at 4:36 PM on January 26, 2005

shemgegge, ALL drugs have possible side-effects. All of them. It is a physicians job, in consultation with the patient, to determine when the potential good outweighs the potential side-effects.

You insult someone's personal experience as "completely irrelevant" yet we should regard your view that a drug is "evil shit" at worthwhile? Caveat Lector indeed.
posted by gwint at 5:04 PM on January 26, 2005

prozac has saved my life a couple of times.
posted by centrs at 9:51 PM on January 26, 2005

shmegegge, you need some kind of drug to help you with your being-an-asshole problem.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 8:23 AM on January 28, 2005

jesus, what is it that people argue about crazy pills like it's religion or something.
posted by nanojath at 8:02 PM on February 24, 2005

whew, came back to this thread weeks later and noticed I was being an asshole. wtf was up that day? sorry.

oh, and foiled.
posted by shmegegge at 3:48 AM on February 25, 2005 [1 favorite]

S'okay. Being nice enough to apologize puts you way ahead of the game.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 10:07 AM on February 25, 2005

you saw that! whew! and I was just about to fire off an email to make sure you got it.
posted by shmegegge at 5:42 PM on February 25, 2005 [1 favorite]