Lamictal and impotence

50 year old male. So I just started a new relationship and we have amazing chemistry. However, I've noticed a decrease in my drive even though I'm really attracted to her. But it's been over a year since having sex and I didn't care about them. Okay, now to the topic. I've heard lamictal can cause a decrease in sex drive and even slight impotence. I've also heard the opposite. I can't find any solid research. I've heard wellbrutin can actually increase libido. So does anyone take both and notice a difference? The lamictal dose is 225mg once a day for a few years and has really helped my mania. I'm talking to my doctor Tuesday about this. As a side note, I've started getting a few rashes on my torso since upping it 25mg, so that's something I should mention.

I was diagnosed bipolar w/ psychotic features 2 years ago during a manic episode. I came out of the episode , was put on antipsychotics for 2 years and was extremely miserable physically mentally , poor sex drive lethargic, emotional zombie . So they discontinued my me on antipsychotics and since stopping my antipsychotic seroquel I'm starting to have delusional thoughts and paranoid thoughts. My psychiatrist took me off the seroquel after two years due to weight gain impotence and worsened mood. Now it's been 3 months off seroquel and starting ambien exactly when I stopped seroquel and im not thinking clearly and I'm experiencing similar paranoid and delusional thoughts I had during my first episode of psychosis except this time I'm not manic at all. I'm not sure if my paranoid thoughts that I had during my first episode are returning because I went off my seroquel and if this is evidence that I'm schizophrenic since I'm not manic and I'm experiencing the same delusional and paranoid thoughts I had when I was manic and in psychosis. I'm so confused as to whether or not I'm in psychosis and or schizophrenic or if I'm reliving trauma that happened during my first episode of psychosis and it's all coming back to me now that im feeling emotions again after I stopped seroquel and I am also diagnosed with PTSD. Also worth noting my psychiatrist still has me on a mood stabilizer lamictal and anti anxiety medicine klonopin. Her rationale for taking Me off antipsychotics is I've only had 1 manic / psychotic episode, Marijuana and aderall that was prescribed were being used leading up to that manic episode with psychosis and she thinks if I avoid Marijuana and aderall and stay on lamictal, that its unlikely psychosis will reoccur . I've stayed off those substances ever since, discontinued seroquel with permission and now irrational paranoid thoughts are returning. I'm at a loss and afraid to talk to my doctors honestly because i don't want to be sent to a psych ward and forced to take antipsychotic medication against my will . ....

Hello reddit. So awhile ago my psych doctor started suspecting that I might have bipolar II. This is after years of antidepressants not working for me and other symptoms that align with the diagnoses. He put me on lithium, rexulti and lamictal, also on remeron for anxiety/sleep. Initially he told me that the former two were to get me stabilized while the lamictal was to keep me stable. He told me this usually takes 4-6 weeks. Fine, I'll give it a try.
Fast forward 5 weeks later and I'm in a meeting with him and his internet craps out and he doesn't bother reconnecting. Then tells me I'll see you in a month. Great. I was gonna tell him I want off this stuff for a number of reasons. 1.) It made me gain like 15 lbs in that amount of time, 2.) I can't accept the stigma of taking such a strong regiment; I must be losing it, 3.) These drugs bind to serotonin, GABA and other receptors that prevent me from tripping (legal things, keep reading, not to treat illness).
So I say screw you and go off myself. It's been a week now. He didn't give me the time of day so why should I? I knew I'd experience withdrawal symptoms after stopping 900 mg lithium, but I thought I could handle it. My appetite is screwy; I gag trying to eat a normal meal, I find myself to be more irritable and I'm sliding into sadness again. I'm wondering if it'll get better when the withdrawal stops.
Long story short, I tried tripping and I couldn't stomach the mushroom or the cough syrup and vomited all over the place due to my screwed up stomach. I read lamictal can lead to to impotence in men and it's more pronounced without the lithium or rexulti. I hate to think I need this stuff for life or I'm gonna weigh a metric fuck ton and never trip again, or worse have to experience withdrawal to trip again. So today I said screw it and took the meds again.
TL;DR How do youins deal with the plethora of side effects from these drugs? Does anyone think drugs aren't right for you and that therapy could be the way to go? I'm not bad mouthing psychiatry, or do I think I'm breaking any rules of this subreddit, remove I'd I am. Thanks for reading.

I translate into English a story originally written in Italian here.
It'is a reply to the first topic on pssd ever opened in Italian. The story is very interesting in terms of the possible effects of reinstatement.
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Hello everyone, my name is Nicola, I'm 28 in a few months, I'm also researching possible permanent damage and I want to tell my story with psychotropic drugs focusing on the sexual side effects about which I fear I have had damage.
At the age of 18 I was diagnosed with major depression (recently the diagnosis changed to bipolar disorder). I used to (and still do) play a lot of sport, live a healthy life, don't drink, have never taken a cigarette in my life and never used drugs. Apart from depression my health is perfect, the last time I had a blood test I didn't have a single value out of range. Until I was 18 years old my libido was very high and my erections were so fast and frequent that I found it difficult to control them and I was often ashamed of them, fearing that people might notice if they happened at inappropriate times. A small parenthesis on my general state of health, I think, is necessary before talking about the disease, the medicines and the side effects. So now back to us.
So after the diagnosis I was prescribed fluoxetine. I took it for a month and in a month it brought me back to the top. Sexual side effects ZERO! The only effect I experienced was night tremors in the lower limbs. After a month I decided to stop taking it thinking I was cured and fell back into depression.
A few months later I went back to the psychiatrist feeling worse than the first time and I took it for a long time (I don't remember well but I think it was a year and a half), the only side effect was a slight delay in orgasm. A perfect erection. After a year and a half (or maybe more...I don't remember well) suddenly impotence. I stopped the treatment and after just a couple of days I recovered 100% of my sexual function. The fear of remaining impotent was great and I swore to myself that I would not take any more (the beneficial effects were much lower than the first intake and I decided that the balance was negative).
In 2010 after a good period I relapsed into depression, I went back to the psychiatrist and he prescribed cipralex reassuring me that the side effects were temporary as I had seen. Very frightened, I started to take cipralex in low doses expecting impotence in the near future. But ... surprise of all surprises, when I increased the dosage from 3 to 6 drops the next morning I woke up with my heart beating in my chest and with an erection that was, to say the least, exceptional, much, much stronger than the natural ones, it almost hurt me how hard it was!... The abnormal erection lasted for hours during the morning, although I had no sexual desire my penis did not want to go down. I can say with absolute certainty and without a shadow of a doubt that that was the strongest and longest lasting erection of my entire life. The psychiatrist was astonished and could not give me an explanation. Over the next 4-5 days I had a strong increase in libido with frequent erections during the day....mystery! After 4-5 days the frequent erections stopped and everything went back to normal! The orgasm began to delay more and more until I reached anorgasmia in 2 weeks, after which the delay began to regress until it was almost completely extinguished. Once it had regressed (by then I was on a full dose of cipralex) I began to gradually lose my erection until I became totally impotent. In spite of the excellent results, frustrated and frightened I decide to take off the cipralex and start by halving the dose from 15 to 8 drops. Switching to 8 drops the erections came back easy and frequent. At the suspension everything returned to normal. Then I change drug, I pass to efexor, the sexual effects are milder but the headaches and the insomnia are unbearable, therefore I take off the efexor and I put again the fluoxetine. With fluoxetine another strange effect: the first three days of taking it I woke up for three days in a row with an erection... but this time it was a normal erection, not like that of cipralex. After a couple of months the impotence returned and I took the fluoxetine off. This time, however, it was a nasty surprise...the erection did not return! At the beginning of 2012, after stopping fluoxetine, the problems remained, no erection! After a few months, however, I began to feel really bad...suicidal...and so I said to myself who cares about the erection! I have to take them, I have no choice. The psychiatrist (changed) prescribed citalopram. I took it resigned to the idea of worsening the already devastated situation...and instead MIRACLE! After taking citalopram suddenly the erection comes back!!!! IT DIDN'T SEEM TRUE!!! What the hell do doctors say???? An antidepressant gave me back my erection when I was impotent...incredible...!!! Although it was totally free of sexual side-effects, the citalopram did not work, so after two months I went back to fluoxetine... and I thought to myself that I would soon get my erection back. No way! This time fluoxetine doesn't give me any sexual side effects either!!! But alas...the results are poor. I decided with my doctor to go back to cipralex...I took it for a few months and this time cipralex also had no effect on my erection! The results are discreet ... I am satisfied, but after 3 months of cipralex + lamictal therapy, my mood suddenly collapses. The psychiatrist decided to change my medication. This time he prescribed Thymanax which, according to him, did not affect the sexual sphere at all. I take the Thymanax...and my erection starts to lose steam!!!!! How is this possible???? What the hell do psychiatrists say? I've asked my psychiatrist several times for confirmation, but for some strange reason, when I switched from cipralex to thymanax, the situation got worse. The mystery deepens!!! Because of other side effects the psychiatrist decided to do a wash out and remove everything and clean me up for at least 45 days. I will be without medication for at least the whole month of February. After the suspension of the thymanax the situation remained unchanged! There is an erection, but it is slow, it takes longer (it arrives at 80% of the golden years) and it arrives with difficulty with longer times, weak and not very pleasant ejaculation, decreased libido! This is the current situation. Taking stock, I can say that I have lost 50% of my sexuality. I would like your opinion and also that of the doctors. I hope very much that the situation will improve. The idea of taking antidepressants again in a month's time makes my blood run cold. I have sent 3 e-mails to three different andrologists, one, Dr. Pozza, has already replied telling me that antidepressants can cause permanent sexual damage, confirming my fears.
I hope I am wrong, but I am also of the opinion that the side effects of these drugs are not always completely reversible, while the first times the recovery was clear and complete, now it is not. Fortunately for me I am not impotent, but I think that prolonged use has in the long run weakened me and taken away a piece of my sexuality.
A sincere hug to all those who suffer as I do from illnesses and the side effects of drugs.

TLDR; have you experienced sexual dysfunction from invega? what’s your story? did it ever improve?
Hello everyone,
I had a shroom induced psychosis about 1.5 years ago. I was on meds for about 5 months. In the first month I cycled through a ton because of side effects (Haldol/trileptal at the psych ward, then switched to abilify/lamictal, then for the last 3 months just Invega).
When i switched to invega, i started experiencing a ton of horrible side effects, including erectile dysfunction and a change in my ejaculate (my sperm started becoming chunky globs, then became very watery and clear, and then i had completely dry orgasms).
I was taken off the medecine only because i threatened suicide. I was given a schizoaffective diagnosis when I first had my psychosis but I’ve been completely med free now for 13 months with no signs of mania/psychosis so my diagnosis had been revoked.
Unfortunately, I’m still experiencing horrible sexual dysfunction, and my ejaculate is still a much lower volume than before and is very watery/clear. I got a sperm analysis and and it’s very unhealthy. the endocrinologist doesn’t know what to tell me and my psychiatrist denies that it’s the medicine that did this, as it’s not listed on the side effect profile on J&J as causing permanent fertility issues (but i did further research and they say they never tested semen levels of those in human trial studies, which seems like a purposeful omission of experimentation as they do admit it had permanent adverse effects on semen in trials on dogs).
Anyways. I guess i’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced these symptoms from invega, and if so, if you ever recovered?
I’m in my early 20s and went from being hyper sexual (possibly unhealthily so) to feeling basically impotent and sterile. It’s really messing with my sense of self and honestly making me feel depressed.
Thanks for reading

I was taking pristiq and lamictal in 2018 and had erections the whole year ,although now I realized why my erections had worsened that time, until I stopped pristiq and lamictal cold turkey and took one invega injection in November.without being informed about any possible devastating sexual side effects of the antidepressive and invega. Since then I developed erectyle disfunction that I thought it was because of the invega and that it would subside in the following months. I was wrong it's almost 120 days and it only has gotten worse. I cannot have a erection even with viagra and hand stimulation. My life was taken away from me. I had a fucking future. I will never be normal again and I won't live my life being impotent at 18. This is killing me . It need to be registered that psychiatric drugs killed me literally. I was happy planning my future when I realized i was completely impotent. I wanted to live my life but not with stupid pssd crap. Fuck this fuck this medicines fuck them. I had a future. I wish I will be reencarnated someday and will have the opportunity to remember why I killed myself and dedicate my life too put shame in the psychiatric sistem and to not let any kid get on medicine that will ruin their life's. I love my family and want to Reencounter them someday. They will tell that I am selfish or that " it's from my mind or that doesn't exist". Pssd and other permanent psychiatric medications sexual disfunction is a thing and it need to be taken seriously. I probally won't be the first one who have taken their life because of this. I cannot stop thinking about my future ruined why the hell that happen to me. Why why why why why why why why why. They give you pills like they are sugar and they fuck your life fuck these bastartds fuck them I can't believe I was fucked without knowing I was so dumb to take these pills I should have researched before but I believed this psychiatric fucker . Why the hell I believed i was dumb dumb

Meds: 25mg Lamictal/Lamotrigine, 1200mg Lithium, 2.5 Zyprexa/Olanzapine, 300mg Abilify Maintena(Injection)
Questionable side effects: Spattery stool(poo) since starting Lamictal and partial impotence. Anyone else have the same experience? I have no idea if it's a combo of the meds or if my physical health is more of a detriment to my vitality or my intestinal function.

Anyone ever take Zyprexa? I did for two years. Didn't really feel like it helped. Felt depressed easily, and gained 60 lbs in that time! I'm not a doctor obviously and this isn't medical advice, but I would only use it as a last resort and weigh the pros and cons before taking it. It also made me impotent, so I didn't take it for a day or two so I could "be ready." So I missed out on spontaneous sex and had to kill the romance by planning it. Smh. Terrible experience. I'm on Lamictal now and I have never felt better! (Can perform now! So happy to get that back!) For some reason anti-seizure drugs keep me level (was on Trileptal before too, and it helped but not as much as Lamictal.)
Anyone else have a bad time on Zyprexa... or anyone on Zyprexa and not have or are bothered by the side effects of weight gain and impotence. (Maybe females can have sex with it, and impotence/can't perform is only a male problem... as in it doesn't affect the pleasure or wanting to have sex too?)

There's a post tonight about medication killing OP's creativity (not unheard of), and of medication giving another OP tremors (well-documented phenomenon); and there's still my own past where meds have made me gain 80lbs, functionally a cretin (thanks ECT! and a dishonorable mention to seroquel), probably damaged my liver (thanks cymbalta!) (also in all seriousness it's wonderful the liver regenerates as much as it does), killed my libido, made me black out (ambien)(and even forget having sex once!), made me a bit impotent without killing my libido (seroquel or cymbalta or both), given me tardive dyskinesia (geodon), made me numb as fuck (every SNRI ever), made me narcoleptic (trazodone and geodon separately), and all in all caused almost as many problems as they've improved.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still taking my meds, but fuck you pharma, fuck you medical establishment, get your shit together. Stop giving me drugs that function the same way. If the first three all didn't work why will something that does the same damn thing work? There's this crazy idea: novel mechanisms of action. They say the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Now is it the doctor that prescribes four SSRIs that all fail you or you that's insane by that metric? (Hint: the answer shouldn't be you).
Seriously though, keep taking your meds so you can find better ones that don't do this shit. They're out there. I've finally found some. (If you're wondering, Latuda works with no side effects, wellbutrin doubled my libido (I'm not complaining) and gave me some tolerable head pressure (which still shouldn't be going on), and lamictal I literally only notice when I've forgotten it and rapid cycle all. day. long).
So tell me: what have meds taken from you, and did you ever get it back?