Sexual anhedonia

[emu567]

Hi I am a 28 year old woman from wales . For the past year I have felt intense physical anhedonia . That is I am unable to feel any pleasure from sex, eating , bathing , touch , or massage . Everything is numbed and unpleasurable or I get a burning ache inside my scalp . The sexual dysfunction in particular has affected my quality of life as I am unable to have a relationship with the anhedonia . I literally couldn’t feel any pleasure from being with my ex partner , and had to fake and I am not a good actor. Since my partner has broken up with me I can’t be bothered to go out and find another boyfriend as it won’t be pleasurable and I am too lazy to fake it . I cant even feel physical attraction to anyone anymore . This is depressing me and making me quite bitter and resentful . I feel like my love life is completely over and I will never be able to have a relationship, get married or fall in love again . I am currently on the risperidone injection, invega for psychosis but I have had this problem for over a year and a half before the antipsychotics so I don’t think it’s to do with the antipsychotics. Does anyone have any advice on how to increase pleasure in life / sex ? It’s badly damaged my quality of life

[Determined-Mind]

Hi! I have exactly the same symptoms as you.

When my baseline was not so severe, I benefited from bupropion alone (report here) and bupropion + buspirone (report here).

Vortioxetine helped a little with body sensations but not sexual (I couldn't take it for long because of a side effect) -> report here.

Aripiprazole - Abilify may help women more than men with sexual aspects.

I suspect a cream like NIVEA Q10+ which contains carnitine and Coq10 might help. I've made a note to test it over the next few months.

At the moment, since I'm not taking any medication, I'm turning to herbs that can have a beneficial effect on sexual aspects.

If you're trying substances that help (or don't help) your sexual symptoms, you can vote and write anonymously a detailed report using this interactive table.

Thanks!