Victoria's story: two weeks of Lexapro, then trazodone

Victoria asked more than once whether her medicine was safe, and was reassured that it was. She says everything began to change after she stopped.

If you were reassured about a medicine and then something changed, her account may sound familiar.

She was a university student studying graphic design and animation, and sought psychiatric care for stress and insomnia linked to her studies. She took escitalopram (Lexapro) for about two weeks.

Her doctor then switched her to trazodone, which she was told was better for her insomnia. She says she took medicine for about three months in all. Moral Medicine describes what followed as post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD).

So what has she lived with since?

What Victoria describes

• Severe sexual dysfunction, and loss of libido and of attraction.
• Genital numbness.
• Anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure) and emotional blunting.
• Insomnia, and other physical and neurological symptoms.
• Periods of improvement, and periods when things got worse.

Before this, she describes herself as deeply emotional, affectionate, creative and excited about her future. She dreamed of opening her own animation studio. She says she has lost the ability to feel many of the emotions and pleasures that had shaped her life.

She also talks about trying to get medical help, and about what the condition has done to her education, her relationships, her sense of who she is and her future. She talks about the effect on her family, and says she was never told that symptoms could last after stopping the medicine.

Thank you to Victoria for telling this story. This interview was recorded by Moral Medicine, who have filmed more than ninety of these conversations.

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