re: Middle aged males on antidepressants?

Probably depends where you live. In a city the size of Savannah (where I live) therapist are pretty populated and tend to work on the same type calendar of any other specialist. Additionally a lot of practices now staff them in house, mine does, making it much easier to refer patients and make sure they follow through. Nationwide lack of psychologist and psychiatrist still is a major problem but it’s felt the most in less populated places.

I am 56. I have been on 10 mg of lexapro for 8 weeks. Takes the edge off my anxiety. No weight gain. Sex drive not an issue. Put spinach, garlic, tomato, hot peppers, oatmeal and oysters into my diet for erectile health. (I recommend this without regard to mental health issues).

No problem with sex drive or stamina. Main issue: No orgasm in 8 weeks of almost daily sex. Wife (no pics) does not seem to mind.

Before Covid I would typically be booked roughly a month out. That’s now increased to about two months. We have 3 doctors, an NP who handles some medication only appointments for less complicated cases, and a staff therapist who are all roughly the same. We attempt to fill cancelations with serious cases waiting but an hour appointment for an initial is hard to find.

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almost daily sex..

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56

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01241

Any dealings with Celexa?

Read this book. No, seriously read it. Studies have shown this book is just as effective as drugs as alleviating anxiety/depression. Do the exercises in the book.

If you want you can even consult with a cognitive behavioral therapist. You can unwind these anxious feelings and rewire your brain to stop feeling so on edge. It's a process but it works.

Get a hormone panel done first

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I’ve developed some bad pain in my shoulder that I haven’t been able to get rid of.

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I’m 50 and my shoulder use to hurt all the time from pitching in baseball from age 9 to 18. There were no pitch counts or innings allowed to pitch back in my day. You just couldn’t pitch over so many innings in back to back games. Back then the coach would take you out when the other team started to easily hit what you threw to the plate. Unfortunately I spent a lot of time on the mound because the teams I seemed to land on had good hitters and sorry pitching. I went to that Dr. James Andrews Group over in Pensacola and they worked on me and I feel much better. That place routinely works on world class athletes. I’m curious why you think you need those type of medications for shoulder pain? Wouldn’t it be simpler to figure out why your shoulder hurts?

And for the record I take 1-2 MG of Xanax a day coupled with Lamictal. I’ve been using this combination for 20 years or more. 99.9% of the medical community will say this is irresponsible of my doctor but it works for me. The Xanax helps with severe panic attacks and anxiety. The Lamictal helps stabilize my moods so I’m not grouchy to my employees and the people I love around me. The half life in Xanax is terrible. It only last 3-4 hours for me. However, it controls a panic attack which seem to be a parasite on my father’s side of the family. I’ve debated my psychiatrist on numerous occasions that the smarter choice is to replace Xanax with Klonopin because it’s half life is much longer because it’s time released but he feels it will only be effective on anxiety and not a full blown panic attack.

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that, in less severe cases, I would recommend trying a holistic approach to therapy before taking medicine.

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I do not disagree. As I understood it, OP was having more serious issues, hence my thoughts that he should try Lexapro now and look into getting into CBT as the next step.