For what it's worth I've heard that Wellbutrin can cause this sort of thing -- that's why Wellbutrin is often given to counteract the sexual side effects of SSRIs. One wonders what Suze's history is with meds and substances in a way but perhaps it is something that can happen naturally. I bet there are cognitive and probably nutritional ways of dealing with this. I doubt you have to resort to Paxil.

This is a disorder identified by a "sex therapist." Come on, next, we'll have tarot card readers identifying disorders...come to think of it tarot card readers are probably more reliable than "sex therapists." Still, it's true that if you're too aroused ssri's will probably take the wind out of your sails, but at what cost?

" infamous sexual appetites of women with borderline personality disorder" i think i'd be more worried about that statement than pgad and paxil

what do you mean stephany? hypersexuality and borderline are a well known link, both in the clinical literature and anecdotally. i don't mean that in a bad or good way. it just sort of is and i was noting that the therapists in the column think the pgad stuff is biologically related whereas borderline is pretty clearly personality disorder, psychological stuff.

ah yes sally's point that you have to wonder how much to trust all this given that it's coming from sex therapists is an interesting one. and maybe accurate for all i know.

either way i was mostly just interested in two things: 1) that someone at a mainstream outlet even wrote about this, and 2) that paxil seemed to work to treat it in one case.

Oddly enough, in college I had a friend who had something like PGAD as a side effect of---get this---Zoloft!!! I had taken SSRI's for a while and had a hard time believing her story given they'd done the standard sexual dysfunction for me, but she was having spontaneous orgasms in inconvenient places. She stopped the Zoloft and the orgasms went away. I wouldn't even believe this had it not been a good friend of mine telling me directly of her experience. Anyway....just goes to show we are all truly unique.

I don't know about Paxil, When I am manic sex is like potato chips. I can't stop til I literally feel broken in half bruised and cannot walk. I hate being single and using vibrators.

I am not boarderline. Just horny when manic.

Sounds like I should put that on my bumper.

BUt seriously, how many other women get extremely horny when they are manic, or worse, menstruating. Humm. How many guys get horny when they are manic? Hmmm.

I suppose the entire pgad idea bothers me. It is inherently sexist, sort of like the idea of borderline personality disorder itself, but then I don't accept the idea that personality disorders exist in the classic sense of being disorders that, though psychological in nature, are incurable...I'm surprised anyone would even most phsrinks don't believe that crap anymore, but still lots of well intentioned, decent folks apparently do believe. If a heterosexual man suffered from pgad I don't think he would be diagnosed, instead his partner would be diagnosed with anhedonia.

yes i sorta wondered to myself as i was posting this why men weren't mentioned, so i don't really know what to say. but how is borderline pd sexist? i ask that in all innocence since i haven't thought about it. i spend too much time on axis 1 stuff!

How do you know that PGAD is a genuine biological disorder and the personality disorders are 'psychological'?

Phil, i am just going by what msnbc reported. that's all i know

what i meant was that you wrote "borderline" and due to many women objecting to that dx, I was thinking out loud, and didn't clarify that ppl. who have objected to the borderline dx might be taken aback. of course there is a well-know link to hypersexuality and bipolar disorder as well, sorry i wasn't trying to stir the pot.

re: Gianna's comment, there are other meds that cause that in women too. so can/does riding a motorcycle.

Phillip, I'm no expert on borderline but I think, and I say this as someone trained as a counselor, with reference to something the Last Psychiatrist wrote (http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2007/10/the_diagnosis_of_borderline_pe.html)

that borderline in a woman means edgily sexually promiscuous with a suicide attempt or at least a little cutting and in a man it means campily gay. I don't believe in the diagnosis, not that my beliefs have any clinical significance, but I do know if looking in a phrink's lobby I could identify those labeled borderline...think of it this way, a goth woman gets the label borderline, her male counterpart gets the label anti social. An effiminate man gets the label borderline, a particularly feminie women, hystrionic, more sexism, stereotype and discrimination than science, but that's just my opinion...and of course that's just axis 2, probably these days all are labeled bipolar in some variation also, after being upgraded from the adhd they started out with as teens...

Interesting post Phil, but one disagreement ... this isn't the first use for the sexual side-effects of SSRI's. SSRI's have been used before for premature ejaculation, with great success at times.

Men DO get this sort of thing. It goes by a different name, which is interesting in itself. I cannot recall the name but it's an erection that simply won't go away, can last for days and apparently is quite uncomfortable and scary for the man in question. I don't know the tx.

I find it interesting, as an incest survivor, the lack of conversation on this site about childhood abuse in general and childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in particular. The only women I've known who had this condition (and it does exist, although rarely and I'd hardly trust a sex therapist to diagnosis it) have all been incest survivors. One of them is a friend of mine with DID who has one alter with this annoying condition.

Many, many suvivors of incest and CSA go through a period of hypersexuality. When we're not shutting down completely... Incest really is the gift that keeps on giving.

I do not, by the way, mean any criticism of the lack of conversation about CSA on this blog. I find this blog one of the most helpful sources of information and support in my recovery from the efforts of all my "helpers" in the mental "health" profession. I simply find it curious, given the established link between CSA and PTSD, borderline personality and other dxs.

I asked a friend of mine who struggles with his own incest-induced PTSD what he thought. He said he thinks perhaps sometimes people find it best to focus on one thing at a time. This is the best explanation I can come up with so far. In fact, I rarely (have I ever? can't recall) bring it up here myself, at least partly because this is where I focus on recovery from pdocs and partly because I don't want to be dragging my own stuff *every*where. I'm not one to see CSA in every situation, have been hanging out in Mental Health Land too long so I know better.

Now I'm going to get caught up on my reading. I noticed headings about a Google-induced fundraiser. Yikes. This blog is *extremely* important to my well begin these days.

Sherry

" infamous sexual..."
is just another bullshit commentary on BPD sexuality, just another stereotype that makes me sick when I come across it.

When there has been severe sexual trauma, especially in childhood and early adolescence, there is often severe inner tension, sometimes sexual in nature, and there could be an unconscious tendency to control the trauma by reenactment as well as a terrible "pulsive" need to release this tension. When there is a dramatic rise in this tension, i.e., sexual or reproductive retraumatization, the body could respond to it with a renewed sexual energy - though this does not mean that the BorderlinePD sufferer will act on it. (Lots of faithful couples out there). When there's much impulsivity (caution: some dx BPD are hardly or not impulsive at all), in someone who is alone, there could well exist a tendency to occasional one night stands, and since BPD sufferers do not care enough about themselves to help themselves, their sexual encounters are often unsafe. They are also very affected by someone else's feelings and desires and may have great trouble saying no. In general they are terrible vulnerable to other people's needs, even (or especially) when they contradict their own. They may also use others masochistically to degrade/destroy themselves and unprotected sex is a good way to achieve this.
If this sexual "acting out" manifests itself, it is usually in their adolescence and early adulthood. The "awakening" of the body can overwhelm the sexual abused child. The relative absence of pleasure in these bouts of "acting act" make them a far cry from the joyful pursuit of the opposite sex in a manic episode.

This acting out generally disappears if they feel that they are in a secure relationship with a partner who will not cheat on them. It also disappears with time, heightened self assurance, reduced anxiety, and by achieving more control over their environment.

Also, of course, if there are histrionic traits, then seduction is a way of trying to control a world that is felt to be dangerous, overwhelming and all powerful.
Otherwise let's get off the bandwagon and start to look at people one by one. And let's drop the absurd image of a BPD "femme fatale" once and for all. Please. And while we're at it, let's not forget that many BPD sufferers are men. Recent large scale studies are debunking the 4:1 ratio stereotype rapidly.

Also, Paxil will dampen one's sexuality, but it's also a way out from a severe agitated (fearful-anxious) depression, which is not precisely a sexually fulfilling state of mind.