What are the sexual side-effects they mention in the TV commercials?
First of all, has your doctor not talked with you about the side-effects of the medications you're taking? I don't know much about the procedures for prescribing antidepressants to minors, but I am concerned that nobody has filled you in on how the medications would affect your body. It's best if you ask your doctor, but in a nutshell, the most common sexual side-effects of most antidepressants are that your libido (erotic desire) generally goes down, and it becomes more difficult to reach orgasm. Your mileage may vary, depending on your body and the specific medications that you take (and their interactions). Talk to your doctor!
Now, I can't resist editorializing here. I'm certain that some teenagers are truly clinically depressed, and that medication helps them greatly. However, a lot of people these days are wondering how many teenagers are needlessly medicated. The entrenching of prescription drugs in our society is largely due to a medical/pharmaceutical complex of publicly owned corporations that value healthy stock prices over healthy people. It's a generalization, but to a cynical person, the pharmaceutical companies see teenagers as a "profit opportunity." Teenagers are a difficult, depressive lot; it has always been that way. But in years past, families – my own is a perfect example – had a way of working through these troublesome years, because there really were no other options. But now, parents can take the easy way out: They can put children in front of a video instead of playing with them, and they can put teenagers on pills instead of dealing with the emotional rollercoasters and fights that have tortured teens and their families since time immemorial. Again, I am not saying this is necessarily the case with you, but it should be something to consider. If I were you, I would thoroughly educate myself on what clinical depression in teens really is (using reliable, unbiased information coming from somewhere other than a pharmaceutical company). That will help you decide, with your parents, if taking not one but two medications is truly "right for you."
Do you find yourself masturbating more often during some seasons than others? Why?
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