What's happening?

[27th Jennifer]

I started on anti-depressants a couple of months ago. I haven't had the desire to dress, except for Halloween, where I dressed fully for the first time. I haven;'t even been a regular on the forum like I used to be. I still wear women's underwear everyday, and keep my upper legs and armpits shaved, but the "urge" just hasn't been as strong. Has anyone else felt this way? Crossdressing is a part of me, and I don't want to lose it! I'm afraid of losing my femininity! AAAAAAAHHHHH! That's probably the opposite of what most people might fear, but I still want to be pretty!
Ana

[deja true]

Well Banana girl, you certainly know by know that you're not about to lose it...ever.

So, what's your worry? The desire to dress comes and goes with some. Hormones, stress, phase of the moon, who knows. Who cares? When the girl needs to be seen, she will be seen, eh?

When you're ready, we'll still be here.

respect & love'

deja


(Not likely that anyone with purple hair is gonna lose their femininity any time soon!)

[Brynna M]

I found that atidepressants in to high a dose give me an i don't care attitude towards things. Even things I know that I really care about. It's great for not caring about what's depressing you but not so good for the other stuff. I found that I needed to cut back my dosage to half the standard does to get the theraputic effects with out loosing being me.

May have to play with the type of med or the dosage to find a combination that works for you. the other thing is that depression is usually cyclical so if your are currently not in a depressed cycle the antidepressant i don't care effect might be stronger.

Hope that is some help.


B.

[sandra-leigh]

I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but I did not start cross-dressing until after I had been on anti-depressants for a few months. Thinking back, there were signs that cross-dressing was creeping up on me before I Burned Out, but I had no thought of actually wearing womens' clothes (rather than "just try them on to see what they are like) until after I started meds.

[27th Jennifer]

thanks everybody! I'm so glad to be a part of such a supportive group. Sorry I've been such a stranger lately!
Ana

[gennee]

[SIZE="4"]Hi, Ana. How are you feeling today? There are periods when you won't feel like dressing but the desire never goes away. I use the down time to reflect where I am and where I'm headed. The periods I don't feel like dressing are much less becuse I want to dress all the time.

Gennee [/SIZE]

["Mary"]

Ana,

I'm very glad to see you here again. I can identify with the Halloween outing thing, as that is practically the only time I get out, besides the rare and low key dress and drive. I really loved your Halloween pics with the purple and silver.

I know what you mean about the desire coming and going. Sometimes I fell like it's something I just have to "get out of my system".

[DanaR]

Wow, this is exactly what has happened to me in the last four years. I had some outside issues and started on the depression medication and wham, here I am. I stopped taking all of the meds in early January and am trying to get me life back together, it just seemed like I didn't want to do anything. I haven't been out dressed in several years and still make excuses to get out of commitments to go out. My wife keeps trying to get me to do a girl night or something and I find a reason why I shouldn't.

I'll have to make more of an effort to get out.

[Suzy Harrison]

The fact that you're on Anti depressants speaks volumes. It isn't the depressants that are making you loose interest, but the fact that you need Anti depressants in the first place.

If you're depressed you will loose interest - in everything.

I can speak from experience, as about 8 years ago I was very depressed and was on anti depressants and sleeping tablets etc. I wasn't interested in anything. If I had won millions on the lottery I still wouldn't have been happy or interested in life.

I had even thought of and planned to kill myself and planned to make it look like an accident, so the life insurance would still be paid. When you're in that state you don't think clearly.
I came very close to fulfilling my plan.

So be careful as you won't be thinking too straight at the moment

Please take care of yourself Suzy

[Angie G]

I have had time in my life that I didn't dress not that it was gone it just didn't happen it was always there and came out time to time. for some time time now it;s been here a lot And now the my wife knows I dress I dress 5 day a week. I would not worry I don't think it going away your just in a valley right now hun. Keep on your meds and I think it will get better hun.
Angie

[27th Jennifer]

Thank you all so much! I haven't been on the forum much lately, but I'm going to try not to be so scarce!
Ana

[Wenda]

Hey there Ana, not to worry! I havent dressed since Halloween either. I am completely refurbishing my 100+ year-old house, so packed up Wenda's stuff along with everything else I didn't use on a daily basis, and put it in storage. (I did keep a dresser drawer of lingerie and two sets of breast forms, ...and a carry-on bag with 4 pairs of shoes, ....... and two pairs of boots ........and a pair of stretchy jeans ... oh, ...and a denim skirt, just for emergencies) I havent been on this forum very often lately, just havent had the right circumstances. For me, it is not a concern, just a situation, and for what I need to focus on now, that means one less distraction. The desire will return. It always does.
I have been taking Zoloft for years, with good results. There are lots of threads regarding depression and dressing. The challenge with depression is that the medical profession tends to blow you off. 'Take these meds and call me in two months'. As some of the others have suggested, try to systematically reduce your dosage. Cutting it by half is pretty drastic, I would suggest starting with dropping one med per week, then two, and work up from there, keeping some kind of diary or log on how you feel. All the best! w.

[Carly D.]

I've said this before.. the feeling comes and goes for me.. I have had fairly lengthy times when I just didn't feel the urge at all.. I mean months would go by without the slightest hint of desire.. and then something can set me off like the sight of a woman dressed up.. and I'm at home dressing up.. and I am like you, I keep my legs shaved all the time just in case...

[Sonia Kiss]

I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but I did not start cross-dressing until after I had been on anti-depressants for a few months. Thinking back, there were signs that cross-dressing was creeping up on me before I Burned Out, but I had no thought of actually wearing womens' clothes (rather than "just try them on to see what they are like) until after I started meds.

That's my story too. I joke that a side effect of the antidepressant was that it turned me into a girl.

[ChrisP]

Hello from a CD who is also a physician, with a special (clinical) interest in the neurochemistry of the brain.

What you are describing is not uncommon with the use of antidepressants, and in fact is sometimes the result desired in particular applications.

Most (but not all) antidepressents reduce the libido, for both men and women.
For the majority of us, our crossdressing is connected with our sexual desire, so it's understandable that your desire for crossdressing might decrease too.

Sometimes the decrease in libido disappears after a few months on a particular drug, sometimes it remains stable. There is an increase in libido (typically) when you stop the medication.

But here is something interesting too: certain antidepressants can profoundly suppress compulsive behaviors. Not just crossdressing (if there is a compulsive element to it), but other behaviors like gambling, phobias, compulsive cleaning/washing, etc.
Sometimes that's a desired effect of the drug, other times it's unexpected.

I read Peter Kramer's book "Listening to Prozac" in which he enumerated some unforseen "positives" from the use of anti-depressant medications.
I was intrigued by his ideas, and started myself on Zoloft.
That particular med has been associated with a decrease in compulsive behaviors, and sure enough I found my desire to dress much easier to control, and not at all intrusive in my life.
I considered it a very positive experience, and stayed on the drug for about 1year.
After coming off it my libido became stronger, but my dressing seemed much less of a compulsion.

One thing I would warn you of, and physicians often fail to mention this to patients.
When you do decide to stop this particular medication, wean off it slowly.
So, if you're taking it once a day, take half a dose once a day for 2 weeks, then half a dose once every-other-day for another week, and then stop.
It is much more comfortable to do it that way than to quit all of a sudden.

Hope this helps,

Chris

[RobynP]

Speaking from my own experience, taking an anti-depressant (for OCD) killed my libido but did not do anything to decrease my crossdressing. (So I guess that means that my cding isn't sexual or compulsive... )

As stated by other posters, different drugs, different dosages, and even different combinations of drugs can have a profound effect on one's thinking (on purpose!). The key is for you and your doctor to fine tune the medication(s) so that the desired result is achieved while minimizing any side effects. Sometimes it can take awhile to get everything dialed in just right...

Robyn P.

[Rachel75]

About six months ago I decided that I was done with crossdressing. I convinced myself that it was silly and it was "time to grow up"...I let my leg and armpit hair grow back, stopped painting my nails, put all my clothes away and started dating again. But all of a sudden I fell back into it. Now I'm back full force and I'm happier than I've been in a long time. For those of us that live this lifestyle, it is something that we never let go of. We can suppress it to try to appease society, but we're just going to end up miserable by doing so.