Paxil vs. Effexor or Wellbutrin

My boyfriend has been taking Paxil for about 2 years now.  About 4 months again he visited his doctor and he took his dosage from 25 to 75mg.  He went to a new doctor 2 weeks ago who but him on Effexor instead of the Paxil.  I am wondering if the Effexor has the same sexual side effects as the Paxil did and if it does are they as strong as the Paxil.  Also is Wellbutrin a worthy sub for these two drugs or is it not as potent because I has heard that most people don't suffer any sexual side effects from it.

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

The side effects of each of these medications varies so much that it is hard to predict but when sexual side effects occur it is very common to switch in exactly this way.

The first two medications are usually used before wellbutrin because they are generally considered more potent.

[cerulean]

I took paxil for almost 2 years and didn't ever quite feel like it completely did the trick.  It did lower libido also.
I was switched to Wellbutrin..... which again didn't seem to quite do the trick..... I didn't notice any real change in libido (I'm female though, side effects are likely different for men)
I just started taking effexor.... Don't know a thing about it really, only been taking it for a week, and don't notice a change......

Wish you and bf well.

Good luck

LG

[Jeanette]

HI!!  I am currently taking 40 mg of Paxil a day (in the morning).  I have awful side effects such as twitching and NO SEX DRIVE and cannot achieve an orgasm.  I am also female and the sexual part is very upsetting to both my boyfriend and I.  He feels that he is not doing something right anymore, which upsets him alot.  I have explained to him the reasoning but he still feels responsible  :o{  I would like to switch from Paxil to Wellbutrin.  I was wondering if you had to wean yourself off the Paxil before you started taking Wellbutrin or did you just do an easy switch?
Thank you very much.
Jeanette

[core]

After three months of upping my dosage of Effexor from 75mg to 225mg, the sexual side effects--inability to achieve erections, inability to sustain erections, inability to achieve orgasm, decreased labido--have become too much and I'm trying to find another solution. Right now, I've incrementally decreased my dosage to 150mg, but it looks like that's not going to help much. It's funny that you mention going off of Paxil to Effexor, because it looks like what I'll be replacing Effexor with is Paxil, in hopes that I do not run into the same drastics effects. Good luck.