Young Woman Suffers Long-lasting Sertraline Side Effects

When a healthcare provider gets ready to offer a patient a prescription, there are a few questions they should answer before the transaction is complete. Patients should know what they are taking and why, of course. It is also important to find out when to stop taking it, and how. Getting off an antidepressant, for example, can often be challenging. One last question you should ask your provider before starting to take a new medication: are there any side effects that will linger after the drug is discontinued? We have heard from several readers about long-lasting sertraline side effects.

Bladder and Urinary Problems as Sertraline Side Effects:

Q. I am wondering if my daughter is supersensitive to side effects of pharmaceuticals, as I am. One of the documented side effects of Zoloft/sertraline is urinary incontinence and bladder problems. My daughter is no longer on the drug, but she still suffers these side effect four years after stopping it.

We have tried everything we can find to help her: Naturopath, allopathic, chiropractic, homeopathic, and every imaging imaginable. Recently she was prescribed antibiotics, which only exacerbated the problems.

How can we reverse the damage? She just turned 21, and she is miserable. It’s no way to live in the teen years.

A. You are correct that SSRI antidepressants can cause urinary incontinence in about 1.5 percent of patients (Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, June 2002). Sertraline is more likely than other such drugs to cause this problem. However, we suspect doctors don’t often mention such sertraline side effects.

Most doctors expect this problem to resolve after the drug is discontinued, but it seems that is not the case for your daughter. Unfortunately, there is very little research on treatments for a situation like hers. Physical therapy (pelvic floor muscle training) may be helpful and would be worth a try (Research and Reports in Urology, June 17, 2023).

Some experts in treating incontinence use lasers, devices called neuromodulators or functional magnetic stimulation, but we do not know if any of those approaches would be helpful. We are so sorry that she has had to live with these very distressing symptoms. We hope she can find someone to help her address them.

Urinary incontinence is not the only problem that can interfere with daily life even after stopping the antidepressant. Many people report sexual difficulties can become persistent sertraline side effects.

Lingering Sexual Problems After Coming Off Antidepressants:

Q. I have been taking Prozac for the past five years. I am happily married, but I’ve definitely noticed a downturn in my ability to achieve a climax.

My doctor recently switched me to Celexa to see if it would offer an improvement in that area. It hasn’t worked, although both drugs have been very helpful with my depression.

Are there any anti-depressants that don’t cause this particular side effect? Or is there some way to overcome this problem with orgasm?

A. When Prozac-like drugs were first introduced, no one knew how common sexual side effects might be. Pre-market testing suggested that such complications were relatively rare (2 to 16 percent). Now we know that sexual problems may actually range from 30 to 70 percent of patients.

Drugs like Celexa, Effexor, Lexapro, Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft are prescribed for anxiety, bulimia, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, hot flashes, obsessive-compulsive disorder, PMS and post traumatic stress disorder.

Many people report that such drugs can reduce libido, interfere with arousal, delay or block orgasm and cause erectile dysfunction. Some describe a numbness or lack of sensation as “genital anesthesia.” One survey found this affected more than one-fourth of respondents, even after discontinuing the medication (Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, July 2025).

There are no obvious antidotes for this problem, though some doctors have tried drugs like Viagra. An antidepressant such as bupropion might be less likely to cause sexual dysfunction. Patients should be alerted to the possibility of long-lasting side effects before they start taking any antidepressant.