RLG Learns of SSRI Antidepressants’ Potential to Cause Male Infertility

The Rottenstein Law Group has learned that drugs in the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor class of antidepressants can make a man who is taking SSRIs temporarily infertile.

SSRIs including Zoloft can decrease a man’s sperm count by as much as 50 percent, according to a Feb. 6, 2012, article that appeared on Fox.com. The antidepressants in the SSRI class can also impair the function of a man’s sperm by changing its shape and impairing its ability to move independently, the article states. These effects can become evident within thirty days of starting an SSRI regimen and they can have a major impact on a male SSRI user’s fertility after just three months of SSRI use.

While the infertility that SSRIs can cause male users doesn’t seem to be permanent, it can take a while for a man’s sperm to return to normal even after he has stopped taking SSRIs.

“[T]he situation is reversible and corrects itself once the medication is discontinued,” according to Fox News. “However, it takes 64 days for sperm to fully develop, and a man may not see his levels return to normal in less than three months.”