Premature ejaculation treatment: dapoxetine and combinations
Premature ejaculation is ejaculating sooner than you or your partner would like, often enough for it to cause distress. It is common, and it is treatable: with techniques and counselling, with medicines, or both.
Dapoxetine
Dapoxetine is the medicine made specifically for premature ejaculation. It is a short-acting SSRI, from the same family as some antidepressants, but it is taken only when needed, not every day: about 1 to 3 hours before sex. It is sold as Priligy, which is registered in Australia, and as the generic Poxet.
Its warnings matter:
- Fainting and dizziness. Dapoxetine can cause dizziness, sleepiness, blurred vision and fainting. Do not drive or use machinery if you feel any of these.
- Alcohol. Avoid it, because it raises the risk of injury from fainting and other side effects.
- Other medicines. It must not be combined with other SSRIs and antidepressants, tramadol or St John’s wort, among others; tell a doctor or pharmacist everything you take.
Combination tablets
Several generics combine dapoxetine with an erectile dysfunction medicine, for men who have both problems:
- with sildenafil: Cenforce D
- with tadalafil: Tadapox
- with vardenafil: Levitra with Dapoxetine
- with avanafil: Super Avana
These fixed combinations are made in India and are not approved by the TGA, the FDA or the EMA. They carry the warnings of both ingredients, including the ban on nitrates, and the fainting risk adds to the drop in blood pressure an ED medicine can cause. For premature ejaculation alone, dapoxetine on its own is the simpler choice.
When to see a doctor
If premature ejaculation is new, or comes with erection problems, pain or other symptoms, see a GP. Erectile dysfunction can be a sign of heart disease or diabetes, and both conditions are often helped by treating the cause.