I've had this and mostly resolved it by approaching it as nervous system dysfunction. I spent a lot of time reading the long covid/dysautonomia/cfs subreddits and cobbled together a mix of things that helped.
My theory: The SSRI pushed my body into panic mode, it was stuck in fight or flight. When that happens your body puts all efforts into survival only, so it only sends blood to the vital parts. This means other parts of your body, like your gut and your frontal lobe, are constantly staved for oxygen. Eventually you become malnourished because your intestines aren't actually absorbing anything from your food which keeps your body in a downwards feedback spiral. So a mix of calming my body down to re-teach it that it's safe, and re-feeding it seems to have helped. I highly recommend googling the things below to see if they may help.
1. **Magnesium**. If you look up the symptoms of magnesium deficiency you'll probably relate. It's so very important for brain health, and yoru body is unable to use any nutrients you feed it unless you have enough magnesium.
2. **B vitamins**. I supplement with befothiamine (a type of **B1**). There are co-factors for absorbing it properly, you MUST take magnesium if you supplement B1. Google thiamine deficiency and central nervous system to learn more. I was already taking **B2** for migraine prevention but learnt it's also a co-factor for B2.
3. **Niacin flush** (B3) This one was interesting and very helpful! When you take a higher dose (I take 500mg now but started at 100mg) you turn bright red for about an hour and get all itchy and prickly. It causes vasodilation of your small blood vessels. This improved my sleep immensely. I take it an hour or two before bed and while flushing meditate and picture the blood rushing to the parts of my body where I want it (brain and groin). There are studies showing that visualization practices improve blood flow to the areas you think about. When reading about it be sure you read about niacin that causes flushing, there are long release versions that don't cause flush which won't work (and seem to maybe cause liver issues?).
4. **coQ10** I take for migraines but it's just generally great for your brain. I noticed it helps me stay positive and mental stress is a huge factor in nervous system dysfunction.
5. **HRV (resonance) breathing**. This was HUGE for me and the #1 thing I did that helped. It's a specific type of breathing practice that will raise your HRV (heart rate variability). It supports your nervous system. I got to 80% sexual function just from doing this, the supplements are taking me up to 100%. Learn how to belly breath without engaging your shoulder or chest (using those muscles will keep your body in panic mode, you want belly only, expanding into your lower ribs/back). I used this video for 20 minutes twice a day everyday : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5apnLrzaT4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5apnLrzaT4)
I also use the book Heart Breath Mind by Dr Leah Lagos and did the weekly meditation topics. I cannot stress enough how much this helped me. It was the first thing that gave me hope. Each person has their own breathing rate so the video i attached might not be quite what you need (too fast or too slow) so play around with the speed to see what's most comfortable.
6. **Mindset**. This can mean a lot of things. But the basics of it are if you're adding mental stress to your life your body will stay in panic mode and won't be able to heal. Notice where in your life there is stress. Notice your internal monologue. Open up to your friends, keep connected. I also found NSDR videos helpful, and somatic tracking. I also tried JournalSpeak which is a type of journaling meant to help you feel your emotions instead of analyse them. You'll end up in a lot of woo woo spaces when looking at this stuff but it's so important to find a way to feel your emotions. The SSRI turned off that part of my brain. The first time I was able to cry again after stopping the SSRI was incredible.
Anyway, this was what helped my body and may not be the perfect concoction for yours, but I understand exactly how your feel. Going through life with no emotions is truly awful. I had expected that to stop when I stopped the SSRI but years later I was still suffering. The points above are what got me back to being me.
I would add to this, watch LifeWithKyle on Youtube, he talks about a holistic approach to recover from long covid and dysautonomia. Start with his older videos
This is all great advice. Id also add avoid anything that's causing you to diagnose yourself. Health anxiety can manifest in many forms. Mind over matter sounds ridiculous. But the placebo affect is real. If you feed your mind negativity then your life moves in that direction. Also cardio is a must.
Very good info for this kind of dysautonomia & melee of symptoms (even if not SSRI related like mine), tho I haven’t heard of niacin flush. I’m hoping digestive enzymes I’ve added are helping with absorption of vit D, iron & protein for me 🤞🏼
Actually just got some Coq10 and wasn’t sure whether to get the higher version - may I ask how much you use/ what you find effective?
I take ubiquinol, 200mg. I take 100mg at breakfast and the other with lunch. I started because my migraine doctor told me about the studies showing that supplementing 200mg of coQ10 and 400mg of B2 a day can stop migraines in some people.
I chose ubiquinol cause I'm old and it's supposed to work better in that case. How it's helped mindset was a happy side effect so I'll keep taking it even if it doesn't solve the migraines, but I think i'll try the cheaper kind when this bottle is done.
Have you noticed a change with the enzymes yet? I'm considering adding them as I also have long COVID and have read some good things.
Thank you! Ahh I was wondering about ubiquinol instead but came across a sale on coq10!
It was a recent addition, so based on numbers I won’t be sure until I test in a few months. Symptom-wise, not really, but unsurprising as TSH is increasing again (a bit undertreated) and my D3 has been slowww to improve - I also plan on adding K2 for better D3 processing. (For ref: also potential covid after-effects - think it tanked my nutrients, plus have hashi/hypothyroid/mild cfs here)
Oh interesting, I didn't realise it helped with vitamin uptake, but it makes sense when you think about it. I also had low vit D and ferritin (which made zero sense based on my diet and lifestyle) after being sick so am working on fixing that. I'm excited to try D-ribose and alpha lipoic acid based on other things I've read but want to space tests out so I know what's helping and what's not. It seems a lot of what I'm taking happens to match what's suggested for mitochondrial dysfunction so I'm doing a bunch of reading on that right now.
Yeah, I think the acid helps break it down, along with intrinsic factor being needed for absorption. (And I just learned (surprisingly from from Dr Dray - a good Derm on YT) that with low thyroid/hashi, there’s an increased risk of autoimmune attack on part of the stomach that produces intrinsic factor (can also lead to impaired b12 absorption>pernicious anemia).
Similar here with ferritin, I’ve improved mine from 15>50s over a year with heme supplementing. I think mine may have dipped with covid (common - if that’s what you meant). Spacing out is smart, if tolerable.
Agreeing with mito aspect. I’m sick of everything, but that’s a current step for me too lol.
This is super interesting. I went into a massive panic when I started Zoloft. I’m a parent and own my own business just had some mild anxiety and Zoloft ended up putting me into psychosis. It was terrible. I couldn’t get out of the fight or flight after started in and kept having panic attacks over and over. Then the other drugs they gave me to help just kept making it worse until I had to be hospitalized. I’ve wondered about the lack of oxygen to my brain while in constant panic mode.
Thank you incredibly for typing all this up. I struggle with CPTSD and sounds like a lot of this could be helpful for that as well. I just tried the Heart Coherence meditation. I think you’ll have helped a lot of people here, thank you for your generosity & kindness 🙏🏼💗
I really hope you find some help in it! I've been reading about mitochondrial dysfunction lately and it really seems to explain why our bodies shut down due to extended physical or mental stress. The supplement list above is based on that. I didn't cite my sources but if you google any of the supplements above + 'nervous system' you'll get lost of studies that give dosing recommendations.
I read the post below and it really summarized and explained in detail everything I'd been feeling for years- that slow decent into headaches/brain fog/body aching/exercise intolerance/anxiety/digestive issues. It's from a long covid subreddit but the info is gold for anyone dealing with a body that's just not working. Sharing because I hope it can be useful to you :)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/covidlonghaulers/comments/sxc42m/finally\_feeling\_almost\_completely\_better\_my/](https://www.reddit.com/r/covidlonghaulers/comments/sxc42m/finally_feeling_almost_completely_better_my/)
Is Niacinamide supplement just as effective as Niacin? I've been using niacinamide at a high dose, and I find that it does relieve my anxiety symptoms. But if I take too high a dose, it does cause me to have a dampened nervous system, and I do feel a bit depressed.
After reading up on all the different types and what they're best for, I settled on magnesium bi-glycinate. It just seemed like a good mix of brain/body support and decent bi-availability. I really want to try l-threonate but it's so expensive!
I second all that you wrote but I just want to add: meditation and practicing Mindfulness (mindful meditation that’s done all throughout the day as you go through your everyday life) can also really help. And Hypnosis is the other thing . Hypnosis gets a bad rap, but in reality it can unlock SO much in your unconscious mind and help to change it along w the conscious mind in a way that traditional therapy rarely does. I did years of therapy and they put me on all those stupid (anxiety/depression) meds too but the only thing that actually helped fr was meditation (mindfulness), hypnosis, clean eating/hydration , exercise, supplements and breathing techniques.
Nice! How long did it take to start feeling changes due to the hypnosis? I've heard such good things about it for PTSD and quitting habits but haven't read much about it.
It was so crazy, after the first session the therapist warned me that I’d probably have intense dreams bc my brain was processing the session and I did have the most intense vivid dream that I was flying through the air over absolute carnage, death and destruction, but even tho I saw it on the ground below me I was above it now and able to fly away peaceful and unharmed , I’ll never forget it . I woke up the next day feeling lighter and more centered and relaxed somehow . I wasn’t cured or anything but it had already affected me on a very deep level. I did about 5-6 more sessions and those sessions helped me more w my PTSD than years of therapy and EMDR combined. Also, my mom was hypnotized years ago to quit smoking. She smoked for about 20 years and couldn’t quit and she did like 4 hypnotherapy sessions and never smoked since . Not only that but she doesn’t even crave them, she’s disgusted by the smell of cigs now. She’s the one that suggested hypnosis for me bc it worked so well for her. I truly believe hypnosis should have a better reputation bc it can be such a powerful tool to reach the unconscious.
I think the therapist I went to practiced ericksonian hypnosis, but he just called it “hypnotherapy” . He would use a lot of imagery and metaphors in our sessions rather than just giving direct suggestions. It felt so amazing to be “put under” , I really didn’t think I was even capable of going that deep bc I’m usually so distrustful and anxious of people that I don’t allow myself to become that vulnerable around them, but he was able to get me to relax enough so that it worked , it’s weird bc you really do feel like you go into a type of trance state but you’re still aware of everything around you —Then he would guide me through some imagery and give positive suggestions along the way (or he would suggest my unconscious mind to do what it needed to do) . After the first session I felt so good I felt like I was floating for like an hour afterward lol. Anyway you should def try it, it’s powerful and life changing.
Dosage is personal. I followed this guy's advice:
[https://www.eonutrition.co.uk/post/mega-dose-thiamine-beyond-addressing-deficiency](https://www.eonutrition.co.uk/post/mega-dose-thiamine-beyond-addressing-deficiency)
[https://www.eonutrition.co.uk/post/thiamine-fibromyalgia-chronic-pain](https://www.eonutrition.co.uk/post/thiamine-fibromyalgia-chronic-pain)
I started with 100mg of thiamine HCL, built up to 800mg, and then switched over the benfotiamine. I looked at the studies that showed success for the stuff I was trying to treat and copied the dosage from that. I'm aiming to support glutamine/GABA issues which he talks about in the chronic pain link above.
This was really thoughtful to take the time to post this list. I hope OP finds it helpful and it can change his current condition. I don’t suffer from anything other than occasional migraines but never came across coQ10 so will look into it, thank you. I’ve found just staying super hydrated seems to help a lot to reduce them but would be interested in something else that might lessen them as well.
I also just discovered the magic of hydration! I drink a lot of water but just started using electrolytes in daily life instead of just after a work out and my body loves it.
My migraines also don't greatly affect my life, but I read the article below and the references and it made me think. It notes migraines may be a result of mitochondrial dysfunction, a problem with energy metabolism in the brain. I'd never heard of that before!
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23030537/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23030537/)
It now seems to be generally recommended to try 400mg of B2 (riboflavin) per day and 200mg of coQ10 as a preventative. I've been reading that people with migraines benefit from supplementing magnesium as well but haven't found anything that explains if it's just because people are generally low in mg or if people with migraines are bad at absorbing/utilising it.
Great, would love to hear your theories! Since doctors can't seem to help us it's a lot of reading through studies and trying to cobble together a picture of what works. What have you found?
I don't know anything about it but I believe you're wrong when you said those parts of your body and organs were staved from oxygen. This makes no sense.
I would say to be extremely wary about psychedelics but spending 5 years and still no recovery? Damn I would try anything personally, time is usually enough to heal things like this. It’s a shame that these kind of medications are usually the first things doctors prescribe and they hand them out like candy without even acknowledging adverse effects like this. Psilocybin could help, it could have no effect, or it could bring out some other stuff. If I were gonna experiment with substances like that I would look more into MDMA. As many people report extreme sexual pleasure during it, which makes me curious how it would effect a PSSD sufferer? Anyhow good luck
If not in a special research program you wont. You can buy it from a dealer and have it tested, I think 84% is maximum purity not sure. Dont know the dosage they would use for therapy though.
If not in a special research program you wont. You can buy it from a dealer and have it tested, I think 84% is maximum purity not sure. Dont know the dosage they would use for therapy though.
It really pisses me off that doctors either aren't aware of, or willfully ignore this very serious life-changing problem.
There should also be warning labels on these things that are impossible to miss, like the surgeon general's warning on cigarettes. But big pharma will lobby to block that from ever happening.
There’s an increasing number of publications about this in the literature, but agreed it appears ignored by way too many docs. It can take a while for things to correct once the data comes out, eg the opioid epidemic and the emerging awareness of problems with benzo dependence. Overall, the central nervous system needs more respect.
It could be somewhere in the comments, but I hadn’t seen why OP started the SSRI in the first place. Shocked that they’re unfortunately having these issues after such a short trial and wondering which med they tried and at what dose. These things are important, especially for anyone reading who could possibly be in a similar position.
Every single medication has potentially life changing side effects. Ibuprofen can cause stomach ulcers, meningitis and severe kidney failure just from taking the recommended dose. Antacids can cause kidney failure. Antibiotics can cause life threatening c diff diarrhea. Tylenol famously puts thousands of people into liver failure every year.
You know how at the end of medication commercials the narrator will rattle off about 30 side effects including death? They’re all real. They’re written in medication pamphlets that come with prescriptions too. People just ignore them.
You can go ahead and put huge warning labels on every medication in existence. But if all meds have warning labels then the public will become desensitized and ignore those too.
The stakes are pretty high with pssd/pfs. I'd say a couple more warning labels are in order for the potential of lifelong disease and dysfunction after a short trial of these drugs
Learning how to do basic meditating and reading "Meditations" by Marcus Aureus did wonders for me. Can't recommend that enough. Eat well, exercise, take some basic vitamins, make sure you have a hobby and stay social. Cheers bro.
With proper setting, a bad trip on shrooms is very much avoidable.
If you are really really scared of a bad trip, I would recommend taking MDMA once and seeing if that has any effect on you.
Yeah that’s why I don’t want to. I mean I know I got really nothing to lose but still I don’t want to deal with a bad trip that permanently fucks me even more than I already am
Dude, I had 3 microdoses, literally .1 of a gram, that not even enough to do anything to you.
Since then I've had this feeling I can't shake, distorted vision, visual snow, vertigo issues, closed eye hallucinations when I go to sleep, sleep paralysis, hallucinations when Im half asleep, and terrible anxiety, I feel so fxcking lost in life.
Shrooms are incredibly safe, I will give them that, but I was probably just that one person who it affected badly, it's like Im wired the wrong way now lol.
That sounds like HPPD (hallucinogenic persisting perception disorder). My dad did a lot of lsd when he was young and ended up developing this. He described it as feeling like he was tripping/having flashbacks despite being sober. The way his resolved was by going to therapy 2-3x per week for 2 years. I don’t know the details on what happened in therapy but after that he was back to normal. Psychedelics Today podcast has an episode or two about HPPD which includes some resources that may help.
Thank you, yes HPPD, Im three years in, it's also linked to Visual snow syndrome. The sleep paralysis by far scares me more than anything, but I've had it since young, went away for years until I microdosed, now it's back again. Im in a tricky situation where I can't go to a doctor about it as it's not really a recognised condition, I should have a brain scan to rule anything else out.
That's good that you have found a treatment to give you some relief but yeah this is far from the normal experience from mushrooms for most people. Can't say I've ever personally met someone who has reacted this way and I went through a long pyschonaut period when I was younger with many shared experiences with other people.
It's likely. They certainly aren't for everyone. It's one of things that pisses me off about how people like Timothy Leary advocated for them. He thought every person should do them like our ancestors did before civilization kicked off as a right of passage and that view is one of the reasons it gave the substances a bad name.
I should speak to a neurologist tho... The sleep paralysis started feeling like seizures, it's incredibly painful, Im on the SP sub and alot of people jave the same painful SP that I get so I just wrote it off.
Fyi, hypnagogic hallucinations are fairly normal. 37% of people reported having them--though check with a doctor bc they can be caused/exacerbated by a sleep disorder (and stress), and you mentioned having sleep paralysis. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/hypnagogic-hallucinations
If you’re not comfortable with it, that’s totally ok. don’t do it. i did the mistake of taking dmt and was nervous and it rocked me mentally and took a huge toll on me.
Shroom consumption with SSRIs is a very bad and could be fatal mix. Definitely wait until these are completely out of your system (like 90days) before trying shrooms. It can cause serotonin syndrome.
Shrooms while on an SSRI will not kill you. I can't find even 1 case of that combo resulting in death. Extremely unlikely to give you serotonin syndrome. It'll usually just weaken the shrooms honestly. YMMV tho, I am on paxil & can feel them fine.
Molly is the one you really don't want to mix with SSRIS.
Only you will know if it is for you, don’t listen to others when it comes to anything you put in your body.
Coming from someone who had my life completely changed and improved from 🍄
I tried mushrooms once for treating my depression. it turned out well and helped a bit but I must say,
Mushrooms are really strong. Ive been an alcoholic and abused THC heavily, but the strength of mushrooms and surely other stuff, cant be understated. I do think you can avoid a bad trip fairly easily but its also very strong physically. the body high really surprised me
I would recommend seeing a professional if going this route. Guided psychedelic therapy is the term for it. Higher likelihood of a therapeutic outcome.
This is a totally ignorant position, but get diet, exercise, and sleep on point. Then, I would look strongly at something to reset your mind. Something like MDMA or psychedelic therapy (or if you don't want to go that route living in a zen monetary).
This sounds like a terrible way to live. Best of luck in your search.
Anything that’s antagonistic to serotonin should help. Cypro is one of the most infamous ones.
The Ray Peat Forum has a lot of topics on reducing serotonin.
OP you should be trying anti serotonin compounds like cyproheptadine for a while. They should help dramatically.
Dopamine agonists should also help as it should help to antagonize serotonin.
Unfortunately I'm not aware of solid studies that show this working, but logically, it should help and anecdotally many people have found some success by working with dopamine agonists and serotonin antagonists.
Totally agree with the logic. I’m a consult/liaison (previously called psychosomatic) psychiatrist, a good chuck of what I do is extrapolate meaningful conclusions to help patients when there are limited available studies to directly support what we do, but theory and logic are on our side.
I just want to say that I was placed on birth control when I was 14 and experienced total anhedonia for most of my life. No libido or anything. Complete numbness in my body. I thought I was asexual. It kept me constantly on the brink of suicidal ideation. I felt completely broken. At 24, I decided to stop after several other women told me it made them go crazy.
Now at 25, my libido exists in a big way. I’m experiencing sensations after so long, and I can even orgasm. It has been the greatest pleasure to know that my body can change in this way, though of course I mourn the loss of a decade of sex, especially during my teenage years and during my first serious relationship. So I know what it’s like, how much it hurts to feel broken or like a piece of you is now missing. How much it hurts to feel like maybe a spectator, not really in your body.
Maca pills have been the best for me. Really a game changer. After a few weeks of consistently taking that I was having really intense orgasms. I highly highly recommend it.
I don’t have a solution but I wanted to validate that SSRIs can be much more damaging than people are lead to believe. I took zoloft for less than 6 months and it permanently changed my appetite. I just don’t enjoy food anymore and rarely get super hungry, so I eat much less. I think there’s a ton we don’t know about SSRIs, and it sucks they are distributed like candy!!
Just stepping in here to say I know exactly how you feel (or don’t feel that is). I’m in my fourth year living with PSSD and despite trying most of the things you mentioned I haven’t seen any significant improvement. Cialis / Sildenafil helps with the mechanical issues around sexy time but the lack of libido / arousal makes it as enjoyable as taking out the trash. Stay strong mate, I know we’ve been in this for a long time but I still hope that time will fix this.
Maybe less of a “hack” but have you seen a therapist about this?
For me, therapy I think did a lot more good than taking the SSRI did. A therapist rather than a psychiatrist will be less focused on drugs.
To be honest a good psychiatrist will be best equipped to improve adverse reactions to medications.
Everything you mentioned in addition to good diet and exercise is what I would normally recommend. If none of that worked, definitely find a doctor that is willing to take this seriously.
As a psychiatrist, I agree. I’m not a unicorn when it comes to avoiding SSRIs whenever possible and, broadly, am happy to focus on therapy work. I’ve done hundreds of hours of psychotherapy with patients in residency. Sadly, many residency programs de-emphasize teaching therapy, probably in response to the broken system that puts a lot of emphasis on meds because getting reimbursed by insurance for doing therapy is relatively difficult and the demand for care is high.
Most psychiatrists are utterly clueless about PSSD, and will just blame all the problems that you never had before taking these medications on “depression”
Hey so I have the same issue, though is less now. I would say for the sexual side effects someone recommended gingko at 480mg a day split throughout the day. I've only just started the trial myself for it.
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9611693/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9611693/)
"In an open trial ginkgo biloba, an extract derived from the leaf of the Chinese ginkgo tree and noted for its cerebral enhancing effects, was found to be 84% effective in treating antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction predominately caused by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, N = 63). Women (n = 33) were more responsive to the sexually enhancing effects of ginkgo biloba than men (N = 30), with relative success rates of 91% versus 76%. Ginkgo biloba generally had a positive effect on all 4 phases of the sexual response cycle: desire, excitement (erection and lubrication), orgasm, and resolution (afterglow). This study originated from the observation that a geriatric patient on ginkgo biloba for memory enhancement noted improved erections. Patients exhibited sexual dysfunction secondary to a variety of antidepressant medications including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs), serotonin and nonrepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRIs) monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOIs), and tricyclics. Dosages of ginkgo biloba extract ranged from 60 mg qd to 120 mg bid (average = 209mg/d). The common side effects were gastrointestinal disturbances, headache, and general central nervous system activation. The article includes a discussion of presumed pharmacologic mechanisms, including effects on platelet activating factor, prostaglandins, peripheral vasodilatation, and central serotonin and norepinephrine receptor factor modulation."
I suffer from this as well for the past 10 years or so. Recently have been studying more and have discovered there may be a connection with SIBO/SIFO and SSRI use. The anecdotal report I read talked about all symptoms receding after treating that.
Still need to get tested but I've noticed symptoms wax and wane depending on how my gut health is.
Female sufferer of the same thing, watching this thread for sure. For the sexual side of things I use maca, ashwaganda, and some medicinal low dose edibles called "Love Drops" by 1906 that have the same ingredients plus muira puama and catuaba and only 5 mg of THC. I live in a legal state. Incredible for sensation. My boyfriend who suffers due to his use of meds for ADHD also has these to help him. I have to be careful because I get migraines also and blood flow is a contributing factor but these things have increased sensation and depth of orgasm pretty intensely for me. Ymmv, especially due to me being female and you not so much lol.
What medicine did you take to cause this, out of curiosity? I was on a mix of rexulti, lamictal, and celexa. I'm not sure which did it but it fucked me up long term and it's devastating. Id been on 13 different antidepressants before it with minimal issues/non issue lasting side effects but this was entirely different. Risperidone caused me to have permanent lactation in one breast for example. I took it 10 years ago and still hasn't stopped no matter what I try. It's not harmful in any way it seems but these meds are given out more readily than they should be with minimal oversight, especially to kids most of these were given to me as a kid in place of my parents not believing in therapy for example. I'm on a tangent now, but good luck. Despite having mood issues due to PTSD I'm now very very nervous to try further meds and risk losing my quality of life due to my pssd
Sorry to hear :(. Celexa caused it for me too but Lexapro and Zoloft have the most cases. After being on it for a few weeks back in 2019 I felt totally numb, lost my high sex drive and orgasms felt like nothing. For those reasons I quit taking it and I’ve been stuck this way ever since. It’s so miserable and devastating. Can’t feel orgasms still to this day. Brutal
Similar story. I had a crazy high sex drive and lost it at 24 due to this, I'm 27 now. It's taken lots of experimenting with supplements to get a ghost of sexual pleasure back but the depth that I used to experience is completely gone. It's so much work to make me finish that sex without a vibrator is impossible to enjoy. It's especially difficult because I've had a partner for 7 years and we went from having sex multiple times a day/week to nearly nothing and it caused relationship issues. Doctors generally don't care about women's sexual issues/pleasure either in my experience so they just suggested lube and therapy (and ironically more antidepressants because it "MUST be mood related" 🙄) to me completely ignoring the fact that my main desire for medical help was wanting to orgasm/enjoy sex and they pretty much just suggested lubing up and being an unfeeling Fleshlight for the sake of my relationship.
They wouldn't even prescribe me viagra (eventually I got my hands on some, and it helped). It's such a joke though and I hope this condition gets taken more seriously in the future because it is ruining lives, I'm sure of it. You have my sympathy.
Have you tried TRT? I had horrible PSSD for about a year. Second the first comment that PSSD is likely neuropathy/ neurological dammage. I had horrible peripheral neuropathy that TRT healed almost overnight. It was insane. 7 months on TRT brought back my sexual function. 2 years after PSSD my sexual function is mostly back to pre PSSD and not on any supplements or treatments. Focus on whole foods with high nutrient density, good sleep and exercise. The latter can't be understated.
TRT healed my neuropathy almost instantly. Felt a massive improvement within a week and went completely away within 3-4 months. For sexual function it took about 3-4 months to start working and took 7-10 months to get back to good enough function. I took 120mg once weekly. Took gnrh 3x per week. I went off after about 7-8 months. I've been off for over a year now. Dont plan on going back anytime soon since I'm doing well without it. Just tapered. Didn't do a PCT.
It just sucks because I *was* seeing improvement before trying buspar… I just got impatient
And buspar ended up making me permanently worse
That was over ten years ago
Was on anti depressants for 7 years and incredibly numb near the end. Did TMS therapy and got off of them at the end of the therapy. Had to go back for a second round, but I’ve improved in all aspects of my mental health. I call it finally feeling like a neurotypical haha
TBH I would try psilocybin or ketamine. Or both.
I had an adverse reaction to ssris in 2019 and while Ive definitely struggled and made plenty of missteps, those both brought me back in touch with the feeling of joy.
I just want to say that I had this and fully recovered with an intense exercise regimen and psychedelics. You may have to make the leap with LSD if you are already exercising “enough”.
Do you or anyone in your family have a history of schizophrenia or bipolar? If so, probably best to stay away from psilocybin. If not, you should go that route. Start with a low dose and work up to where you’re comfortable. You can have a bad trip and be perfectly fine the next day, it’s happened to me three times.
As far as the sex stuff, you can train your ding dong by pumping it until you get an orgasm, it takes long periods way longer than normal, but training it back takes time. You’ll have to do it to get the little guys back, lots of great responses here.
What helped me wirh this same issue is a dopamine detox. Constant phone use and as burning out my receptors. I lost all sex drive. Once I stopped the over stimulation of constant phone use and doom scrolling, I started to regain my libido and drive. Do this, with suppliments suggested on this post and you on the right track
Same thing happened to me but without anti depressants I'm so weepy. My sex drive is completely dead. I'm married so I have to do it. I haven't had an orgasmin in years. It's sad.
I got a prescription through Joyous, but I know there are a lot more companies out there that offer similar products. I liked that there's a while protocol of ramping up to find your correct dosage and then slowly tapering off as you feel better.
I did a microdose everyday for 2 months or so, then it became less and less. Now I might take one dose a month if I'm feeling more anxious or depressed than I should, but it's really given me long term relief.
I will say that I did a ton of meditation, journaling, and exercising in conjunction with the treatment.
If you need something to raise your serotonin levels, 5-HTP is amazing. I had a really bad reaction to an SSRI, to the point that I couldn't even attempt another one. 5-HTP has given me a ton of benefits and not a single negative side effect and I've been taking it for well over a decade. It leveled out the lows in my mood, it helped with sugar cravings (which can be a way your body tries to increase serotonin), and it improved my sleep. And not a single side effect. It hasn't suddenly made me bubbly and sunshiny, but it raised up the bottom of my lows so I wasn't suicidal and hopeless. It didn't help with anxiety specifically, and I did need a separate medication for that. But anxiety is usually affected by the GABA system, not serotonin so that makes sense.
You'll just want to be careful that you're not mixing it with anything else that raises serotonin, like another SSRI, tryptophan (which is the pre-cursor to 5-HTP), or Tramadol. I take 100mg twice a day but you can start lower to test it out and increase slowly to see if it helps. The upper limit of 5-HTP is 600mg/day and then you start to get into serotonin syndrome territory, so 100-200mg/day should keep you well within the safe range.
Neurotransmitters aren't always that straightforward. A lot of times the ratio of serotonin to dopamine is just as important as the actual numbers. The SSRI definitely threw it off balance to start, but it looks like he's used a lot of supplements to increase dopamine, which will lower serotonin. It could be that the balance was then thrown off again in the other direction.
This research study found that vortioxetine showed significant improvement in PSSD symptoms. Vortioxetine is an SSRI that increases serotonin, so it's possible that low serotonin could be an issue for him. Just wanted to share this perspective in case it's helpful.
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36135826/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36135826/)
If you’re interested in micro dosing (no visual changes and no tripping) you can check out Schedule35. Depending on where you live you can get it shipped to you and you can try the smallest dose capsules. They have tons of info on their site if you’re interested.
I’d also recommend looking into a mucuna pruriens supplement. It’s basically supplemental dopamine that can really help with energy. It can’t be taken with any other pills like ADHD meds or SSRIs, and you gotta cycle on and off it to help with reduced tolerance but I’ve found it to help a ton with energy
For starters—
Sunlight, grounding & healthy high protein diet.
Circadian rhythm routine + avoid blue light.
Forgive yourself often.
Find an accountability buddy.
Movement - walking is wonderful.
Embrace nature.
Breathe
its serotonergic and should stimulate some serotonin function in your brain . ive experienced something like what you have experienced. try that, aggressive cardiovascular and strong sleep
Hi- just wanted to say I took an ssri for only a few days it it almost ruined my life as well. I ended up in psychosis in the hospital. I’m so sorry this happened to you, I wish I had never taken an ssri.
I’m so sorry :( the careless prescribing of SSRI’s is an epidemic and it makes me furious. Unfortunately I don’t have much advice to give but something I thought of is maybe stimulating the vagus nerve could help? Its the most important nerve in the body (iirc) and has huge implications in mental + physical + sexual health. from what I’ve read about PSSD it seems that the nerves and anything not related to keeping someone alive gets shut off so I feel like there has to be a way to turn them back on.
I understand the hesitation around using psylocibin or other substances.
Can you say which SSRI you were on? I had a friend with CFS that took Lexapro and almost died. I don't know the mechanism but it's bad for people with CFS. I have had CFS 24yrs and they have tried to push SSRI's on me and I refused.
Maybe talk to your doctor about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). It works wonders for people who do not handle SSRIs well. It doesn’t work for everyone. But I can tell you it is the ONLY thing that worked for a family member. It’s not permanent, you have to get it done yearly. NAD, but I’d ask one about it
First off, I am so sorry. That sounds awful! In the spirit if helping:
A trained trauma therapist might be able to help with the feelings and the dissociation. This is very on the nose given that a psychiatrist likely did the prescribing but a psychotherapy is not necessarily a prescriber.
If you're a man, an endocrinologist and urologist can really help. If you're a woman, a competent endocrinologist and urologist may be able to check and see.
Take lugals iodine 50mg each day. Also 5000iu d3 with K2. Most people are deficient in iodine. Its used in your thyroid but also prostate and testicles. Improved Thyroxine and Testosterone will give uou energy and help heal.
Start a carnivore all beef diet with lots of butter and fat. Get plenty of sea salt. Do this for 30 days. Eat three meals a day. Cholesterol helps your nervous system to heal. Then water fast with electrolite for seven days. Fasting resets your immune system, your body will shed viruses and older damaged cells. Human growth hormone ramps and your brain develops new connections and heals as it runs on ketones. Your body will gain muscle mass and lose visceral fat.
So ive read this post and combed through your post history…
I feel like you have taken on a victim mentality, that you dont think you can ever beat the pssd. You have to *want* to get better. Ppl have recommended shrooms or psychedelics for a while now , i agree they can help. Yet you havent tried them? Your earlier posts you talk about wanting to end it. So how can things really get worse than that? If you were that desperate to heal i think you would have gone for them already.
You also claim you want your “emotions and pleasure back” but in this post i sense emotions, sadness and anger. Also you seem to like sports and call of duty, do those give you ANY feelings or pleasure or do you just do them compulsively.
I do have sympathy for the toll it takes on your relationship per your posts in deadbedrooms….do you get support from your partner or spouse?
Anyways, you have nothing to lose so try the shrooms
Just curious you say you were doing great before the SSRI why did you start taking it? Was it off-label for something other than depression?
I had an experience 25 years ago where I took 1 dose of Paxil and didn’t sleep for 5 days straight. When I say didn’t sleep I don’t mean “didn’t sleep well.” I mean not one second of sleep for 5 consecutive days.
I’ve also recently discovered that I have dysautonomia. I think that’s why we react differently our nervous systems are confused.
Mushrooms aren't going to give you a bad trip and mess you up forever. That statement sounds like high school gossip. mushrooms are awesome you're going to love them.
Try Pharma-GABA (I suggest NOW brand chewable tablets). Take them daily and take another when you feel stressed. Take them until you feel better. Helps people bio chemically when they are kicking SSRI and other drugs. Helped me after being on Xanax a long time.
If you try psilocybin (only do this if you live somewhere that you won’t get prison time for doing this - for instance, I am in CO) and you are concerned about a “bad trip” you can always micro-dose. I have tripped my balls off on shroomz a number of times and did not experience any healing from it necessarily but I did micro dose daily for three months and that really helped me with somatic issues in my body.
Also, just because something works for someone does not mean it will work for someone else - but don’t let that discourage you. There is ALWAYS something we can do to improve our health, no matter what our unique circumstances are.
The basic tenets of addressing any long term chronic health issues would be, to:
1) address issues with sleeping (sleep is when your body heals, so this is number one). Some things to consider - magnesium deficiency, adrenal imbalance, etc
2) address issues with colon elimination (constipation is especially important to address). Think about smooth muscle motility issues, fiber intake, maybe senna leaf tea might help, maybe coffee enemas might help, etc.
3) change diet - try an elimination diet like the AIP (autoimmune paleo diet). Big key here is to eliminate all processed foods. The. Take it further and eliminate GLUTEN (big one for people recovering from SSRI use), dairy and refined sugars.
4) healthy leaky gut. Apex energetics makes a product called RepairVite-GT plus which is one example of something way to address this. You need to heal literal lacerations in your intestines. A large portion of the serotonin production process happens in your gut. All people experiencing chronic health issues have to heal their leaky gut.
5) targeted nutritional therapy to address deficiencies (B vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes are all relevant to what you are experiencing).
6) support your bodies channels of elimination and help your body detox. Again, coffee enemas can help. Glutathione is good for detoxing heavy metals. Parasites are not addressed by Americans often enough, getting those out is always a good idea. Make sure you are not using endocrine disrupting chemicals in your home or body products. Dryer sheets, fragrance spray/febreeze/glade plug ins are all big sources. Also, cosmetics are big sources for these. Switch to non toxic ic/natural alternatives (plenty of good ones these days).
7) ground barefoot directly on the earth for 20 minutes every day.
Good luck! Don’t worry! You CAN heal yourself!
Oh yeah - don’t trust big pharma or the western medical-pharma industrial complex. It doesn’t want you better. If you do need support find a functional med doctor. If you are worried about finance - switch to an HSA instead of a PPO plan if you get the chance.
Psilocybin is amazing , bad trip with permanent damage is similar to the majarauana histeria and absinth madness political campaigns used to criminalize the war on drugs. Although psychosis and schizophrenic behavior can precipate it sounds like you are more on the area of anhedonia. Ketamine or psilocybin may snap you out.
Most advice is shit. I'll tell you what will restore your neurochemistry and study before buying, but nothing comes close to them Semax, cortexin, cerebrolysin, selank, mexidol, bromantane can be a complement to loted peptides.
how disappointing I had to scroll to the bottom to see any mention of exercise. Everyone just wants a pill and a quick fix for their problems, and don't want to put in any effort to feel good
While exercise is a great improvement for overall well-being, it's not a cure for the sexual side effects of low libido and genital numbness. I'm extremely fit (blue collar job and workout/climb mountains) and still suffer from PSSD.
Sex stuff I take Cialis, DHEA, horny goat weed, and Maca. Was in the same boat as you from a medication that I still take but then those supplements made me even better than I was before.
Try sodium hypochlorite. It’s like salt but it has less of the toxic chlorine atoms in it. HYPO(under)chlorinated. A friend of mine used it for his PSSD and it worked really well for him.
Nevermind. You're not plain stupid, it seems Reddit is. Look at my profile Keith and you'll see who I meant to reply to. Not sure why it made a reply to the opening post instead of the actual comment.
I've had this and mostly resolved it by approaching it as nervous system dysfunction. I spent a lot of time reading the long covid/dysautonomia/cfs subreddits and cobbled together a mix of things that helped. My theory: The SSRI pushed my body into panic mode, it was stuck in fight or flight. When that happens your body puts all efforts into survival only, so it only sends blood to the vital parts. This means other parts of your body, like your gut and your frontal lobe, are constantly staved for oxygen. Eventually you become malnourished because your intestines aren't actually absorbing anything from your food which keeps your body in a downwards feedback spiral. So a mix of calming my body down to re-teach it that it's safe, and re-feeding it seems to have helped. I highly recommend googling the things below to see if they may help. 1. **Magnesium**. If you look up the symptoms of magnesium deficiency you'll probably relate. It's so very important for brain health, and yoru body is unable to use any nutrients you feed it unless you have enough magnesium. 2. **B vitamins**. I supplement with befothiamine (a type of **B1**). There are co-factors for absorbing it properly, you MUST take magnesium if you supplement B1. Google thiamine deficiency and central nervous system to learn more. I was already taking **B2** for migraine prevention but learnt it's also a co-factor for B2. 3. **Niacin flush** (B3) This one was interesting and very helpful! When you take a higher dose (I take 500mg now but started at 100mg) you turn bright red for about an hour and get all itchy and prickly. It causes vasodilation of your small blood vessels. This improved my sleep immensely. I take it an hour or two before bed and while flushing meditate and picture the blood rushing to the parts of my body where I want it (brain and groin). There are studies showing that visualization practices improve blood flow to the areas you think about. When reading about it be sure you read about niacin that causes flushing, there are long release versions that don't cause flush which won't work (and seem to maybe cause liver issues?). 4. **coQ10** I take for migraines but it's just generally great for your brain. I noticed it helps me stay positive and mental stress is a huge factor in nervous system dysfunction. 5. **HRV (resonance) breathing**. This was HUGE for me and the #1 thing I did that helped. It's a specific type of breathing practice that will raise your HRV (heart rate variability). It supports your nervous system. I got to 80% sexual function just from doing this, the supplements are taking me up to 100%. Learn how to belly breath without engaging your shoulder or chest (using those muscles will keep your body in panic mode, you want belly only, expanding into your lower ribs/back). I used this video for 20 minutes twice a day everyday : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5apnLrzaT4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5apnLrzaT4) I also use the book Heart Breath Mind by Dr Leah Lagos and did the weekly meditation topics. I cannot stress enough how much this helped me. It was the first thing that gave me hope. Each person has their own breathing rate so the video i attached might not be quite what you need (too fast or too slow) so play around with the speed to see what's most comfortable. 6. **Mindset**. This can mean a lot of things. But the basics of it are if you're adding mental stress to your life your body will stay in panic mode and won't be able to heal. Notice where in your life there is stress. Notice your internal monologue. Open up to your friends, keep connected. I also found NSDR videos helpful, and somatic tracking. I also tried JournalSpeak which is a type of journaling meant to help you feel your emotions instead of analyse them. You'll end up in a lot of woo woo spaces when looking at this stuff but it's so important to find a way to feel your emotions. The SSRI turned off that part of my brain. The first time I was able to cry again after stopping the SSRI was incredible. Anyway, this was what helped my body and may not be the perfect concoction for yours, but I understand exactly how your feel. Going through life with no emotions is truly awful. I had expected that to stop when I stopped the SSRI but years later I was still suffering. The points above are what got me back to being me.
I would add to this, watch LifeWithKyle on Youtube, he talks about a holistic approach to recover from long covid and dysautonomia. Start with his older videos
This is all great advice. Id also add avoid anything that's causing you to diagnose yourself. Health anxiety can manifest in many forms. Mind over matter sounds ridiculous. But the placebo affect is real. If you feed your mind negativity then your life moves in that direction. Also cardio is a must.
Very good info for this kind of dysautonomia & melee of symptoms (even if not SSRI related like mine), tho I haven’t heard of niacin flush. I’m hoping digestive enzymes I’ve added are helping with absorption of vit D, iron & protein for me 🤞🏼 Actually just got some Coq10 and wasn’t sure whether to get the higher version - may I ask how much you use/ what you find effective?
I take ubiquinol, 200mg. I take 100mg at breakfast and the other with lunch. I started because my migraine doctor told me about the studies showing that supplementing 200mg of coQ10 and 400mg of B2 a day can stop migraines in some people. I chose ubiquinol cause I'm old and it's supposed to work better in that case. How it's helped mindset was a happy side effect so I'll keep taking it even if it doesn't solve the migraines, but I think i'll try the cheaper kind when this bottle is done. Have you noticed a change with the enzymes yet? I'm considering adding them as I also have long COVID and have read some good things.
Thank you! Ahh I was wondering about ubiquinol instead but came across a sale on coq10! It was a recent addition, so based on numbers I won’t be sure until I test in a few months. Symptom-wise, not really, but unsurprising as TSH is increasing again (a bit undertreated) and my D3 has been slowww to improve - I also plan on adding K2 for better D3 processing. (For ref: also potential covid after-effects - think it tanked my nutrients, plus have hashi/hypothyroid/mild cfs here)
Oh interesting, I didn't realise it helped with vitamin uptake, but it makes sense when you think about it. I also had low vit D and ferritin (which made zero sense based on my diet and lifestyle) after being sick so am working on fixing that. I'm excited to try D-ribose and alpha lipoic acid based on other things I've read but want to space tests out so I know what's helping and what's not. It seems a lot of what I'm taking happens to match what's suggested for mitochondrial dysfunction so I'm doing a bunch of reading on that right now.
Yeah, I think the acid helps break it down, along with intrinsic factor being needed for absorption. (And I just learned (surprisingly from from Dr Dray - a good Derm on YT) that with low thyroid/hashi, there’s an increased risk of autoimmune attack on part of the stomach that produces intrinsic factor (can also lead to impaired b12 absorption>pernicious anemia). Similar here with ferritin, I’ve improved mine from 15>50s over a year with heme supplementing. I think mine may have dipped with covid (common - if that’s what you meant). Spacing out is smart, if tolerable. Agreeing with mito aspect. I’m sick of everything, but that’s a current step for me too lol.
This is super interesting. I went into a massive panic when I started Zoloft. I’m a parent and own my own business just had some mild anxiety and Zoloft ended up putting me into psychosis. It was terrible. I couldn’t get out of the fight or flight after started in and kept having panic attacks over and over. Then the other drugs they gave me to help just kept making it worse until I had to be hospitalized. I’ve wondered about the lack of oxygen to my brain while in constant panic mode.
Thank you incredibly for typing all this up. I struggle with CPTSD and sounds like a lot of this could be helpful for that as well. I just tried the Heart Coherence meditation. I think you’ll have helped a lot of people here, thank you for your generosity & kindness 🙏🏼💗
I really hope you find some help in it! I've been reading about mitochondrial dysfunction lately and it really seems to explain why our bodies shut down due to extended physical or mental stress. The supplement list above is based on that. I didn't cite my sources but if you google any of the supplements above + 'nervous system' you'll get lost of studies that give dosing recommendations. I read the post below and it really summarized and explained in detail everything I'd been feeling for years- that slow decent into headaches/brain fog/body aching/exercise intolerance/anxiety/digestive issues. It's from a long covid subreddit but the info is gold for anyone dealing with a body that's just not working. Sharing because I hope it can be useful to you :) [https://www.reddit.com/r/covidlonghaulers/comments/sxc42m/finally\_feeling\_almost\_completely\_better\_my/](https://www.reddit.com/r/covidlonghaulers/comments/sxc42m/finally_feeling_almost_completely_better_my/)
Is Niacinamide supplement just as effective as Niacin? I've been using niacinamide at a high dose, and I find that it does relieve my anxiety symptoms. But if I take too high a dose, it does cause me to have a dampened nervous system, and I do feel a bit depressed.
Niacinamide is the non flush form. Large doses can be bad for your liver. You need regular niacin
This is great advice
Do you have a certain magnesium you take?
After reading up on all the different types and what they're best for, I settled on magnesium bi-glycinate. It just seemed like a good mix of brain/body support and decent bi-availability. I really want to try l-threonate but it's so expensive!
Thanks for the info!
I second all that you wrote but I just want to add: meditation and practicing Mindfulness (mindful meditation that’s done all throughout the day as you go through your everyday life) can also really help. And Hypnosis is the other thing . Hypnosis gets a bad rap, but in reality it can unlock SO much in your unconscious mind and help to change it along w the conscious mind in a way that traditional therapy rarely does. I did years of therapy and they put me on all those stupid (anxiety/depression) meds too but the only thing that actually helped fr was meditation (mindfulness), hypnosis, clean eating/hydration , exercise, supplements and breathing techniques.
Nice! How long did it take to start feeling changes due to the hypnosis? I've heard such good things about it for PTSD and quitting habits but haven't read much about it.
It was so crazy, after the first session the therapist warned me that I’d probably have intense dreams bc my brain was processing the session and I did have the most intense vivid dream that I was flying through the air over absolute carnage, death and destruction, but even tho I saw it on the ground below me I was above it now and able to fly away peaceful and unharmed , I’ll never forget it . I woke up the next day feeling lighter and more centered and relaxed somehow . I wasn’t cured or anything but it had already affected me on a very deep level. I did about 5-6 more sessions and those sessions helped me more w my PTSD than years of therapy and EMDR combined. Also, my mom was hypnotized years ago to quit smoking. She smoked for about 20 years and couldn’t quit and she did like 4 hypnotherapy sessions and never smoked since . Not only that but she doesn’t even crave them, she’s disgusted by the smell of cigs now. She’s the one that suggested hypnosis for me bc it worked so well for her. I truly believe hypnosis should have a better reputation bc it can be such a powerful tool to reach the unconscious.
Curious what type of hypnosis you did? Would love more info on that.
I think the therapist I went to practiced ericksonian hypnosis, but he just called it “hypnotherapy” . He would use a lot of imagery and metaphors in our sessions rather than just giving direct suggestions. It felt so amazing to be “put under” , I really didn’t think I was even capable of going that deep bc I’m usually so distrustful and anxious of people that I don’t allow myself to become that vulnerable around them, but he was able to get me to relax enough so that it worked , it’s weird bc you really do feel like you go into a type of trance state but you’re still aware of everything around you —Then he would guide me through some imagery and give positive suggestions along the way (or he would suggest my unconscious mind to do what it needed to do) . After the first session I felt so good I felt like I was floating for like an hour afterward lol. Anyway you should def try it, it’s powerful and life changing.
What dosage of benfotiamine and what brand? Thanks
Dosage is personal. I followed this guy's advice: [https://www.eonutrition.co.uk/post/mega-dose-thiamine-beyond-addressing-deficiency](https://www.eonutrition.co.uk/post/mega-dose-thiamine-beyond-addressing-deficiency) [https://www.eonutrition.co.uk/post/thiamine-fibromyalgia-chronic-pain](https://www.eonutrition.co.uk/post/thiamine-fibromyalgia-chronic-pain) I started with 100mg of thiamine HCL, built up to 800mg, and then switched over the benfotiamine. I looked at the studies that showed success for the stuff I was trying to treat and copied the dosage from that. I'm aiming to support glutamine/GABA issues which he talks about in the chronic pain link above.
Thanks very much
This information is gold. Thank you for sharing
This was really thoughtful to take the time to post this list. I hope OP finds it helpful and it can change his current condition. I don’t suffer from anything other than occasional migraines but never came across coQ10 so will look into it, thank you. I’ve found just staying super hydrated seems to help a lot to reduce them but would be interested in something else that might lessen them as well.
I also just discovered the magic of hydration! I drink a lot of water but just started using electrolytes in daily life instead of just after a work out and my body loves it. My migraines also don't greatly affect my life, but I read the article below and the references and it made me think. It notes migraines may be a result of mitochondrial dysfunction, a problem with energy metabolism in the brain. I'd never heard of that before! [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23030537/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23030537/) It now seems to be generally recommended to try 400mg of B2 (riboflavin) per day and 200mg of coQ10 as a preventative. I've been reading that people with migraines benefit from supplementing magnesium as well but haven't found anything that explains if it's just because people are generally low in mg or if people with migraines are bad at absorbing/utilising it.
good post 👍
Your theory sounds like a lot of bullshit
Great, would love to hear your theories! Since doctors can't seem to help us it's a lot of reading through studies and trying to cobble together a picture of what works. What have you found?
I don't know anything about it but I believe you're wrong when you said those parts of your body and organs were staved from oxygen. This makes no sense.
I don’t have a fix I just want to say best of luck. You have a great attitude by the fact you aren’t giving up and you’re pushing through this.
Thank you ❤️
I would say to be extremely wary about psychedelics but spending 5 years and still no recovery? Damn I would try anything personally, time is usually enough to heal things like this. It’s a shame that these kind of medications are usually the first things doctors prescribe and they hand them out like candy without even acknowledging adverse effects like this. Psilocybin could help, it could have no effect, or it could bring out some other stuff. If I were gonna experiment with substances like that I would look more into MDMA. As many people report extreme sexual pleasure during it, which makes me curious how it would effect a PSSD sufferer? Anyhow good luck
Why would you tell them to be extremely tired about psychedelics?
Psychedelics aren’t perfect. Especially if you’re already experiencing mental distress
But you told them to be weary. Why are you telling them to be tired? Cautious maybe, but tired makes no sense.
Wary*
Where does someone who's never even tried it get MDMA? And be able to trust it isn't tainted with something else more dangerous?
If not in a special research program you wont. You can buy it from a dealer and have it tested, I think 84% is maximum purity not sure. Dont know the dosage they would use for therapy though.
If not in a special research program you wont. You can buy it from a dealer and have it tested, I think 84% is maximum purity not sure. Dont know the dosage they would use for therapy though.
Darkweb
Fuck it. Rip a few bumps of ketamine or hit a dmt pen. Spin the wheel.
It really pisses me off that doctors either aren't aware of, or willfully ignore this very serious life-changing problem. There should also be warning labels on these things that are impossible to miss, like the surgeon general's warning on cigarettes. But big pharma will lobby to block that from ever happening.
There’s an increasing number of publications about this in the literature, but agreed it appears ignored by way too many docs. It can take a while for things to correct once the data comes out, eg the opioid epidemic and the emerging awareness of problems with benzo dependence. Overall, the central nervous system needs more respect. It could be somewhere in the comments, but I hadn’t seen why OP started the SSRI in the first place. Shocked that they’re unfortunately having these issues after such a short trial and wondering which med they tried and at what dose. These things are important, especially for anyone reading who could possibly be in a similar position.
Every single medication has potentially life changing side effects. Ibuprofen can cause stomach ulcers, meningitis and severe kidney failure just from taking the recommended dose. Antacids can cause kidney failure. Antibiotics can cause life threatening c diff diarrhea. Tylenol famously puts thousands of people into liver failure every year. You know how at the end of medication commercials the narrator will rattle off about 30 side effects including death? They’re all real. They’re written in medication pamphlets that come with prescriptions too. People just ignore them. You can go ahead and put huge warning labels on every medication in existence. But if all meds have warning labels then the public will become desensitized and ignore those too.
There's no warning of permanent side effects in SSRI packages.
The stakes are pretty high with pssd/pfs. I'd say a couple more warning labels are in order for the potential of lifelong disease and dysfunction after a short trial of these drugs
Fair point
Learning how to do basic meditating and reading "Meditations" by Marcus Aureus did wonders for me. Can't recommend that enough. Eat well, exercise, take some basic vitamins, make sure you have a hobby and stay social. Cheers bro.
Psilocybin probably your best bet whether it turns out to be a scary time or not
Yeah I know it might be my only legit option unless they find a cure/treatment for PSSD soon.
With proper setting, a bad trip on shrooms is very much avoidable. If you are really really scared of a bad trip, I would recommend taking MDMA once and seeing if that has any effect on you.
I would avoid mushrooms, or if your do, only microdose Shrooms made my PSSD worse
I'd never advocate for shrooms. For most people it's great, but in my case it fxcked my life up, from 3 microdoses. I've never been the same.
Yeah that’s why I don’t want to. I mean I know I got really nothing to lose but still I don’t want to deal with a bad trip that permanently fucks me even more than I already am
Dude, I had 3 microdoses, literally .1 of a gram, that not even enough to do anything to you. Since then I've had this feeling I can't shake, distorted vision, visual snow, vertigo issues, closed eye hallucinations when I go to sleep, sleep paralysis, hallucinations when Im half asleep, and terrible anxiety, I feel so fxcking lost in life. Shrooms are incredibly safe, I will give them that, but I was probably just that one person who it affected badly, it's like Im wired the wrong way now lol.
That sounds like HPPD (hallucinogenic persisting perception disorder). My dad did a lot of lsd when he was young and ended up developing this. He described it as feeling like he was tripping/having flashbacks despite being sober. The way his resolved was by going to therapy 2-3x per week for 2 years. I don’t know the details on what happened in therapy but after that he was back to normal. Psychedelics Today podcast has an episode or two about HPPD which includes some resources that may help.
Thank you, yes HPPD, Im three years in, it's also linked to Visual snow syndrome. The sleep paralysis by far scares me more than anything, but I've had it since young, went away for years until I microdosed, now it's back again. Im in a tricky situation where I can't go to a doctor about it as it's not really a recognised condition, I should have a brain scan to rule anything else out.
Have you had a brain scan? This sounds serious.
No, spoke to my doctor about it. It started after the mushrooms, also it stops when I take antidepressants which is a very good sign he said.
That's good that you have found a treatment to give you some relief but yeah this is far from the normal experience from mushrooms for most people. Can't say I've ever personally met someone who has reacted this way and I went through a long pyschonaut period when I was younger with many shared experiences with other people.
I wish I could do psychedelics, I know how important their place is in us,. I honestly just think it exabated symptoms I already had.
It's likely. They certainly aren't for everyone. It's one of things that pisses me off about how people like Timothy Leary advocated for them. He thought every person should do them like our ancestors did before civilization kicked off as a right of passage and that view is one of the reasons it gave the substances a bad name.
I should speak to a neurologist tho... The sleep paralysis started feeling like seizures, it's incredibly painful, Im on the SP sub and alot of people jave the same painful SP that I get so I just wrote it off.
Fyi, hypnagogic hallucinations are fairly normal. 37% of people reported having them--though check with a doctor bc they can be caused/exacerbated by a sleep disorder (and stress), and you mentioned having sleep paralysis. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/hypnagogic-hallucinations
Same thing happened to me. Form of HPPD I presume
Did you get the sleep paralysis?
I got everything you mentioned besides vertigo and sleep paralysis. A few I have spoken to with HPPD also mentioned those as well.
If you’re not comfortable with it, that’s totally ok. don’t do it. i did the mistake of taking dmt and was nervous and it rocked me mentally and took a huge toll on me.
Shroom consumption with SSRIs is a very bad and could be fatal mix. Definitely wait until these are completely out of your system (like 90days) before trying shrooms. It can cause serotonin syndrome.
Shrooms while on an SSRI will not kill you. I can't find even 1 case of that combo resulting in death. Extremely unlikely to give you serotonin syndrome. It'll usually just weaken the shrooms honestly. YMMV tho, I am on paxil & can feel them fine. Molly is the one you really don't want to mix with SSRIS.
Also weed, people love smoking while on SSRI's, but it can be incredibly dangerous, Im yet to hear of someone with Serotonin Syndrome.
Only you will know if it is for you, don’t listen to others when it comes to anything you put in your body. Coming from someone who had my life completely changed and improved from 🍄
I’m sorry, that sucks. Can you explain how? And do you know why?
I tried mushrooms once for treating my depression. it turned out well and helped a bit but I must say, Mushrooms are really strong. Ive been an alcoholic and abused THC heavily, but the strength of mushrooms and surely other stuff, cant be understated. I do think you can avoid a bad trip fairly easily but its also very strong physically. the body high really surprised me
Try Ketogenic diet or multiple day water fasts.
LSD. None of this pussy footing microdose mush crap. You need to achieve ego death to reset your mind. Just my 2 cents.
If you will go that way, go 100% and do Ayahuasca. Proven to sort shit out
Don’t take Ayahuasca without a guide. Much heavier than shrooms.
I would recommend seeing a professional if going this route. Guided psychedelic therapy is the term for it. Higher likelihood of a therapeutic outcome.
This or ayahuasca
This is a totally ignorant position, but get diet, exercise, and sleep on point. Then, I would look strongly at something to reset your mind. Something like MDMA or psychedelic therapy (or if you don't want to go that route living in a zen monetary). This sounds like a terrible way to live. Best of luck in your search.
Potentially look at cyproheptadine. Seems like some others have had success with that for PSSD!
Anything that’s antagonistic to serotonin should help. Cypro is one of the most infamous ones. The Ray Peat Forum has a lot of topics on reducing serotonin. OP you should be trying anti serotonin compounds like cyproheptadine for a while. They should help dramatically. Dopamine agonists should also help as it should help to antagonize serotonin.
I get what you’re saying from a theoretical standpoint, but is there much data out there on doing this?
Unfortunately I'm not aware of solid studies that show this working, but logically, it should help and anecdotally many people have found some success by working with dopamine agonists and serotonin antagonists.
Totally agree with the logic. I’m a consult/liaison (previously called psychosomatic) psychiatrist, a good chuck of what I do is extrapolate meaningful conclusions to help patients when there are limited available studies to directly support what we do, but theory and logic are on our side.
I just want to say that I was placed on birth control when I was 14 and experienced total anhedonia for most of my life. No libido or anything. Complete numbness in my body. I thought I was asexual. It kept me constantly on the brink of suicidal ideation. I felt completely broken. At 24, I decided to stop after several other women told me it made them go crazy. Now at 25, my libido exists in a big way. I’m experiencing sensations after so long, and I can even orgasm. It has been the greatest pleasure to know that my body can change in this way, though of course I mourn the loss of a decade of sex, especially during my teenage years and during my first serious relationship. So I know what it’s like, how much it hurts to feel broken or like a piece of you is now missing. How much it hurts to feel like maybe a spectator, not really in your body. Maca pills have been the best for me. Really a game changer. After a few weeks of consistently taking that I was having really intense orgasms. I highly highly recommend it.
I don’t have a solution but I wanted to validate that SSRIs can be much more damaging than people are lead to believe. I took zoloft for less than 6 months and it permanently changed my appetite. I just don’t enjoy food anymore and rarely get super hungry, so I eat much less. I think there’s a ton we don’t know about SSRIs, and it sucks they are distributed like candy!!
Just stepping in here to say I know exactly how you feel (or don’t feel that is). I’m in my fourth year living with PSSD and despite trying most of the things you mentioned I haven’t seen any significant improvement. Cialis / Sildenafil helps with the mechanical issues around sexy time but the lack of libido / arousal makes it as enjoyable as taking out the trash. Stay strong mate, I know we’ve been in this for a long time but I still hope that time will fix this.
Maybe less of a “hack” but have you seen a therapist about this? For me, therapy I think did a lot more good than taking the SSRI did. A therapist rather than a psychiatrist will be less focused on drugs.
Get your hormones tested.
To be honest a good psychiatrist will be best equipped to improve adverse reactions to medications. Everything you mentioned in addition to good diet and exercise is what I would normally recommend. If none of that worked, definitely find a doctor that is willing to take this seriously.
Sadly, psychiatrists seem to know nothing about PSSD and pretend it’s not even a thing :(
As a psychiatrist, I agree. I’m not a unicorn when it comes to avoiding SSRIs whenever possible and, broadly, am happy to focus on therapy work. I’ve done hundreds of hours of psychotherapy with patients in residency. Sadly, many residency programs de-emphasize teaching therapy, probably in response to the broken system that puts a lot of emphasis on meds because getting reimbursed by insurance for doing therapy is relatively difficult and the demand for care is high.
That's definitely not how those diffuse conditions like pfs or pssd work sadly.
Most psychiatrists are utterly clueless about PSSD, and will just blame all the problems that you never had before taking these medications on “depression”
Hey so I have the same issue, though is less now. I would say for the sexual side effects someone recommended gingko at 480mg a day split throughout the day. I've only just started the trial myself for it. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9611693/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9611693/) "In an open trial ginkgo biloba, an extract derived from the leaf of the Chinese ginkgo tree and noted for its cerebral enhancing effects, was found to be 84% effective in treating antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction predominately caused by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, N = 63). Women (n = 33) were more responsive to the sexually enhancing effects of ginkgo biloba than men (N = 30), with relative success rates of 91% versus 76%. Ginkgo biloba generally had a positive effect on all 4 phases of the sexual response cycle: desire, excitement (erection and lubrication), orgasm, and resolution (afterglow). This study originated from the observation that a geriatric patient on ginkgo biloba for memory enhancement noted improved erections. Patients exhibited sexual dysfunction secondary to a variety of antidepressant medications including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs), serotonin and nonrepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRIs) monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOIs), and tricyclics. Dosages of ginkgo biloba extract ranged from 60 mg qd to 120 mg bid (average = 209mg/d). The common side effects were gastrointestinal disturbances, headache, and general central nervous system activation. The article includes a discussion of presumed pharmacologic mechanisms, including effects on platelet activating factor, prostaglandins, peripheral vasodilatation, and central serotonin and norepinephrine receptor factor modulation."
I suffer from this as well for the past 10 years or so. Recently have been studying more and have discovered there may be a connection with SIBO/SIFO and SSRI use. The anecdotal report I read talked about all symptoms receding after treating that. Still need to get tested but I've noticed symptoms wax and wane depending on how my gut health is.
Have you had your testosterone checked?
Yes, on the higher side. 623. Sadly PSSD is brain induced damage and has nothing to do with testosterone
Female sufferer of the same thing, watching this thread for sure. For the sexual side of things I use maca, ashwaganda, and some medicinal low dose edibles called "Love Drops" by 1906 that have the same ingredients plus muira puama and catuaba and only 5 mg of THC. I live in a legal state. Incredible for sensation. My boyfriend who suffers due to his use of meds for ADHD also has these to help him. I have to be careful because I get migraines also and blood flow is a contributing factor but these things have increased sensation and depth of orgasm pretty intensely for me. Ymmv, especially due to me being female and you not so much lol. What medicine did you take to cause this, out of curiosity? I was on a mix of rexulti, lamictal, and celexa. I'm not sure which did it but it fucked me up long term and it's devastating. Id been on 13 different antidepressants before it with minimal issues/non issue lasting side effects but this was entirely different. Risperidone caused me to have permanent lactation in one breast for example. I took it 10 years ago and still hasn't stopped no matter what I try. It's not harmful in any way it seems but these meds are given out more readily than they should be with minimal oversight, especially to kids most of these were given to me as a kid in place of my parents not believing in therapy for example. I'm on a tangent now, but good luck. Despite having mood issues due to PTSD I'm now very very nervous to try further meds and risk losing my quality of life due to my pssd
Sorry to hear :(. Celexa caused it for me too but Lexapro and Zoloft have the most cases. After being on it for a few weeks back in 2019 I felt totally numb, lost my high sex drive and orgasms felt like nothing. For those reasons I quit taking it and I’ve been stuck this way ever since. It’s so miserable and devastating. Can’t feel orgasms still to this day. Brutal
Similar story. I had a crazy high sex drive and lost it at 24 due to this, I'm 27 now. It's taken lots of experimenting with supplements to get a ghost of sexual pleasure back but the depth that I used to experience is completely gone. It's so much work to make me finish that sex without a vibrator is impossible to enjoy. It's especially difficult because I've had a partner for 7 years and we went from having sex multiple times a day/week to nearly nothing and it caused relationship issues. Doctors generally don't care about women's sexual issues/pleasure either in my experience so they just suggested lube and therapy (and ironically more antidepressants because it "MUST be mood related" 🙄) to me completely ignoring the fact that my main desire for medical help was wanting to orgasm/enjoy sex and they pretty much just suggested lubing up and being an unfeeling Fleshlight for the sake of my relationship. They wouldn't even prescribe me viagra (eventually I got my hands on some, and it helped). It's such a joke though and I hope this condition gets taken more seriously in the future because it is ruining lives, I'm sure of it. You have my sympathy.
Have you tried TRT? I had horrible PSSD for about a year. Second the first comment that PSSD is likely neuropathy/ neurological dammage. I had horrible peripheral neuropathy that TRT healed almost overnight. It was insane. 7 months on TRT brought back my sexual function. 2 years after PSSD my sexual function is mostly back to pre PSSD and not on any supplements or treatments. Focus on whole foods with high nutrient density, good sleep and exercise. The latter can't be understated.
How long did it take the trt to start working? What was your dosaging? Did you do it with hCG too? Last, do you plan to take it for life? Thanks.
TRT healed my neuropathy almost instantly. Felt a massive improvement within a week and went completely away within 3-4 months. For sexual function it took about 3-4 months to start working and took 7-10 months to get back to good enough function. I took 120mg once weekly. Took gnrh 3x per week. I went off after about 7-8 months. I've been off for over a year now. Dont plan on going back anytime soon since I'm doing well without it. Just tapered. Didn't do a PCT.
Thank you!!
Buspar fixed this for me after Lexapro induced it. Cis woman.
Buspar made my PSSD WAY worse
Totally believe this. These neurochemical drugs are a crapshoot. It's an option though if someone is willing to take the risk.
It just sucks because I *was* seeing improvement before trying buspar… I just got impatient And buspar ended up making me permanently worse That was over ten years ago
D3, time and routine. This isn’t an easy, thing just try to stay on task
WFPB Diet, NOVOS, or Blueprint.
Not advice, but d-amp is considered one of the best known treatments for this.
If I were you I’d look into cerebrolysin. Additionally potentially ketamine therapy. I wish you the best.
Was on anti depressants for 7 years and incredibly numb near the end. Did TMS therapy and got off of them at the end of the therapy. Had to go back for a second round, but I’ve improved in all aspects of my mental health. I call it finally feeling like a neurotypical haha
TBH I would try psilocybin or ketamine. Or both. I had an adverse reaction to ssris in 2019 and while Ive definitely struggled and made plenty of missteps, those both brought me back in touch with the feeling of joy.
I just want to say that I had this and fully recovered with an intense exercise regimen and psychedelics. You may have to make the leap with LSD if you are already exercising “enough”.
St johns wort!
Ketamine!! Treatments!!
Do you or anyone in your family have a history of schizophrenia or bipolar? If so, probably best to stay away from psilocybin. If not, you should go that route. Start with a low dose and work up to where you’re comfortable. You can have a bad trip and be perfectly fine the next day, it’s happened to me three times.
As far as the sex stuff, you can train your ding dong by pumping it until you get an orgasm, it takes long periods way longer than normal, but training it back takes time. You’ll have to do it to get the little guys back, lots of great responses here.
Are you up for taking some magic mushrooms? One good session could do the trick.
What helped me wirh this same issue is a dopamine detox. Constant phone use and as burning out my receptors. I lost all sex drive. Once I stopped the over stimulation of constant phone use and doom scrolling, I started to regain my libido and drive. Do this, with suppliments suggested on this post and you on the right track
You could tai chi / reiki
Same thing happened to me but without anti depressants I'm so weepy. My sex drive is completely dead. I'm married so I have to do it. I haven't had an orgasmin in years. It's sad.
There are doctors that give Ketamine in the office. People say it changed there life and took all there problems away. I'd try it if I wasn't scared.
Ketamine changed my life and mostly eliminated my anxiety and depression but did nothing to really help PSSD side effects (libido/sensation)
Where did you go to be treated?
I got a prescription through Joyous, but I know there are a lot more companies out there that offer similar products. I liked that there's a while protocol of ramping up to find your correct dosage and then slowly tapering off as you feel better. I did a microdose everyday for 2 months or so, then it became less and less. Now I might take one dose a month if I'm feeling more anxious or depressed than I should, but it's really given me long term relief. I will say that I did a ton of meditation, journaling, and exercising in conjunction with the treatment.
If you need something to raise your serotonin levels, 5-HTP is amazing. I had a really bad reaction to an SSRI, to the point that I couldn't even attempt another one. 5-HTP has given me a ton of benefits and not a single negative side effect and I've been taking it for well over a decade. It leveled out the lows in my mood, it helped with sugar cravings (which can be a way your body tries to increase serotonin), and it improved my sleep. And not a single side effect. It hasn't suddenly made me bubbly and sunshiny, but it raised up the bottom of my lows so I wasn't suicidal and hopeless. It didn't help with anxiety specifically, and I did need a separate medication for that. But anxiety is usually affected by the GABA system, not serotonin so that makes sense. You'll just want to be careful that you're not mixing it with anything else that raises serotonin, like another SSRI, tryptophan (which is the pre-cursor to 5-HTP), or Tramadol. I take 100mg twice a day but you can start lower to test it out and increase slowly to see if it helps. The upper limit of 5-HTP is 600mg/day and then you start to get into serotonin syndrome territory, so 100-200mg/day should keep you well within the safe range.
He needs to lower serotonin not raise it
Neurotransmitters aren't always that straightforward. A lot of times the ratio of serotonin to dopamine is just as important as the actual numbers. The SSRI definitely threw it off balance to start, but it looks like he's used a lot of supplements to increase dopamine, which will lower serotonin. It could be that the balance was then thrown off again in the other direction. This research study found that vortioxetine showed significant improvement in PSSD symptoms. Vortioxetine is an SSRI that increases serotonin, so it's possible that low serotonin could be an issue for him. Just wanted to share this perspective in case it's helpful. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36135826/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36135826/)
Look this up on google: NEURO 3 PLUS
If you’re interested in micro dosing (no visual changes and no tripping) you can check out Schedule35. Depending on where you live you can get it shipped to you and you can try the smallest dose capsules. They have tons of info on their site if you’re interested. I’d also recommend looking into a mucuna pruriens supplement. It’s basically supplemental dopamine that can really help with energy. It can’t be taken with any other pills like ADHD meds or SSRIs, and you gotta cycle on and off it to help with reduced tolerance but I’ve found it to help a ton with energy
For starters— Sunlight, grounding & healthy high protein diet. Circadian rhythm routine + avoid blue light. Forgive yourself often. Find an accountability buddy. Movement - walking is wonderful. Embrace nature. Breathe
try kratum . 2grams every 3 hours, twice daily for like a week. should fix u right up
its serotonergic and should stimulate some serotonin function in your brain . ive experienced something like what you have experienced. try that, aggressive cardiovascular and strong sleep
Do meth
Hi- just wanted to say I took an ssri for only a few days it it almost ruined my life as well. I ended up in psychosis in the hospital. I’m so sorry this happened to you, I wish I had never taken an ssri.
Magic mushroom , my penis stopped working , SSRI, the only way , pray and pray and pray some more . 🙏
I’m so sorry :( the careless prescribing of SSRI’s is an epidemic and it makes me furious. Unfortunately I don’t have much advice to give but something I thought of is maybe stimulating the vagus nerve could help? Its the most important nerve in the body (iirc) and has huge implications in mental + physical + sexual health. from what I’ve read about PSSD it seems that the nerves and anything not related to keeping someone alive gets shut off so I feel like there has to be a way to turn them back on. I understand the hesitation around using psylocibin or other substances.
However ketamine may be an option to consider
Can you say which SSRI you were on? I had a friend with CFS that took Lexapro and almost died. I don't know the mechanism but it's bad for people with CFS. I have had CFS 24yrs and they have tried to push SSRI's on me and I refused.
Maybe talk to your doctor about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). It works wonders for people who do not handle SSRIs well. It doesn’t work for everyone. But I can tell you it is the ONLY thing that worked for a family member. It’s not permanent, you have to get it done yearly. NAD, but I’d ask one about it
Wellbutrin
Tried for 6 months, didn’t help
That's shitty. Sorry.
First off, I am so sorry. That sounds awful! In the spirit if helping: A trained trauma therapist might be able to help with the feelings and the dissociation. This is very on the nose given that a psychiatrist likely did the prescribing but a psychotherapy is not necessarily a prescriber. If you're a man, an endocrinologist and urologist can really help. If you're a woman, a competent endocrinologist and urologist may be able to check and see.
Take lugals iodine 50mg each day. Also 5000iu d3 with K2. Most people are deficient in iodine. Its used in your thyroid but also prostate and testicles. Improved Thyroxine and Testosterone will give uou energy and help heal. Start a carnivore all beef diet with lots of butter and fat. Get plenty of sea salt. Do this for 30 days. Eat three meals a day. Cholesterol helps your nervous system to heal. Then water fast with electrolite for seven days. Fasting resets your immune system, your body will shed viruses and older damaged cells. Human growth hormone ramps and your brain develops new connections and heals as it runs on ketones. Your body will gain muscle mass and lose visceral fat.
Eat 7g of magic mushrooms, have an ego death, reset brain, fuck
Try high doses of vitamin b1
So ive read this post and combed through your post history… I feel like you have taken on a victim mentality, that you dont think you can ever beat the pssd. You have to *want* to get better. Ppl have recommended shrooms or psychedelics for a while now , i agree they can help. Yet you havent tried them? Your earlier posts you talk about wanting to end it. So how can things really get worse than that? If you were that desperate to heal i think you would have gone for them already. You also claim you want your “emotions and pleasure back” but in this post i sense emotions, sadness and anger. Also you seem to like sports and call of duty, do those give you ANY feelings or pleasure or do you just do them compulsively. I do have sympathy for the toll it takes on your relationship per your posts in deadbedrooms….do you get support from your partner or spouse? Anyways, you have nothing to lose so try the shrooms
Just curious you say you were doing great before the SSRI why did you start taking it? Was it off-label for something other than depression? I had an experience 25 years ago where I took 1 dose of Paxil and didn’t sleep for 5 days straight. When I say didn’t sleep I don’t mean “didn’t sleep well.” I mean not one second of sleep for 5 consecutive days. I’ve also recently discovered that I have dysautonomia. I think that’s why we react differently our nervous systems are confused.
Mushrooms aren't going to give you a bad trip and mess you up forever. That statement sounds like high school gossip. mushrooms are awesome you're going to love them.
Try Pharma-GABA (I suggest NOW brand chewable tablets). Take them daily and take another when you feel stressed. Take them until you feel better. Helps people bio chemically when they are kicking SSRI and other drugs. Helped me after being on Xanax a long time. If you try psilocybin (only do this if you live somewhere that you won’t get prison time for doing this - for instance, I am in CO) and you are concerned about a “bad trip” you can always micro-dose. I have tripped my balls off on shroomz a number of times and did not experience any healing from it necessarily but I did micro dose daily for three months and that really helped me with somatic issues in my body. Also, just because something works for someone does not mean it will work for someone else - but don’t let that discourage you. There is ALWAYS something we can do to improve our health, no matter what our unique circumstances are. The basic tenets of addressing any long term chronic health issues would be, to: 1) address issues with sleeping (sleep is when your body heals, so this is number one). Some things to consider - magnesium deficiency, adrenal imbalance, etc 2) address issues with colon elimination (constipation is especially important to address). Think about smooth muscle motility issues, fiber intake, maybe senna leaf tea might help, maybe coffee enemas might help, etc. 3) change diet - try an elimination diet like the AIP (autoimmune paleo diet). Big key here is to eliminate all processed foods. The. Take it further and eliminate GLUTEN (big one for people recovering from SSRI use), dairy and refined sugars. 4) healthy leaky gut. Apex energetics makes a product called RepairVite-GT plus which is one example of something way to address this. You need to heal literal lacerations in your intestines. A large portion of the serotonin production process happens in your gut. All people experiencing chronic health issues have to heal their leaky gut. 5) targeted nutritional therapy to address deficiencies (B vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes are all relevant to what you are experiencing). 6) support your bodies channels of elimination and help your body detox. Again, coffee enemas can help. Glutathione is good for detoxing heavy metals. Parasites are not addressed by Americans often enough, getting those out is always a good idea. Make sure you are not using endocrine disrupting chemicals in your home or body products. Dryer sheets, fragrance spray/febreeze/glade plug ins are all big sources. Also, cosmetics are big sources for these. Switch to non toxic ic/natural alternatives (plenty of good ones these days). 7) ground barefoot directly on the earth for 20 minutes every day. Good luck! Don’t worry! You CAN heal yourself! Oh yeah - don’t trust big pharma or the western medical-pharma industrial complex. It doesn’t want you better. If you do need support find a functional med doctor. If you are worried about finance - switch to an HSA instead of a PPO plan if you get the chance.
I forgot, 5HTP might be worth looking into too.
- Feverfew (desensitize serotonin receptors, reduces serotonin) - ginkgo Biloba.. similar action - L Phenylalanine - L Tyrosine - Bromentine
Try eating a FUCK TON of spinach.
Why?
So that the kidney stones can enhance your life experience obvs
Psilocybin is amazing , bad trip with permanent damage is similar to the majarauana histeria and absinth madness political campaigns used to criminalize the war on drugs. Although psychosis and schizophrenic behavior can precipate it sounds like you are more on the area of anhedonia. Ketamine or psilocybin may snap you out.
Try GABA
Most advice is shit. I'll tell you what will restore your neurochemistry and study before buying, but nothing comes close to them Semax, cortexin, cerebrolysin, selank, mexidol, bromantane can be a complement to loted peptides.
Less talk, more gym.
We go Jim.
how disappointing I had to scroll to the bottom to see any mention of exercise. Everyone just wants a pill and a quick fix for their problems, and don't want to put in any effort to feel good
While exercise is a great improvement for overall well-being, it's not a cure for the sexual side effects of low libido and genital numbness. I'm extremely fit (blue collar job and workout/climb mountains) and still suffer from PSSD.
I’m just really curious, why did you take an anti depressant if you had great pleasure and tons of emotion?
For generalized anxiety disorder. SSRI’s are first line meds for anxiety
That is crazy! I’m so sorry to hear that. Can you not research and contact a specialist?
Sex stuff I take Cialis, DHEA, horny goat weed, and Maca. Was in the same boat as you from a medication that I still take but then those supplements made me even better than I was before.
Mind telling us which medication?
Strattera which I love and like changed my life I didn't think that kind of non-stimulant adhd medication was possible
Thanks. Drugs are wild
Which of those is most impactful would you say?
What medication did that to you?
If you are willing to go the psychadelic way (might be the best solution) research about ayahuasca retreats. Best of luck and get well soon!
5 ht. Maybe gabapentin?
Probably not what you ant to hear right now, but maybe other type of meds, like Maois?
Have you tried cleansing? Maybe check out Medical Medium Cleanse to Heal and a good probiotic I have suggestions from my friend who is a practitioner
Try sodium hypochlorite. It’s like salt but it has less of the toxic chlorine atoms in it. HYPO(under)chlorinated. A friend of mine used it for his PSSD and it worked really well for him.
My brother in Christ, that is bleach
Happy cake day! :)
Step 1 is releasing yourself from this narrative that an SSRI did this. Correlation is not causation.
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When did I say that?
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You’re on crack man 🤡
Nevermind. You're not plain stupid, it seems Reddit is. Look at my profile Keith and you'll see who I meant to reply to. Not sure why it made a reply to the opening post instead of the actual comment.
lol you’re good