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I'll keep this post simple because I don't care to complain so much. For reference I'm 31 and male. I had a bad reaction to 5mg of escitalopram (prescribed for anxiety and mild depression) on February 22nd that left my head burning for hours. Earlier the same day I also took Lion's Mane (which I didn't realize at the time has MAOI properties, there's barely any research you can find about this through Google). I'm pretty sure it was a case of serotonin syndrome. I felt spaced out and overly jumpy/reactive and the doctors at the hospital didn't really seem too concerned about my condition because I was otherwise still conscious and that was good enough for them I guess. They're not very competent when it comes to identifying SS. I had also noticed immediate side effects (genital numbness) while I was using the washroom which left me very concerned. 8 hours of my time was wasted with basic testing and a chest x-ray and they sent me home with a blistering headache like it was nothing. My brain was basically fried and I could barely string words together. I've been eating completely healthy since the incident (lots of fish and meat) and stopped drinking caffeinated tea/coffee. I also take certain supplements here and there (Maca, Citrulline, Vitamin C/D, Magnesium Threonate/Glycinate/Taurate). The persistent symptoms I have are anhedonia, DP/DR, heightened senses, anxiety, vivid dreams (that are seemingly mocking me), and sexual dysfunction (ED, PE, etc). The timeline so far is very odd because a lot of the really bad stuff didn't hit me until a month afterwards. First week: Initial withdrawal. Numbness, GI issues (subsided), feelings of hopelessness/doom, and suicidal thoughts. I had to sleep in my mother's room one night to prevent myself going mad. 1-2 weeks: Still numb. Genitals extremely sore and I had a lot of trouble urinating (bladder control). 2-3 weeks: Constant mild head zaps/pressures/aches, otherwise no changes. 4 weeks: Genital soreness/numbness mostly gone, but things still dysfunctional. Woke up with full-blown DP/DR exactly on day 29. Intense headaches, tons of anxiety, muscle twitching. 5 weeks: Same as week before, though less pronounced. 6 weeks: Volatile mood shifts, crying, poor blood flow all over, constant muscle aches/weakness, still some twitching, dry mouth, inconsistent thirst signals, less/no hunger signals. I'm now just over 6 weeks (46 days) and I'm feeling very discouraged. My libido is still nonexistent, my brain is a mess (I can't enjoy my primary hobby anymore: software development), I'm struggling to find any meaning to life, and I have nobody to talk to that actually understands what I'm going through (I was okay with being a loner before all this, but now it's somewhat upsetting). My sister was the one who encouraged me to try this SSRI (she's also on it) and I haven't really felt like talking to her since a month ago due to what happened. My mother and my cat are currently the only support I have so far, aside from one random guy on Reddit (the PSSD sub is generally too depressing to read and every other is full of pharma shills). I'd be grateful if anyone can help me make sense of my situation. I'm honestly surprised that I haven't completely lost my s*** yet.

I apologise for the self indulgence of this but I'm upset at the moment and really wanted to just tell people about everything that's happened to me - it's a really, really long story. I appreciate its very TL;DR... I've been on and off various antidepressants since I was 14 - so for most of my life. These have included SSRIs, SNRIs and mood stabilisers. By age 27 I had decided I no longer wanted to take any medications for my presenting condition, which at that point was anxiety. I felt that the years I'd spent on medication was "lost time" because the emotional numbing effect of these drugs promotes a kind of apathy - because I didn't care about anything, I didn't do anything and so my life would wither around me. Every time I came off them I would look at my life - now able to feel the emptiness of it - and feel motivated to be proactive and improve it. My social life was better when I wasn't on medication, my memory was better when I wasn't on medication, I was more productive when I wasn't on medication. A very clear 'boom and bust' pattern had emerged in my personal history where when I was unmedicated I was a whirlwind of activity, taking positive actions to improve my health, and when I was on the pills I sat inside in my pyjamas. Another pattern was clear too - every time i weaned off my pills, i would leave my unfulfilling relationships with boyfriends because I could no longer tolerate the loneliness. I would look for something better. On pills, I just stayed, and those relationships over time would erode my self esteem. With all this evidence behind me, I decided none of this was worth it and I'd rather just learn to live with the anxiety. A couple of months after deciding I would never touch another pill, I woke up feeling something I hadn't felt since I was a teenager - a voracious sex drive! It had been so long since I'd had a libido that I hadn't realised it was gone and I found myself now constantly interrupted throughout the day by thoughts and fantasies about sex. My pleasure in sex also increased and my orgasms improved. My vulva even changed, appearing 'fuller' with increased lubrication, as if the bloodflow down there had suddenly increased. Initially I worried something was wrong and consulted my GP to ensure this swelling and wetness was not an infection, but everything was normal. This was just how I was *supposed* to be. I enjoyed this sex drive and pleasure for four years. Unfortunately, during those four years, my mental health snowballed. I developed severe panic disorder with agoraphobia. I was determined not to take medications so I tried everything else - therapies and self help, anything I could do to change my thoughts and feelings without a prescription. By age 31, now mostly housebound for two years, I gave up. Although the first two years of my unmedicated life had been more active and fulfilling, it was now the illness rather than the medication that had trapped me inside in my pyjamas. It was time to choose the lesser evil - Sertraline. A few days later, towelling dry after a shower, I realised I couldn't feel my genitals. Initially my drive for sex - which had continued to be high throughout my illness - remained and I was in the frustrating position of feeling an urge to satisfy that need and no longer being able to because my clitoris was completely numb. I was about to throw the pills away when, almost overnight, something amazing happened - the panic attacks stopped. I could go outside. I could do anything now. I booked a last minute flight to Portugal and went on holiday! Now came a tough decision - life, or a sex life? That probably doesn't sound tough to most people but when you've been trapped inside your house for years, your sexuality becomes very important to you. There's a window in every day where you feel excitement and pleasure, where you feel alive again. And frankly, one of the big motivators to get back outside was to have sex - something I now couldn't do! I was upset, but I told myself I was being silly. Of course it was more important to go outside than to masturbate! And it was only going to be temporary - I told myself that the moment my life was back on track I'd lose the pills. I quickly met a man and started a relationship of sorts, but it was an odd experience. I had no idea if I liked him; I just couldn't tell. I'd speak to friends and try to work out logically if he were a good fit for me but there was no emotion to act as a compass. I felt nothing - about anything. The sex, now that I had lost all feeling in my genitals, was like a prolonged smear test. I still had sexual urges - although I didn't know if I loved him, I definitely found him sexually attractive - but once we got started it was like my mind and body were completely disconnected. Nine months after starting sertraline, with panic attacks completely resolved, I decided the only way to know if I even wanted to go out with this guy was to find out how I felt without the pills. Weaning off was initially like weaning off any psychotropic drug. With each step down I had vertigo, electric shock feelings in my nerves, insomnia, agitation, intense emotions that came out of nowhere. I'd been through this a million times before so I continued with the scheduled taper, knowing a couple of weeks after I hit 0mg I'd feel fine again. But 48 hours after I took my last pill, chaos broke out in my body and mind. It was by far the most extreme experience I've ever had in my life. There were 1 million thoughts racing through my mind but I couldn't catch any of them. I had the bizarre feeling that I was thinking very obsessively about something but I had no idea what I was thinking about. The vertigo grew intense and I started vomiting. I would continue vomiting for the next three weeks. An excruciating and unrelenting pain developed in my gut. It felt like an emotional anguish, but what about? I didn't know. Unable to look after myself, a friend took me in. We had a long conversation about the biggest thing in my life at that time - I'd realised I definitely didn't like this boyfriend and I was leaving. "You should just tell him exactly what you just told me" my friend said, and i suddenly realised I had absolutely no idea what I'd just told her. I knew we'd been talking for hours, but I couldn't remember a single word. I felt very confused. I decided not to make any major decisions while I felt so chaotic so I didn't immediately break up with the man. Over the course of the next few weeks, strange things would happen. I would come around half slumped on his bed to him shaking me and pleading with me to wake up. I had no idea how I'd got there or what had happened. He would report back to me that I screamed in the night - a blood curdling scream, he said, but I had no memory of it. The confusion got worse and one day I couldn't speak. I just couldn't form words anymore, like where my mind used to be was a big blank, white space. My boyfriend took me to hospital where a doctor said he'd make sure I was referred for therapy and perhaps in the meantime I could join a choir. I went back to the GP and asked her to give me anything but sertraline. The strange thing was, despite every painful and extreme experience that was happening to me, my sexual function was great again and I didn't want to go back to that numbness. The doctor prescribed Prozac, which made everything worse, and a week later I gave in and took Sertraline. The symptoms vanished in less than a week - no more vomiting, pain or cognitive confusion - but my genitals disappeared with them. I left my boyfriend, which initially made me feel happy and motivated, and I told myself I'd give my brain a break before weaning back off the meds. Not long afterwards, the pandemic hit. I wasn't going to have sex anyway, so why go through discontinuation? When lockdown ended, I realised i had no sexual or romantic feelings anymore and was struggling to find a partner. I was now 35 and wanted to have children, but dates led nowhere. I couldn't feel a thing. I phoned my gp and started weaning down. Afraid of discontinuation syndrome, I took it very slowly and weaned over about 18 months. 48 hours after my last pill, vertigo emerged and I started vomiting. I vomited for six days but there were no cognitive symptoms so this was fine by me. A day or so after I stopped being sick, I put music on in my car and it was like I was on ecstasy. The sounds were thrilling, my brain was lighting up, I felt completely alive. But my genitals were still numb. After a couple of weeks, I started to panic and went online where I found out about PSSD. But every forum I saw helpfully stated that if you have been off the pills for less than six months, don't condemn yourself to PSSD. Go out, forget about it, it'll come back. Reassured, I did exactly that. About nine months after discontinuation, I felt a change in my brain. I felt intense emotions, I felt alive, I felt motivated to do hobbies I'd dropped years ago. I started to think about sex, but when I did I felt nothing. My clitoris is almost entirely numb, my vulva feels dry and shrunken. But my ovarian function has been tested and is fine - neither do I have any of the other conditions that can reduce oestrogen (such as thyroid disease). It's now been a year since I stopped sertraline and my sexuality is still as it was when I was on the pills. I feel old and past it, like I'm 87, not 37 . My doctor is being fantastic. She's investigating every possible physical angle. I haven't told her yet that I fear it might be iatrogenic. We're currently approaching it like a coincidence - at some point during the course of treatment, something else happened that caused exactly the same symptoms as the side effects of the pills. Something about this feels desperate and delusional. I worry that I'll never feel that sexual urgency that I once did and that I might never enjoy sex or masturbation again. It's a devastating thought, but I don't want to tell myself this is permanent without evidence. It could still be temporary, and I want to act as if that's true. If you read that far then my God you're a hero - thank you!

Please forgive my poor English.I took trazodone for 2.5years and stopped 2 years before.Now my symptoms are :I can’t feel pleasure when rubbing my glans penis,as well as when ejaculating，I have muted orgasm. Besides,I also feel painful tightness at my occiput and upper jaw.However,my libido or sexual desire is normal, and I can have good erection .Can anyone here give me some advice? Thanks a lot.

Greetings all, I took 10 mg of Prozac from September 2021 to December 2021. I tapered towards the end. Starting in January, I had highly unpleasant nerve sensations - burning, aching, and itching in my extremities, including my penis. I did not observe any loss of sexual function. The symptoms went away in April, then came back in August for two weeks. A couple times that fall, the symptoms emerged briefly after the consumption of alcohol and caffeinated beverages, both of which I’ve since quit. All this time I had excellent sexual function and regularly made love to my wife. In April 2023, I caught a bad flu, and the symptoms started up again. They were barely present in May but have been constant since June and frequently quite severe. I often feel like something is biting my toes or that ants are crawling all over me. My limbs, hands, and feet usually ache. Often the symptoms will go away for half a day or so. I think there might be two culprits: working outside all day in the Southern California heat, and a heavy diet of dark chocolate I was indulging in back in the spring. I have since quit chocolate and fried foods in addition to alcohol and caffeinated beverages. I rarely eat meat and I exercise almost every day. The symptoms will not let up. The past four nights I woke up repeatedly and had no erection. I made love to my wife yesterday morning no problem, but I know that loss of morning wood will eventually impact intentional arousal. Is there such a thing as very late-onset PSSD? I haven’t touched the poison in 22 months. Thank you.

I stopped taking Celexa five months ago. At first, I abruptly quit with 40 mg, afraid of side effects. Then there were unbearable symptoms of nausea, loss of balance, fog in the head and sensations of electric shocks to the brain. I endured 2 weeks. I had to resume taking 20 mg and these symptoms disappeared within a couple of hours. I then tapered the dose over about 10 days by splitting the pill and taking 15mg, then 10mg, then 3mg, then 5mg. After a couple of weeks, all these symptoms returned but were already better tolerated.

I was on 20mg of Prozac for 3 months. While on Prozac I had slight reduction in sex drive. Prozac wasn’t helping my depression so I quit cold turkey after 3 months of being on it. 3 weeks after I quit I started having brain zaps for a few days. Then one day the brain zaps stopped and suddenly I had no libido and ED. This happened 4 months ago and I haven’t improved at all my sexuality is gone and I struggle to get an erection when I never had this problem before. This wasn’t my first time on Prozac either. I was on 20mg in the past with no sexual issues, then I was increased to 40mg and completely lost my libido, couldn’t orgasm, and had severe ED, as well as emotional numbing. However all these symptoms went away after a month of being off the medication. I stayed off Prozac for a few months then went on 20mg again since I didn’t have problems with it previously and that’s when my symptoms started. How ***** am I is this withdrawals or PSSD? What makes me think it’s withdrawals is because my symptoms only started after I stopped the medication, but on the other hand I stopped Prozac 40mg cold turkey before and was back normal within a month so why did I get brain zaps and lose my libido and still haven’t gotten it back after stopping only 20mg of Prozac this time?

On the 31st of March I stopped taking escitalopram after I had reduced from 20 mg to 10 mg for 2 weeks prior. All hell broke loose for me with anhedonia, anxiety, depression and the rest that goes with coming off antidepressant cold turkey. I am also suffering from erectile dysfunction and pray that it will come back some day soon. I also take asenapine for PTSD and schizophrenia, which i dont think i have. I'm sorry, but I can't think of anything else to say so I'm going to end it there.

...I feel defeated. I don't have anymore will or strength to fight something as inhuman as this. Something that shouldn't even exist to begin with. This has destroyed my life totally. I have gone from a healthy guy in my 20's with my whole life in front of me to wishing everyday that this new "life" would come to an end. I have total sexual dysfunction, anhedonia, physical symptoms and changes to my body and it all began in early 2020 when I changed from sertraline, which I had taken on and off for several years, to escitalopram. I then took escitalopram for two, three months but changed back to sertraline because I noticed sexual dysfunction. To my surprise this persisted even after going back on sertraline which I then took for a couple of months before stopping fully in late December 2020 after a slow taper over several months. During the taper and after stopping the sexual dysfunction got even worse and I noticed new symptoms like dryness everywhere, numb skin, feeling cold constantly, pain and a burning sensation in my genital area, anhedonia and emotional blunting. This has continued ever since without much improvement except for a few symptoms. I feel deeply betrayed and am disgusted by the medical system that allows this to happen to innocent people that only reached out for help to try to improve their lives. To top it all off they then deny that the medications have anything to do with it all and blame the patient instead.

Greetings, I am 22 right now, I am fortunate to be able to join your platform to find solution on my current life altering issue... To encapsulate, my story began in 2018 (17 close to 18 years old) when I was close to my the examination period and I had a predisposition to stress and anxiety, after the examination my mental health and energy deteriorated and after a subsequent diagnosis with GAD (General Anxiety Disorder), and the begin the administration regimen of Paroxetine 20mg...and that was during 2018-2021 ( at which timeframe I also took Zoloft during that time), was also given Xanax. Please note that I was kinda doctor shopping myself, given that I have to leave my Mother-Country Greece, to study abroad in the UK. So keep in mind that many things transpired during that span...at which I did go on and off paroxetine for a while. When Covid-19 hit I had to go back to my own country, and therefore my parents had more of a grasp of what was happening.. Essentially, my mother at first, did not want me to take any medications and even told me to withdraw from paroxetine after being on it for so long. Hence, it is not surprising that even the doc conducted himself accordingly... and by saying that I mean, he reverted to my mother's request with the most ignorant/malpractice-like behavior possible: just stop in like 20 days... To keep it short after 2 months of being off the Paroxetine, I developed some kind of withdrawal syndrome which precipitate in the faitful moment the next doctor, decided that the best way to tackle this issue, was to administer trittico and 2.5mg zyprexa, which I took for about 22-28 days.... Anyhow then the doctor, tried to poly-drug me again by adding lyrica(which i took for a while ) and also trying to purport effexor as another supplementary med... Moving on, my parents, decided that the best course of action was to get a second opinion from another of those inclined clinicians... so the next one was like, olanzapine is a dangerous drug, and he told me to CT it after 22 days of exposure, to which I complied with no resistance. After that he told me that I need to do EEG and after that he gave me welbutrin (also attivan/tavor) which i took for about a month or so before stopping it, because it induced even more anxiety and internal head- throbbing (for which I conjecture olanzapine was the culprit)... Anyhow, after that, it was decided that I should visit another doc, which i did after stopping the med. The next doc. told me that the optimal path was to put me on 200mg Zoloft which I took, till I developed intense, noticeable tremors in my face, which even my parents found very peculiar. For this reason it was decided to decrease dose and stay at 100mg before going back to 50mg which i stayed for a while. After that, my parents told me that Rtms abbreviated for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation was the way to go. Consequently, I travelled by train to the northern part of my country where this medical intervention was available. After which 30 sessions (left lobe) for depression/anxiety and 30 additional sessions (at the top of the head) for OCD were conducted on me. It was not worthy it as i felt even worse after it, and developed a more pronounced headache and muscle strain in my neck and throat. After that, couple of months passed and since my situation only got worse and worse I went to 20 mg brittellix/vortioxetine and now for about 2 months I am at 40mg. The most prominent symptoms from my side are the following: 1) Cognitive deficit - progressively getting worse 2) Memory impairment - progressively getting worse 3) Anhedonia - no fluctuations 4) PSSD (ED can not even sustain it for a little while)- no fluctuations 5) Inability to connect with others/emotional blunting 6) Head pressure/ throbbing / Headache (rhythmic) - constant getting worse 7) Nausea and speech impairment Please advise if those syndromes are somewhat recoverable and my system can eventually normalize and revert back to its old self... Honestly I have heard stories of people like zelnick and Plshelp , Sofa and so many others that only got worse, which is quite perplexing, what do I need to do? I tried to persuade my parents to do an Qeeg or SPECT by the believe my OCD and "mental illness" are acting up.. Do you have any suggestions on how to proceed with life ? and if those alterations which are stemming from SSRIs and also the brief exposure to Zyprexa/Olanzapine can be addressed and properly treated ? I believe my D2 receptors or dopaminergic system is kinda messed up, and that neuroadaptation failed or something. My dopamine/serotonic/muscarinic/histamine etc. receptors and genesis must be f-ed up. Awaiting your kind advise if there is any. Thank you in advance for your kind assistance.

Hello members of this helpful forum. I’m a 44 year old male, and altough struggling to get of ssri’s for a long time, I’ve only found this forum recently. I’ve been reading here a lot the last few days and recognize so much. I will try to introduce myself without to much spelling errors, English is not my native language and I hate making mistakes but I’ll try. when about 19 years old I was prescribed propanolol due to anxiety. After a few years I was switched to Seroxat, I dont know the dosages anymore. Medication along with CBT didn’t help very much and depression came along. A new therapist recommended to take Citalopram because of my (social) anxiety. 40mg at first, and I remember it helped me better than the Seroxat. But on Citalopram I did notice the decline of my sexuality, but it didn’t bother me at the time being single, and I was told this was not permanent. After some time I went to a dose of 60mg and felt like superman. But I had much more side effects like rapid heartbeat, sweating and my sexuality was non existent so went back to 40mg. At about 29 years old I hated the sexual side effects so much I felt like being in a mental prison and wanted to quit. Therapist told me I could quit Cold turkey no problem. Withdrawal was hell on earth and after a few months (without sexual improvement) I reinstated 40mg. Later in time I tried tapering, but in retrospect this was way to quick (40-20-10-0) and after a few months I reinstated again to 40mg. After a lot of stress and anxiety my therapist suggested 60mg again, which I did. Again the same side effects kicked in but I felt like superman again. In retrospect the high dosage triggered hypomania. But my incompetent therapist put ‘bipolar’ in my medical file, not linking it to the high dose he prescribed me. I went back to 40mg and tried to taper (to quick) again. After a few months withdrawal kicked in and I saw no other option than to to reinstate. After a few years on 40mg and still completely impotent I read an article in a digital newspaper about PSSD, I think it was 2014. This was an eye opener for me. I found the PSSD-forum (never posted there) and tried various supplements trying to improve my PSSD, altough of course still on 40mg Citalopram but nothing helped. My conclusion was that the only way to get my sexuality back was to quit the ssri and this became my number one goal in life. I started breaking tablets and taking every other day to about 20mg. After this I started using tapering strips to a dosage of 12mg. I felt that even with tapering strips, tapering went to quick and I wanted to be able to stay longer at a certain dose so I switched to oral drops. The first of februari this year I did the last taper, from 4 to 3 drops. So I went from 8mg to 6mg. Way more than the advisable 10%. WD symptoms are worse than before but I’m managing. Being unemployed gives me the ability to sleep a lot, which helps. I’m waiting until WD symptoms stabilize again before tapering any further. Was planning to mix the oral solution with ethanol so one drop would equal 1mg but read some useful info on this forum about using a syringe. So I’m planning to taper further from 6mg to 5mg using a syringe. although PSSD is my main motivation to quit the ssri there is not much improvement so far. But I try to stay positive and there are some positives I should mention. Some side effects while being on 40/60mg are diminished. I no longer have a dry mouth and the extreme sweating is almost gone. In wintertime I always had acne around my mouth and nose, this is gone too, along with severe dandruff. On 40/60mg I also gained weight easily, but losing it was hardly impossible. The last months due to less apitite as an WD symtom I’m losing weight again. WD syptoms I experience are; fatigue, sensatitions in my head, easily irritated, sensitive to noise and light, CPPS, loss of intelligence/creativity/vocabulary, loss of appetite, anhedonia.

Rene94 from Germany / I'm so desperate and in a black hole of hopelessness.. Hello everyone! I've been following the forum for 6 months, I like it so much. There is no such thing in Germany. I 'll try to keep my first post short. As I'm new here, I wish everyone here all the best! Introduction: At the beginning of my topic I want to apologize for my bad english. I 'll try my best to write my thoughts here. I am a young men from Germany and currently 28 years old. Drug History: I have taken Venlafaxin 75mg in the past for anxiety disorders, I have never had any type of depression. My psychiatrist told me I could take these drugs forever and taper them off in 4-6 weeks. Well so much for that.. I then took it for 10 months and right from the start I noticed strange side effects like total genital numbness, complete loss of libido, emotional numbness, sleep duration was normal but numb. I don't know how to describe it, but I had neither the feeling of being tired nor the feeling that the sleep was restful and that I slept well. I no longer had an appetite and the fear was gone too, but so were all the positive feelings and thoughts. I had many other side effects but I thought I had to endure this temporarily, also because of work. I can't afford to lose this job. I lost my last job because of my anxiety disorder. Taper process I was tired of feeling like a robot and trapped in a lifeless body without having my personality, so I decided to stop taking the drug. I reduced it to 50mg for 2 weeks in December then to 37.5 for 2 weeks, 12.5mg for 5 days and then on January 26th I cut my dose to 0. As I learned afterwards, it was too fast, but I can't undo it. Withdrawal/Symptoms On tapering off and getting down to 37.5 mg I noticed days when I had some emotional energy, slight desire for sex, better sleep and some genital feeling. I figured I was on the right track and I needed to get rid of the drug altogether. What I experienced after 0 was absolute horror, hell on earth. A place that few of us are allowed to get to know. Acute withdrawal symptoms lasted about 6 weeks, then faded away. After those 6 weeks I got severe insomnia and all the other symptoms that were there from the start: hives, hair loss, hair texture change, total genital numbness, erectile dysfunction, total emotional numbness, derealization, deep depression, akathisia, digestive problems, etc. I think you know what i'm talking about. Now I'm at 9.3 months from 0 and gone is just the akathisia, digestive issues a bit better but that's it.. It's sad and I'm having suicidal thoughts because I don't think I'll ever recover. It's too much what was taken from me. I just wanted a fresh start. Now I'm a robot, a man-made AI. What can I do? Do you have any advice for me? If I experience a window on a symptom, does that mean that improvement will come back? Even if it was little? Thank you!

Hello everyone! I started on 25 mg Sertraline in April 2021 and increased the dose to 50mg after two weeks. I got prescribed the drug for premenstrual syndrome, which is ridiculous given to what disaster happened. I took this med for 2 1/2 months and decided to taper down again, as Sertraline made me anhedonic, emotionally numbed an decreased my libido significantly. When I told my psychiatrist about these side effects, she told me that they could persist. Okay, thanks, why did she not tell me that before I took the drug? Would have been nice to weigh risks and benefits myself. Of course these side effects did not resovle after discontinuation, they just improved a little. Unfortunately I made the mistake to start taking Saint Johns Wort (900mg) in September 2021 as I could not find any information that it can make PSSD worse. So gradually my libido decreased even more and in Winter 2021 I got panic as I recognised that my genitals lost their sensitivity. In despair about this fact I needed to go to the psych ward in April 2022. Because of my bad experience I did not want to take any more meds, but I got forced by the professionals and by my family. So I took Wellbutrin 150mg for 2 weeks. This made very anxious and increased my resting heart rate to 120. Because I could not sleep like that and did not feel tired at all, they gave me Tavor and Promethazin to calm down. Even after stopping Wellbutrin, this symptoms persist. Furthermore I suffer from extreme emotional numbness (can not cry properly) to a point that I feel like a zombie. I dont have any positive emotions left, neither can I feel connected to my surrounding, family and friends. Beside these debilitating symptoms, I suffer from complete genital numbness and zero libido/ feeling of attraction. The emotional symptoms did improve a little over the last weeks, but still I dont feel alive. I is so scary what happened to me. I can't make sense of that. I was a highly emotional, sensitive young woman (who even did not have depression) and ended up like this. I can't imagine going back to my master studies, neither can I work in my job as I am a social worker, because I can't feel empathy. I would be very grateful to hear from people who had similar experiences with a severe form of PSSD and got better or improved to 100%. I know Violet who fully recovered, but she is the only one and I guess recovery is on the rare side. I wish nothing more than getting my life back. Thank you and thanks for reading Malu

Extremely severe PSSD at 20, need help ASAP I had been on venlafaxine for 3 years up until February when I was told by my doctor to taper off over a span of a few weeks. I had no withdrawal symptoms initially but since around May a very large amount of physical and mental symptoms have manifested and gradually seemed to have gotten worse over time. I have been on 150 mg of wellbutrin for about a month after being admitted to the psych ward due to the mental state I am in, helped quite a bit in the early days but seems to have worn off or is making me worse. Currently taking magnesium and fish oil to combat head issues, but I just can't take this anymore and its only been a couple months of symptoms when many others here have had them last for years - Severe brain fog, constant - Short-term memory loss, unable to remember names and faces of anyone new I meet - Regular migraines, three times a week and usually develops towards end of day - Pressure feeling banded around head, constant - Visual snow, even more severe when eyes are closed - Blurred vision - Extremely severe dullness of emotions, totally unable to feel love, happiness, anger. Crying is extremely difficult and takes effort and extreme distress. Cannot even laugh. Constant - Total loss of creativity, unable to come up with original ideas - Mind feels completely blank and thoughts are not racing like they used to. Did improve with wellbutrin but not even close to 100% - Inability to compile thoughts, not capable of thinking of even half of these symptoms without writing them down ahead of time - Social skills completely disappeared, went from being talkative to socially paralyzed and cannot come up with the words to say. Maintaining conversations causes mental agony, have to fake emotions - Difficulty finding words I previously used regularly in my vocabulary - Extremely severe depression, feeling of total hopelessness all the time. This DID NOT develop until after other head symptoms, head issues popped up during a content period of my life - Feeling of dizziness and strange vision when moving head back and forth - Occasional severe confusion and total disorientation. Happens probably once every few days for an hour or two - Feeling of being in a dream or a daze, feel like I'm spectating someone else living my life - Extremely vivid dreams, seem more real than reality - Occasional sensitivity to light - Total loss of appetite, eating anything more than a very small quantity of food makes me nauseous. This developed about two weeks ago, much later than other symptoms. Went very quickly from eating a lot to eating nothing - Total lack of interest in any hobbies that I was in love with a month prior - Irregular stool, liquid most of the time. - Constant exhaustion - Muscle weakness and soreness - Nausea - Heart pounding when I lay down, distracting when I try to sleep - Heart palpitations - Sharp chest pain. - Insomnia, have been taking melatonin to put me to bed but I wake up very early in the morning and cannot go back to sleep due to how horrible I feel - Brain zaps, seem to have lessened recently but were often - Stiff neck - Total loss of sexual interest. Extremely difficult to get and maintain an erection - Shriveled penis - Pins and needles sensation occasionally in fingers - Stiff neck for a few hours a day - Lower back pain - Itchy red bumps popping up all over - Derealization. Hoping to God that this is just a bad dream or a hallucination. I feel like a shell of myself to say the least, feel as if I have died Much of this was copied from my post on the pssd subreddit from a few weeks ago, I would write a new summary of my issues but my brain has gotten so much worse that I am seriously struggling to even read and write and I am totally forgetting what medications I am on and such. I honestly do not even care about the sexual or other physical side effects because my head condition is so awful. I am in total crisis mode and need relief like right now, I don't know who to turn to because people in my life just do not understand what is going on, I have been to the hospital 4 times in the past couple months for these issues and have been given a different and stupid diagnosis each time, the last time was when they had enough and put me in the psych ward for a week. I did not want to take any meds but I felt it was forced upon me with how bad my condition was and I have been totally stuck on wellbutrin since. Its helping a little but I am terrified about staying on it as I believe my condition will worsen as it has and I am also terrified of going off of it because my condition will also worsen then. I have been to several doctors and psychiatrists and they are just trying to give me more ssris and such and do not believe I am still having withdrawal from venlafaxine. I have completely lost all sense of self and my memory is getting worse and worse by the day, I am forgetting the names of family members and massive events that happened in my life. In my hopsital visits I was blood tested every time, urine tested every time, given a CT scan on my brain, EKGs and such and nothing came up abnormal except for magnesium being low. My brain is in such bad condition, it feels like I am completely incapable of feeling any sort of stimulation and I am clearly declining mentally and emotionally on a day-by-day basis. I am on the verge of trying re-instatement or just going back to the hospital so they put me on more drugs because this is so unbearable I don't even know if I can last another day. Caffeine, alcohol, and small amounts of junk food have caused me severe crashes and I am extremely hyper-aware of literally everything I put in my body. I do not feel anything besides pain and fear, I know there probably isnt much that people here can help with but I am looking for a miracle here. This is unbelievable pain and if I make it through this it will certainly be the most I will ever have to struggle in my life, but I am seriously doubting my ability to recover due to the severity of my case and it seemingly getting worse. I have appointments with a neurologist and GI doctor but they are backed up and it will be 6 weeks until I can see them. I live with my parents because I'm 20 and cant work or drive or do anything in this condition and they are also going through torture because of how unbearable it is to be around me like this

Hi All, Just a bit of a history. 2013 I got suddenly chronically fatigued and sudden unexplained sexual dysfunction which then worsened into depression. Looking back it was probably severe overworking of my job at the time. Over the next few years I was triated on a number of different drugs, SSRIs, SNRIs, noval ADs that were a new class (can't recall which one) anti seizure drugs etc and later on a few antipsychotics. For the most part I had severe side effects from SSRI/SNRIs but everything else did nothing, like taking a sugar pill. I quite all these cold turkey after months of use for each and had no issues. Sexual dysfunction for my main complaint even though the fatigue and flat affect were disabling but the later I cared little about at the time. Out of my own research I found Mocloemide by 2016 and started that and saw about 50% improvement in depression and gained some energy. My sexual dysfunction improved slowly to an acceptable level that caused me no issues. But due to struggling with motivation and work attendance due to the fatigue I lost my job. The psych prescribed me Rexulti and like magic it worked I was near 100% me again. This was late 2018/early 2019. My sexual function improved further. I had normal function although still not the libido prior the depression but normal compared to the general population as I was hypersexual before depression anyway so not an issue. 18 month later I started having SD again out of the blue and also weird sleep issues like jerky sleep/wake transitions and bad sleep paralysis. It took another 12 months to pinpoint the Rexulti as the cause as my docs weren't versed on this pretty new drug and my psych denied Rexulti as causing SD which I asked about before even taking it as SD was my main concern. So about August 2021 I started tapering and did so over 8 weeks as per the usual info that I could find on google and assumptions based on the psych saying to cut to 50% dose in one go to see if SD might improve. I had the usual withdrawals, all psychological ones but nothing that google didn't already suggest. I never really had withdrawals before so unusual for me. I had some burning pain in my genital area as well but had that once or twice with SSRIs as a side effect. The withdrawals went away after a few weeks. About 9 weeks later the genital burning suddenly came back and within a week or two I got burning and then numbness there and also my lower legs. Then I got soft glans syndrome and completely numb glans and semi numb genitals and saddle area. Few weeks later same burning and numbness happened to my face and hands. Then esophagus and tongue and I was having issues with swallowing, then breathing. I could not go to the toilet properly, 1s and 2s due to retention. Few more weeks, then arm/leg weakness and incoordination. Uncontrolled sweating at the lower lumbar that gave a bad rash and infection. There was muscle jerks that persisted for weeks, feeling of face and tongue paralysis even though I could move. I had some paranoid thoughts about my thoughts in a cyclic fashions and couldn't hear sounds correctly. (eg dog snoring sounded like a kid saying "muma" then changing to a chainsaw outside even though the dog was on the bed) I have had 100s of physical neurological symptoms, too many to list. I have been in hospital 5 times this year due to physical symptoms mimicking other serious conditions like, Spinal injury, GBS/CIDP, heart attack, seizure, stoke etc Due to being so upset and anxiety ridden 3 months post withdrawal I had to reinstate and retapper but chose to tapper from 0.25mg not to go back to square 1 just so I could mentally deal with the debilitating physical symptoms. I couldn't work for months. The reinstating did nothing for the symptoms so what ever was triggered by the withdrawal could not be reversed. During the last 7-8ish months of retapering at 50% reduction each 3 months corresponding to a bit over 10% biological reduction each step I have seen some things improve and some things worsen and many things comes in waves and many new symptoms on the way like tinnius, non sweating hands and feet, visual hallucinations, blindness, narcoleptic like attacks triggered by youtube+ headphone and driving. I am currently at 0.0625mg or 1/32 of the normal dose (2mg which is what I was on) for depression or 1/64 of the schizophrenia dosage. I plan to go to 0.03mg in about 10-12 weeks and then stop 12 week after that. I have also reduced my moclobemine from 300, to 150 and last week to 75mg, although I feel it hasn't got much of an impact unlike the Rexulti reductions which are hell for about 4-6 weeks post reduction, so it's like continuously going through the same cessation over and over while being on it has done nothing to reverse symptoms as mentioned. I am still having bad SD which comes in waves but different combo of symptoms each time. The symtopms are pretty much exactly like PSSD but without anorgasmia or ejaculation issues, quite the opposite in fact. Orgasms are too intense with recently PE being a new symptom I had not had before. I had been diagnosed with FND but I feel this isn't completely correct as this is clearly caused by the Rexulti. Has anyone else had extremely severe neurological symtoms from Rexulti and recovered? If so how long until the recovery? For me this has persisted for almost a year and only partial improvement and I fear it might me permanent like some PSSD sufferers. I have been googling since November last year and still have not come across any cases of this. I seem to be the only one. One other person I talked to only complained of ED and PE that has persisted for years but they got it instantly taking it and only had the mental withdrawals, no neurological ones. Love to hear anyone else had this from Rexulti or other antipsychotics. Cheers!

I was on Sertraline for 6 weeks. Week 1,2 - 50mg Week 3 - 100mg Week 4 -50mg Week 5,6 - 25mg Stopped. I still suffers PSSD symptoms 3 months after stopping the ssri. Was the tapering wrong? What I need to do now?

Hello guys , please spare a few minutes to read it and help me with this. I am from India 25 male In April of 2019 ,during my 3rd semester break, I had a breathing issue (one side nose block )and a sleep (cycle )problem,so I went to ent doc- dx with right sinusitis (not severe ) . For the sleeping cycle issue ,he told to see psychiatry (his wife ) and she prescribed DEP®@n L combination of ( Le×@pro 5 mg + clo≠zepam 0.25 mg ) for 14 days and told to stop After stopping , I had symptoms like - heart pounding ,anxiety , concentration issues, irritability . So I expected it to go away, but it didn't .So I went to another psychiatrist after 6 month (oct 2019),and he prescribed p®@xil (p®@xidep cr 12.5 mg ) ( oct 2019 to Jan 2020) i took for 3 months. while taking this durg my irritability ,anger increased .After stopping the drug I had symptoms of acid reflux ,pounding heart , muscle twitching,anxiety ,anger issue , irritability , indigestion i couldn't eat like before my food consumption decreased,sweating at night , waking at midnight 2am ,mild erectile dysfunction , orgasm decreased slightly ,mild heat intolerance . These severe affects lasted 6 months (aug 2020) and gradually decreased ,but the following symptoms did not -anxiety ,acid reflux, sexual side affects Somehow, I graduated in 2020 Feb 2021 due to exam pressure my sleep cycle changed - anxiety increased so I decided to take it again p®@xil (p®@xidep cr 12.5 mg ) this was the biggest mistake that i have ever made. . While taking the drug I felt dizzy all the time . on 12 th day I got severe gi distress and complete sexual dysfunction that shocked me so I stopped (Feb 2021) that drug cold trukey after that I had total sexual dysfunction ,can't feel emotion,severe acid reflux, heat intolerance ,throat pain ,blurry vision ,fatigue ,muscle pain , shivering, frequent urination ,fear increased , social anxiety ,panic attack,bloating , inability to burp , indigestion,muscle twitching, heart palpitation , headache,bounding pluse , wake up at midnight , can't able to sleep at right time always varies , exercise ability decreased , anger to the peak , irritability, confusion,can't concentrate ,eyelids felt always tired ,anxiety increased . this lasted about 7 to 9 months severely (June 2021) and gradually decreased .now this is my 17 th month slightly improved i can exercise more than 20 mins but still have most of this symptoms especially total sexual dysfunction ,anxiety ,indigestion ,muscle pain , concentration problem . In my first 2 attempts I couldn't study properly and in my 3rd attempt I did some but not enough, so I failed in all my attempts. I am going to write another one this year .my problem is that i can't study for long (8hrs-10hrs) and have concentration problem .Almost wasted a year and a half of my life .i have read "withdrawal and tapering 101".i am planning to reinstate very low dose ssri ? Anyone here been through something similar and recovered ? What lab tests do I have to take ? Can anyone help me with this ? I am obsessed with my sexual dysfunction always thinking about it makes me sick . My friends passed the exam a year ago ,but I am still struggling . I shouldn't have taken antidepressants 😔 What should I do ? Plz give me some suggestions

hope for improvement- very difficult time- not sure pssd or protracted withdrawal or both i am a 29 year old female who teaches kindergarten and loves my family and puppy. I would really like to feel like myself again. basically I was on and off Lexapro 5 and sometimes 10 mg the last two years. As well as Xanax or Benadryl few nights a week to sleep. A few months on, stopped due to sexual side effects, those always went away and then I went back on due to severe anxiety. Longest period I was on them was January 2021 through July 2022. Then a month off and picked back up in August 2022 through November 22. I had the classic withdrawal symptoms of brain zaps lethargy and headache each time, some times worse than others. This last time I was on Wellbutrin as well simultaneously and didn’t notice it being as uncomfortable. Then I went to start taking a few doses of 5mg Lexapro in February due to anxiety but didn’t continue due to sever genital numbness that went away I thought. I stayed on Wellbutrin until end of February then stopped. Noticed intermittently some sexual side effects like slight numbness a few times and delayed orgasm. But no other issues and felt great and like myself. took some 5htp supplements for anxiety. Then beginning of May I notice I feel depressed, mood is low, gaining weight, headache, easily upset, little arousal and delayed orgasm. Ask to go back on Wellbutrin and immediate boost in everything- feel hyper sexual, etc. but big bouts of severe anxiety and panic about health and safety and job. cue more panic about why this big difference in sexual functioning and lots of researching, stop Wellbutrin, fall into crippling anxiety about pssd- psych prescribed low dose buspar which I took only a few doses, Xanax sparingly. since late May I’ve stopped everything. It was awful at first. Then things seemed to be getting better emotionally and sexually for a few weeks. Now they seem worse! I have no energy, even less sensation down there, feel anhedonic now which I didn’t before, and like I can’t get out of bed. I used to love poetry and now it just isn’t the same. Emotionally blunted and just overall very blah. I’m singly and going to be 30 soon and always went crazy for handsome men, and now it’s just not happening. Nothing seems to get me excited sexually or otherwise. Sometimes I am able to cry and emote strongly and other times I’m not. I have insane insomnia sometimes with akathasia where I am very restless and move my legs and toss and turn continuously. Perpetual headache. Eyes hurt. Occasional tinnitus. Sometimes dpdr. Anxiety turned to severe depression now. Sometimes when I can convince myself things will pass and get better and I can have an enjoyable day. But that is getting harder. i read the pssd forums and there are some recoveries but everything out of Dr. Healy is so permanent and soul crushing. I am looking for help and hope. The SD is not even the concern anymore, I want to feel excited and happy and energetic again. Is there hope for me?

hi I’m spoonbill I’ve been anhedonic, cognitively impaired and mentally I’ll since highschool I’m 2016 when I abused a lot of adderall and mdma. Although I was more functional. My history also includes a couple years of Prozac st like age 13. But when it really got bad was last December after 5 days of cymbalta. I had tried a few ssris and sunrise for about a week or two previous to the cymbalta. I was also taking various nootropics like psilocybin, nac, lionsmane but I think for those 5 days I was just taking cymbalta anyway this cymbalta completely changed my awareness. It made me more numb, caused pssd, and made my executive functioning waaay worse. I’m like a different person. I’m way more miserable. Less witty and struggle with so much irritation and inability to see social lines and communicate. I just cannot understand how this happened. It feels like brain damage to me. I feel trapped. And suicidal for the first time in my life. It’s been months and only partially improved. I’m working 40 hours a week and suffering. **** man. What do I do? I don’t even like the same things or think or see things the same way any advice is appreciated . Keep your head up. I know how it is.

Hi! I've been lurking on this website for quite sometime now (Over 2 years) desperate for answers and hope. I thought I’d make an introduction post just to keep track of my own progress alongside others. My memory is foggy in some parts because when I first cold turkeyed my Luvox 200 mg I didn’t think anything of it and was quite fine without it. But my rough estimate is I cold turkeyed 7/2020. I didn’t notice any symptoms regarding withdrawal until 10/2020 that’s when I relapsed in my OCD with the intrusive thought “What if I don’t love my partner?” And I spiraled into crying and anxiety. I’ve struggled with HOCD for 6 years and it was the main reason I was put on Iuvox. Funny enough throughout those 6 years my sexual function and emotions stayed in tact. But as soon as it hit 10/2020 the symptoms started almost immediately. i even developed depersonalization to the point I didn’t even feel like a woman (which I’ve never wanted to be trans or a man so it was strange to FEEL like a stranger in your own body) I started feeling so depersonalized that even talking or seeing myself freaked me out and made me feel like I wasn’t me. I think this is one of the scariest things a person can experience. The following months I had impending doom because I thought me and my bfs relationship was in jeopardy - I suddenly didn’t recognize him even though we’ve been together for 9 years and I was always in love with him. My family became foreign too and it was hard to connect with them alongside my depersonalization. When this all happened I messaged my primary care doctor to up my dose but reinstating did nothing. i stayed on 100 mg of Luvox. Fast forward to 3/21-7/21 - I had massive panic attacks where I almost believed I was about to have a heart attack. It was hard to connect with people and cognitively I declined. Making basic conversation with people was hard. And then my fiancé proposed to me and I had a panic attack during only making me believe we weren’t meant to believe. Not thinking it was due to the pill I dumbly cold turkeyed. Who would think it could impact you so much? Not me. This was also the time my sexual dysfunction took place. i realized I couldn’t feel anything during sex. My ****** became numb and even urinating felt different. It didn’t matter how much I touched myself I couldn’t feel pleasure - but scariest of all I couldn’t feel arousal. The natural feeling you get just by being kissed by my partner was gone. And then suddenly I coudn’t feel romance. And I know you don’t know me but I’ve been OBSESSED with romance my entire life. I’ve written stories about love, watched only romance anime and movies, blushed over stereotypical romantic scenes. But suddenly without attraction or emotions I couldn’t feel romantic towards my fiancé. Which scared the hell out of me. 8/21 - I became emotionally blunted. I felt neutral, even the anxiety that always bothered me was numb. I didn’t care about my job, my family, my fiancé, my cats or what happened to me. 4/22 - Emotionally blunted, again the sexual dysfunction and romantic attraction are what worries me the most. I know it’s the medication because I feel no desire for anyone else. It’s hard to laugh naturally and connect with people. i took a Thorne gut test and tested positive for gut dybosis and out of range bad bacteria. Supplements Im taking: • Fish oil • magnesium taurate •butyrate •multivitamin •liposomal vitamin c • vitamin d •Korean panax ginseng I’m tapering by 10 mg every month. I’m at 62.5 mg of Luvox currently

Hi! First of all apologize for my english, it’s not my native language. I’m a 35 year old male and I’ve been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and depression when I was 21. Since that moment I took so many different antidepressants that I can’t even remember all their names. Until I was 30 years old I took mainly Lyrica (Pregabalin) and Entact (Escitalopram) and I never experienced any sexual collateral symptoms from them. When I was 30 years old a traumatic event changed my life (the girlfiend I had since I was 22 left me) and those meds were no longer effective to treat my anxiety and depression. Since that moment I changed a lot of different types of antidepressants (and also some antipsychotics) without any sexual problem. The one who worked better for me was Anafranil (Clomipramine) 25 mg. I started taking it 2 and a half years ago in combination with Lantanon (Mianserin) 15 mg and Rivotril (Clonazepam) 3 drops each day. I have to admit that they worked great for my symptoms, I was feeling very well. I started taking them in May 2019 and after some months I started suffering from anorgasmia. My psychiatrist assured me it was a temporary effect of Anafranil. During the following year and a half I was single, so not sexually active. Anyway I noticed a progressive decrease in libido but I didn’t give too much importance to this problem (my bad). I also replaced Mianserin with Trazodone for a couple of months because for a certain period it was difficult to find it in my country. 5 months ago I had the first occasions to have sex in 1 and a half year and was in that moment that I truly realized how my libido has been destroyed by the meds. I tried to have sex in 3 different occasions but failed miserably every time. Since that moment I can’t achieve a full and stable erection without Cialis (but it doesn’t work all the time) even during masturbation. I immediately told to my psychiatrist about the situation and he told me that Anafranil could do that but it was reversible. So I stopped taking Anafranil in October 2021 and I started taking Buspirone, since he said it has always worked to resolve those side effects of tricyclic antidepressants.I took only Buspirone for 3 weeks but without any significant improvements. So I decided to go to an andrologist, who prescribed me a “rehabilitation therapy” with cialis 5 mg 3 times a week for a month (ormonal values are normal). In his opinion my impotence was caused by a mixture of organic and psychological factors. At this point I started panicking. I went back to my psychiatrist and I explained him the situation and told him I was afraid i got PSSD. He told me that there isn’t any scientific evidence of PSSD and that it is all in my head. In his opinion i developed an obsession for the sexual dysfunctions I had when I was taking Anafranil and now some psychological dynamics cause the dysfunctions to persist after discontinuation. He prescribed me another SSRI (Fluvoxamine) in order to get rid of this obsession. I told him I was too afraid to take it because I’m worried it could worsen my symptoms but he answered me there isn’t any risk. I went to another andrologist two months ago who prescribed me 3 months of Cialis Daily (5 mg) and one month of complete abstinence from porn and masturbation (???). The abstinence improves the situation a little bit and Cialis daily almost resolved the ED but I’m afraid to develop tachyphylaxis taking it every day. I found a new psychiatrist who believes me and recognize PSSD. She told me that there’s no cure and the only thing I can do is to avoid SSRI and wait. Two months ago I started to do cognitive behavioral therapy to reduce the distress caused by the situation, which helps me a little bit. At the moment I’m taking only 1 drop (0.1 mg) or Rivotril (Clonazepam) any other day to contain the severe anxiety caused by this condition. Since I stopped Anafranil I don’t suffer of anorgasmia anymore but my libido is still very low and I have pretty severe ED along with a strong anhedonia and cognitive dysfunction (sh*tty memory, can’t focus etc..) Right now because of this situation i suffer from extreme anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts every day. Anyway I try to stay phisically active (I run 1/2 times a week) and to spend time with my friends to get some relief from this mental torture but I can’t open up with them because I’m ashamed of the condition I put myself into. Since I also have traits of OCD I’m worried that psychogenic factors could play a huge role in my situation, preventing me to feel any possibile improvements.

Violets Escitalopram Lexapro Cipralex Protracted Withdrawal Hello everyone, I have been thinking of posting a success story for a while, and after some questions in my private messages, I have decided to return here to give some hope to the ones that are suffering with PSSD. Here is an excerpt from my original post about my experience back in 2019: "I started on 2,5mg escitalopram in december 2018 for GAD and severe depression by my GP. I gradually increased the dose up to 7,5mg and was on this dose for a couple of weeks (until january 7th) I then decided to taper down again, as the drug made me careless, emotionally numb, impaired my cognition and significantly decreased my libido. So I stopped it after 2 months (last 2,5mg pill taken 8th of february). Since stopping I suffered two weeks of acute physical withdrawal (flu-like symptoms, nausea, dizziness etc) but I thought that it would be over and I would go back to «normal», but now it is clear to me that I also suffer from protracted withdrawal and the symptoms are scary and debilitating. I suffer from parasthesia, brain zaps, tinnitus, severe derealization, emotional numbness and extreme apathy to a point where I can’t force myself to get up and eat. I feel completely braindead and my cognition is ruined, the past month has gone by in a haze and I can’t remember or recollect much of it. This is extremely terrifying and almost worse than the original depression. I feel dead, even though I’m alive." ______________________ I am happy to share that since then, I have pretty much recovered. From the very long list of symptoms that I suffered (anhedonia, complete apathy/avolition, complete emotional numbness (NO emotions at all), no feelings of hunger, no libido, full genital and nipple anesthesia, severe cognitive disfunction, muscle aches/wastage, changed hair structure, dry skin, no sweating, tinnitus, visual disturbances (some visual snow/unclear vision/focus), gum health issues, high pulse/breathing issues leading up to a week long hospital stay), I now only have one or two of those symptoms left, which are pretty minor anyways. That is some decrease in libido, as well as permanent tinnitus (barely noticeable), which are pretty insignificant at a greater scale of things. It took me about three months after cessation to start experience tiny improvements and it took me almost a year to start feeling somewhat like myself emotionally. The first thing to improve was my cognition, which started improving after about 3 months, then the anhedonia started to lift around the 6 month-mark, together with some of the physical symptoms. The emotional and the sexual dysfunctions were the last to go and improved majorly at the 1-1,5 year mark. I must note that I haven't taken any medications or specific supplements (other than some B-vitamins and Omega 3) ever since my horror experience with Lexapro and I am not planning on doing so either. Therefore, I do consider my "recovery" natural. Anyways, now, after three years, I think it is safe to say that I am fully recovered and I am mostly back to my "old" self. I have since graduated at my university, gotten to experience amazing new things and places and also managed to find a loving partner. Even though life still gets hard at times (like it does for the most of us), and I still have days where the depression rears its ugly head, I now have found ways to deal with it, knowing it's only temporary. I also feel like this entire PSSD-experience has made me a lot more resilient and I want people in a similar situation to know, that there is definitely hope, no matter how many symptoms they experience and how hopeless it might feel at the moment. Best, Violets

Greetings, after what has been almost three months suffering from a wide array of changes and symptoms that began once I stopped taking Clomipramine (Anafranil), I have finally decided to make a post here and seek out help. I was initially against it because I thought I would be digging myself deeper into a hole, but see no alternative at the moment in regards to finding hope and assistance. This really all began when I started taking Clomipramine, but manifested itself as mainly ED related problems. Nothing like emotion and attraction seemed to have been affected while I was taking Clomipramine. I was given this medication to “attempt” to help with OCD, and Depression aswell as Anxiety. I have always been a straight male (24), with a healthy sex life. I have always found women attractive, and had no issues before taking and stopping Clomipramine. The issues arose around Dec 22nd of 2021, and I will describe them below: As I stopped taking Clomipramine, I found a number of hellish side effects or symptoms that began upon cessation. These include below: -Lack of Emotions (Not sure how to describe this) -Lack of Attraction to Women (Definitely has been the MOST difficult to bear) -Sexual side effects: such as Low Libido and what first started as inability to get erect, but around the middle of February I noticed subtle improvement in this department. I now am struggling with pre-mature ejaculation, almost to an incredible degree. I am able to get erect, but it is difficult, and I have pleasureless orgasms. -Incredible amounts of anxiety over this entire situation, and feelings of complete despair and hopelessness. It’s odd because I almost feel the things I have been going through in my dreams aswell. The only thing I experienced while on the drug was ED, and difficulty reaching climax. It seems everything else began once I stopped taking it. I have taken anti-depressants in the past without issue upon ceasing them. I did smoke Marijuana while taking anti-depressants in the past, and smoked it once or twice while using Clomipramine. I was actually hospitalized for about half a month in January of 2022, because of how difficult this has all been. I feel hopeless, and completely lost. I am unable to live life without my sexuality, and feel betrayed and angered that the medication I was given to help me ended up doing this instead. The Dr. I have narrows it down to my OCD, and Anxiety. He almost refuses to recognize what I am dealing with. I will admit some concern over what part OCD might be playing in all of this, and if I am making everything worse with what has been called my “sticky brain” (attachment to problems and inability to stop thinking about them, researching about them, and worrying about them). I am looking for hope from people who’ve been in the same situation. I’ve looked online for people who’ve mentioned lack of attraction and recovery but have found few stories if any. It’s all been very surreal, and any assistance might be beneficial at this point. Thank you, and sorry for the length of my post.

I decided last spring that I wanted to stop taking my lexapro. I was 29 and had been prescribed 10mg since a suicide attempt at 20. I did not do a ton of research into tapering beforehand, or tell my doctor about my plans. I went down to 5mg rather quickly, around easter (I didn't keep track so the dates are all approximate). I stayed at 5mg for a few months. In June I saw my doctor, told her what I was doing and proceeded to lower my dose to 2.5mg every day, then every other day, coming off some time in July. I felt like a veil had lifted, I had more energy and motivation than I had in years, colors were brighter, I was in touch with all of my emotions. Towards the end of September, I started to feel low mood creeping back in. I live alone and do not have many friends in my city, largely due to quitting drinking in 2020, so I chalked up a lot of the mood to that. This is where I should also mention that for about 6 years, I've been taking benzos in one form or another almost daily, and for the past 3 I have taken Valium every day. I never had a prescription. I noticed that I had been increasing my dosage in step with my low mood, and for this reason and a variety of others, I resolved to begin a taper. With benzos I was more aware of the long and arduous process. I started tapering down from 20mg daily valium in October and I am currently at 11mg a day. I finally made an account on this website because the intense depression and ahnedonia, and the sexual dysfunction I've been experiencing, are getting to be excruciating, to the point that I do not always want to be alive. I have a counselor who specializes in benzo withdrawal and a psychiatrist who is able to prescribe now, but I am looking for any help I can get. Is it normal to not be hit with SSRI-discontinuation symptoms for a few months after going off? I have a hard time sorting through what can be attributed to SSRIs and what is benzos. Today I am extremely concerned about PSSD. When I first came off of Lexapro I did not experience sexual issues at all, but starting in November, I began to notice alarming changes; decreased pleasure in orgasms, less forceful and less "fruitful" ejaculations, premature ejaculations. As a 30 year old guy who wants to have a family one day, these symptoms are very concerning. I am hoping to find other people here who can offer their experiences, and, fingers crossed, give me some hope that what I am going through is not permanent. I apologize for the rambling nature of this post. I am grateful that this community exists.

Hi, I was on meds for 8/9 years for anxiety. Initially I was put on mirtazapine to help me sleep as I struggled with tinnitus too. It helped sleep but looking back it lowered sex drive (I didn’t know it was the mirt then), I didn’t really care though as I was so focused on my business that I didn’t even have time to think about sex, I was just thinking about making money. After about a year and half I decided to come off mirtazapine as it was making me tired during the day, I then went on Citalopram. I remember the first few weeks I was euphoric! I felt absolutely buzzing for life and my sex drive was fantastic! Eventually this passed and I normalised, the cit worked quite well (apart from headaches) and I was content. About 5 years in I suddenly started having weak orgasms and low genital sensation, I didn’t know why and thought it was something to do with my prostate or drinking too much alcohol, god knows. I didn’t have a clue it might be the meds.. why would I? I’d been perfectly fine on them sexually for years! So I went to see a urologist and did a number of tests, he couldn’t help me. Then one day (after another 2 years on cit) whilst googling I came across RxISK website, it described the genital numbness I was feeling and then I realised it was from the meds I was taking! So I thought ok.. I will come off the meds and hopefully the numbness will go, I was excited and came off! I tapered off the 20mg daily I was taking over a couple months. This didn’t help my genital sensation at all and so i started googling what else it could be, low testosterone came up as a cause of genital numbness so I did tests and found out I had low T! I started TRT (hoping it would also help my fatigue) which I’m currently still taking! It didn’t help anything and now I’m stuck on it as apparently coming off is a nightmare and I’m not ready to go through the stress of all that! Plus.. my T levels will probably still be low and I’ll have to go back on anyway 🤯 My post SSRI problems - Genital numbness, lowered sex drive, Fatigue, less enjoyment of things, less passion in things I used to love, tinnitus. The main thing that bothers me is lack of pleasure from masturbation/sex, it is starting to drive me insane! I’m constantly thinking about it now! In the past I believed time would heal it but it’s been nearly 3 years now and now I’m worried this is it! It’s starting to depress me! Something to add - Over the years I’ve taken a number of antibiotics as I’ve had a few operations etc. Also at one point I took finasteride, maybe like 6 months before I went numb, I can’t remember exactly - I do sometimes wonder if this caused my problems as I was fine on SSRIs for years but I’ve always just had it in my head I suffer PSSD. As it’s now coming up to 3 years and I’ve stopped believing time will heal me, I feel I’ve waited long enough and now need to try taking something to help my genital sensation OR my OBSESSING over it! I am sick to death of being on my phone all day and night reading forums, chatting in groups about it and constantly googling it 😩 I’m currently thinking I want to try either buspar (as it’s not an SSRI) or SJW (although this is like an SSRI). These could also hopefully help my anxiety. I need to try something! If anyone could help me with my decision and advise what to try that would be greatly appreciated! Thank you JP

Hi all, I'm grateful to have found this place. I have the feeling I'm going to stick around here for a while... My medication history is as follows: January 2010: start Lexapro 10mg for anxiety attacks due to college-related stress. History of health-OCD. Summer 2014: start tapering Lexapro February 2015: crash at 1.25mg Lexapro. 8 months of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation. April 2015: reinstated 20mg Lexapro November 2015 - June 2021: tapered Lexapro from 20mg to 10mg 9th June 9 2021: crashed. Severe panic attacks, immediate suicidal ideation. Not sure whether this is from W/D since this happened at 10mg of Lexapro? Updosed to 12mg Lexapro. Updosed to 15mg Lexapro. 15 August 2021: hospitalised with severe clinical depression with OCD-treats. In 8 weeks time, doctors updose Lexapro to 20mg, then down again to 10mg. They add Seroquell up to 200mg (but got RLS because of this). Seroquell was stopped again. 15 October 2021: further hospitalised, where I follow therapies like CBT, DBT, MBT, MFN, ... 1 November 2021: doctors switch Lexapro to Paxil for ongoing anxiety and OCD. 1 week of 10mg, 2 weeks of 20mg. Helps with mood and energy but anxiety is still high. Feel mania-like. Sex drive highly increased when coming off the Lexapro, but by the time I reach a dose of 20mg Paxil, I feel completely numb. 29 November 2021: Paxil down again to 10mg. 2 December 2021: Paxil down to 5mg. 5 December 2021: 0mg Paxil. W/D starts with severe anxiety attacks, insomnia, inner restlessness, brain zaps, nausea, dizziness. 9 December 2021: reinstated 5mg Paxil. W/D symptoms reside, anxiety and despair remain. 24 December 2021: added 25mg Anafranil (clomipramine) for anxiety and OCD. After 2 doses, complete anhedonia sets in. I feel detached from everything and everyone. Also sex drive (arousal, libido) is completely lost, I fear for PSSD. 28 December 2021: take last dose of clomipramine 25mg. I had hoped that the anhedonia would be triggered by the clomipramine and that by quitting this, my feelings would return. Unfortunately I did not experience this. My guess is that the Paxil might cause this, as well as causing the complete loss of sex drive. 1 January 2022: quit 5mg Paxil (which I was on since about November 1 2021). Since then, I have had severe anhedonia (or DP/DR?). It scares the hell out of me, I feel so detached. I expect the other W/D symptoms will come as well... I again feel suicidal, but now in a more rational way. I cannot see myself living a life without emotions. For someone who's a HSP, this is the complete opposite of what I have always been. I really do not want to take the Paxil any longer, since it destroyed my sex drive and I fear it will continue to do this for as long as I take it. I'm also not sure whether I should reinstate anything, and which of these three meds? To make things even more complicated, the doctor at the hospital urged me to updose the clomipramine to 50mg. But I really don't dare to take it, since I was already so emotionally anesthetized at 25mg. I guess my main questions right now are: - Will this anhedonia go away? Is it likely to be medicine- of W/D-related? I never had this before, not even when struggling with depression. It feels so chemically induced. - Could I really have PSSD from only 6 weeks on Paxil? Is it likely that this will go away as well? - Should I reinstate? But which medicine, and at which dose? I really fear the anhedonia and the loss of libido and I am certain this is caused by the meds so I am very reluctant to take these again... It is so hard to realise what these drugs have taken away from me. I literally feel gutted now that my emotions are taken away from me. I feel there is nothing of me left anymore... I'm sure I will update here again when other W/D-symptoms come up. Thank you very much for any given support.