Anhedonia?

[kingj24]

As some of you may know anhedonia is defined as the inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable e.g. exercise, hobbies, sexual activities or social interactions. I'm currently on 40mg of prozac .25 klonopin and 4mg of Risperdal. I've been diagnosed with undefined psychosis and comorbid OCD. For years I thought I suffered from ADD but now with me experiencing hallucinations and delusions basically the positive symptoms of psychosis I'm wondering if I'm experiencing the negative ones as well e.g. lack of concentration anhedonia etc... You see when I was a kid I could sit down for hours and play a video game,read a book etc.. now a days I just can't do it. I experienced pleasure (dopamine) while doing those task now a days I just don't. It's like I have ADD but I don't have a lack of dopamine I believe I have the inability to feel dopamine (pleasure) I can sit 2 hours max on a video game and 3 chapters max on a book. Now I know some of you might think it's an age thing but it's not I'm only 19. I have the common symptoms of ADD e.g. lack of attention span I get bored quickly with things etc... but I've been put on every medication for ADD besides Dex-AMP and none have helped besides concerta 36mg (at the age of 13) and focalin XR 15mg (at the age of 18 I ''felt'' the medicine working everything was sorta sped up I also felt this happen when my risperdal dosage was decreased from 6mg to 4mg people on other forums say it was probably due to access dopamine. You see however I don't feel dopamine usually with or without meds. Don't normal people "feel" dopamine in their daily lives? When I was a kid time would fly by when doing certain activities, not anymore no matter what the activity. I just don't "feel" dopamine from doing an activity anymore. A few years back I took fish oil consistently I felt the dopamine again and I'm doing this again but this time I think it's effect on dopamine are being blocked by Risperdal. So I'm just so confused as to what to do! Why would fish oil help this an not stims?

Sorry if this sounds confusing if you have any questions just ask.

 

[kokaino]

I'm not sure why fish oil would help, but use of amphetamines are a major cause of anhedonia. I don't know why the stimulants aren't working, but you have to remember that amphetamines are neurotoxic and there could be damage done to your brain from the concerta or focaline (although these aren't true amphetamines).

 

[effie]

Hi kingj24, welcome to Bluelight!

Although less severe, I noticed a similar thing growing up. The excitement-kick fades.. For me there are still certain things that get me really excited and hyped up but it is a different ballgame to when you are young in my experience. However I find it is possible to replace the semi-shallow BAM pleasure rush when you are young to something more.. substantial and satisfying. It is hard to explain - I am nearly 28 and it is something I have been working on for a while now! It sounds trite too but have you tried new activites? There may be something out there that can fire up your passion again. Anhedonia is a complicated thing and it is worth trying different approaches. Have you seen a psychologist or therapist?

Being prescribed an antidopaminegic medication like risperidone, and a dopaminergic one, can have problems. Some people find the combination does work together where as others find one cancels the other out. Do you have a psychiatrist you trust? I think you should tell your doctor what you have told us here, and see if there is anything that can be done to tweak your medication to help too, consider if you need it all or if it can be reduced/stopped switched - along with possibly therapy and perhaps making some lifestyle changes..

I am actually going to move this to The Dark Side forum as they are the experts in mental health/illness of all forms, and the various options you have for managing it. You should get some good support and advice in here, there are some wonderful and wise peeps! Hope that is okay.

BDD > TDS

I am not sure why fish oil helped either, sorry!

 

[kingj24]

I just don't know it seems like ever since I tried concerta (36mg) when I was younger I've been chasing that feeling. The feeling of things being sped up. It's like hours just flew by my concentration and processing speed were at their peek but I wonder if that feeling is sometimes normal for people because I felt like that when I was younger things came easy to me, time would fly etc... When I got older (I'm only 19) things began to slow down I had difficulty learning things everything seemed like a struggle. I guess really that's what I've been looking for an answer to is to why things slowed down why I couldn't sit down anymore and do something without going on to something else. So I know it wasn't just the medicine making me "feel" this way it's like something in my brain changed. When I was younger I had the desire to learn and I still do but now it's like everything comes so slowly to me now. I mean I know the 4mg of Risperdal is going to slow my thought process down but even before all this medicine I've felt like something slowed down in my thinking process I just didn't get things in school like I use to. The basic stuff came easy to me but as we got into the more challenging stuff I became bored and lost interest when usually it's the exact opposite for someone who wants to learn. It's like my brain shut off completely without my permission. I've taken the Connor's Continuous Performance Task and have ADD so I don't know if that's what slowed me down or what it was/is. I got a 56% on the CPT my shrink said she's seen a lot worse ADD %'s then that and I believe her but something just doesn't add up here I just don't understand why my brain shut off. I do have Cerebral Palsy but even that doesn't make sense when it comes to learning like I said when I was younger I had no difficulty learning new things, I could sit there and maintain a regular kids attention span etc.. but as I became older things just went down hill and I guess I've been trying to fix that problem with pills or w/e. Maybe it can be fixed maybe it can't be I don't know I mean I've tried everything out their for ADD besides Desoxyn and Dexedrine.

Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[bluedom]

It may be that your medication (Concerta) isn't working for you anymore. This is pretty darn routine as your body adapts to a foreign compound put it into it day after day. If being "sped up" is what feels more natural to you (don't sacrifice short term gain for long term gain) then you should seek out another pharmaceutical alternative (that sounds bad).

Do you feel things slowed down while on Risperidal and have you felt it while you were not on Risperidal for a month or two? I can only say that someone I know well took it for the briefest of periods and she hated it. It was too potent for her (unsure about dosage).

I think it is good to have a reasonable expectation of what a good mental state for you is and attempt to achieve it. This can be done in several ways, not just or only through pharmaceutics. Maybe you're looking in the wrong place even there, and hurting the possibility of getting there sooner or later by misuse and abuse (I'm sure you've heard enough about the fragility of the brain during the teenage yours). Figure out what is slowing you own. Is it really (and mainly) ADD? Risperdal? Concert stopped working?

I can completely and totally understand the need to always be in peak mental condition (google nootropic). I said "reasonable" because pills and e when misused or abused may make it harder for you to achieve that state.

 

[bben]

As some of you may know anhedonia is defined as the inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable e.g. exercise, hobbies, sexual activities or social interactions. I'm currently on 40mg of prozac .25 klonopin and 4mg of Risperdal. I've been diagnosed with undefined psychosis and comorbid OCD. For years I thought I suffered from ADD but now with me experiencing hallucinations and delusions basically the positive symptoms of psychosis I'm wondering if I'm experiencing the negative ones as well e.g. lack of concentration anhedonia etc... You see when I was a kid I could sit down for hours and play a video game,read a book etc.. now a days I just can't do it. I experienced pleasure (dopamine) while doing those task now a days I just don't. It's like I have ADD but I don't have a lack of dopamine I believe I have the inability to feel dopamine (pleasure) I can sit 2 hours max on a video game and 3 chapters max on a book. Now I know some of you might think it's an age thing but it's not I'm only 19. I have the common symptoms of ADD e.g. lack of attention span I get bored quickly with things etc... but I've been put on every medication for ADD besides Dex-AMP and none have helped besides concerta 36mg (at the age of 13) and focalin XR 15mg (at the age of 18 I ''felt'' the medicine working everything was sorta sped up I also felt this happen when my risperdal dosage was decreased from 6mg to 4mg people on other forums say it was probably due to access dopamine. You see however I don't feel dopamine usually with or without meds. Don't normal people "feel" dopamine in their daily lives? When I was a kid time would fly by when doing certain activities, not anymore no matter what the activity. I just don't "feel" dopamine from doing an activity anymore. A few years back I took fish oil consistently I felt the dopamine again and I'm doing this again but this time I think it's effect on dopamine are being blocked by Risperdal. So I'm just so confused as to what to do! Why would fish oil help this an not stims?

Sorry if this sounds confusing if you have any questions just ask.

I have the same thing. Sounds like negative symptoms of schizophrenia to me (look em up). I think dextroamphetamine is the best stimulant of them all (for me- the others suck hard) as far as relieving anhedonia but its not a long term solution just temporary. Fish oil or salmon def helps me as well. I noticed this when i was 18, and years later its still there. Once you become psychotic the anhedonia rarely goes away even if the positive symptoms do.

Exercise can help depression but i found it does NOTHING for anhedonia. Tobacco can help anhedonia... most schizos smoke for this reason. Psychosis is IMO the worst thing a person can have, there is no cure for the negative symptoms.

 

[belfort]

^^same here, exercise does boost my mood but does little for anhedonia..ive had anhedonia forever basically but it isnt nonstop but its there for the most part..Ghb eliminated the anhedonia, stimulants did at first then they worsened the anhedonia...benzos worsen anhedonia..i havent found a good fix and its so hard to try to desribe this problem to people around you..especially for former drug addicts anhedonia is a huge problem and one that doesnt seem to be discussed often..

 

[bben]

^^same here, exercise does boost my mood but does little for anhedonia..ive had anhedonia forever basically but it isnt nonstop but its there for the most part..Ghb eliminated the anhedonia, stimulants did at first then they worsened the anhedonia...benzos worsen anhedonia..i havent found a good fix and its so hard to try to desribe this problem to people around you..especially for former drug addicts anhedonia is a huge problem and one that doesnt seem to be discussed often..

there was some research done using GHB to treat the anhedonia of schizophrenia/psychosis with good results. One antipsychotic used in europe (amisulpride) agonizes the ghb receptor.