SSRI-caused anhedonia

[Flicker]

Hello! Sorry if my English is bad. I want to ask something. Six months ago I went through a 6-week course of 2.5 mg Lexapro a day. One morning, after being drunk the night before, I woke up and felt something was very wrong with my brain. I felt disconnected from reality and realized that I don't have emotions. Since then, I'm not on the Lexapro and I suffer from very bad anhedonia, loss of emotions, no drive and motivation. While on the Lexapro I felt some anhedonia but not to that extent, not at all. My libido is fine, I can have an erection, everything is good in that department. My situation is so bad that I can't tolerate this emotional aenesthesia anymore and all I think about is suicide. What do you think of my chances to recover? Do you think I can do something about it? I tried Provigil/Modafinil and it doesn't do anything, only increases anxiety/nervousness. I'm desperate for some help and can't see the end of this suffering. Thank you!

 

[neurotic]

That's a weird dose of Lexapro.

I think you have to teach yourself new ways to have fun / entertainment / pleasure. Talking to a / your therapist would be good too. I think that's the best way to go dealing with this kind of stuff, rather than pharmacotherapies.

May be try to go off the Lexapro, under supervision of your psychiatrist?

 

[Flicker]

I forgot to mention that I stopped the Lexapro since then.

 

[donwie]

I have had the similar experience from SSRI's for 25 years. Before SSRI's I was just depressed, it was an emotion, a terrible one, but an emotion nonetheless. On lexapro and other drugs I have severe disassociative disorder, unable to connect with anything emotional, such as feeling nothing when my beloved mom died. Saying this, however, I would also note that you were on a tiny amount for a very short period of time, and I have been on maximum doses for a few decades. But, yes, like a lot of people, as soon as I started my first drug back in 1991, Prozac, there has been a terrible emotional blunting. I do not know what happened to you; again, you took so little for so short of time. If it is SSRI -- Lexapro -- related, I might consider going back on, getting to 2.5 mg, a tiny dose, for several weeks, and then wean off for several weeks, not drinking alcohol as you do so. Everyone is different, and the effect you describe, while unusual, is not unheard of. With 100 million people taking SSRI's, pretty much everything has happned to someone, somewhere. Go back on, and slowly wean off. Don

 

[Ion Bucket]

I have taken several SSRIs (zoloft, prozac, citalopram) over the course of 5 or 6 years, and I can definitely relate. I would describe the anhedonia as an all around feeling of "meh." It's true that I don't usually have major depressive episodes when I'm taking the drugs regularly, but I also don't feel much of anything in particular. Everything is just okay or acceptable. Nothing is awe inspiring nor terribly frightening. I find that I'm equally okay doing something I like or not doing it, which usually defaults to not doing it. I've tried several times to get off SSRIs in the past, but each time the withdrawal was too severe to handle and I ended up doing something to damage a relationship or connection. Not sure what to do about it. I have managed to gradually and very slowly reduce my dose of citalopram without the withdrawal effects kicking in. Perhaps if I keep it up I may be able to withdraw more cleanly in the future. I can only hope the non-withdrawal related effects will subside over time as well.

 

[dopamimetic]

This stuff is all so amazing & fits into my yet-to-be-established theory of NMDA over-activity leading to hyper sensibility & depression ... and weird / adverse reactions to SSRIs..