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Mental Health Anhedonia MEGA Thread

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This thread is for anyone who is currently suffering from anhedonia and would like some support, to share experiences, tips, etc. Please adhere to the Bluelight User Agreement (BLUA) and the Mental Health Forum Guidelines. Thank you.




What is Anhedonia?

Anhedonia is one of the main symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder. It is the lost of interest in activities that were once pleasurable and enjoyable. These activities can include, but are not limited to: sex, hobbies, friends, work, etc. source


Anhedonia is usually treated with the following methods:

  • antidepressant medications, usually Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor's (SSRI's)
  • cognitive behavioral therapy
  • psychotherapy
  • group therapy


More "natural" approaches can be taken to anhedonia treatment. These include, but are not limited to:


  • exercise
  • yoga
  • healthy eating
  • journaling
  • positive thinking
 
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foamhome said:
been on 10mg Ritalin rapid release so far so good been dealing with lymes disease for 8 months finnaly coming off antibiotics is this a good match for me?


I think this is a good medicine to try for you.. it also works well for fatigue if this may help you as well.
 
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Damn I hear Lyme is long-term shit. As long as you don't binge it should be great maintenance but you are on a micro dose.
 
My experience with the xrs was bad.. My experiences with them was that the x release beads they use didn't work properly.. they claimed that half would be realized immediately and the 50% extended.. my experience was that it was all released about three and a half hours after taking it. People are all different though, just my experience. If you are going to go with an amphetamine then I would go with adderall ER but vvyanese turns into one of the reg amp salts that's in adderall once it gets into the blood stream.. some people seem to react better to one of the different reg amp salts some dont see a difference.
 
If it works without causing too many side effects, I'd say it's a good fit. I tried Ritalin for the first time tonight and it made me feel strangely sedated and robot-like, but everyone's different.
 
is the anhedonia/flat affect from lyme disease or some mental illness?ritalin and other stims gave me energy but in the end ended up increasing my anhedonia..
 
Chronic use of moderate to high dosages of stimulants is a great way to induce flat affect.

ebola
 
Exactly. If you're trying to use stims as medication you want keep the doses as low as you can, and try to prolong/lessen the inevitable (and growing) tolerance.
 
It's basically Adderall with less dry mouth, sketched out feeling and cold fingertips. You can also use a higher dose without the positive effects being overshadowed by the side effects.
 
Dexedrine is by far the best with the least side effects.

In my experience Desoxyn is the best due to how clean it was, I could actually eat and enjoy food! It also was the softest comedown. However even with very minor peripheral stimulation the mental stimulation just kept my mind going just enough to keep me awake. :p

Also, Vyvanse is disgusting! Put my stomach in knots and gave me a terrible surface headache. It also was the most sudden/harshest crash. Not to mention it only lasted me around 4-5 hours.
 
Anhedonia help?!

Don't really know where to start, but I'll do my best. This might be long. 8)

So, I would like to say it started around the time after my prescription meth/amphetamine use. I was prescribed them for AD(H)D. I was prescribed Adderall IR's 20mgs on February 28th of 2009. It all started off amazing, you know, the "honeymoon period". I was blown away in euphoria both mental and physical for up to 6-8 hours with a lingering afterglow for the days to follow this lasted till Late July. That was when tolerance started to make itself apparent, I then switched to Vyvanse in hopes of extending the time it would last, and hopefully gain back some of its magic.

I might add that I only took amphetamines about 3 times a week to delay tolerance as well to keep away from psychological dependency.

Anyways that all went well till about September. September was when I started "crashing" from amphetamines. This is where stuff started falling apart mentally. Even with the crashes getting more and more apparent as well as side effects becoming more prominent and less "magic". Yet I kept using it till mid November, that's when I made the switch to Focalin in hopes that moving away from amphetamines in search for the next magical pill, however this one was a bomb. It made me feel robotic and the duration of its effects were a joke, not to mention I still crashed.

(I might add at this point in time I was also starting to develop pretty frequent anxiety issues, especially with psychotropics.)

At this point (Late January 2010) I was about to give up, but I decided to go for stimulant "gold", Desoxyn. With very little effort, to my surprise I got a prescription for Desoxyn. Still naïve I was hopeful this would do the trick. However that wasn't quite the case. With anxiety showing up I wasn't able to fully use Desoxyn, but from what I experienced it was a lot cleaner, with less general side effects, and a very gentle comedown in comparison to other stimulants. However I gave up on Desoxyn after only about a month or two of use due to insomnia and just not seeing the benefits.

So with the amphetamine back story I'll try and wrap this up ;).

Other than amphetamine use, I've smoked Marijuana very seldom. I haven't smoked more than five times withing the past two years and haven't even touched it in over a year, mainly due to anxiety. I have drank very little, and I was also a daily tobacco smoker (2-5 cigs daily) from early 2010 till May 23rd of 2013 (with a few breaks within that time frame as well).

Since May of 2013 I have quit smoking and have become active daily, mainly jogging. I have also picked up a organic diet for the most part. So I think its safe to say I'm fairly healthy once again.

So, after I quite stimulants altogether back in 2010 I've been anhedonic, although not severe. I have gotten better within the years, but not nearly where I want it to be. I might mention that I've always been harder to please since I was a child, but not this bad. I just feel like after being exposed to amphetamines, life has been very lackluster and that something is missing. I'm missing a little bit of bliss and happiness.

I have been seeing a psychologist since December 28th 2013. I don't really know where to go from here. I think at this point I need chemical intervention, but I have no clue where to look. SSRI's are not going to happen, I will cover this reason later. I tried St. Johns Wort, but it made my anxiety worse, bringing out some cardiophobia. This is actually why I quite smoking last year, because I was convinced I was going to develop heart disease at the age of 21 :!

I might add at this point I have actually been anxiety/panic free in quite some time, at least 3-4 months.

So now here I am asking for advice, physically I am healthy so its not a matter of getting physical and eating proper. I think this is something that is going to require some type of chemical. Anyone with experience use or do something to get this happiness in life back?

Kind of in a hurry so excuse any grammatical errors.
 
What? You've been anxiety/panic free for 3-4 months? Chemicals? You don't need them. You're stronger without them. You're doing so well... ! :)
 
Anedonia to me (an older person) is a word that I have trouble with. I am not trying to deny the existence of it--just take it out of the realm of physical or mental illness and into the realm of spiritual illness. I think when you cannot experience pleasure in your life that your life is not a good fit for you. I also think this is a modern epidemic! Take a good look at your life and then fantasize a life. How are they different? What thoughts does your mind heave up to tell you you can't have the fantasy life (Not enough money, not enough time, too risky, what would people think--whatever)?

I think that being separated from pleasure is a condition in our minds that is fed by two things: expectation and fear. When I started to practice letting go of those two things, pleasure became abundant and intense again--the way it was when I was a little, little kid. Expectation and fear (anxiety) always keep tossing us out into an imagined future and deprive us of being right where we are in the present.

Recently I took myself on a journey to be alone. I left everything familiar and just wandered for 4 months. I recommend some form of shake-up for your life. You are right IMO to call what you are looking for a "magic bullet" and I can hear in your voice under the words that you know you are looking for something more than that. Don't fall into the trap of thinking there is a chemical answer only. Sure they can work very well temporarily but what you are looking for is deeper. So go deeper in some way that only you can define. Ask for more, find more, give more--I think that will be life-changing for you in a really positive way.<3
 
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