Trying Lithium

[arahant]

I would say little to no improvement. I've only had good windows when i've taken adderall in the past year. Still genital numbness, pretty much no libido, PE, orgasms feel a small fraction of what they used to. I also suffer from anxiety and anhedonia in general, which I have always attributed (especially the anhedonia) to taking antidepressants in the first place. I became real anxious when I was a teenager after smoking tons of pot daily for a couple years. To deal with that anxiety, my doctor recommended celexa, which at 19 I didn't think twice about. I felt pretty good on celexa and my libido I think was ok on it, but once I got off libido basically went away.

I'm not sure whether the anxiety/anhedonia I deal with now were actually induced by the ssri, or from teenage drug use. I go back and forth. The sexual effects I 100% attribute to the celexa.

Regarding weed. This study may clarify a bit:
"Marijuana use dampens brain's response to reward over time, study finds"
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 114407.htm

The new results come from the first long-term study of young marijuana users that tracked brain responses to rewards over time. It was performed at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Are we screwed now then if we smoked weed as teenagers? I smoked it for 3 or 4 years and this post has made me paranoid now that I won’t recover cos of it wish I didn’t read it tbh

There's nothing written there that everyone is "screwed", but that's something weed-legalizations-minions never mention...I also used it for 2 years, daily and I regret it. But you will be fine.

[Troskie]

Let's try to put things in perspective. You used pot heavily for years and expected CBD/lithium helping in a month? Does that sound equivalent?

My taking lithium was only due to reports on this forum of people recovering their sexual symptoms with it. I wasn't even considering the cognitive aspect when I started. I was quite shocked 5mg had such an impact on my cognition tbh.

There is lots of research showing that cbd counteracts the negative effects of thc. I haven't seen any resource stating this is the case years after the fact though. After 30 days I didn't expect to be "cured", but without feeling solid progress being made I don't see the point in continuing. Things i'm considering trying next are: methyl b9/b12, nac, ketamine at a local clinic, back on ssri with buspar, or welbutrin.

I've been doing keto since jan 1 this year and haven't cheated 1 bite, just eating meat/cheese/eggs/green veg. Keto increases GABA production and there's some research (e.g. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 134809.htm) that low gaba is the problem from adolescent marijuana use. I also saw this video of Jordan Peterson on Joe Rogan and it motivated me to try a high fat diet out : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLF29w6YqXs. Also there is pfs forum and a guy that had similiar conditions to pssd (from finasteride) claims to have cured himself with a keto type diet: https://forum.propeciahelp.com/t/about- ... tion/41143

Also started couch to 5k 11 weeks ago and just finished, I want to keep upping my runs roughly 10% each week. After I run I do feel pretty good but it doesn't last very long. There's evidence that exercise, especially cardio, increases BDNF.... which some people theorize is the underlying mechanism by which SSRI's provide their anti depressant effect.