Partial recovery and experimental results

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sovietxrobot
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Partial recovery and experimental results

Unread post by sovietxrobot »

I was on citalopram, 40mg, and went into withdrawal. I developed PSSD and severe anhedonia. After years of research and dealing with this, I believe that the sudden withdrawal somehow resulted in a drop in dopamine and serotonin, and an increase in prolactin. When it first happened, I was 100% incapable of sex or attraction. Today, I would say I'm 90% recovered- I can generally enjoy life, and can have sex. I still can't feel passion and I struggled with feeling connected to people, it comes and goes. My current stack:

for more serotonin:
escitalopram 30mg
buspar 60mg
yohimbine 2 tabs

each of these were a significant improvement


for dopamine:
450mg Wellbutrin
mucuna puriens
ashwanagha

welbutrin boosted my sex drive considerably and improved my mood and depth of feeling. mucuna puriens + ashwanagha maybe has a subtle effect, hard to say.


vitamin E + b6

I had my prolactin tested and it was elevated above normal range. these supplements supposedly lower prolactin. I didn't feel a huge benefit, maybe a little stronger when training.

other things I've tried-
horny goat weed - I had bad side effects, worsened my symptoms
magnesium - same as HGW
zinc - I still take it but I'm not sure it helps
NAC + sarcosine - didn't do anything


Any suggestions for further boosting dopamine and/or lowering prolactin? I would love to try primpexole, but I doubt my psychiatrist would be willing to prescribe it (he doesn't believe in PSSD).
marybanana
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Re: Partial recovery and experimental results

Unread post by marybanana »

Are you still on escitalopram? Just wondering. That’s awesome about your improvements. How long have you had PSSD for (how long have you been off SSRIs)? And I’m not one to tell you about what to add to your stack, but you could consider phenylanine or tyrosine maybe. They help the brain produce dopamine. For me though, they don’t have any pro sexual effect and just boost my cognition/self control.
zensan
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Re: Partial recovery and experimental results

Unread post by zensan »

You are 90% recovered. Are you really willing to risk it all adding something new? I wouldn´t...
sovietxrobot
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Re: Partial recovery and experimental results

Unread post by sovietxrobot »

marybanana wrote:Are you still on escitalopram? Just wondering. That’s awesome about your improvements. How long have you had PSSD for (how long have you been off SSRIs)? And I’m not one to tell you about what to add to your stack, but you could consider phenylanine or tyrosine maybe. They help the brain produce dopamine. For me though, they don’t have any pro sexual effect and just boost my cognition/self control.
Withdrawal happened in 2011, so about 7 years. I have pretty severe problems with anxiety and depression, I can't function without SSRIs, so I am still on escitalopram. However, the dose is considerably larger than pre-withdrawal (30mg of escitalorpam = 60mg citalopram). I will certainly check out tyrosine and phenylalanine.
sovietxrobot
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Re: Partial recovery and experimental results

Unread post by sovietxrobot »

zensan wrote:You are 90% recovered. Are you really willing to risk it all adding something new? I wouldn´t...
I am. Being this close to my old self is too tantalizing to resist. I've tried a lot of different drugs in my life, and the only scars are from sudden withdrawal.
Jaxx
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Re: Partial recovery and experimental results

Unread post by Jaxx »

Very nice to hear you feel better.
First impression is that you take quite a high dosage of some stuff, not sure you want to add much more imho.
On other forums they sometimes use selegiline to control prolactin and boost dopamine (MAO B inhibition), but you cannot take this with some of your other meds.
Macuna puriens is also used to control prolactin btw.
sovietxrobot
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Re: Partial recovery and experimental results

Unread post by sovietxrobot »

Jaxx wrote:Very nice to hear you feel better.
First impression is that you take quite a high dosage of some stuff, not sure you want to add much more imho.
On other forums they sometimes use selegiline to control prolactin and boost dopamine (MAO B inhibition), but you cannot take this with some of your other meds.
Macuna puriens is also used to control prolactin btw.
Thats the same thing my psychiatrist said, but any time I've got back on the dosage, I feel worse. I don't know what it is about me, if I'm really serotonin deficient or don't metabolize the drug well or what.
sovietxrobot
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Re: Partial recovery and experimental results

Unread post by sovietxrobot »

Update: I've been on dopa mucuna for several weeks now, I take one dose in the morning and one in the afternoon. I feel like my mood has been somewhat elevated- more depth of feeling, closeness, more interest in activities. It has improved my sex drive a little as well- there is a noticeable improvement in erection quality, and interest in sex once I get started. However, arousal is still very much a binary state- I have to really make an effort to get in the mood, it doesn't happen naturally like before PSSD. Not a breakthrough, but at least a little progress.
sovietxrobot
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Re: Partial recovery and experimental results

Unread post by sovietxrobot »

Another month on this same dosage. The benefit peaked about a week ago, and then declined a bit. There was definitely an increase in sex drive, I felt really good for a few days, then it dipped down again. Overall, still an improvement.

Should I try upping the dosage, or taking 3 doses per day? Or add another dopamine supplement?
lukepssd6years
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Re: Partial recovery and experimental results

Unread post by lukepssd6years »

I to have had pssd since 2011 from citalopram 20mg but mine developed after 2 days and I stayed on the medication for 8 months as my doctor told me to and said side effects would reverse when tapering. I had my hormones and prolactin checked back in 2013 and they was fine so might not be a dopamine problem. when you say 90 percent cured - Does this mean you have remained 90 percent cured after being off ALL meds?? If somebody is still taking medication and supplements its hard to say you are "cured"
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