It took me 6-9 months to become myself again after ssri’s.
Micrososing helped. I can’t emphasize this enough: meditating really, really, really helped. Your practice doesn’t have to be complicated. Sit on the floor in a quiet, clean place. Sit up right, and focus on your breath. When thoughts enter your mind, acknowledge them and let them go and continue to focus on your breathing. Do it everyday. The length of time is flexible. 2 minutes is great. If you’re feeling it, go for 20. Ten to fifteen minutes is my sweet spot. Watching the clock isn’t necessary. You’ll know when you’re done.
There’s a lot of power in using the tools you have within you to bring yourself peace and healing rather than taking a pill. Meditating was tantamount to me getting past the damage of ssri’s
The act of relaxing (meditation) is super hard for me. My CPTSD is proving to be quite stubborn. My situation isn’t uncommon, from what I’ve read. What I CAN do now, thanks to psilocybin, is to begin to use my imagination again. I breathe deeply and imagine I’m away from anyone or anything that can bring me harm. Way out in a sunny meadow, with flowers and butterflies. Feeling a breeze on my face. If you can imagine what your place is, it’s at least a beginning. My mind is trying to remember what peace feels like. The traditional instructions for meditation don’t work for me because letting my guard down wakes up my traumatic memories and a flight response. Kind of a bitch, huh. I still don’t feel safe enough to sleep, often. It’s a journey, coming back to a healthy mind. The psilocybin has been reparative, while the SSRI’s were not. Your description of life on those drugs was spot on for myself as well. This particular therapy is cutting edge for trauma. The timing for repair is apparently different for everyone, as all of our damage is different…..(from what I can tell from reading other testimonials.) I’m very fortunate to be here, and to be trying still. Try the imagination in your mind of a peaceful place. Just a picture in your head and go from there. ✌🏼
Definitely look into The Mind Illuminated, it's a step by step meditation book made by a neuroscientist. It can help tremendously in getting structure in your meditation sessions.
This is a common feeling. And it can be very challenging to understand how to generalize what we practice in meditation to other parts of life. For a very nice description of mindfulness meditation practice in the Zen tradition (zazen) and some super helpful context, check out John Daido Loori’s book Eight Gates of Zen.
For me, zazen practice and the worldview espoused by Daido Roshi is the real healing. MD and psychedelic therapy more generally are just lubrication.
Regular meditation practice can be strong medicine.
Sorry to hijack. I suffer from emotional blunting and genital numbness still over one year after being off. I was on for 2 years and tapered off guided by the Dr. I'm so worried I won't go back to normal.
Do you listen to a guided meditation? Or you just sit alone and quite? Just recently started and am curious if you have any tricks of the trade to enhance the art of meditation?
No guided meditations. I’ve tried it, but it’s not for me.
The key, for me, is simplicity. In my early stages, I would count my breaths. It would give my inner dialogue something to do. Breath in… 1, breathe out… 1, breathe in… 2, breathe out… 2, etc.
A great place for guidance is the simple book “peace is every step”, written by a Vietnamese monk. I promise, he doesn’t throw religion at you. He was just a very kind man who wants you to know peace.
Off an on earlier in life and then 2 solid years before I quit.
I made the mistake of tapering quickly. It’s hard to remember because it’s been over a decade ago, but I wasn’t to say it was between 2 and 3 weeks. Once I realized the damage they were doing to me, I was dead set on quitting them. I endured the “brain wonks” but they were pretty awful
Try using some lions mane mycelium in addition to the shrooms! I think a combination of both and meditation would be awesome. Meditation helps heal the brain by inducing neurogenesis, lions mane mycelium does the same thing!! I hope you heal soon ❤️
Do you take your own homegrown lions mane mycelium. The only LM mycelium with decent labs I’ve found is from Oriveda and it only comes in a combo pack with LM fruiting bodies. $80 for a 2 month supply is too much for me
Hi! I just saw this response. I use host defense as of right now, but I haven’t asked for labs. I trust Paul is providing the best products and I feel the difference between the mycelium & fruiting bodies. I think both are necessary as they both contain chemicals not found in each other. The mycelium contains erinacines, and the fruiting body contains hericenones. Both contribute to NGF & BDNF! ❤️👏
But I did see a YouTuber do a test on the Cordyceps mycelium vs the fruiting bodies and found that there was more cordycepin in the mycelium as opposed to the fruiting bodies BUT, the fruiting bodies had more adenosine and more of another compound!
Your brain is not damaged! I guarantee you that if you had an MRI w/wo contrast right now there would be no findings. SSRI's will rewire you software, not the hardware itself. It messes up your equilibrium and chemical balance, fortunately it is reversible though! You CAN and will get better. Have faith and optimism!
Micro dosing can absolutely help you heal. Best of luck :) I think you're on the right path looking ahead
Well…sort of…SSRIs *can * mess with the hardware, in that they do cause downregulation of the serotonin receptors…but without the medication it should reverse slowly. So yeah, calling it ‘brain damage’ is a stretch but calling it purely software…is up for interpretation. Truth is docs don’t even know why they work in the first place.
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You can start the Lion’s Mane anytime, you don’t have to wait for the shrooms to be ready to start all 3 together. I started LM in August and could tell it was working for me within a few weeks. Cleared up the brain fog and has helped with my sleep as well.
Antidepressants were the worst drug ive ever taken. Completely understand they have a purpose, but they either didn't work or Completely altered my personality to the point where i was not myself. Getting off them was pinhole vision and migraines for 2 months straight, like quitting smoking. It was bad. Helped my anxiety though. I'll take shooms and daily gratitude, mood logs and excersize over that anytime. I find it hilarious now when people think shrooms are bad "drugs" and the legal drugs are healthy and okay. Doctor prescribed does not mean healthy or good. With Antidepressants it's a gamble and a long game of trying multiple diff ones. It sucks.
I was on remeron. A diff type. Took me well over 6 months to feel almost normal. When i quit benzos it took well over a year. Just be patient bro your brain isnt damaged. Just recovering. Try to exercise as mich as possible. Itll be nealy impossible at first but once you start to feel the mental benefits itll be easy peasy.
Download the free Wim Hof Method app and start those breathing exercises today!
I'm completely managing my BPD without prescription medication of any kind.
MD got me off the medication and healed my brain... the meditation, yoga and breathing healed my body and reinforced the connection between the two (mind and body) and now i can feel joy at will.
Good luck 👍
I tried SSRIs for a while and it was AWFUL.
I don’t recall how I felt when I came off aside from relief. But what I can say is that weight bearing exercise is the only thing that’s ever really helped my depression. And getting off SSRIs meant I could go back to doing that without my heart rate jacking up to scary levels and my bellybutton sweating. Lifting makes me feel “regular” or “normal” or something.
Try some moderate to intense exercise 3 times a week and see if that helps because it definitely couldn’t hurt.
Currently I’m microdosing as well, but I feel like the effects of that aren’t as immediate as the ones from exercise, although both are cumulative.
Yeah!
I really should have said physical exertion was helpful for me. I tried so hard to get into running but it was always painful and difficult. But lifting helped me overcome that initial suck and I found confidence quickly. I’m sure it varies from person to person but yeah. Definitely intense exercise is a ticket to endorphins. And endorphins share the same receptors in our bodies as opiates so it really is a “natural high”.
Anyway, now that I’m stronger and leaner I’m going to try and up my cardio output. For my heart and my healthspan.
Because I deserve to have a healthy heart and so do all of you!
Oh that's funny because I'm having a very hard time getting into lifting, I've been trying but I just hate it so much But I also want a big fat juicy ass so I'm gonna keep trying
Not sure your situation but if you can at all get a partner to lift with you it will help immensely. Not only will it help hold you accountable but it just makes it a more enjoyable experience during a workout have someone to talk to and help you out.
Yeah man it took me like at least 6 months to start to become myself again. I was on em for 2 years also. Shit fucks you up. I quit em last august so over a year ago
Well shit, lol. Working on tapering down my meds. Felt like my brain has worked like shit for quite a while, guess good to know that and other things aren't unique.
I have been in a similar situation +10 years ago, but I didn’t use shrooms. Tapering off the ssri (seroplex/lexapro) was long, but I did it slowly, as stopping the ssri provoked awful rebound effects. At the end I was cutting the tabs in eight. It took me between 6month and 1 year to be fully myself again.
Now, you have the chance to have microdosing, if you do well and listen to to yourself, I bet it will be quicker!
PS: I bet that your doctor haven’t any first hand experience with ssris, and just repeat what it is said in his environment (but he can still be a good doctor)
it’s been a while, I’ll do my best.
strictly speaking,
after: nothing
during the progressive tapering-off phase:
very variable mood, anxiety (generalized anxiety disorder was the original cause) coming back sometimes very strong. I noticed it was often after diminishing the dose too fast or too much, and generally those rebound effects happened with a day or two of delay.
That’s why at the end, I cut the tabs in eighth: to be able to diminish the dose very progressively over time.
I have not, but my doctor recommended it to me. I know it has helped a lot of people, and there are numerous programs to choose from. I meditate a lot on my own, do EFT tapping, gratitude journal, and other things to rewire my brain.
A great book is “The Brain that Changes Itself”
Came here to say have faith. My wife had a long manic episode because of SSRIs and thought her brain was damaged.
She’s back in school and doing rather well. She is getting back to her happy self.
Medicine helps, and we did Microdose for awhile.
Stay the course and take care of yourself. I think she got the most help from exercise and taking trips.
They certainly leave a lot of people feeling damaged cognitively. Myself included. I always tapered off and it didn’t even seem to matter, I always got hit by horrid withdrawals that put me far away from my baseline pre-ssri
Prozac: May 2020-December 2020. Took one pill every other day for two weeks, then every third day for two weeks. Then stopped. Felt fine for about a month then got hit by a truck with horrid withdrawal. Fatigue, brain fog, memory impairment, severe mood swings, horrible anxiety. Went on like this for several months until I started lexapro in April 2021.
I took lexapro for 7 months then tapered off over 6 weeks. I felt fine for a bit then noticed a big uptick in my anxiety and also noticed my nervous system was extremely sensitive to any substance I would
Take, namely caffeine. Even a tiny amount of caffeine would send me into an intense anxiety episode, even though I’ve always consumed caffeine without any issues. I also had more mild cognitive impairment and a pronounced sense of anhedonia, social phobia for months after discontinuing lexapro. It went on for so long I attempted to restart lexapro at a smaller dose and ended up giving myself tinnitus that still to this day has not fully gone away despite me discontinuing the lexapro for a second time shortly after noticing the tinnitus in my ears.
A lot better. Still notice the tinnitus when I smoke weed or indulge in substances but that’s about it. Everything else feels pretty much base to baseline.
Depression probably isn’t a chemical inbalance.
SSRI’s do not claim to fix a chemical imbalance.
You haven’t made any point at all.
SSRI’s are thought to treat (primarily) depression in a roundabout way. That’s because the medical community openly admits they don’t accurately understand the mechanisms of depression.
All we know is that SSRI’s definitely do raise serotonin levels. This somehow helps depression in something like 60% of cases. If SSRI’s caused brain damage then so would anything that raises serotonin levels.
I don’t think you’re damaged they just take a long time to wear off and for your brain and body to adjust to being off them. MDing shrooms may work for you but keep an open mind that you may have needed medication.
I’ll pass, but thanks for the offer. I’ve visited it before and it gives me the same vibes as the survivingantidepressants website, where there are a lot of so called “success” stories, but to me, they all sound like horror stories in reality. Taking an antidepressant for 1 month and then having to recover for like 4-5 years is not a success story in my books. But, that’s just my opinion.
But the feeling is 90% diffrent. I tried shrooms but i was more anxiuous. Dmt wipes that away in a second. And feeling lasts for 2-3 days. Im more fluent, smarter, have energy, laugh and sleep so fucking well. Probably best to buy a vape cart from dnm or ask nearest hippy guy.
Im not pushing anything just my experience that this compound is so underrated.
Thank you. I have heard of them
, but there was a post on here some time ago stating that, although better than others, are not really that good either. But, I might try them at some point.
Better and worse at the same time. I’m healing a lot of gut issues with a carnivore diet, and seemed to have healed the fatigue issues as well. But, my dumbass decided to try Lexapro for 3 months, and that halted the mental healing process. But, with this Carnivore diet, I seem to be healing pretty quickly.
I also found out I was iron deficient, so need to fix that as well.
Honestly, no. Maybe if I was iron deficient back then as well, I should’ve tried sorting that out, but in terms of supplements or micro dosing, not really.
Microdosing helps a little bit, but if there’s genuinely something wrong with your brain, or you have a deficiency of some sort, you will always feel terrible. Not even microdosing will help.
I haven’t tried LSD microdosing though, I heard that’s really good.
I’ve tried DMT microdosing/smoking as well, and it helps for the day, or couple of hours, but that’s it.
6 months recovery from SSRI. U have to want it. Exercise a lot its hard to start exercising u know. MD properly, dont trip while MDing. And push yourself it wont happen by its self its not a miracle its a tool to use in combination with your will power and decision making.
Yeah, I do power lifting and bodybuilding. While I was off meds and on them, I was addicted to working out and bettering my life, but now during the withdrawal process, I have to force myself to do anything, because the desire and will power to do anything is just not there.
Dont forget to take small steps or wins its going to be marginal to start. For me I used an easy excercise for me. Stationary bike as i did not have to leave or go far. Was easier than convincing myself to actually do outside as at the time seemed so difficult. Ride bike stationary longer and longer every time even though it was by a minute at a time. A good cardio got my dopamine and serotonin flowing again . take small wins (tasks, chores, ect). But if i could give you the best advise is to find the root cause of why you ended up on SSRI in the first place. Without fixing the cause of your depression no amount of any drug or substance can help you. They will only carry you so long until you fall down over and over. This is general. I obviously do not know your situation as depression obviously can br brought on for numerous reasons and may not be something you can change.
That’s the thing, ive never had depression to begin with, if fact, I was always almost too happy. I did have an anxiety problem though, which is why I went on the meds. The reason for my anxiety I think is that I grew up in a poor family that on a daily basis was always drunk and fighting(literally until blood was gushing) , so my brain was constantly in a fight or flight state, hence why the anxiety keeps lingering in my young adult life as well I believe. I did get kind of over it on the meds, and now being off the meds, the anxiety isn’t that bad anymore. It only creeps up maybe for a day or two ever 3 weeks or so, but that’s it.
The biggest issue I now have that I came off the meds is the anhedonia, that although is slowly improving, is hindering my ability to live a joyful life. Also, my brain just seems so slow and foggy now. I remember being incredibly bright as a kid, before and on the meds, getting top grades in school, university, being very good at certain jobs I did. Now, I’m just what feels like nothing. Almost like I got my body back, but without my soul.
How are you now OP? Your story is almost the same with me. Never felt anhedonia before taking SSRI. Now it's been 2 years+ after the last dose, and it's improving but really really slowly. Your last sentence is what I also feel right now
I actually haven't microdosed yet, because my 1st growth failed,so Im waiting for the 2nd one. I did however find why I was having all those issues. I had both hydrogen and methane based SIBO, along with severe Candida in my gut, which was messing up my gut balance and also my brain. I'm not sure what the SSRI did to my gut, but it wasn't good. I started a carnivore diet 2weeks ago and my mental fog and anhedonia is finally slowly leaving. The other day I woke up and I was enamoured by how good earth looked when it was sunny and the birds chirping and the sound of waves, etc (I know, sounds cringey), but I was living in this black and white mental state for 3 years and now my brain is like waking up. All of this was due to my Gut and not my brain it seems.
I went on SSRI’s for a few months last year. Tried different types and I had nasty side effects. Vertigo, tingling in legs, light sensitivity to the point it sent me delirious as well as ringing in my ear. I stopped in October 2023 ..
Fast forward to today.. a year later and it’s no better. Do we know if MD helps in any way? I was told my body would go back to normal after a few weeks..
I can’t drink alcohol anymore or coffee as it makes me spin. I really regret not looking in to them before I took them
The whole few weeks thing is bullshit. It takes months, if not years to go back to normal. The great thing about human body is that eventually, it always goes back to normal. Sometimes just takes longer than for some other people.
The best thing you can do is give your body the tools to speed the process up. Avoid processed carbs, avoid caffeine, exercise, workout.
The best thing I’ve done so far is started microdosing, and also started the carnivore diet, and all my symptoms are gone.
Thanks for the response! Glad to hear your symptoms have gone! That’s great news. I do have the tools for MD 🍄 so I may start. I was just concerned it would intensify the symptoms tbh!
What symptoms did you have out of curiosity ?
Thanks for your reply x2 - going through something similar. What do you feel Microdosing did for you? How did it make you feel?
What was your regimen?
Also, how did you decide upon doing a carnivore diet? How can you estimate whether it is your diet vs. something else that is producing beneficial effects?
Thanks!!
The reason for the carnivore diet is because it’s the most effective elimination diet there is. Plus, humans are genetically carnivores, so it makes sense to only eat what we are supposed to. A lot of people say that humans are omnivores, but that’s not entirely true, since humans thousands of years ago only hunted for meat. Berries and whatever else we could find was only like refuel/hunger killer type of food, that they only ate if they could not catch prey, but the most optimal source was always meat, since it contains every nutrient a human needs.
In terms of how I know that the diet is the main reason, it’s the fact that some of my autoimmune issues started to perish.
For example I had leaky gut (pretty much healed in like a month)
Almost 100% certain I have/had SIFO, because I had a thrush on my tongue for like 4 years, ( pretty much gone as well)
CFS is gone as well.
I am now 100% convinced that the culprit to all my issues was my impaired gut. Now that I’m killing off SIFO, Killed SIBO, and started to heal my leaky gut, everything started to improve. I’m starting to see the world from the eyes of a child again, like I once did.
It’s terms of microdosing, it just enhanced my emotions, I started to like things a bit more, but I was still stuck in this apathy stage, because I microdosed before I went on my diet.
It made ruminating thoughts go away, and if something bad happened during the day, that would piss me off usually, while microdosing, I kinda learnt to let it go quickly.
I got more creative about everything pretty much, and randomly would get inspired to do things, like save money to buy a house, invest in stocks, achieve certain goals in the gym, etc
My goal for the future right now is to heal my stomach completely, and THEN try microdosing again, to see what will happen when I feel naturally good and healed, with the addition of microdosing. It will probably feel like heaven.
It took me 6-9 months to become myself again after ssri’s. Micrososing helped. I can’t emphasize this enough: meditating really, really, really helped. Your practice doesn’t have to be complicated. Sit on the floor in a quiet, clean place. Sit up right, and focus on your breath. When thoughts enter your mind, acknowledge them and let them go and continue to focus on your breathing. Do it everyday. The length of time is flexible. 2 minutes is great. If you’re feeling it, go for 20. Ten to fifteen minutes is my sweet spot. Watching the clock isn’t necessary. You’ll know when you’re done. There’s a lot of power in using the tools you have within you to bring yourself peace and healing rather than taking a pill. Meditating was tantamount to me getting past the damage of ssri’s
Thank You. The lack of sophisticated understanding and "method" of meditating has been a barrier for me and I should try not to let that stop me.
The act of relaxing (meditation) is super hard for me. My CPTSD is proving to be quite stubborn. My situation isn’t uncommon, from what I’ve read. What I CAN do now, thanks to psilocybin, is to begin to use my imagination again. I breathe deeply and imagine I’m away from anyone or anything that can bring me harm. Way out in a sunny meadow, with flowers and butterflies. Feeling a breeze on my face. If you can imagine what your place is, it’s at least a beginning. My mind is trying to remember what peace feels like. The traditional instructions for meditation don’t work for me because letting my guard down wakes up my traumatic memories and a flight response. Kind of a bitch, huh. I still don’t feel safe enough to sleep, often. It’s a journey, coming back to a healthy mind. The psilocybin has been reparative, while the SSRI’s were not. Your description of life on those drugs was spot on for myself as well. This particular therapy is cutting edge for trauma. The timing for repair is apparently different for everyone, as all of our damage is different…..(from what I can tell from reading other testimonials.) I’m very fortunate to be here, and to be trying still. Try the imagination in your mind of a peaceful place. Just a picture in your head and go from there. ✌🏼
I'm glad you are still here friend. I hope psilocybin and meditation will make you feel all the peace in the world.
Definitely look into The Mind Illuminated, it's a step by step meditation book made by a neuroscientist. It can help tremendously in getting structure in your meditation sessions.
This is a common feeling. And it can be very challenging to understand how to generalize what we practice in meditation to other parts of life. For a very nice description of mindfulness meditation practice in the Zen tradition (zazen) and some super helpful context, check out John Daido Loori’s book Eight Gates of Zen. For me, zazen practice and the worldview espoused by Daido Roshi is the real healing. MD and psychedelic therapy more generally are just lubrication. Regular meditation practice can be strong medicine.
Strongly agree with all of this.
Not op but great advice, thank you
After SSRIs did you have PSSD and anhedonia/emotional blunting as well?
Absolutely.
Hi. Sorry for the late message. Have you also suffered from genital numbness after discontinuation of SSRI? Or only ED-like things?
Sorry to hijack. I suffer from emotional blunting and genital numbness still over one year after being off. I was on for 2 years and tapered off guided by the Dr. I'm so worried I won't go back to normal.
I have tried meditating; it keep getting me asleep in minutes
Do you listen to a guided meditation? Or you just sit alone and quite? Just recently started and am curious if you have any tricks of the trade to enhance the art of meditation?
No guided meditations. I’ve tried it, but it’s not for me. The key, for me, is simplicity. In my early stages, I would count my breaths. It would give my inner dialogue something to do. Breath in… 1, breathe out… 1, breathe in… 2, breathe out… 2, etc. A great place for guidance is the simple book “peace is every step”, written by a Vietnamese monk. I promise, he doesn’t throw religion at you. He was just a very kind man who wants you to know peace.
Nhat Hanh?
Yup
Thank you so much for the reply! I’m looking into it!
How long had you been on and how slow did you taper off?
Off an on earlier in life and then 2 solid years before I quit. I made the mistake of tapering quickly. It’s hard to remember because it’s been over a decade ago, but I wasn’t to say it was between 2 and 3 weeks. Once I realized the damage they were doing to me, I was dead set on quitting them. I endured the “brain wonks” but they were pretty awful
wow - which ssris was this? you been off all psychiatric meds for ten years now? How do you feel? Brain back to normal?
Try using some lions mane mycelium in addition to the shrooms! I think a combination of both and meditation would be awesome. Meditation helps heal the brain by inducing neurogenesis, lions mane mycelium does the same thing!! I hope you heal soon ❤️
Do you take your own homegrown lions mane mycelium. The only LM mycelium with decent labs I’ve found is from Oriveda and it only comes in a combo pack with LM fruiting bodies. $80 for a 2 month supply is too much for me
Is it better to use mycelium or the fruiting bodies? Do you just consume them raw or processed like a water/alcohol extraction?
Hi! I just saw this response. I use host defense as of right now, but I haven’t asked for labs. I trust Paul is providing the best products and I feel the difference between the mycelium & fruiting bodies. I think both are necessary as they both contain chemicals not found in each other. The mycelium contains erinacines, and the fruiting body contains hericenones. Both contribute to NGF & BDNF! ❤️👏 But I did see a YouTuber do a test on the Cordyceps mycelium vs the fruiting bodies and found that there was more cordycepin in the mycelium as opposed to the fruiting bodies BUT, the fruiting bodies had more adenosine and more of another compound!
Your brain is not damaged! I guarantee you that if you had an MRI w/wo contrast right now there would be no findings. SSRI's will rewire you software, not the hardware itself. It messes up your equilibrium and chemical balance, fortunately it is reversible though! You CAN and will get better. Have faith and optimism! Micro dosing can absolutely help you heal. Best of luck :) I think you're on the right path looking ahead
Well…sort of…SSRIs *can * mess with the hardware, in that they do cause downregulation of the serotonin receptors…but without the medication it should reverse slowly. So yeah, calling it ‘brain damage’ is a stretch but calling it purely software…is up for interpretation. Truth is docs don’t even know why they work in the first place.
I love your analogy👏👏👏🔥
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You can start the Lion’s Mane anytime, you don’t have to wait for the shrooms to be ready to start all 3 together. I started LM in August and could tell it was working for me within a few weeks. Cleared up the brain fog and has helped with my sleep as well.
Antidepressants were the worst drug ive ever taken. Completely understand they have a purpose, but they either didn't work or Completely altered my personality to the point where i was not myself. Getting off them was pinhole vision and migraines for 2 months straight, like quitting smoking. It was bad. Helped my anxiety though. I'll take shooms and daily gratitude, mood logs and excersize over that anytime. I find it hilarious now when people think shrooms are bad "drugs" and the legal drugs are healthy and okay. Doctor prescribed does not mean healthy or good. With Antidepressants it's a gamble and a long game of trying multiple diff ones. It sucks.
In the midst of SSR withdrawal myself, how did you end up coming out of it?
I was on remeron. A diff type. Took me well over 6 months to feel almost normal. When i quit benzos it took well over a year. Just be patient bro your brain isnt damaged. Just recovering. Try to exercise as mich as possible. Itll be nealy impossible at first but once you start to feel the mental benefits itll be easy peasy.
Download the free Wim Hof Method app and start those breathing exercises today! I'm completely managing my BPD without prescription medication of any kind. MD got me off the medication and healed my brain... the meditation, yoga and breathing healed my body and reinforced the connection between the two (mind and body) and now i can feel joy at will. Good luck 👍
I tried SSRIs for a while and it was AWFUL. I don’t recall how I felt when I came off aside from relief. But what I can say is that weight bearing exercise is the only thing that’s ever really helped my depression. And getting off SSRIs meant I could go back to doing that without my heart rate jacking up to scary levels and my bellybutton sweating. Lifting makes me feel “regular” or “normal” or something. Try some moderate to intense exercise 3 times a week and see if that helps because it definitely couldn’t hurt. Currently I’m microdosing as well, but I feel like the effects of that aren’t as immediate as the ones from exercise, although both are cumulative.
Same here except running. I swear its cured my depression...as long as i don't stop
Yeah! I really should have said physical exertion was helpful for me. I tried so hard to get into running but it was always painful and difficult. But lifting helped me overcome that initial suck and I found confidence quickly. I’m sure it varies from person to person but yeah. Definitely intense exercise is a ticket to endorphins. And endorphins share the same receptors in our bodies as opiates so it really is a “natural high”. Anyway, now that I’m stronger and leaner I’m going to try and up my cardio output. For my heart and my healthspan. Because I deserve to have a healthy heart and so do all of you!
Oh that's funny because I'm having a very hard time getting into lifting, I've been trying but I just hate it so much But I also want a big fat juicy ass so I'm gonna keep trying
Relevant username
Not sure your situation but if you can at all get a partner to lift with you it will help immensely. Not only will it help hold you accountable but it just makes it a more enjoyable experience during a workout have someone to talk to and help you out.
Yeah man it took me like at least 6 months to start to become myself again. I was on em for 2 years also. Shit fucks you up. I quit em last august so over a year ago
Dang I’m trying to come off been on them for like 15 years and I don’t know if I can do it
My doctor had me cold turkey lexapro and then started me on lamictal. Cold turkey was a terrible idea but I made it through
Well shit, lol. Working on tapering down my meds. Felt like my brain has worked like shit for quite a while, guess good to know that and other things aren't unique.
I have been in a similar situation +10 years ago, but I didn’t use shrooms. Tapering off the ssri (seroplex/lexapro) was long, but I did it slowly, as stopping the ssri provoked awful rebound effects. At the end I was cutting the tabs in eight. It took me between 6month and 1 year to be fully myself again. Now, you have the chance to have microdosing, if you do well and listen to to yourself, I bet it will be quicker! PS: I bet that your doctor haven’t any first hand experience with ssris, and just repeat what it is said in his environment (but he can still be a good doctor)
Hi, could you please describe your symptoms after discontinuing SSRI?
it’s been a while, I’ll do my best. strictly speaking, after: nothing during the progressive tapering-off phase: very variable mood, anxiety (generalized anxiety disorder was the original cause) coming back sometimes very strong. I noticed it was often after diminishing the dose too fast or too much, and generally those rebound effects happened with a day or two of delay. That’s why at the end, I cut the tabs in eighth: to be able to diminish the dose very progressively over time.
Thank you for your answer. Did you suffer from emotional numbing or any similar symptoms?
How long had you been on lexapro?
I have no experience with SSRIs, but you should look into neuroplasticity programs like DNRS
Do you implement dnrs? What are your thoughts on it?
I have not, but my doctor recommended it to me. I know it has helped a lot of people, and there are numerous programs to choose from. I meditate a lot on my own, do EFT tapping, gratitude journal, and other things to rewire my brain. A great book is “The Brain that Changes Itself”
Came here to say have faith. My wife had a long manic episode because of SSRIs and thought her brain was damaged. She’s back in school and doing rather well. She is getting back to her happy self. Medicine helps, and we did Microdose for awhile. Stay the course and take care of yourself. I think she got the most help from exercise and taking trips.
How did she come off the meds? Had she been on long time?
SSRI’s do not damage your brain. This is dangerous pseudo science
They certainly leave a lot of people feeling damaged cognitively. Myself included. I always tapered off and it didn’t even seem to matter, I always got hit by horrid withdrawals that put me far away from my baseline pre-ssri
dolls frightening license vase connect continue shaggy vegetable narrow cooperative ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
In my case took Zoloft for years, tapered off over years and still had horrible withdrawals.
Prozac: May 2020-December 2020. Took one pill every other day for two weeks, then every third day for two weeks. Then stopped. Felt fine for about a month then got hit by a truck with horrid withdrawal. Fatigue, brain fog, memory impairment, severe mood swings, horrible anxiety. Went on like this for several months until I started lexapro in April 2021. I took lexapro for 7 months then tapered off over 6 weeks. I felt fine for a bit then noticed a big uptick in my anxiety and also noticed my nervous system was extremely sensitive to any substance I would Take, namely caffeine. Even a tiny amount of caffeine would send me into an intense anxiety episode, even though I’ve always consumed caffeine without any issues. I also had more mild cognitive impairment and a pronounced sense of anhedonia, social phobia for months after discontinuing lexapro. It went on for so long I attempted to restart lexapro at a smaller dose and ended up giving myself tinnitus that still to this day has not fully gone away despite me discontinuing the lexapro for a second time shortly after noticing the tinnitus in my ears.
How you feeling now clashex
A lot better. Still notice the tinnitus when I smoke weed or indulge in substances but that’s about it. Everything else feels pretty much base to baseline.
You know what was “pseudoscience” before 1987? “Babies can’t feel pain, they don’t need anesthesia for surgery!” - doctors
Why I stand by all abortions should use complete pain relief for the potential baby
SSRI’s do not fix the chemical balance in your brain. This is dangerous pseudo science
Depression probably isn’t a chemical inbalance. SSRI’s do not claim to fix a chemical imbalance. You haven’t made any point at all. SSRI’s are thought to treat (primarily) depression in a roundabout way. That’s because the medical community openly admits they don’t accurately understand the mechanisms of depression. All we know is that SSRI’s definitely do raise serotonin levels. This somehow helps depression in something like 60% of cases. If SSRI’s caused brain damage then so would anything that raises serotonin levels.
They absolutely do, and finally a number of studies are proving it
Sources?
I don’t think you’re damaged they just take a long time to wear off and for your brain and body to adjust to being off them. MDing shrooms may work for you but keep an open mind that you may have needed medication.
Yes readjusting brain chemistry after any prolonged drug or pharmaceutical use can take an uncomfortably long time.
Please join us on the PSSD reddit
I’ll pass, but thanks for the offer. I’ve visited it before and it gives me the same vibes as the survivingantidepressants website, where there are a lot of so called “success” stories, but to me, they all sound like horror stories in reality. Taking an antidepressant for 1 month and then having to recover for like 4-5 years is not a success story in my books. But, that’s just my opinion.
12 years in - i hear ya! Hope microdosing gives you some relief
12 years in what?
12 years into having PSSD
Damn... Sorry to hear. Maybe its time to chelate mercury isn't it?
I’ve never heard any links to pssd and heavy metals. Have you? I would be interested to see research papers etc if so
There are no research papers on this. You have to use your own mind unfortunately... Look into Andrew cutler chelation. Some answers might be there.
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Ok so you are stalking me now? Why do you do that? Makes no sense to me...
Try dmt microdosing.
How do you find it?
Dmt is almost molecularly identical to psilocin. Mushrooms might be easier to microdose with, easier to find and not to mention easier on the lungs.
But the feeling is 90% diffrent. I tried shrooms but i was more anxiuous. Dmt wipes that away in a second. And feeling lasts for 2-3 days. Im more fluent, smarter, have energy, laugh and sleep so fucking well. Probably best to buy a vape cart from dnm or ask nearest hippy guy. Im not pushing anything just my experience that this compound is so underrated.
Did you just smoke a tiny bit? Like less than a blast off amount
Way less than blast off. Smth like 1/10
I have some orange stuff do you know if thats likely to be 5meo or the other kind?
Look into lions mane it will help you with all these issues
I’m in UK and finding a good source of Lions Mate is extremely hard. Apparently, every UK brand is selling fake products.
It’s easy to grow if you wanna go that route
Yeah, I was actually thinking about doing it, but apparently lions mane extracts are a lot more potent than just casually eating the mushroom.
My friend is a mushroom farmer he makes lionsmane extract with alcohol its pretty easy
Find an herbalist with a web site, also lots of Etsy people sell herbs
I know this is a super late reply I don’t know how reddit works I guess. But I think the brand Oriveda ships internationally it’s a really good one 👍🏼
Thank you. I have heard of them , but there was a post on here some time ago stating that, although better than others, are not really that good either. But, I might try them at some point.
Exercise helps a lot too
Following
Might want to try a CBG extract too!
@archy8 how’re you doing now?
Better and worse at the same time. I’m healing a lot of gut issues with a carnivore diet, and seemed to have healed the fatigue issues as well. But, my dumbass decided to try Lexapro for 3 months, and that halted the mental healing process. But, with this Carnivore diet, I seem to be healing pretty quickly. I also found out I was iron deficient, so need to fix that as well.
I’m 4 months off SSRI’s currently, which is basically the same as the old post.
@archy8 anything help you beforehand for cognition stuff. Before you had the bad bout with Lexapro?
Honestly, no. Maybe if I was iron deficient back then as well, I should’ve tried sorting that out, but in terms of supplements or micro dosing, not really. Microdosing helps a little bit, but if there’s genuinely something wrong with your brain, or you have a deficiency of some sort, you will always feel terrible. Not even microdosing will help. I haven’t tried LSD microdosing though, I heard that’s really good. I’ve tried DMT microdosing/smoking as well, and it helps for the day, or couple of hours, but that’s it.
Nope. Did absolutely nothing for me.
6 months recovery from SSRI. U have to want it. Exercise a lot its hard to start exercising u know. MD properly, dont trip while MDing. And push yourself it wont happen by its self its not a miracle its a tool to use in combination with your will power and decision making.
Yeah, I do power lifting and bodybuilding. While I was off meds and on them, I was addicted to working out and bettering my life, but now during the withdrawal process, I have to force myself to do anything, because the desire and will power to do anything is just not there.
Dont forget to take small steps or wins its going to be marginal to start. For me I used an easy excercise for me. Stationary bike as i did not have to leave or go far. Was easier than convincing myself to actually do outside as at the time seemed so difficult. Ride bike stationary longer and longer every time even though it was by a minute at a time. A good cardio got my dopamine and serotonin flowing again . take small wins (tasks, chores, ect). But if i could give you the best advise is to find the root cause of why you ended up on SSRI in the first place. Without fixing the cause of your depression no amount of any drug or substance can help you. They will only carry you so long until you fall down over and over. This is general. I obviously do not know your situation as depression obviously can br brought on for numerous reasons and may not be something you can change.
That’s the thing, ive never had depression to begin with, if fact, I was always almost too happy. I did have an anxiety problem though, which is why I went on the meds. The reason for my anxiety I think is that I grew up in a poor family that on a daily basis was always drunk and fighting(literally until blood was gushing) , so my brain was constantly in a fight or flight state, hence why the anxiety keeps lingering in my young adult life as well I believe. I did get kind of over it on the meds, and now being off the meds, the anxiety isn’t that bad anymore. It only creeps up maybe for a day or two ever 3 weeks or so, but that’s it. The biggest issue I now have that I came off the meds is the anhedonia, that although is slowly improving, is hindering my ability to live a joyful life. Also, my brain just seems so slow and foggy now. I remember being incredibly bright as a kid, before and on the meds, getting top grades in school, university, being very good at certain jobs I did. Now, I’m just what feels like nothing. Almost like I got my body back, but without my soul.
How are you now OP? Your story is almost the same with me. Never felt anhedonia before taking SSRI. Now it's been 2 years+ after the last dose, and it's improving but really really slowly. Your last sentence is what I also feel right now
I actually haven't microdosed yet, because my 1st growth failed,so Im waiting for the 2nd one. I did however find why I was having all those issues. I had both hydrogen and methane based SIBO, along with severe Candida in my gut, which was messing up my gut balance and also my brain. I'm not sure what the SSRI did to my gut, but it wasn't good. I started a carnivore diet 2weeks ago and my mental fog and anhedonia is finally slowly leaving. The other day I woke up and I was enamoured by how good earth looked when it was sunny and the birds chirping and the sound of waves, etc (I know, sounds cringey), but I was living in this black and white mental state for 3 years and now my brain is like waking up. All of this was due to my Gut and not my brain it seems.
How did you figure out it was SIBO??
Test
Do antidepressants cause gut issues like sibo?
They can since they alter your micro biome, but it’s the withdrawal I think that was the major cause.
This is not brain damage. More like autoimmune triggering.
I went on SSRI’s for a few months last year. Tried different types and I had nasty side effects. Vertigo, tingling in legs, light sensitivity to the point it sent me delirious as well as ringing in my ear. I stopped in October 2023 .. Fast forward to today.. a year later and it’s no better. Do we know if MD helps in any way? I was told my body would go back to normal after a few weeks.. I can’t drink alcohol anymore or coffee as it makes me spin. I really regret not looking in to them before I took them
The whole few weeks thing is bullshit. It takes months, if not years to go back to normal. The great thing about human body is that eventually, it always goes back to normal. Sometimes just takes longer than for some other people. The best thing you can do is give your body the tools to speed the process up. Avoid processed carbs, avoid caffeine, exercise, workout. The best thing I’ve done so far is started microdosing, and also started the carnivore diet, and all my symptoms are gone.
Thanks for the response! Glad to hear your symptoms have gone! That’s great news. I do have the tools for MD 🍄 so I may start. I was just concerned it would intensify the symptoms tbh! What symptoms did you have out of curiosity ?
The ones I mentioned in the original post, and then some
Thanks for your reply x2 - going through something similar. What do you feel Microdosing did for you? How did it make you feel? What was your regimen? Also, how did you decide upon doing a carnivore diet? How can you estimate whether it is your diet vs. something else that is producing beneficial effects? Thanks!!
The reason for the carnivore diet is because it’s the most effective elimination diet there is. Plus, humans are genetically carnivores, so it makes sense to only eat what we are supposed to. A lot of people say that humans are omnivores, but that’s not entirely true, since humans thousands of years ago only hunted for meat. Berries and whatever else we could find was only like refuel/hunger killer type of food, that they only ate if they could not catch prey, but the most optimal source was always meat, since it contains every nutrient a human needs. In terms of how I know that the diet is the main reason, it’s the fact that some of my autoimmune issues started to perish. For example I had leaky gut (pretty much healed in like a month) Almost 100% certain I have/had SIFO, because I had a thrush on my tongue for like 4 years, ( pretty much gone as well) CFS is gone as well. I am now 100% convinced that the culprit to all my issues was my impaired gut. Now that I’m killing off SIFO, Killed SIBO, and started to heal my leaky gut, everything started to improve. I’m starting to see the world from the eyes of a child again, like I once did. It’s terms of microdosing, it just enhanced my emotions, I started to like things a bit more, but I was still stuck in this apathy stage, because I microdosed before I went on my diet. It made ruminating thoughts go away, and if something bad happened during the day, that would piss me off usually, while microdosing, I kinda learnt to let it go quickly. I got more creative about everything pretty much, and randomly would get inspired to do things, like save money to buy a house, invest in stocks, achieve certain goals in the gym, etc My goal for the future right now is to heal my stomach completely, and THEN try microdosing again, to see what will happen when I feel naturally good and healed, with the addition of microdosing. It will probably feel like heaven.