Alan47: Would reinstatement work for this?

[Alan47]

Hello, after being on ssri's for about 3 years I decided to come off Luvox, tapered within 4 months with mild to moderate withdrawals. Now 3 months after stopping completely im still left with residual symptoms, most notably; tinnitus, muscle spams, sexual dysfunction (pssd?) anhedonia with suicidal thoughts and a restless feeling, like can't stay immobile. Now my question is, based on knowledge and possible experience, would reinstatement 3 months after reduce some of my symptoms or would that just aggravate things further? Is there any possibility of natural recovery with riding it out? Now on another note, are the sexual issues PSSD or just a transient withdrawal symptom? The irony is i never really had sexual dysfunction on the drugs just noticed it when i was almost off it, first thing i noticed was no more morning erections and low libido. Thanks for reading, very hard not to feel hopeless right now.

[Petunia]

Welcome Alan47,

I moved your introductory post to a Journal thread of its own. This way more people will notice it, and you can maintain your own journal. You can use this thread  to track progress, write about symptoms, ask questions and communicate with the community, add to it whenever you want. Please bookmark it or follow it so you can find it again.

 

Was Luvox the only medication you took? Are you currently taking any other drugs? We ask members to put their drug and withdrawal history in the signature section. It appears below each of your posts and helps us to help you. Here are instructions for how to do it: 

  

Please put your withdrawal history in your signature

 

From what you have written, it sounds like you have made some recovery over the last 3 months, this is a good sign, but to still have some symptoms at this stage is not uncommon, especially because you tapered quite fast. We suggest reducing by no more than 10% of the current dose every 4 weeks, this reduces the risk of withdrawal symptoms arising. Please read through this which will explain why:

  

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?  (The general philosophy of gradual tapering)

 

To answer your questions:

 

Yes, there is a small possibility that reinstatement might help, but we don't recommend it at this late stage because the risk for an adverse reaction is higher the longer you have been off the drug. But its something to consider if you are unable to tolerate your current symptoms. Here is the link to our reinstatement topic, please read through it carefully before deciding if its something you would like to try.  About reinstating and stabilizing to stop withdrawal symptoms

 

The alternative is to give yourself more time and you will eventually recover, but I don't know how long it will take. Recovery usually happens in a windows and waves kind of pattern. It can take anywhere from weeks to years, everyone is different so its impossible to predict how long it will take for you, but it will happen.

 

Here is the link to our symptoms and self care section, you may find some useful ideas to help manage symptoms as you recover.  Especially read the topics pinned at the top.

 

Sexual issues and PSSD can be part of withdrawal and most recover from these over time, along with other withdrawal symptoms. For a small minority of people, these symptoms seem to persist longer than other symptoms, but there's no reason to expect it.

 

Developing acceptance, a positive outlook and taking care of yourself well, is the best formula to support recovery. A healthy diet, regular exercise if possible and pleasant socializing will also help. Minimize stress and distract yourself from difficult symptoms until they pass. There are lots of good ideas in our symptoms and care forum to help you with all of this.

 

Please feel free to write whenever you want, you will find a lot of friendly help and support here.

 

Petunia.

 

 

 

[Alan47]

Thanks for your concise answer. Do you think the sexual/anhedonia issues might be related to dopaminergic dysfunction? Another interesting example is that ever since withdrawal I haven't been to able feel substances such as alcohol and caffeine, might that be related to a neurotransmitter dysfunction?