ElixirOfStrings: How I(almost) fully recovered from both post-Isotretinoin depression and underlying PSSD, and importance of being patient and lab testing.

[ElixirOfStrings]

So I'd share my story, about importance of both slowly getting off any drugs, not mixing another, importance of supplements proven here like Omega, Magnesium, Vitamins and reinstating as the only proven way of alleviating many symptoms. I must say that there is no "one size fits it all", but this is my advice for anyone getting off of ADs.

 

Basically, I was prescribed Lexapro, more than 5 years ago, for few months. I went off to quikcly, fast taper in 1,5 months, instead of holding smaller doses, especially since I had big tolerance and my withdrawal even cold turkey was manageable, hard due to blunted emotions but even THEN I could function, so smaller drops would most likely caused no problems at all, but I was impatient like MANY people. Then after 1 month I reinstated, and due to various supplements that I took my body was dysregulated so first advice - don't try any unproven herbs or whatever you want to take to "heal" yourself and what folks on another forums with various unproven theories say, the only proven things that you can try is what is written here, proven by many users - Omega 3, Magnesium, B vitamins - granted, some people have bad reaction to some vitamins but body still need them, so always the best to try small doses and doing proper lab testing, especially for D3, B12 for any comorbid vit deficiency which can cause problems in the first place as well.

 

Then in 2021 I took more supplements like CDP Choline and it caused various problems like vasodilation on arms and legs, weight loss, I was in post-reinstate state, I could go back to small dose lexapro anytime, but my Body coudn't 'click' to get back in place. It turned out after accutane therapy 6 months ago that the things that I overlooked were vitamins, but never really believed that I could be deficient, nor that it could cause problems since I'm non-vegetarian and took some vitamins there and there or that it coudl help. I didn't test right away, after accutane I had chronic depression (I wasn't depressed after lexapro at all), tinnitus, chonic fatigue, it turned out that after B9 and B12 all my symptoms went away, more over, after adding good b complex I started to heal from withdrawal caused by Lexapro as well - I also test do D3 often and now it's in 70s instead of 20s). My B12 was in low high 400s but my doc didn't test me for homocysteine or folate, but told me, that empiricism is good indicator of underlying functional B12 deficiency, since folate and B12 may test false high after current supplementation or B12 shots - B12 deficiency group on reddit is good resource for anyone dealing with this.

 

So I had both some withdrawal symptoms from lexapro and B12 deficiency, but my deficiency based on my symptoms progressed way after discontinuation, so this isn't "it all B12" in my case, rather it's B12 depletion over of period of time that made my nervous system harder to fully get back on track and accutane by fully depleting my B vitamins (there are papers stating that isotretinoin causes depletion of all vitamins, especially ones with short half life like B2 and folate, my friend who works as pharmaceutical lawyer also said that B vitamin depletion is common in most drug therapies, especially B12) actually saved me.

 

So, if I have advice for anyone suffering from ADs withdrawal and things like pssd, mostly people who are desperate who want it all quickly:

- taper slowly, don't panic, get Omega 3, magnesium, if you can take B and ADEK vitamins starting with smaller doses that's great, or better do a test - whole vitamin panel is the best, including MTHFR mutation - things written here actually.

- if you have some withdrawal, or symptoms like pssd, but withdrawal itself wasn't problematic, it always the best to reinstate the same drug in very small dose that caused that in first place, and be patient with stabilizing, rather than trying everything possible as magic pill, especially since many people get pssd and blunted emotions ONLY once they jump off

- don't go into rabbit hole of alternatives experiments, like hormones, stacking 10 supplements etc. to "cure" you because it most likely only cause more harm than good both in liver, nervous system and don't be "i know better, it's all because [mechanism of ADs] and another theory, i'm right" like many folks on various forums.

The only proven thing is to slowly taper, reinstate, staying away from both other pharmaceutical drugs and psychoactive drugs like weed, unless you have ynderlying condition, but always be careful and don't do it unless really necessary.

 

I can't guarantee that everyone will recover from either pssd (it's more than that - there is whole emotional numbness, I had sexual function like 80% of the time, it's about getting all emotion and nervous system back on track, many people overlook it) or long-term withdrawal, but there is much higher chance you will if you won't go into rabbit hole of basically turning your body into big lab rat and maybe also damaging liver or other organs in the process, that;s why comorbid deficiencies are important, do a homocysteine test, your D3 etc to make sure your body has everything to function on basic level.

 

If someone has questions, I can engage in discussion regarding my experience dealing both with withdrawal from AD and B12 deficiency if anyone is suffering from that as well - there many cofactors that are important as well. Right now i'm almost fully recovered, basically I got slight B6 toxicity on top of everything and everything overlap byt my body is like 90-95% like it was pre lexapro and it's only getting better.

[getofflex]

Hello.  Congratulations for getting off of Lexapro successfully!  And thanks for taking the time to write your success story.  I'm very glad to hear that you are 90 to 95 percent better.  Your story will give people a lot of hope.  

[LukeUK]

Thank you for sharing your story. I am glad that you feel mostly recovered.

 

On 7/20/2023 at 12:03 PM, ElixirOfStrings said:

my friend who works as pharmaceutical lawyer also said that B vitamin depletion is common in most drug therapies, especially B12 

 

If it is well-known in the pharmaceutical industry that these drugs cause this, which can have serious implications for your health, why is nobody ever warned and why is this knowledge not even disseminated to doctors so that they know what to look out for if people have health issues?

[Driksdog]

No warnings because they are fxxxxxx criminals and want to harvest money. Simple as it is. Stay away from pdocs.