Poll: Did you get sexual dysfunction (PSSD) or emotional anesthesia after you stopped all drugs?

[Altostrata]

Hello. Please respond to this poll about sexual dysfunction or emotional anesthesia after going off any antidepressant or psychiatric drug, not just SSRIs.

 

Post-drug sexual dysfunction may be a continuation of the sexual dysfunction you felt while taking the drug or it may be a new sexual dysfunction. Post-drug, it is generally described as an unusual lack of sexual sensation that interferes with normal functioning.

 

Emotional anesthesia is a complete deadening of feelings, not just feeling down or lethargic or "blunted". 

 

Note: PSSD means Post-SSRi Sexual Dysfunction, and it occurs only after you've gone off the drug. If you are taking any drugs, sexual dysfunction might be an adverse drug effect, not PSSD.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 10:43 PM by Altostrata
restated ambiguous question

[Snowblind]

Is "emotional anesthesia" the same as anhedonia?

[Altostrata]

Anhedonia is a rather vague term used by psychiatry.

 

We coined "emotional anesthesia" for an unprecedented, more intense and global deadening of all positive emotions that is often seen in withdrawal syndromes. 

 

"Emotional anesthesia" is not just feeling blah, disengaged, or bored.

 

@Snowblind Please shorten your signature, it demands a lot of scrolling to get past it.

[Ariel]

On 1/12/2025 at 5:26 AM, Altostrata said:

Anhedonia is a rather vague term used by psychiatry.

 

We coined "emotional anesthesia" for an unprecedented, more intense and global deadening of all positive emotions that is often seen in withdrawal syndromes. 

 

Hi Alto, good to see you here and thank you for your ongoing work fighting the good fight on behalf of us all!

 

Based on the quoted text, is it correct that "emotional anesthesia" means that one feels no positive emotions while still feeling negative emotions? This is what trips me up about the term, where "anesthesia" strikes me as a misnomer. I only very rarely feel any semblance of positive emotions and certainly feel all the negative emotions quite intensely and overwhelmingly -- would gladly welcome some anesthetic relief (numbing) from the latter! Perhaps I do not understand the way "anesthesia" is being used.

 

I've answered the poll above. I wasn't sure how to answer question 3. I did have PSSD for a number of years. It has basically resolved. I have also long had persistent, stubborn severe emotional distress/anguish. I didn't notice any particular connection between "emotional anesthesia" and the PSSD, although they were concurrent (and the experience of PSSD was not exactly mood-enhancing). The intensely, overwhelmingly negative emotional/mental landscape continues to a nightmarish degree even though I have been drug-free for years.

 

Is PGAD considered part of PSSD? Or is it considered a distinct phenomenon? In my case they blended and overlapped. For what it's worth, I'd characterize PGAD as a subset of PSSD. The PGAD "mixed" phase preceded a prolonged period of "pure" PSSD, where PGAD was characterized by its own singular dysfunction although without the same level of associated dysphoria as subsequent non-PGAD PSSD.

[princefan777]

My PSSD started right after discontinuation and ended about 5 months into withdrawal, but at 2.5 years I still have emotional anesthesia. It's somewhat tolerable early in the day and gets progressively worse until I go to bed.

[MontanaMan]

On 1/9/2025 at 10:55 PM, Altostrata said:

Hello. Please respond to this poll about sexual dysfunction or emotional anesthesia after going off any antidepressant or psychiatric drug, not just SSRIs.

 

Post-drug sexual dysfunction may be a continuation of the sexual dysfunction you felt while taking the drug or it may be a new sexual dysfunction. Post-drug, it is generally described as an unusual lack of sexual sensation that interferes with normal functioning.

 

Emotional anesthesia is a complete deadening of feelings, not just feeling down or lethargic or "blunted". 

 

Note: PSSD means Post-SSRi Sexual Dysfunction, and it occurs only after you've gone off the drug. If you are taking any drugs, sexual dysfunction might be an adverse drug effect, not PSSD.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Alto what are your thoughts on the prognosis of PSSD? I remember before that you were of the opinion that all or at least most recovered. Do you still think that? 

[Altostrata]

Please use search to review my comments on this subject.

[Alejogc06]

Hi, I stopped using drugs last year, which I was on almost all of 2024 with multiple psychotropic drugs, I took pristiq for 15 days, which showed me sexual dysfunction, and when I stopped it I was still the same, today I continue with the same sexual dysfunction and genital sequence, plus a lot of symptoms that do not improve, it should be noted that they prescribed me welbutrin, which was only a patch for only 15 days. I no longer take psychotropic drugs, but it accompanies me. INSOMNIA TINNISM COGNITIVE DETERIORATION EXTREME SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION (No genital numbness). ANHEDONIA.. I am taking doses of Omega 3 wings, vitamin C, and other supplements to increase sexual function but this does not improve, I am only 23 years old, I do not know what to do and I wanted to end this suffering that drugs left me, I would NEVER have taken them. What do you recommend I take more? I don't know what to do. I want my old life back.

 

Sorry for my English, I'm from Colombia, I use a translator...