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☼ Malf: Full recovery following antipsychotic induced anhedonia and other symptoms.


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Hi,

I had an out of character delusional episode last year and so I saw a psychiatrist who prescribed me olanzapine/zyprexa and diazepam for when I got too stressed out. I didn't like being on olanzapine because it made me tired and really sluggish, I'd say it felt like there was an invisible weight pulling me down. Anyway I wasn't hearing voices and wasn't being delusional anymore so I got the psychiatrist's advice before I decided to come of the drugs.

 

Things were good for about two to three weeks but then I remember waking up one morning feeling incredibly anxious and seriously empty and with an inability to think properly. I didn't have any inner monologue at all. I was finding finishing sentences difficult. It was seriously scary stuff. I'd say my communication was reduced to saying basic observations about what I'd just seen. I was completely dependent on others to come up with conversation. I couldn't make an impact on anything .wasn't able to make people laugh, I couldn't laugh at all. I couldn't smile properly. I felt seriously uncomfortable all the time with no sense of feeling relaxed. I'd lost my sense of humour altogether, in seven months I don't think I'd made a joke that landed properly. I didn't want to talk to anyone, just stare into space. My working memory was so bad I couldn't keep anything in my head. Extreme anhedonia. Couldn't contemplate talking to girls. Inability to focus on anything. My only entertainment was to watch the news because it didn't have any humour element. No-one was happy to see me. Etc etc.

 

For a while I didn't know what caused it, because various things had happened in my life then which could have been a factor, but after some time I realised the most likely thing that it could be was the antipsychotic. No-one believed me about it though, so I just had to get on with things. I wasn't sure if it was just a withdrawal or permanent. It certainly felt permanent. The symptoms were the same as negative schizophrenia or a frontal lobotomy and no-one recovers from them apparently.

 

This went on from November during which time I started feeling a little better, probably because I learned to tolerate the symptoms better but all the brain problems were still there.

 

After Schizor recovered, and he had added magnesium and fish oil to his diet, I thought I'd try it too: magnesium in the form of peanuts, and omega 3, in the form of haddock. Omega three is also in nuts too. These foods I never ate anyway because fish gives me diarrhoea for some reason. After about a two weeks of eating a healthy diet ( I'd also had some turmeric in curry and quite a lot of broccoli ) I started feeling better. If you eat too many peanuts or magnesium supplements you get brain zaps so you can't have too much magnesium at once.

 

All my feelings came back and I have no brain issues at all anymore. Life is good again. 100 percent recovery. My frontal lobes hadn't rotted away! Yay!

 

So I'm thinking it has something to do with some sort of drug induced mineral/vitamin deficiency. There is quite a lot of information online regarding this if you look for it. I'd read something about magnesium being depleted in the brain following anti-psychotic withdrawal but unfortunately I can't find the source. I also read that some schizophrenics with negative symptoms got better following fish oil supplementation. Anyway that is probably what happens to everyone who complains of these symptoms following antipsychotic withdrawal, not just zyprexa. Possibly all negative schizophrenia symptoms are caused by this too, schizophrenics are all on antipsychotics, so it makes sense.

 

The thing is I think quite a lot of people kill themselves before they find this out. I'm not sure if you've noticed but he people online with this all complain about the torture and how they are suicidal and some go off the radar which is concerning. Although they may have recovered who knows.

 

Anyway Lots of websites talk about the theory that, not just neuroleptics but, quite a lot of other classes of drugs cause deficiencies of some description or another, so those struggling with PSSD might also find this useful.

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Very great to read!

2000 - sertraline for job anxiety low confidence (17 years old) ..which turned the next 16 years into nightmare!

 

On/off sertraline severe withdrawals every time. 2014 - felt better as reduced dose of sertraline no more inner restlessness. Doctor rushed off again. Hit severe withdrawal. Lost the little I had in life. Couldn't get stable again on 12.5mg. Was switched to prozac. Had severe reaction to prozac..came off in November 2015 at 6mg as felt more confused and damaged on it..Even more withdrawal ..rage, depression, dyphoria, near constant suicidal ideation, self harm impulses, doom, concrete block in head, unable to do much of anything with this feeling in head..went back on 6mg of sertraline to see if would alleviate anything. It didn't..reduced from December to June 2016 came off at 2.5mg sertraline as was hospitalised for the severe rage, suicidal impulses, and put on 50mg lofepramine which in 2nd week reduced all symptoms but gave insomnia which still have..psych stopped lofepramine cold turkey..no increased withdrawal symptoms new symptoms from lofepramine except persistant insomnia which has as side effect.

 

Taking Ativan for 8 months for the severe rage self harm impulses 1-3 times a week (mostly 2 times a week) at .5mg. Two months (I'm unsure exactly when the interdose started to happen) ago interdose withdrawal seemed to happen..2 days I think after the Ativan.

 

 

Nightmare that could have been avoided!

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Hi,

I had an out of character delusional episode last year and so I saw a psychiatrist who prescribed me olanzapine/zyprexa and diazepam for when I got too stressed out. I didn't like being on olanzapine because it made me tired and really sluggish, I'd say it felt like there was an invisible weight pulling me down. Anyway I wasn't hearing voices and wasn't being delusional anymore so I got the psychiatrist's advice before I decided to come of the drugs.

 

Things were good for about two to three weeks but then I remember waking up one morning feeling incredibly anxious and seriously empty and with an inability to think properly. I didn't have any inner monologue at all. I was finding finishing sentences difficult. It was seriously scary stuff. I'd say my communication was reduced to saying basic observations about what I'd just seen. I was completely dependent on others to come up with conversation. I couldn't make an impact on anything .wasn't able to make people laugh, I couldn't laugh at all. I couldn't smile properly. I felt seriously uncomfortable all the time with no sense of feeling relaxed. I'd lost my sense of humour altogether, in seven months I don't think I'd made a joke that landed properly. I didn't want to talk to anyone, just stare into space. My working memory was so bad I couldn't keep anything in my head. Extreme anhedonia. Couldn't contemplate talking to girls. Inability to focus on anything. My only entertainment was to watch the news because it didn't have any humour element. No-one was happy to see me. Etc etc.

 

For a while I didn't know what caused it, because various things had happened in my life then which could have been a factor, but after some time I realised the most likely thing that it could be was the antipsychotic. No-one believed me about it though, so I just had to get on with things. I wasn't sure if it was just a withdrawal or permanent. It certainly felt permanent. The symptoms were the same as negative schizophrenia or a frontal lobotomy and no-one recovers from them apparently.

 

This went on from November during which time I started feeling a little better, probably because I learned to tolerate the symptoms better but all the brain problems were still there.

 

After Schizor recovered, and he had added magnesium and fish oil to his diet, I thought I'd try it too: magnesium in the form of peanuts, and omega 3, in the form of haddock. Omega three is also in nuts too. These foods I never ate anyway because fish gives me diarrhoea for some reason. After about a two weeks of eating a healthy diet ( I'd also had some turmeric in curry and quite a lot of broccoli ) I started feeling better. If you eat too many peanuts or magnesium supplements you get brain zaps so you can't have too much magnesium at once.

 

All my feelings came back and I have no brain issues at all anymore. Life is good again. 100 percent recovery. My frontal lobes hadn't rotted away! Yay!

 

So I'm thinking it has something to do with some sort of drug induced mineral/vitamin deficiency. There is quite a lot of information online regarding this if you look for it. I'd read something about magnesium being depleted in the brain following anti-psychotic withdrawal but unfortunately I can't find the source. I also read that some schizophrenics with negative symptoms got better following fish oil supplementation. Anyway that is probably what happens to everyone who complains of these symptoms following antipsychotic withdrawal, not just zyprexa. Possibly all negative schizophrenia symptoms are caused by this too, schizophrenics are all on antipsychotics, so it makes sense.

 

The thing is I think quite a lot of people kill themselves before they find this out. I'm not sure if you've noticed but he people online with this all complain about the torture and how they are suicidal and some go off the radar which is concerning. Although they may have recovered who knows.

 

Anyway Lots of websites talk about the theory that, not just neuroleptics but, quite a lot of other classes of drugs cause deficiencies of some description or another, so those struggling with PSSD might also find this useful.

I'm glad that you recovered.  Congratulations.  I'd caution you on assuming that the brain damage that some people endure is something as simple as a vitamin and mineral deficiency.  It seems to be a common scapegoat for those who don't understand human physiology very well.  A very simple way to point your finger at something that is immensely more complicated than most can understand.

 

Often times I'll see people talk about vitamin and mineral deficiencies on these websites, and to be totally honest that's just a load of garbage.  Most of these vitamins and minerals have a saturation threshold, and after you ingest a certain amount, the body no longer benefits or uses the added quantities.  There are countless members on this website who have tried eating perfect diets, and taking supplements to no avail. 

 

No one can say why you fully recovered for sure - but we're sure glad that you did.  The actual cause was probably just coincidental to your change in diet.  I mean I can't deny the fact that perhaps your diet was so egregious before you changed things up that the new addition of eating new foods actually made enough of a difference for you to recover.  In that case, you probably just had a poor diet which was making you feel awful. 

 

Again congratulations, you give people hope.  A good diet can probably accelerate things, but I haven't personally seen any difference.  I've read countless threads of people who changed their diets as you did, with no results.  So obviously that's not the cause for the majority of people.

 

I think that many of your theories are grossly oversimplified and, frankly, incorrect.  Perhaps now that you're 100% recovered, you could take a couple physiology, nutrition, biochemistry, chemistry, classes at the local community college or something.  Apply that knowledge to your situation, and perhaps you can come up with a more factually accurate theory in regards to why you recovered.

 

I think that false theories aren't very helpful.  I apologize for being rude, but it does bother me when people claim to have become recovered from things that most people try to no avail.  I think that most people on this forum should have a perfect diet, but I don't think it's going to make them recover instantly.

 

IDK, maybe I'm just in a bad mood today.  My symptoms have been debilitating for almost 2 years, and I've tried almost everything to help me recover.  Diet was one of the first things I tried.

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Theories are only theories until they are proven to be correct in which case they become fact. If they are disproved they are false theories. You haven’t actually disproved my theory so you can’t categorically state that it’s a false theory yet.

I know this site is called Surviving Antidepressants so most of the people here have problems relating to Antidepressants but there is a contingent whose problems relate to antipsychotics. I’m only able to say that I recovered from Zyprexa withdrawal. Because we’re only internet acquaintances you’ll just have to take that at face value.

 

My theory is that people who have suffered symptoms following antipsychotic withdrawal can be cured by supplementation with fish and magnesium. That’s it.

 

The facts I offer in support are the following:

  1. I offer myself as an example of someone who got better after doing this.
  2. My diet had already been deficient in these foodstuffs.
  3. Forum member Schizor got better.
  4. Schizor had been taking fish oil and magnesium.

What I’m not saying:

Everyone on this website can be cured by supplementation with magnesium and fish. This is because the type of drugs you were on weren’t antipsychotics. I don’t have any corroborating facts to say antidepressant users can be helped. But I have seen people on here say these supplements help somewhat.

 

What I could do:

1. Search the scientific literature for more examples to back it up.

2. Do a course at my local community college. Maybe in all the fields you suggested. How many were there again - 5? See you in a decade!

 

 

What I’m going to do:

 

Wait to see if any of the other antipsychotic withdrawal sufferers on here get better following supplementation with magnesium and fish oil. I suggest they do.

That’s Amro1991, Redmanone, LAPD, Jim24, LucaDiPropero.

 

Then, if they get better we’d have even more supporting facts for my as yet unproven theory and move closer to it being an established fact.

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thanks malf for your info...I'm glad you recovered from bad anhedonia (that is where I am now).

I haven't taken magnesium or omega3 supplements yet and for now I have no improvements with my anhedonia.

I would put these supplements into my diet but I don't know how much magnesium and how much fish oil I have to take and which brand is the best in Italy for them.

Oh and I'm worried for Jim24 and Lapd, they haven't posted on SA since about a month.

March 2010/ October 2010:

Sereupin 30mg a day, EN 15 drops a day

October 2010/ 1st November 2014:

Cipralex 50mg a day (tapered to 40mg a day in August 2013), EN 15 drops a day (switched to Lexotan 15 drops a day in September 2014)

Started Risperdal 1mg a day on the 1st November 2014.

Stopped Risperdal on the 23 November 2014 because that day, after a short mental crysis, I suddenly lost all my emotions,desires,motivation and they not come back yet.

Stopped Cipralex C/T in December 2014.

Added, tapered and stopped other drugs during the following months (also a voluntary hospitalization in January 2015 for a suicide attempt)...no changes yet.

 

 

I'm med free from 3rd December 2015

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I'm so happy that you recovered. Your story gives me hope.

I suffer from depression, anxiety, pure-o ocd, and panic attacks since 2004. Been on multiple different psychiatric drugs since 2006. Never had a significant WD problem before, only brain zaps for a month and then I'd be fine...............Been on Cipralex (escitalopram) 15 mg and Fluanxol (flupentixol) 1 mg since Sep 2014. Stopped taking the Cipralex after a fast 20-day taper.Took the last 5 mg Cipralex on Feb 5th, 2015. Then took Seroxat (paroxetine) 10 mg for a week, and stopped it too. Severe WD started suddenly on Feb 16th. RI 5 mg Cipralex on Feb 18th, 2015. RI worked and was relatively stable for a while................April 7 - decreased Fluanxol from 1 mg to 0.5 mg and took it at this dose for a week. - BIG MISTAKE; April 13 - WD starts creeping in; April 14 - RI full dose of Fluanxol 1 mg => severe muscle twitching and jerking when trying to relax and fall asleep, overwhelming sense of doom, dread, terror, and horror, insomnia, hoping to stabilize.
Tried doing a 10% cut off Fluanxol in the end of May for a few days, but quickly updosed to full dose because the twitching returned.
Experiencing waves and windows in the following months.
Unsuccessful brief taper attempt of Fluanxol by 5% on November 1st. Symptoms hit the next day. Too scared to continue tapering, reinstate full dose.
Severe crash in November after stupidly trying a barbiturate on November 9th. Grave mistake. Sense of unshakable inescapable internal torture, like my soul is in hell being tortured, terror/horror/dread/doom (probably akathisia?) that gets especially bad when trying to relax and fall asleep, muscles twitch, jerk and move on their own, shaking, insomnia, can't eat, confusion, disorientation, brain not working normally. Never felt so bad in my entire life. Never experiment with other meds while in WD! Praying to God I stabilize and get back to my baseline.
December - things getting even worse.

January - unbearable suffering

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I'd caution you on assuming that the brain damage that some people endure is something as simple as a vitamin and mineral deficiency.  It seems to be a common scapegoat for those who don't understand human physiology very well.  A very simple way to point your finger at something that is immensely more complicated than most can understand.

 

 

I agree with the previous post of oskcajga.

 

 

 

I actually agree with all of his posts that I have read. You are very intelligent, okscajga,  and I think you understand all of this pretty well, just a thought.

About me ------------------------ College student with a history of anxiety, excessive worrying and health anxiety.

April 2014 - May 2015----------    Prozac 20mg On and Off.  Second time on it I developed apathy, changes in personality, asexuality.

May 2015  -   July 2015-----------------  Tappering off prozac. Still no feelings,anhedonia, apathy, no libido, asexuality.

Current symptoms--------  pssd (asexuality in my case). Anxiety and depression developed some months afer stopping prozac, could have been caused by obsessing and beating myself up too much when I found myself unable to like girls again. The best thing to do with pssd (which in my case is asexuality) is accept it and move on.

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LucaDiProspero,

 

I had around half a handful of peanuts a day and I did that for about two, maybe three weeks. (These contain magnesium AND omega 3)

I had brocolli with dinner on two occasions.

I had fish for dinner on two occasions.

I didn't take fish oil pills.

I had cauliflour with dinner on one occasion.

 

I would keep at it for longer than that though if you don't immediately see a difference.

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  • 1 month later...
  • Administrator

Malf, how are you doing now? I added our cheerful "here comes the sun" symbol



to the title of your Intro topic, to show you're recovering.

Please continue to let us know how you're doing. I hope you will add your story to our Recovery Success Stories eventually!

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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  • 6 months later...

Did you quit the anti-psychotic you were on or switch to another one?

 

I'm wondering if that's why your anhedonia disappeared.

 

I'm having the same problem and eating healthy doesn't effect this for me.

 

It'd be helpful for me to know if you did since I'm trying to make a decision about switching anti-psychotics.

 

 

 

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