PSSD-what has helped me

This is my first post here, though I have been reading many of the posts regarding pssd and you all have invaluable info. Way more knowledgable than ANY doctor. So thank you. Makes me feel less alone in all of this.
I took lexapro 10 years ago. 20 mg. I was a professional ballerina. After 6 months on it, started noticing weight gain and fatigue. So I cold turkeyed. And my life was never the same. My main symptoms are anhedonia, weight gain, chronic fatigue. And because I am female it's harder to physically tell something is wrong, I just don't have the same feeling I used to. So many more symptoms but I will go in to what has given me the most help so far. And I have tried everything.
Inositol made me feel about 90% relief, but stopped working. Same with 5htp. Prednisone as well. Also tried ru486 and gave me the same remission but then major fatigue set in. And the last one that I am currently trying is diflucan. It was by accident I discovered this. The first week was amazing. I thought I was cured. But again major fatigue. This is because this medication lowers cortisol. They actually use it as a treatment for cushings. But I am now going at 50mg doses a day and it does help. What is interesting is that someone on the pssd forum said he had remission from it and his friend was cured from nystatin. So there is definitely something to it. I also had a major remission about 5 years ago. And I'm thinking it was from a cortisone injection. I'm going to be having one again for this purpose, though my doc thinks it's for a foot injury lol. I will keep you guys posted. I definitely feel their is a problem in the hpa system. Cortisol levels go insanely high on these meds. But also I realize it's much more complicated than that. I just figure if we all share our info one of us will crack the code. Thanks for reading and for making me know that this is real.

Also nettle root helped me. Stopped working though. These are all the things I listed that made the biggest differences. Not subtle. And I have spent 10 years and a lot of money and every supplement, so many meds. One more that helped but infortunatley raises estrogen is Pueraria mirifica. I could literally feel good chemicals in my brain an hour after taking. I realized it's a type of kudzu. Maybe this is why. But I do not advise men to try as it is very estrogen if.

I keep forgetting things! Also, opiates have relieved my apathy and fatigue like nothing else. Fatigue is definitely my worst symptom. So instead of going down that route I take kratom daily. This is one thing I cannot function without. In the near future I'm going to give low dose Iboga a try in the hopes of resetting some receptors. It's a gamble, but I have to keep trying things to find an answer. Because for me, 10 years in nothing improves if left alone. I will let you know how these things go.

And one more thing. I had a complete remission for my entire pregnancy. I had no symptoms at all. I felt amazing. Wish I could figure that one out. Sex drive through the roof, energy, motivation emotions. Symptoms returned slowly two months after birth.

Thanks for sharing these info Sophia.
If you don't mind can I ask do you experience pleasure less orgasm.

Definitely less pleasurable, and also less libido.

In what areas is Diflucan helping you? I have read on pssd forum positive review about.

It helps with the fatigue and the anhedonia/no motivationand to be honest I have a new baby and I'm single so the whole sexual thing kind of goes out the window. My fatigue is such a big issue that that is my main focus. But I did notice on sjw my sex drive became much stronger. I think pssd is a bigger picture than only the sexual side, as I've had so many weird symptoms since I took lexapro. So I wanted to share my experience with diflucan because it was a weird coincidence that I read how it improved for the guy on pssd forum also. It has probably been the biggest game changer since this began. I only have 5 pills left so trying to figure out how to continue on it. What Med were you on? And is sexual side effects your only symptom?

This forum is more valuable than any doctor you will talk to. Wished I would have had this place 10 years ago. I'm already seeing a lot of improvements. I take 900mg sjw, 900mg 2x a day currcumin, and 50mg diflucan, 5mg melatonin at night. And 1/4 pill of trazadone. If you try herbs my advice would be stick through it. Those receptors need time to readjust and until they do it can get worse. That's how sjw was for me. My symptoms all seems worse for like 10 days. I may add nettle root back in at some point. That was also beneficial. It will give you more free testosterone. i wonder if it stopped working because I didn't have aromatics inhibitor. I will add resveratol when I take it this time. If you have any more question feel free:)

Sophia613 wrote:This is my first post here, though I have been reading many of the posts regarding pssd and you all have invaluable info.  Way more knowledgable than ANY doctor.  So thank you.  Makes me feel less alone in all of this.
    I took lexapro 10 years ago.  20 mg.  I was a professional ballerina.  After 6 months on it, started noticing weight gain and fatigue.  So I cold turkeyed.  And my life was never the same.  My main symptoms are anhedonia, weight gain, chronic fatigue.  And because I am female it's harder to physically tell something is wrong, I just don't have the same feeling I used to.  So many more symptoms but I will go in to what has given me the most help so far.  And I have tried everything.  
Inositol made me feel about 90% relief, but stopped working.   Same with 5htp.  Prednisone as well.  Also tried ru486 and gave me the same remission but then major fatigue set in.  And the last one that I am currently trying is diflucan.   It was by accident I discovered this.  The first week was amazing.  I thought I was cured.  But again major fatigue.  This is because this medication lowers cortisol.  They actually use it as a treatment for cushings.  But I am now going at 50mg doses a day and it does help.  What is interesting is that someone on the pssd forum said he had remission from it and his friend was cured from nystatin.  So there is definitely something to it.  I also had a major remission about 5 years ago.  And I'm thinking it was from a cortisone injection.  I'm going to be having one again for this purpose, though my doc thinks it's for a foot injury lol.  I will keep you guys posted.  I definitely feel their is a problem in the hpa system.  Cortisol levels go insanely high on these meds.  But also I realize it's much more complicated than that.  I just figure if we all share our info one of us will crack the code.  Thanks for reading and for making me know that this is real.

Thanks for all the kind words Sophia, and sorry I didn't get here earlier. Also our forum follows a custom Security system I set in place so all members are screened. This is simply because there are some manic members on the PSSD forum who are paranoid that our institution/Company was involved with the loss of work (so called 'attacks') on the other forum. As a result, we put measures in place *just in case* any of the sheep on the other forum try to act 'like wolves' so to speak...in memo of their fascist-head-honcho.

As far as your symptoms , they are all pretty typical of SSRI-related issues , weight gain even..and you may not hear that much ...but the thing IS ATYPICAL is your cortisol depiction - normally the patients/sufferer's complain of high cortisol related issues..and this is consistent with the over-abundant serotonin firing hypothesis as serotonin creates more cortisol and aldosterone...the result of excess serotonin is often water retention, bone density changes, dry mouth, depression, anxiety, agitation, susceptibility to seizures and a bunch of other issues.

Some people with elevated serotonin also become impulsive, obsessive (especially with religious and political stuff) and also can (in extreme cases) result in psychosis and hallucinations...as consistent with schizophrenia pathology.

Cognitive difficulties quickly ensue after exposure to high serotonin and the liver becomes stressed as well since serotonin (in excess) can constrict blood vessels in and beyond the pelvic floor and temple-spleen cell collections (fancy lingo for blood cells and lymphocytes around the spleen and in the cytoplasm near the liver).

As a result, nutrient delivery is restricted to the liver - and in concert with Depression , Stress and Anhedonia - elevated serotonin can lead to an abundance of health issues and the biggest being heart, circulatory failure and reproductive issues which become increasingly prominent as the condition goes on. (and yes I call it a 'condition' despite being rarely recognized by many mainstream medical professionals).

All of this is also reported and consistent with ANTI-SEROTONIN drugs being used to treat heart failure and post-heart-attack related ischemia complications.

READ THESE BELOW.

and thanks for participating.


Functional serotonin 5-HT4 receptors in porcine and human ventricular myocardium with increased 5-HT4 mRNA in heart failure


http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00210-004-0963-0

Effects of treatment with a 5-HT4 receptor antagonist in heart failure

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2042907/

Thank you for the reply. I have spent thousands of dollars on doctors and your one post helps me more than any visit! So in regards to cortisol, my levels were very high right after I stopped the lexapro. I gained 15lbs all in my belly, very bad for a 100lb professional ballerina. So I went to the endocrinologist and they suspected cushings. I did the dexamethasone suppression test and did not suppress. Which means high cortisol levels. Diflucan feels very similar to ru486 (mifepristone) in how it alleviated symptoms but I may have had the dosage to high because I started to get more fatigue. But the both may have helped with symptoms at first (or on lower dosages) because of their cortisol lowering effects. I don't know why prednisone helped at first, maybe inflammation. But after a week or two symptoms became much worse. So I agree on the high cortisol, sorry if that was confusing. I have no idea why the cortisone injection helped with symptoms. Maybe some weird negative feedback loop. It was a long time ago and I actually got one today to test this out. I will keep you posted.
Do you think the weight is related to cortisol levels? It's srsly all in my belly. My best friend took lexapro for three weeks and gained 9lbs. It's insane. What do you think could help with the weight? Nettle root actually helped me the first month lose weight very quickly, then it started to come back. You advice is so appreciated, thank you!!!
And it's interesting about the heart, I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse about a year after Ssri, I always felt it was connected as my heart beats since the drug feel weaker if that makes since. I don't get that strong pounding. It's very faint and light.

Sophia613 wrote:
   Do you think the weight is related to cortisol levels?  It's srsly all in my belly.  My best friend took lexapro for three weeks and gained 9lbs.  It's insane.   Nettle root actually helped me the first month lose weight very quickly, then it started to come back.  You advice is so appreciated, thank you!!!

Yes, it is most likely elevated Cortisol. Since nettle helped you, it could be an intestinal/digestive issue as well - my money is on both; a cortisol issue and poor assimilation of amino acids and other macronutrients. (this includes glucose, fructose etc)
Could also be estrogen related , SSRI's are known to spike estrogen levels initially, but then the Prolactin often causes a hypothalamic turn down which results in less of every hormone...although, theoretically, the cortisol excess will STIMULATE more estrogen production ; both in the brain and body tissues.

Sophia613 wrote:
 What do you think could help with the weight?

Try Nettle again and more acidophilus/pre/probiotics.
Add an anti-cortisol agent like DHEA and also Pregnenolone; these also help with anhedonia and cognitive issues.
Check your estrogen levels as well if you haven't already - this can quickly become an issue both in men and women.

Sophia613 wrote:
And it's interesting about the heart, I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse about a year after Ssri,  I always felt it was connected as my heart beats since the drug feel weaker if that makes since.  I don't get that strong pounding.  It's very faint and light.

So since your heart beat is LOW that would mean you have LOW levels of the second messenger; cyclic AMP - cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) ...so you could try something like forskolin + Butea Superba but you may need to decrease the serotonin-inhibition as well...that means decrease serotonin in addition to the above...what works for a lot of people who have reached out to me..is a stack of

-Shilajit
-++ other augmentations (in your case; forskolin, butea superba and DHEA/Pregnenolone should work wonders)

Also, get back into working out!!
Gotta try to enjoy life in the meantime - it's easy to get *TOO Obsessed* on all of this!

~Regards~

Jay

Thanks this is really helpful. I have tried forksolin with not much improvement but will try again. Pregnenolone made me very foggy and fatigue worsened. The nettle was actually the root. I think it may have helped because it binds to shbg, freeing up testosterone. Maybe stopped working because it aromatized to estrogen?
I am just having a very hard time with the fatigue anhedonia. My days are spent usually lying down most of the day and I'm too tired to work out. If I do I feel much worse after. I know the fatigue is directly related to the lexapro as it started while I was on it. And it's such a different kind of tired than I ever experienced before.
I have a couple more questions. I want to try some other things and wanted to get your advice on them. First is cardopa. But I read that you said this would not be good for under stimulated nervous system, which I'm assuming I have because I'm so fatigued. And I have barely any anxiety. I can sleep for days if I could. Hypersomnia. So not sure if it would help. I had a great first week on mucana pruriens for a week, than became more tired.
Also thought about trying remeron. And I will try the shilajit. I'm also going to try low dose iboga. Mainly because I get so much relief from fatigue when I take opiates. Adderall helps with sleepiness but I feel wired and tired. Thyroid mess do this also.
If there are any other recommendations I would be grateful.
Also, I wanted to let you know my reaction to barberine. I've been taking it for about a week. The second day my energy was pretty good. But only that day. However,while napping I had an orgasm. Very strange. This has happened to me once in a while on a few different things, can't remember what. But thought it may be helpful for someone to here this. I will keep taking it, because I read it's good for blood sugar. Since lexapro I am pre diabetic, and had gestational diabetes.
Thanks again.

I forgot if I mentioned, trazadone also helps with psd symptoms for me. Only if I take 50 at night, the next day my energy and anhedonia improves.

Sophia613 wrote:
Also, I wanted to let you know my reaction to barberine.  I've been taking it for about a week.  The second day my energy was pretty good.  But only that day.  However,while napping I had an orgasm.  Very strange.  This has happened to me once in a while on a few different things, can't remember what.  But thought it may be helpful for someone to here this.  I will keep taking it, because I read it's good for blood sugar.  Since lexapro I am pre diabetic, and had gestational diabetes.  
Thanks again.

Berberine will most certainly help the blood sugar issues.
That is a weird experience.
I can't think of anything else that might help at this point - but I will let you know!