my brief story
Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2023 4:19 am
Background- I'm a medical student who used to be decent in academics. I used to excel in all academic activities. however I had Anxiety and obsessive ruminations. This had happened after recovering from covid . However I did have long covid diarrhea which persisted 4 months after the resolution . However I had not started SSRI for this symptom. I used to feel extremly anxious even before covid. As I had heard alot of good stories about lexapro I started it after consultation.I was prescribed Escitalopram in 2021 started at 5mg and went upto 15mg over a period of 4 months. However soon after going on 10mg I felt extreme lethargy and sleepiness. Initially I was told it would just go away but it did not. I also noticed my ruminations and anxierty had vanished also very surprisingly my long covid diarrhea resolved after the first dose itself. As I was happy with the benifits I persisted. However soon I noticed that my concentration , memory , motivation had turned to shit. I could not even get up from bed for work after 10 hours of sleep. There was a weird sensation/ tightness on my head. My eyes would always feel very tired and dry. I could not even feel much fear or cry.
I was then recommended to add WEllbutrin 150mg . To my utter surprise it worked like magic. All my side effects vanished. I did have some anxiety but the combo worked really well for me for 2-3 weeks. Then accidentaly i took 300mg one day and I got really bad anxiety . I had to stop. However after starting that again I never got the same effects only got the anxiety. I stopped it and the lexapro debilitating sides persisted. I had to let go of all my ambitions and tapered off over 2.5 months. To my utter shock my sides did not go away even after a few months
To correct these symptoms I started taking Methylphenidate or Ritalin 5mg BD after 3 months of stopping Lexapro. To my horror it lead to me developing complete sexual side effects including ED, PE and flaccid penis. After 3 days I stopped but the sexual sides have persisted since then. Its been almost 2 years. After this I came to know about PSSD.
Somehow I managed to get into a Psychiatry residency. it was getting difficult for me to cope. THen I got diarrhea again and took antibiotic ofloxacin and ornidazole 200+500mg combo for it BD. Shockingly my fatigue went away and I felt some emotional range back. It just felt activating but not the same as pre PSSD. Since then I have been cycling it to cope with work. It has worked for fatigue each and every time. Cycled it about 20 times in 1o months.
I have tried to do whatever is in my power to seek a cure. Explore theories on rddit and research articles. Improved a bit , crashed , been suicidal over the past 2 years. I also have been part of the recent activism on pssdnetwork and youtube videos . I can see that there is much more awareness being created since the past 1 year. My heart bleeds for all of us. The only way out according to me is to trial things in order to get atleast symptomatic improvement in terms of anhedonia and cognition. That is the only way we can create awareness and pushfor a cure as soon as possible,
i can see this forum has become very passive now. But we have to keep fighting till our very last breath. it is what being a human means.
I was then recommended to add WEllbutrin 150mg . To my utter surprise it worked like magic. All my side effects vanished. I did have some anxiety but the combo worked really well for me for 2-3 weeks. Then accidentaly i took 300mg one day and I got really bad anxiety . I had to stop. However after starting that again I never got the same effects only got the anxiety. I stopped it and the lexapro debilitating sides persisted. I had to let go of all my ambitions and tapered off over 2.5 months. To my utter shock my sides did not go away even after a few months
To correct these symptoms I started taking Methylphenidate or Ritalin 5mg BD after 3 months of stopping Lexapro. To my horror it lead to me developing complete sexual side effects including ED, PE and flaccid penis. After 3 days I stopped but the sexual sides have persisted since then. Its been almost 2 years. After this I came to know about PSSD.
Somehow I managed to get into a Psychiatry residency. it was getting difficult for me to cope. THen I got diarrhea again and took antibiotic ofloxacin and ornidazole 200+500mg combo for it BD. Shockingly my fatigue went away and I felt some emotional range back. It just felt activating but not the same as pre PSSD. Since then I have been cycling it to cope with work. It has worked for fatigue each and every time. Cycled it about 20 times in 1o months.
I have tried to do whatever is in my power to seek a cure. Explore theories on rddit and research articles. Improved a bit , crashed , been suicidal over the past 2 years. I also have been part of the recent activism on pssdnetwork and youtube videos . I can see that there is much more awareness being created since the past 1 year. My heart bleeds for all of us. The only way out according to me is to trial things in order to get atleast symptomatic improvement in terms of anhedonia and cognition. That is the only way we can create awareness and pushfor a cure as soon as possible,
i can see this forum has become very passive now. But we have to keep fighting till our very last breath. it is what being a human means.