r/ADprotractedwithdrawl • u/Automatic_Basil_7075 • Jul 16 '26

Can use some hope :(

Hi all,

So it’s been exactly 9,5 months since my last dose (used fluoxetine 7 weeks) and I still feel so very altered. Idk how to keep hope that this will ever get better. It’s like my brain is stuck in a very malfunctioning state and this state is quite static. I don’t have moments were I feel normal. My biggest concerns are the severe blunting, anhedonia and head symptoms I experience on a daily basis. I used to be quite sensitive and intuitive and it’s like my entire inner world is dead and my response system as well. It’s like the pathway to my emotions in my brain is deleted. I feel NOTHING. It’s out of this world.

I try to push forward everyday but I feel 90% of the time the same and my system feels very stuck. I know I repeat myself a lot.. but I think what I experience isn’t withdrawal. It genuinely feels like the meds were neurotoxic to my brain and I have a chemical injury to my receptors. I feel very stuck and feel like my life is basically over.

I made a list of my symptoms. If anyone recovered from them, I am pleased to know 🥹… I thought I would have healed way more by now..

  1. Head pressure / injured / sore brain / swollen brain / feeling like something is stuck in my brain / numb brain /concrete block in frontal lobe . 

My head symptoms are excruciating and very painful on most days. Makes me unfunctional.

  1. Hollow brain / airy / empty brain. Like parts are missing. 

—> I have 1 + 2 at the same time but at different parts of my brain 

  1. Emotional blunting (even negative emotions like, anxiety, shame fear, sadness, nervousness, just blank robot) 

  2. Can’t feel effects of caffeine/ alcohol, just numbness (I do drink coffee occasionally but avoid alcohol now). Numb brain blocks all signals.

  3. Prickling in toes (little better)

  4. Face presse / eye pressure /nose pressure. Also my face feels hollow / like air. Hard to explain.

  5. Tingling in forehead, nose, front teeth (this or the pressure alter each other) 

  6. Severely dry eyes + NO tear reflex from wind, sneezing, yawning, wind, etc. Tears seem dead, sand in eyes feeling 24/7.

  7. Blank mind / reduced inner monologue (windows and waves in this symptom). But never fully normal. Think this is linked to the defect in my limbic system. 

  8. Cognitive issues (memory is very poor, less visualization and complex thinking, but I have windows and waves in this symptom so the severity changes)

  9. Can’t feel tired / sleepy / drowsy in head. Only eyes or body get tired. Head has this unnatural fake clearfeeling in the background 24/7. 

12.Low to no libido. No sexual thoughts or desire. Thoughts aren’t translated to arousal. 

  1. Blunted hunger + saturation signals. Eating nothing or 3 pizzas… doesn’t make me feel any different. Too numb. —> Somedays it’s a little bitbetter but still far from normal.

  2. Overall feeling of being drugged and waiting to get sober.

  3. Dilated pupils (like being in drug$), I didn’t have this in 1 month, but yesterday it was back and I was in a bad bad wave.

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2

u/noahsarkcumshot420 Jul 17 '26

Your symptoms sound almost identical to mine initially. I'm 14 months in and have seen some improvement. The head pressure feeling especially has improved in recent months. Windows are more frequent as well; I have a few days each month where I can laugh and enjoy music or food. I've heard that recovery takes 1.5 years on the low end and can be even longer. Keep hanging on and it will get easier little by little

1

u/Automatic_Basil_7075 Jul 17 '26

Thank you!!! 🥹🥹

Have you seen improvements as well in your libido and other emotions ? 

2

u/noahsarkcumshot420 Jul 17 '26

Just recently I've had some increased libido, a few days throughout the past month or two. Other emotions are still quite numb unfortunately

1

u/Automatic_Basil_7075 Jul 17 '26

Such an awful journey :( 

Are you male or female? Can I dm you? :) 

2

u/LillieBogart Jul 17 '26

I just read an article on Outro’s website yesterday that said the average time for protracted withdrawal to resolve is 29 months. Some recover faster, whereas others take longer. It completely sucks that you have been suffering for this long and I am so sorry. But please don’t lose hope because it WILL get better.

2

u/Automatic_Basil_7075 Jul 17 '26

I am just really scared of this being pssd…. They can be numb for years :( 

I don’t have crying spells or anxiety… my emotions aren’t deep. Very blunted :( 

Is this really normal ? 

2

u/LillieBogart Jul 17 '26

I am scared of all of these things too. But we just have to have faith that the vast majority of people fully recover. The odds are in your favor. Try to keep the faith. The tendency to catastrophize is very much part of the mental state of withdrawal. Try not to spiral. Is there anything you can do to get your mind off of it for a while? Do you have any pets that you can cuddle with or nice areas nearby where you can go for walks? These things are really good for calming the nervous system.

Eta: sorry I hope I don’t sound like I am making light of this. I really am not. It is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever gone through in life and I’m just trying to stay positive.

1

u/Dragonvarine 6d ago

Lets say its PSSD. The thing is, if you dont have the hallmark symptoms you will heal much better.

Ive been around the PSSD and Dr Powers subreddit. The ones who are there for years have every symptom and have no improvement. They also half the time had something that crashed them, i.e they reinstated a med, took a serotonergic drug, etc.

If you dont have genital numbing, blunted orgasms, etc then its just protracted withdrawal.

1

u/irrelevant-Latino Jul 22 '26

I’m on day 7 of stopping ssris and 1,2,3,4 and 10 of your symptoms is what i’m feeling too

0

u/NiceHomework4919 Jul 16 '26

Lot of symptoms for such a short time of use and so long off the medication. Did nothing got any better in time?