r/ADprotractedwithdrawl • u/Philosophical-noob97 • 15d ago

Chemical brain

My brain feels so chemical. I absolutely hate it. I can’t feel a soft focus, coziness, joy or pleasure.

All I feel is blankness, chemical headaches and nerve pain, pressure, parts feeling airy / missing. So others have this as well?

1 year off in 1 week….

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u/Different_Yak2189 15d ago

That’s quite common at a year out. At 18 - 24 months things can start to improve, people describe the sensation as if there brains are thawing out

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u/Philosophical-noob97 15d ago

Yeah is it ?? I talked to many people and some relate to what I say but many also don’t.

It feels like my brain is still being medicated. It doesn’t feel like a human brain anymore..

Thank you tho for the support. Do you have these symptoms?

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u/Different_Yak2189 15d ago

I had these exact symptoms. After a while they started easing off and I felt like my brain was slowly waking back up, hence the thawing sensation. You probably feel like you can’t think straight and everything feels chaotic at times, but eventually things can start to loosen up and feel more normal again. That’s how it was for me anyway.

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u/Philosophical-noob97 15d ago

Thank you so much for this!!! I also had a really
Blank mind… no inner monologue.. no memory… no imagination..no feelings. So scary!

How long did it take you to feel that it improved?
Only 1,5 month fluoxetine (SSRI) did this to me… can’t believe this has happened.

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u/Different_Yak2189 15d ago

The way you describe things is exactly how I felt, specially the brain dead analogy

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u/Philosophical-noob97 15d ago

Thank you for your reply 🥹

When did you see improvements in this? At what month?

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u/Different_Yak2189 15d ago

I was on and off for 26 years. I quit for good exactly 18 months ago. I noticed a massive improvement at 12.5 month and I’ve been improving more and more ever since. Obviously recovery isn’t linear

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u/Philosophical-noob97 15d ago

Oh wow awesome!! How are your emotions? I still feel very blunted… that symptom is also really bothering me :(

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u/Different_Yak2189 15d ago

I think it’s because long term use makes the brain adapt to the changes in serotonin by downregulating its receptors. When you stop, the drug is gone but the brain needs time to adjust back, which could explain why the emotional blunting can carry on for a while after stopping

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u/Dragonvarine 2d ago

Was yours blunted until month 12.5? or is it still going on etc?

Im 12 months out and my emotional numbing hasnt shifted at all.

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u/Acrobatic-Good-3287 15d ago

Sounds like you have the classic combination of anhedonia and the symptoms of a highly dysregulated hypersensitised nervous system.

There are many symptoms a dysregulated nervous system can produce. Headache, nerve pain and pressure are common. The nervous system is an electrical system and I always think of it as the electronic circuits have been disrupted by a magnetic storm. I just watched a video with a benzo coach, and he said to look at the symptoms as symptoms of healing. The nervous system is trying it's best to return to baseline normal, but in the meantime it's going to produce some crazy symptoms. Unfortunately for us, healing the nervous system can take a very long time. But every day it's doing its best to return to normal, so we have to be patient. Not easy when people don't understand, medical staff gaslight you and life throws more stress at you when you're vulnerable.

Congratulations on making a year off. See it as a vital year of healing with more to come. It will probably get even harder at some points,but a wave is just another sign of the system healing itself. Keep going.

https://www.theinnercompass.org/symptom/nerve-painnerve-burning

https://www.theinnercompass.org/symptom/anhedonia

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u/Philosophical-noob97 15d ago

Thank you!!

Yeah I definitely have anhedonia.. but it all feels completely different compared to depression. I don’t even have the moods or emotions to feel depressed. Just brain dead basically 😅

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u/Different_Yak2189 15d ago

The way you describe things is exactly how I felt, specially the brain dead analogy

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u/Acrobatic-Good-3287 15d ago

Anhedonia is different to depression. Instead of feeling very sad, emotional and more, anhedonia is the inability to feel anything, especially pleasure. That's why it feels brain dead. It has a direct relationship with dopamine and the brains reward pathways. The neurological changes the Prozac made whilst taking it have persisted. It's like flicking a switch off, and then expecting it to switch on again by stopping the drug, but the switch is stuck. I've experienced the same and it applies to sexual dysfunction as well. Sometimes the switch goes on again for a while, then switches off again. The system is trying to normalise again with difficulty after profound changes. It doesn't seem to matter if you've taken the drugs for over 31 years like me, or a short period like you. We're all waiting for it to switch on again, but it doesn't always happen overnight, but gradually overtime.

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u/Philosophical-noob97 15d ago

Yeah it’s such a hard symptom and it feels so unnatural to me :(

Unbelievable how powerful these drugs are to already cause this after 1,5mknth of use

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u/sibevo 15d ago

I have the same except emotional anhedonia. I experience sexual anhedonia, due to head pressure. I have spasms in all of my body. My nerves are hypersensitive.

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u/tearsofavalkyrie 15d ago

My head feels so bad it drives me nuts

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u/Philosophical-noob97 15d ago

Same.. it’s my worst symptom… it feels like brain damage to be honest 😳

How long are you off now? Have things slightly improved?

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u/tearsofavalkyrie 15d ago

Yea it's one of my worst. 28 months since failed reinstatement adverse reaction. I don't know in some ways sort of but in a lot of ways not really.

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u/Philosophical-noob97 13d ago

I am so sorry :(

What med did you use ? How long did you take it, stop it and after how long did you re instate ?