The [not so wonderful] World of Anhedonia

[theelt712]

I have been anhedonic since mid-April, 3 weeks into taking Zoloft. I have seen mini improvements, but I still feel numb all of the time. I'm 15 and I shouldn't be worried about this, and sometimes I just can't look past what's going on right now because that's so near to me. I miss all of the mini rushes of comfort I would get when listening to rain and the feelings I used to have when listening to music. I miss feeling. I used to have this in depression but it would let up after a few days. Medication induced anhedonia is different. :( I hate it all.....how do some of you deal? Have any of you recovered?

[Sheila]

The loss of pleasure is very hard to bear. But I think it will come back pretty soon for you. I suspect that you are worrying about it a lot. You really are going to heal and get all your old pleasures back.

[theelt712]

Thank you....I do worry about it a lot because I wake up feeling like something's not functioning.

[theelt712]

Sometimes, I just lose hope. It's been over a month and I still haven't gotten the depth of my emotions nor pleasure back. :(

[theelt712]

What advice do you guys have for anhedonic people? I know the waiting game gets really boring, especially when you wake up everyday to more of the same things. I need to get out more, I know, but is there more to help it along other than waiting?

[stan]

as for all poison, anhedonia needs much time to heal; the pattern seems to be : no, no, no, yes a little, no, no, yes, no, yes, no, no, no, yes, and a day you know anhedonia is healing(this is a sentence i have read from people who have healed and today am experiencing it for some of mine symptomes), you feel it, no need to explain, it seem coming back very fast ; this is the pattern for each symptome, but as we are individual, for some it heals very fast, for others not fast; it depends surely what has been poisoned in your systems and your capability to heal and many other parameters;

[theelt712]

I agree, that does happen to me a lot with anhedonia. I remember having a bout of sickness after another adverse reaction to another poison-cigarettes, as I experimented with smoking with my friends back in October. By November, I ended up with pneumonia until MID FEBRUARY. This was from very short term smoking, mind you. Not to mention that my mom's smoking may have halted the healing process a little bit. I ended up on 3 rounds of antibiotics and on a load of medications. I didn't react badly to any medications. I healed for a week inbetween right before getting sick again. I was sick continuously for the better half of 4 months, but I did heal. And then, not long after healing from that, I went on Zoloft. And so the healing process begins again. Most symptoms are better than others at time, the worst of these symptoms now is anhedonia. That, so far, is taking longest to heal.

[Junior]

It sounds like you are sensitive to drugs in general. Just a thought.

[Sheila]

That’s very interesting that smoking cigarettes was so poorly tolerated by your body, theelt. That, in combination with your bad reaction to Zoloft, makes me think that you have a more sensitive system and that you might want to plan accordingly. You might need lower doses of any meds you ever take in the future, and possibly lower doses of supplements, too. And you may have to treat your body as a temple! Give it really good stuff.

I think you’ve mentioned that you pick up other people’s emotions easily. Have you had any psychic experiences? You sound like you have a finely-tuned system.

[theelt712]

Oddly enough Shelia, I have had psychic experiences multiple times and am very receptive to the feelings of others, which is probably why not having emotions shell shocked me. One situation I recall with drug sensitivity is at age 11, I had a bad reaction to a low dose of Delsym (DXM) that I took before school for cough. Big mistake. The room turned purple, I derealized, and I forgot I was at school. I felt out of my body. I told my mom and we lowered the Delsym dose. Now, I don't react to Delsym or DXM at all, it is tolerated. I also got EXTREMELY euphoric and high of off Sudafed, again taken for horrible cold. Yeah, I am drug sensitive, but I didn't have a bad reaction to antibiotics when I took 3 rounds of them for sickness.