Posted by bleauberry on September 25, 2012, at 4:57:46
In reply to ANHEDONIA - Questions and Answers, posted by Trevpr on September 23, 2012, at 17:47:02
QUESTIONS
1.) Has anyone here had remission from anhedonic symptoms? If so, how? What was it like? How long did it take before remission?Mine is about 80% gone and getting better with time. As you have already seen in your research, it's a complicated mechanism, and as such, takes time. My progress has not been noticeable on a daily or weekly basis, but rather on a monthly and yearly basis. 3 years from total anhedonia to only 20% anhedonia, for me.
2.) Anyone have any experience with the beforementioned treatments? Any of them help anhedonic symptoms?
Basically the NE and DA circuits are the ones primarily involved. But we can't predict the mechanism or drug that will do what we want, so we have to try stuff that focuses on NE and DA. For me, I have discovered NE is a much bigger player in anhedonia than is dopamine. Of all the meds you listed, there are actually only meds in my experience worth looking at....savella, parnate, amisulpride. Don't worry about the scientific reasoning stuff....savella shares similarities with ritalin for example....I'm just saying these things had a definite impact on my anhedonia when absolutely nothing else did squat.
3.) Has anyone gotten their sex drive back after having it absent for months? Did it come back fully?
Yes. For me, the sexual comeback period was maybe about 3 to 6 months. I am well versed and experienced with a bunch of herbs and plant medicines. The one I would suggest to you as a longterm friend for sex, endurance, energy, and hormonal/mood support, is Cordyceps. It can be combined with anything except perhaps an maoi.
4.) Anyone have any advice on treating anhedonia?
Do not rely on meds alone. The brain needs to be shown and taught what you want it to do. Which means purposefully going out to do fun things, even though they won't feel fun. Brain training. Church, hobby, social interaction....all good healthy stuff that helps to diminish anhedonia even without drugs or herbs, and makes drugs/herbs work better. Since sex is an issue, then of the 3 meds I mentioned I would probably put savella at the top of the list as being the least offensive to sex.All three worked for me and did so fast.
Side effects caused me to only take them short term. The most dramatic improvement was with savella. I found that especially meaningful, because prior to that I had just failed ECT and prior to that a backpack full of meds and herbs.
poster:bleauberry
thread:1026437
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120922/msgs/1026596.html