Healing romantic issues?

[laurieloo]

Hi,

Ok I want to just want to get this out of the way before I continue:
I hate posting here. No offence. I hate posting anywhere like this as this forums are mostly full of doom and gloom.

BUT

I NEED hope. Please dont bother to reply with something sad or bitter to this, I cant handle that right now.

TL;DR: I’m 27, woman, was on 150MG of lustral (sertraline) that I cold turkeyed in 2014 (yup, I’m an idiot) on top of that, I had a spice/synthetic weed addiction in 2013, smoked weed as if they were cigarettes from 2012 til 2016, binge drank, eating disorder etc etc so I do not want my story to scare anyone here ok?

Just because mine has been long term so far, I dont want others to get bummed out by this cos I have other factors in my story. I have OCD and from 2012 onwards I had a fear of never falling in love again because someone I had feelings for psychologically damaged me in a cruel way. I formed an OCD obsession about romantic love and was hiked up to 150mg of lustral (before this I was on lexapro, 20mg I think?) and the lexapro gave me no hassle, it was fine.

I stopped taking my lustral because I simply forgot. I was smoking weed heavily at the time and drinking most days. I just forgot one day. I was 21

I noticed no pleasure when I had sex. Like none at all. No arousal etc. I found out about PSSD a year and a bit later and my world came crashing down. My anhedonia completely spiralled.

I’m 27 now and still never had a window of arousal. Haven’t been turned on since 2013. Pretty much ready to end it all if I’m honest.

Hate how I dont have crushes and haven’t in a long time. Hate the constant emptiness and the horror stories I read about losing romantic feelings.

All I want is to fall in love again. That’s it. That’s all I’ve wanted for almost 8 years. Having this condition is my own personal hell as I went on meds to stop my fear of never falling in love again, ironically.

I haven’t touched a med since 2014. Nothing. What can I do?

Please, I beg ye, positive answers only, please. I NEED hope.

[Crossroads]

Some researchers and clinicians are giving people like you Low Dose Naltrexone because it works inside the brain including the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus controls the pituitary which controls all the endocrine glands and all the hormones in our bodies. Find a doctor that will prescribe LDN to you and see after a few months how you feel, both mentally and bodily. https://www.ldnscience.org/patients/find-a-doctor

I am about to try LDN myself. I am a survivor of Propecia, Accutane, Lariam, SSRIs, SNRI, and other meds. Have hope, you can and will improve. You will probably not have those symptoms forever, you will get better.

Are you still drinking alcohol? How often? LDN and regular dose naltrexone can help with this too, coincidentially.

Are you still smoking weed? And/or doing any other drugs? Have you ever explored in a psychotherapy setting why you have turned to all these substances, and using them all together??

[Tzinkman]

Thank you for signing up and telling your story @laurieloo, I’m sorry to hear of another person so damaged by these substances. From here, I’d advise you to have a read of the following thread and follow some of the actions outlined therein

New user? START HERE

Hello, If you are a new patient suffering from Post-Finasteride Syndrome, or an existing patient just finding us, this forum and our charity are here to help you. While we cannot provide you with a treatment or cure, our charity, PFS Network, is working with world-leading researchers to identify the mechanisms driving PFS, a necessary step in developing targeted therapeutic treatments. Please view and support our ongoing research initiatives here. Please know that some patients experience imp…

@laurieloo

positive answers only, please. I NEED hope.

I can’t offer you any answers with regards to advising you something to take or do to make it all better but what I can tell you is that the admins of this forum are working hard, day in, day out, to have this condition investigated by world class scientists and researchers, with hopes of eventually developing a treatment or therapy. The way you can help with this is by taking our Post-Drug Syndrome Survey. Your participation will contribute to an ever growing data set which is finally painting the full picture of what is happening to patients at the clinical level.

[PAS]

I took it for only a few days long ago and I don’t remember the details, but I tried LDN and I just remember having a headache.
Not saying its not worth a shot, but this is my 2 cents. Who know if it works out for you or @laurieloo, I might try again.

@laurieloo What you wrote described me too, word for word. I’m here right beside you.