Lena, tetrazyklisches Antidepressivum

The nurse told me that the side effects should have disappeared no later than 3 weeks after stopping.

I am a young woman in my late twenties and my life was taken from me before it could even begin. I have suffered massive iatrogenic (drug-induced) damage from taking antidepressants every day for almost 15 years now. From the beginning I had no real idea what was causing the problems I was feeling as I was unaware of the lasting damage of antidepressants and was therefore in the dark for years. Nevertheless, I always saw the temporal connection between my symptoms and taking the pills and therefore always had the feeling that my problem could be related to the pills. About two years ago, I heard about another person who had suffered drug-induced damage who exactly matched the points with my problems that started while taking antidepressants. Since then I know with 100% certainty that this was the cause of my problems, especially after reading many more testimonials and finding myself one on one. "My tale of woe began when I was a teenager." My parents decided to see another psychiatrist for my social anxiety and depression. (I got the depressed mood or depression from the medication I was supposed to be taking beforehand for alleged ADD.) Personally, I don't think ADD or ADHD is a condition that is necessarily treated with drug-like drugs in children or teenagers must. But that's another topic. The psychiatrist then decided to prescribe me a tetracyclic antidepressant. "After about 6 weeks of taking the antidepressant, I woke up one morning feeling like the whole world was far away. A kind of glass pane effect known as derealization." After about another month, I stopped taking the antidepressant. The sense of derealization has never gone away since that morning. Disturbingly, after I stopped taking the antidepressant, my libido completely disappeared. In addition, I registered an emotional numbness and no longer had a real feeling of hunger and satiety. Several days after I stopped taking the antidepressant, I told a nurse that the side effects hadn't gone away. She assured me that within three weeks everything should be out of my body and all side effects would go away. Needless to say, they have not disappeared to this day. "I feel like everything that once lived inside me has been killed. Like I'm a ghost trapped in another galaxy, like in a bad horror movie." In my opinion, this chronic derealization is the worst thing that can be done to a human being. I have felt completely disconnected from reality for so many years. I've had days where I've been scared to death that I won't survive this state of derealization any longer. I felt buried alive in those moments - thank god those moments are very rare and most of the time I can deal with them. Of course I have years of doctor and hospital visits, examinations and therapy odysseys behind me. In the hospital I was offered more and more pills which never helped me except causing more side effects. After a few weeks or months, I stopped taking any medication with no further problems. Luckily, these drugs didn't do me any further harm. In the years before I realized it was the tetracyclic antidepressant, it never occurred to anyone that my condition and everything I was experiencing was due to those pills. Also, in all those years (before I found out I had a drug-induced illness) I had never really felt classically depressed, sad or exhausted, it was more like I had/have almost no real feelings at all. I have tried so many experiments and therapies over the years to improve my condition with no success. Due to these medication-induced consequential damages, I am as good as unable to work. Furthermore, due to the completely extinguished libido and lack of sexual attraction, I can't really engage in romantic relationships with men, which for me is probably the worst part of all of this. I had all the makings of a happy life, raised by loving parents and had a happy childhood. I would describe myself as an intelligent, nice and attractive woman. But all that potential is meaningless when your health has been destroyed. The drugs are claimed to alter or damage the nervous system's neurotransmitter balance over the long term and even produce epigenetic changes, but the truth is that no one knows exactly what happened yet. All reports from fellow sufferers that I have read so far all read almost the same." "In my opinion, what has been happening here for many years is an absolute drug scandal and I hope that it will continue to come to the public." I'm closed almost 100 percent severely hurt and left behind: sexually, emotionally and cognitively I actually feel like a remote controlled zombie most of the time, unable to get to grips with reality or get into a real emotional vibe/connection with others no matter how hard I try. I feel cut off from myself and those around me. I didn't have any of these feelings before taking the antidepressant. In addition, I've lost my emotional memory since developing PSSD. Everything I do in life with my friends and family before I got PSSD is erased I remember everything but it feels like nothing. Former friends have become strangers and it has been years since I have felt any real love for my family. I am often shocked and angry at what has happened to me and others. And I realize that I can't process and realize all of this properly. I was also stunned that people I know who have abused illegal drugs don't have the lasting damage that this condition has. I feel like I've somehow come to the end of my life at almost 30 years old. For all these many years I have struggled to live a normal life with so much therapy that was completely pointless as you cannot heal a neurochemical disease with psychological sessions. In my opinion, PSSD is in many cases, such as mine, i.e. the almost complete permanent chemical castration plus the other sometimes massive consequential damage, one of the most cruel and criminal things that can happen to a person. There is also more lasting harm that antidepressants can cause, which I won't list here. Thank goodness PSSD is now starting to get attention from studies, which gives me some hope of finding improvement in symptoms eventually. Research is currently the most important next step. "Each of us affected deserves to have answers about what happened and hopefully someday find relief from our symptoms." In addition, the pharmaceutical industry should be held accountable for the damage it has caused to so many people, although sadly this is also unlikely. For my part, I will continue to persevere despite all this and will not give up hope for an improvement, for example through research or possibly another therapy that may work. In the meantime, I find joy and distraction in sports, dance and music, and will try to do more things that help me relax, such as going to the beach and swimming. Doctors still do not warn patients about these potential harms. Only, but at least a small note has been added to the package insert since a decision by the European Medicines Agency in 2019 on permanent sexual dysfunction. I would like to say to all those affected: You are incredibly strong.
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