The user “PSSD” reported in the fall of 2015 that Inositol reversed his PSSD. This adds to the many reports that Inositol can help. This story was initially posted on the Surviving Antidepressants forum, and can be found here.
PSSD claims:
“Hi guys, these forums have helped me so much and I wanted to share my story with you. I will try to keep it concise as although I would like to include everything to help you identify connections between my situation and your own it could make this post very long, however I’d be happy to answer any questions. Medically speaking I have depression and crippling ADD pi (whether the latter made me predisposed to PSSD I can only speculate). Around the age of 19/20 I was prescribed anti depressants on and off over several years. I knew at the time that my sex drive was diminished but thought it would come back after discontuing for long enough but it didn’t. Doctors chalked it up to too much alcohol intake and/or depression. When I realised at around the age of 23 about PSSD I stopped any use of citalopram. The subsequent years I tried all the supplements under the sun as many of you have.
I started to understand recently for the most part that the issue is related to the 5ht2 receptors and the down regulation which occurs from SSRI treatment. It was speculated in one study that some people have a lower baseline of these receptors yielding catastrophic results to the down regulation which occurs.
So the most promising supplement appeared to be inositol, I immediately bought a tub and tried it. The results that occurred were beyond my wildest expectations.
I immediately started noticing improvements in my sex drive but as the days went on over the last weeks the effects seemed to potentiate each day, then several days ago something fascinating happened. While I was in my office the whole world around be suddenly filled with colour, it was profoundly noticeable and so beautiful. Obviously I could see colour before but this was like a sudden major improvement in the aesthetics of the colour around me, I remember finding deep blue and the blonde colour of women’s hair particularly appealing. The only way I can possibly describe it to someone although it doesn’t completely do it justice would be like buying a new graphics card sticking on wow and turning every graphics setting to full, it was amazing.
This continued waning intermittently but potentiating each day, in addition to this I found my dreams started coming back, my dreams before seemed to happen so rare and had little impact on me as I woke up,now the creative narratives I used to enjoy have started returning. In addition my sex drive is increasing and potentiating. My orgasms feel amazing, there is a really nice sensation akin to stinging or concentrated tingling but pleasant (no other way to describe it sorry) that I had not felt since a teenager.
In addition to this my amouressness has increased, the warm fuzzy non sexual feeling you get when a female coworker sits next to you, I seem to enjoy flirting and checking out women a lot more.
And finally but by no means least my social intelligence or eq is through the roof, I used to be so self aware during interactions they were so forced as a social necessity, now they feel so organic and enjoyable and the feeling of being lost in a conversation is something that is almost naustalgiac to be feeling again.
If I was to use a metaphor for how I feel now vs how I felt I’d say I feel like a bright watercolour blending seamlessly with other bright colours. As opposed to a drop of dark oil in a glass of water.
I hope my story is somewhat inspirational and reassuring to others that there is always hope.”
“I’ve been taking it for about three weeks at 18grams at 7:00pm each day, I also have berebine which I dabble with which appears to augment the effects but I’m tentative and undecided in using it in case they conflict and I inadvertently disrupt my valuable progress though I do not think that would be the case. I’ve just ordered a kilo of inositol from eBay for £25”
“During the treatment I had a complete absence of sex drive, I don’t think I had genital numbness if I understand what it is but perhaps severely diminished sensory response to touch, over some months the various facets of my overall sexual energy gradually increased to maybe 20% of what it was and over the years maybe 50℅
I definitely had emotional blunting to the extent I spent a long time researching it before I’d even made the connection that it was linked to post SSRI sd.”
“Actually now I remember (sorry it was ten years ago) at the time of treatment I had genital numbness which gradually improved but never to 100℅ until the past few weeks where it has spiked”
“Hi guys there are a lot of questions here so I will try to answer some of them; during citalopram use my sex drive was non existent, I had genital numbness and non existent romantic feelings. It gradually improved after discontinuation over a year but maybe to 20% of what it was pre treatment, each year it has improved at a diminishing rate to maybe about 50% over a 5 or 6 year period.
The brand I used was Swanson as that was the brand used by another success story I read
I think this should be first line treatment in response to sampo but of course I am not a doctor.
In response to the message about choline, I have read that for certain purposes choline can be synergistic however my view is that there is way too much conjecture out there on the internet. A lot of people don’t even understand choline, what it does or how it might interact with existing supplements or their own bio chemistry. I tried it before during experimentation with racetams as it was recommended and it didn’t agree with me at all. My personal view is it is better to keep things as simple as possible if you are dealing with something temperamental like PSSD…there are peer reviewed studies what show an increase in post synaptic 5ht and d2 receptors after inositol treatment in contrast to the downregulation which occurs after and during SSRI use which as we know is thought to be the cause of pssd and my gut feeling is that it will remain as the effects seem to remain strong well beyond the half life of the dose prior to my next treatment.”
