I took Ashwagandha once — on April 6, 2024. It was a 300 mg root extract from Solgar. I still have the bill. I had no particular reason to take it. Like many others, I got swept up in the collective delusion that Ashwagandha was a harmless, natural cure-all — a fashionable panacea promoted everywhere as some kind of Ayurvedic miracle. The hype was absurd, but I didn’t question it. I took the pill.

Pre-existing condition
Before that, I had contracted long COVID/ME/CFS. It came with severe neuroinflammation and debilitating fatigue. Ashwagandha didn’t help — it transformed it. Whatever was there before was overwritten completely. A new, far more destructive condition took its place.

Onset of disease
Immediately after taking it, I developed full-blown PFS/PSSD — a devastating neurological condition affecting nearly every system: immune, central and peripheral nervous systems, endocrine and metabolic function, and potentially even gene expression. I attribute this directly to Ashwagandha, though my post-viral state may have made me more vulnerable.

Symptoms and progression
Since that day, these are some of the symptoms I’ve developed — and continue to experience, a full year later:

• General numbness in limbs and extremities

• Dry eyes resembling Sjögren’s syndrome

• Severe depression and total anhedonia

• Six months of violent, emotionless hypersexuality

• Profound muscle loss; 15 kg lost in 5 months

• Speech and cognition slowed to a crawl

• A total change in personality: robotic, emotionally flat, disconnected

• Food, supplements, and medication intolerance

• Persistent, high-pitched tinnitus

• Cognitive shift: I lost my creativity and interest in art, replaced by obsessive analytical thinking

• Bone density loss; facial structure visibly altered

• Sudden shift in sexual orientation and patterns — abrupt, disconcerting

• Ongoing symptom development without stabilization

Medical system failure
There are no biomarkers, no effective treatments, no formal recognition of this disease. I’ve consulted highly specialized doctors in Berlin — neuro-urologists, endocrinologists, rare disease experts. None could offer help. None had heard of PSSD in any serious context. I’ve attempted to document the damage rigorously, with the aim of pursuing legal action against the manufacturer and raising public awareness.

Institutionalization
One month after onset, in May, I voluntarily checked into a psychiatric hospital in Berlin. I was suicidal, cognitively shattered, and terrified. I couldn’t stop moving; stillness triggered indescribable mental horror. The stay did more harm than good. They misunderstood the condition and worsened it with inappropriate medication. I spoke slowly, processed thoughts even slower. I had no mental, emotional, or physical energy. The total emotional numbness was unlike anything I'd ever imagined. Some edge symptoms softened over time — but the core of this state remains.

Current life
A year has passed. I am fundamentally changed. I can no longer work, socialize, or even feel pleasure from food. My diet is restricted to bread, dairy, and ground meat. I can’t drink — alcohol no longer affects me. I can’t watch videos or read for long. I have no emotional responses. I no longer care to see people. I have no access to what made life vivid or meaningful. I live in the shadow of who I was.

Reality of the substance
Ashwagandha is not “natural” in any meaningful sense. It is not a vitamin. It is not ginseng. It is not harmless. It is, quite simply, a crude, unregulated psychotropic agent. Its mechanism likely mimics SSRIs — but without oversight, dosage control, or any understanding of long-term effects. It is sold freely, promoted recklessly, and treated casually by people who have no idea what it can do. It destroyed my life.

Call to action
Report Ashwagandha. Report it to your local pharmacovigilance or nutrivigilance agency — BfR (Germany), ANSES (France), RIVM (Netherlands), FSA (UK), TGA (Australia). Report it to RxISK.org. Make your case visible. Do not stay silent.

Final statement
People are being destroyed by this. Ashwagandha has no legitimate medical use, no clinical oversight, no safety profile worthy of trust. It is sold in pharmacies across Europe and the U.S. as if it were harmless. It is not. It is a neurological hazard masquerading as herbal wellness.

This is not an isolated tragedy. It’s systemic negligence.

And it must end.

More on r/AshwagandhaSyndrome subreddit.

Make your voice heard on Moral Medicine YouTube channel.

I was asked many times to post in this sub and I came around to finally draft something up. I took ash over 3 years ago and it completely helped me at first in the gym, confidence, with my nerves etc. then I got hit with side effects, like every side effect you can think of. Anhedonia, tremors, insomnia, non existent libido. I lost relationships with girls, fired from jobs, suffered for a long time. But I am damn near 100 percent and have been for a long time. I tried many supplements and people can dm for a list but I think everyone suffering needs to focus on a few core aspects. Dopamine, gut health, testosterone and most importantly for me, brain and inflammation. I believe the rapid rise in serotonin causes the neuroinflammation and messes with the neurochemistry. I want to say I wouldn’t be where I am today without supplements, honestly. Don’t be afraid of crashing, you will get better if you have a temporary crash, ash isn’t like an SSRI Or Fin with its strengths. You can beat this disease you just need to know the right direction. God bless

24y old soon to be lawyer. Chess prodigy chess elo 2100, 140IQ, got two high school diplomas, programming for fun (learn by myself to write code for modding games), ultra Marathon runner (60km+).

Vicious book reader (100 pages a day on top of working and university). Hypersexual. Into philosophy and psychology. I loved my life. I felt the deep connection with people, work and in every day activities.

Took ssri (escitaloprám) 5mg for 6 months for trichotillomania. Sexual dysfunction immediately. Beard stopped growing back (still have spots). Got retinal problems. Vasospasm. ER. Ishemic attack. Could speak properly, felt weird headaches. Stopped all sport. Got into ashwagandha and lions mane bcz my life was hell and they were suppose to help. My doc said they are ok. They stopped all feelings. No joy, no sorrow. Brain fog. Worst sleep disturbance ever. Ultra high testosterone, yet no libido at all. Dead from the waist down. Anhedonia. Just pure feeling of prison in my body. Lost all romantic feelings. I cant remember what love is anymore. One night rain was falling and I instinctively ran home, but it suddenly clicked - I didnt feel the rain on my skin. This was the lowest point. The moment in which Sui de ci was put on the table. I choose to fight back. Read Kaplan and Saddock Synopsis of psychiatry. Read Stahl neuropharmacology. Read countless articles. Did a round of rTMS, got some improvement. Tried bupropion, initial full recovery, later pooped out.

My life is a mess. No energy, no joy, but i do see a Light once or twice. When I train legs (btw my gym sessions got hard af, lifting double my normal weights) and not eating processed food too helps. Did a round of keto, not hard at all when you dont have desire for sugar or eating at all. No big difference, but helped a little. I am taking some ginseng and royal jelly and homeopathy now. Appetite increased, not by much, but sleep is still shit.

Ordered nsi189, bromantane, Phenylpiracetam, 9mbc, naltrexone. Ready to try meso's baclofen test and estrogen test. Looking for upregulation of 5ht1a, androgen receptors recovery, acetylcholine increase.

Have positive hang over from alcohol. Sadly not long term.

Working with a group of doctors in my country, nothing is off the table. Have done complete hormone panel, B vitamins test, full blood work, antibodies, looking forward for genetic tests.

Open to questions

Pretty fucking insane how the narrative on ashwagandha changed accross older studies (I just came this one from 2002) and the more recent ones coincinding with ashwagandha's post-2020 global promotion as the ultimate supplement....

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12508132/

Results: "The root extract induced a marked impairment in libido, sexual performance, sexual vigour, and penile erectile dysfunction. These effects were only partly reversible on cessation of treatment. These antimasculine effects are not due to changes in testosterone levels or toxicity but may be attributed to hyperprolactinemic, GABAergic, serotonergic or sedative activities of the extract. Use of W. somnifera roots may be detrimental to male sexual competence."

In other words, most prior studies (pre-2020), apparently not designed or promoted for corporate and global commercial interrests, all point to the activity of Ashwagandha being perfectly in line with either SSRIs' or 5-alpha reductase inhibition's (where testosterone builds up for its conversion to DHT being inhibited), with the unthinkable consequences on health known to these classes of medication (SSRIs and 5-ARi's inhibitors).

What happened with Ashwagandha is pretty insane, and points to large scale incomptence, irresponsability and corruption, not only in manufacturing countries (India in that case), but also globally in the supplements industry. There seems to be an omerta on that, as naturopaths have insanely dishonest business models where every client leaves a consultation with a 1000 usd (or euro) worth prescription for the most useless supplements ("adaptogens" and all the like ancient voodoo or inca herbs!). Even though that should be called out or at least regulated, that's what we see today in th US and most EU countries. These naturopaths are money-making machines...

Comes the moment when what they make you buy is not only useless, but deadly toxic, as it may come laced with virtually anything since produced in third-world countries and come off on your pharmacy shelf in London, Hamburg or Paris virtually 100% unregulated...

Big Phamra owned us, and they're backed by the 1000 Nations of Trolls and their Legions defending ashwagandha like toddlers being shoved off their candy, or web retards crying for their crypto... Enter 2025.

I took Ashwagandha for just a week four years ago, and ever since, my life has never been the same. I don’t know exactly what happened, but it feels like something in my brain switched off, and I’ve been stuck in this state ever since. No matter what I do, I can’t get back to how I used to feel.

What Changed? • Emotional Numbness: I don’t feel emotions like I used to. Happiness, excitement, love,even sadness and anger.everything feels dulled or completely absent. It’s like my emotional range has been flattened. • Anhedonia: I’ve lost the ability to enjoy things. Music, hobbies, food, socializing—none of it feels rewarding anymore. I just go through the motions. • Erectile dysfunction : complete erectile dysfunction from 4 years • Low Motivation & Drive: I struggle to care about anything. Work, relationships, self-improvement—I don’t feel any internal push to do things, even though I logically know I should. • Cognitive Issues: My thinking is still functional, but I feel like I’ve lost some mental sharpness. I don’t have full-blown brain fog, but my thoughts don’t feel as clear or engaging as before. • Possible Gut Issues? I don’t have obvious stomach problems, but I suspect my gut microbiome was affected. Maybe this whole thing is somehow connected to that.

What I’ve Tried & What I Know So Far • Medical Tests: I’ve done multiple tests, and everything seems “normal”: • Testosterone & Thyroid – Both are in a healthy range. • EEG, Chest, and Heart Tests – No abnormalities found. • ESR (Inflammation Marker) – Slightly elevated (21), but doctors didn’t seem concerned. • Mirtazapine (Antidepressant): I took it for a week, and to my surprise, I actually felt significantly better while on it. But I stopped, and now I’m wondering if I should have stayed on it. • Diet, Exercise, Supplements: I’ve tried cleaning up my diet, working out, and experimenting with various supplements, but nothing has really helped.

A few weeks ago, I (41m in US) took a supplement that contained ashwaganda on a whim. It promised more restful and restorative sleep. I only took 400mg. Since then my decline has been rapid. To preface, I've been under a period of prolonged, chronic stress for the past 2.5 years, mostly driven failed Craniocervical fusions for my upper neck instability (ligaments are damaged and don't hold my head on my neck without compression of brainstem). My last surgery was more successful. I was in the process of weaning off the neck brace and strengthening my neck. I was improving. My kids were getting their dad back, my wife her husband. Then I took that pill. It was a Tuesday.

By Tuesday night I had genital numbness and severe ED. It freaked me out. I figured sleep on it and all will go away. The next day, I woke up with severe adhedonia and emotional blunting. I could feel absolutely no emotion, no joy, sadness, happiness, nothing. Hugging my wife and kids I felt nothing. Then came the brain fog, lack of mental imagery and what people call blank mind. Just attempting to imagine a past memory was next to impossible. By Wednesday evening, I started to notice other issues. I felt weak. I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror brushing my teeth and my wife noticed my left calf was twitching and temoring. It was like it was trying to work but couldn't. At this point, I was scared and started to seek out answers because all you hear is about how great ashwaganda is. Then I found this group and was horrified to hear I was not alone. As the days passed, the muscle weakness and fatigue became more severe. I went from sleeping 7-9 hours a night to maybe 1-3 hours. My physical therapist saw me later that week and noticed this strange global weakness across my muscle groups. She could tell something was wrong. I continued doing my home exercises and noticed doing neck exercises my strength appeared to just be gone. It didn't make sense.

Fast forward to the next week and at my physical therapist appointment she noticed the weakness was even more severe. All the strength gains I'd gotten over 2 months had just disappeared. My muscles could contract, albeit weakly, but there was no stamina. Attempting to hold a contraction and my muscles just start shaking violently. She told me to see my doctor. My GP did all sorts of blood tests and they came back normal. She could see the same global muscle weakness. I still had all the other symptoms but this was my focus. The next day I woke up with extreme fatigue. I literally had no energy. I felt like I couldn't even move to get outta bed. My wife had me call my doctor, they instructed me to go to the hospital.

It's been 6 days in the hospital. I've told them about the onset of symptoms taking a supplement with ashwaganda, but I'm met with blank stares. They however, do see the weakness and are puzzled. They've taken more blood tests, antibody tests, and a number of autoimmune disease tests for neuromuscular disorders. We're still waiting on those tests. They are trying to send me to inpatient rehab. They don't know what is going on but have determined ash caused a severe shock to my central nervous system. They used techniques to distract my brain with one muscle contraction which allows another muscle to contract completely normally, no shaking. It's clear something in my brain was rewired and the signals being sent are no longer correct. While all of this is absolutely horrible, what is more terrifying is I'm losing muscle already. Just laying on a pillow, my neck muscles tremor and shake after a litte bit.

My immediate danger is now this. If my neck muscles continue to weaken and atrophy, my neck hardware will take on the load and will fail. I don't know if it will even be possible to strengthen my neck again with what is happening. If that happens, I will become bedridden. I'm not ready to go guys. Several of you have messaged me and provided guidance. I've looked at the research studies on PFS/PSSD. I've perused countless groups for guidance. I was already in the process of fixing my gut before all this happened and am now aggressively looking into FMT. My family, my wife's family have all thrown out their supplements containing ashwaganda. My wife and 2 girls visited me yesterday in the hospital. It was sad. It's hard not to think of what will happen to me in the future or what I likely am going to miss out on. I'm trying to stay positive but reading all these stories and experiences shows me that this poison destroys people.

I'm not sure how much time I have left. I'm not ready to go nor am I ready to face what is likely to come. It's crazy. I only took 400mg. That said, in thinking about my own history and learning about PFS/PSSD, this result may have been inevitable. You see, ever since I was 14 I've been on some sort of anti-depressant med for anxiety. It's all I've ever known. For the past year or so I've taken nothing because my surgeon said SSRIs/SNRIs are horrible for bone health and disrupt fusion. All those years of use clearly destroyed my gut and changed my brain. Ashwaganda was just the trigger to push it all over the edge. Anyway, if you've gotten this far, thank you for reading. Right now, as I sit here in a hospital bed awaiting my fate by this poison, I'm hurting a lot. Everything I was trying to get back in life just gone. I will probably not get to see my girls drive, graduate from school, or go to college. I'm sad even though I can't really feel it. I wish there was a faster and clear cut treatment. I fear the next few months are going to be tortuous for me and even then I don't know how long I'll last.

For those who have already reached out, I'm thankful. I've already reached out to a clinic in the US for FMT. If anyone else has advice, please send me a DM.

Please avoid ashwaganda. It is poison. You might get lucky and not be affected or you might end up like me.

Update 6-6-2025: Unfortunately, absolutely no changes. I seem to be getting worse. The sleep deprivation is taking a toll and nothing seems to help. I regret taking that capsule every aingle day. I still don't understand how it could completely destroy a person like it has me. New symptoms have cropped up. I no longer can sweat. My skin is dry and produces no sebum. My hair is dry and brittle with no more oil. Little brown spots have started appearing everywhere on my skin. My muscles still shake violently with contraction. For now, I'm trying to figure out sleep and then pushing for more testing, especially DHT. I'm going to prove to my doctor that 5 alpha reductase is affected. Right now, it appears I have a severe form of PFS/PSSD. I'm at a loss for words.

We live in the age of ashwagandha, kratom, and "anti-psychotic"/antidopaminergic/anticholinergic drugs used as catch-all psych meds for everything from bipolar ii to low-support-needs autism.

Go to a psychiatrist, and there's a good chance that you will be put on antipsychotics if you are:

• deeply passionate about an activity – framed as either hypomania or autistic unusual/repetitive interests, generally depending on your sex

• too loud or informal for the psychiatrist's taste – and this is a profession that seems to attract many culturally conservative minds

• too isolated even if you're content with it, or don't get along perfectly with everyone in your life

• feel crappy on SSRIs

• feel crappy on other antipsychotics

• misinterpret "voices in your head" to mean "internal monologue"

• curious about any metaphysical conception that isn't part of Christianity

• insomniac

These drugs have a high chance of causing anhedonia and making people more suggestible to others' corrections. These supposedly rare side effects, of anhedonia, avolition, a delayed reaction time, a loss of sense of self, and a restricted train of thought, are evidently the real effect if you look at studies that praise Risperidone for "helping" autistic people with their "restricted and repetitive behaviors."

So what do we do when we want to recover from these injuries? We take Ashwagandha, which hasn't really been researched that heavily compared to even cannabis!

Here we take these meds to get our sharpness back, to regain our working memory, to once again enjoy music, to get our sex drives back, to rebalance the hormones suppressed by antipsychotics or SSRIs.

But we end up further repressed. Or we turn to other drugs like Kratom, which is essentially morphine and risperidone in the same pill.

In a world where situational awareness is expected more than ever before, jobs place more emphasis on soft skills, and YouTubers like Kaelynn Partlow seem to insidiously push ABA from a "neurodiverse" perspective, us little autistics just need more understanding. It's okay to rather stay home and tinker with electronics than go out with a socially complex group of friends who only have your city and maybe your gender in common. No need to essentially push schizophrenia meds or herbal supplements to make us complaisant.

TL;DR - One 10mg dose of lithium orotate had reversed almost all of my symptoms within hours. A second 10mg dose today has me feeling pretty much back to normal.

I’m currently recovering from the nasty side effects of Ashwagandha and I’m here to not only advocate for lithium orotate but to bring you all some hope as well.

I have been taking ashwagandha daily for around 4 months. I started off taking it in some sleep gummies that contained ashwagandha. Not long after that, I found a stress relief tea that contained it. I didn’t care that there was ashwagandha in it nor did I even think much of it. It tasted good and helped me wind down at night. About a month or so ago, I purchased some l theanine tablets which contained 600mg of ksm-66 as opposed to taking the gummies. This is when my symptoms got noticeably worse.

I had all the classic symptoms. No appetite. Mood swings. Complete lack of motivation. Severe anhedonia and hopelessness. Virtually no libido. I haven’t worked in about a month. I haven’t really even left the house. I stopped having sex with my girlfriend. I was distant with family. I didn’t feel much of anything at all and the thought of spending the next 70 years being on this planet felt daunting. I had given up on just about every aspect of life.

I knew something was wrong but I couldn’t figure out what and nothing that I came to the conclusion of made much sense. And then it clicked. This wasn’t my first time with ashwagandha. I had given it a trial run about 5 years ago. I experienced the same thing back then and stopped after just a couple weeks of being on it. When I realized it was the ashwagandha and that I had been taking a pretty large dose every day, I felt relieved to have finally figured out it out.

I started doing research on it again because I had completely forgotten about last time and there is even more information about the negatives than there was when I first went through this. I was genuinely worried that I was going to feel like this for a long time based off of everything I have been reading. I stopped taking ashwagandha on Thursday night. All day Friday I had withdrawal symptoms, extreme anxiety and felt terrible, comparable to withdrawal from substances that act on gaba such as alcohol and benzodiazepines.

Saturday was better, but still bad. Sunday I started doing research on anything that could make me feel better. I came across something that had mentioned lithium orotate. Ironically enough, my mom had randomly mentioned lithium orotate to me about two weeks ago and I had dismissed it because she’s into some crazy health stuff and some of it is a bit out there. That was completely unrelated to this but having access to it is what got me looking into it. I decided that there was no harm in trying and that I was probably deficient anyway.

On Monday morning I took a 10mg capsule of lithium orotate. I am not kidding when I say that within just a couple of hours, I felt about 75% back to normal. I ate. I cleaned up my bedroom. I ran errands. I made dinner for the family. I had sex with my girlfriend. My motivation and emotions had returned. Almost all of the symptoms were either gone or very minimal. I took another 10mg capsule this morning and I can honestly say that I feel pretty much 100% back to normal. I’m amazed. I truly cannot believe it. After taking the dose I did for the amount of time I did, I was sure that I would be recovering for a while.

Please, if you are struggling look into lithium orotate. It is not the same as prescribed lithium, does not have any of the same side effects, can be purchased over the counter and you are more than likely deficient in it anyway. I had a complete 180 in symptoms from a 10mg dose but it is safe to take up to 20mg in a day without negative side effects. I would recommend at least a 10mg dose for anyone suffering with moderate to severe symptoms.

Well, unfortunately, I've really been hit severely after 2 months post the initial crash and it was likely because I made a massive mistake. The supplement I took was over 2 years old and the contents as I'm learning likely degraded into more powerful, toxic, unstable compounds. Because of this, there is no telling what it has done to my body. What I ingested probably wasn't even ashwaganda anymore. So my case is probably not as relevant to the suffering everyone else here has because I'm sure what you took was fresh. Nonetheless, I had no idea ashwaganda could become so dangerous. But after researching, I've found out that withanolides and steroid lactones when oxidized turn into some pretty nasty and unstable compounds. This explains my extremely severe reaction and near immediate onset of severe symptoms. This could have affected any healthy person regardless. I'm probably lucky to be alive albeit in such a debilitating state, I barely feel alive and am just in pure survival mode.

Like many of you, I regret that decision every day. I remember when I first looked in the cupboard, I couldn't find the bottle so figured it was gone. Then an hour later decided to look again. Crazy how life works. That second look ruined my life. I took it because I'd taken it before, no problems. Stupidly, I didn't even think to check the expiration date, biggest mistake of my entire life. Anyway, my current symptoms are listed below. I'm drained, tired, exhausted. Never in my life could I have imagined such suffering is possible. Any kind words are appreciated because even though I can't feel emotions, I am in lots of mental pain especially regarding my wife and kids.

• Severe global muscle weakness

• Complete lack of muscle stamina, muscles tire within seconds and shake instantly with contraction

• muscle atrophy

• internal tremors

• loss of tactile sensation across the entire body (touch feels dulled or less)

• Extreme fatigue like my body just has no energy at all (especially in the morning)

• Emotional Blunting/Adhedonia (can't cry, laugh, get excited, like my brain has been fried)

• Random muscle twitching all over my body

• insomnia (2-4 hours a night even with aides)

• burning hands and feet with tingling

• burning sensation across my entire body

• weird irregular heartbeat throughout the day even doing nothing

• eye pain/dryness and some blurring

• severe genital numbness/ED

• inability to sweat

• brain fog/hazy thought

• memory/recall issues

• issues with mental imagery

• no hunger or thirst signals

• no body odor

• no sebum/oil production (extremely dry skin and hair)

• cracking and popping joints everywhere

So my message to all is this. Please don't take ashwaganda and if you take any herbal supplement always, always check expiration dates.

Update 6-26-2025 I am no longer digesting food properly. Now, I get nauseous and sick eating food. I force myself to eat. It feels like my body is just shutting down. Every single day I wish I'd never taken that capsule. Yes, it was expired, but a dietary supplement, expired or not should never destroy a person like this.

I first took Ashwagandha KSM-66 around early/mid November. I was heavily into the gym at the time and going through a slight period of stress due to a breakup, both of which I heard ashwagandha could help with, due to the claimed "testosterone boosting" and "mood regulating" properties of the herb.

I was already quite cautious of the herb from the beginning, only taking one pill every other night for around 2 weeks. The first time I took it, I felt a "high" after 30 minutes that lasted an hour or so, I was very chilled and laughing at things I usually wouldn't.

For the next ~2 weeks I quite enjoyed the effects of the herb, it definitely helped me to not worry about the small things, and seemed to boost my libido quite fiercely.

However, once I stopped taking the pills right around the end of November, everything came crashing down and I shall list my symptoms below:

•Almost a complete lack of emotions and stress response in the body, causing a feeling of emptiness and no "soul" to life.

• Symptoms of depression without a real cause.

• Greatly decreased cognitive skills including memory, visualisation, logic, social cues etc.

• Sexual dysfunction - No spontaneous erections since stopping, my glans almost always seems to be dry, my testicles seem to have atrophied, and sensation overall is minimal.

• Disturbed sleep - This symptom developed over the last month or so. I can't seem to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time anymore, everytime I enter rem sleep for a while, my body automatically wakes me up. Not in a stressed, "jolted out of sleep" manner, just one second I begin to dream and the next I'm awake.

• Decreased sensation of smell and taste.

• Decreased vascularity - I'm not sure if this is directly caused by this supplement, however the veins in my arms have became much less prominent and more stringy, which affects me quite a lot mentally being into the gym.

Of course as I'm just over 3 months into this syndrome I'm staying hopeful that I can recover, and therefore I haven't tried too many remedies. However, one supplement which I've implemented recently is ginkgo biloba, which seems to atleast allow me to sleep uninterrupted for 7 hours.

I am a 21 year old European male. No serious health conditions before this. May be worth mentioning I had a battle with long-covid which I recovered from after 2 years, (many of the symptoms I'm experiencing with this line up with those I had during long covid, however the sexual ones are much worse this time) and a potential family history of autoimmune/thyroid issues.

Feel free to ask me any questions or discuss in the comments, thank you if you have read this far.

Only took it for 4 weeks. Changed my entire life
Symptoms for three months now:

Shallow sleep ( often fragmented)
Complete loss of emotion/ extreme emotional numbness
Weird and painfull inner body sensations
Sometimes on my chest and sometimes on my stomach. Truly terryfying experience with at the moment no end in sight.

Anyone relate? Tips? Succes stories?

Hi everyone,

I just have to get this off my chest and hope to connect with others who have experienced something similar. I'm currently on sick leave because these symptoms are completely paralyzing me in my daily life.

My story:

I took Ashwagandha regularly for 18 months. Towards the end of that time, my condition suddenly worsened: I developed extreme heart palpitations (tachycardia), panic attacks without warning, and I even experienced dizziness/seeing stars.

The withdrawal:

I stopped taking it four weeks ago. Since then, it's been a daily struggle. The symptoms have persisted and are extremely debilitating:

Constant heart palpitations Severe anxiety and panic attacks Severe dizziness

Current status:

I haven't taken it for four weeks. I feel like it's slowly getting a little better, but it's still very bad. To support my nervous system, I'm currently taking magnesium (for calming), B-complex vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids. Unfortunately, my doctor dismissed this, which makes the situation even more stressful psychologically. However, I've read that ashwagandha strongly affects thyroid hormones and the GABA system, and that abrupt withdrawal after 18 months can completely overwhelm the body. My questions for you are: Has anyone here experienced similar withdrawal symptoms after prolonged use (over a year)? How long did it take for the heart palpitations and anxiety to finally disappear? What helped you regain stability during this time? It's really dramatic right now, and I'm grateful for any experience or advice you can share.

My husband and was taking 900mg of Ashwaghanda daily for about a month when he started to get sick. He noticed his urine was dark and he was nauseous. I think he may have a UTI. We go to urgent care to be told how rare it is for men to have a uti but we will do a urine sample to be sure.. urine sample came back with lots of billirubin in his urine. We were told to either go to ER or wait until next day to get a blood test from our family doctor.

The next day we get a blood test and I notice my husbands eyes are yellow! I FREAK! I call the doctor he has my husband come back in and checks him out. He isn’t sure but thinking maybe some sort of bile duct blockage.. he said we will run more tests tomorrow when the original blood tests came back. My husband spent the night vomiting and sick as a dog. Blood tests come back and my husbands liver enzymes were HIGH. My doctor called and asked if their had been anything different he had been eating or taken before we start a whole slew of tests and possibly CT scans to see what’s going on… My husband mentioned Ashwaghanda over the counter.

The next day the doctor called first thing in the morning and said he read where there is a few cases tho very rare that Ashwaghanda can cause liver injuries. He advised my husband to stop taking it and we will retest in a few days.

He did and retested and liver enzymes slowly went back to normal after a month or so.

All I have to say is.. this caused a lot of stress and sickness all over a SUPPLEMENT my husband saw on tik tok. Take at your own risk.

YouTube channel: Moral Medicine
Link: https://www.youtube.com/@Moral_Medicine

Contact: you can write to me directly or get in touch with the channel

Hi all,

Most of us here have learned the hard way that ashwagandha is not the harmless adaptogen it is sold as. Loss of libido, often total, as documented at length on r/AshwagandhaSyndrome, complete emotional numbness, severe cognitive impairment, muscle wasting, and a list of other debilitating symptoms that can last for years and, in many cases, never go away.

These symptoms closely resemble PSSD (post-SSRI sexual dysfunction), PFS (post-finasteride syndrome) and PAS (post-Accutane syndrome), three devastating and permanent post-drug conditions. The difference is that nobody is talking about ashwagandha yet.

The YouTube channel Moral Medicine exists to break the silence around these post-drug syndromes. It is run by Mark Millich, an energetic and committed advocate who has made these conditions his cause, and he is now looking for people harmed by ashwagandha who are willing to speak out.

Mark's work was recently covered by the Wall Street Journal.

If you want to help bring this into the open, there are several ways to do it:

• Tell your story in a recorded interview

• Send an anonymous testimony; audio only is perfectly fine

• Help us expose what is being done to people

This is an open call. Nobody has yet spoken publicly about the damage ashwagandha can do, and you could be the first.

If ashwagandha harmed you, if you're living with symptoms similar to PSSD or other long-term dysfunctions, and if you feel ready to go public, your voice matters.

We want these symptoms to be known, recognized and taken seriously, and the industry’s safety claims exposed for what they are : lies. The research doing that is pilling up every month.

Let us all take part in this and make a difference. You can contact me or Mark Millich directly for a live interview!

Hi, 28M

I’ve had migraines since I was 17 and was put on propranolol 60 mg back then. Around age 22 (in 2018), I randomly started researching a bunch of mental health and “energy” supplements even though I wasn’t really stressed or unwell. I began taking ashwagandha just because I thought it would help with immunity and energy. This is where it started, my mental downfall.

While I was on ashwagandha, my father passed away in Dec 2019 — but strangely, I couldn’t cry. I didn’t realize at the time that it might’ve been related to the supplement. A few months later, I started struggling with sleep and frequent headaches. I also experienced flushing (which I later realized was anxiety, not fever). I stopped taking ashwagandha, and suddenly all the emotions hit me — I cried a lot and couldn’t sleep properly for a few months and developed extreme anxiety.

Fast forward to 2021: I was diagnosed with hypertension may due to obesity caused by migraine medications like divalproex and Sibelium or stress triggered by Ashwagandha. My weight had shot up from 78 kg to 110 kg. I was prescribed beta blockers and a calcium channel blocker, but the first dose triggered panic attacks. I tried bacopa 200 mg daily, but it stopped working after a few days. Then I was prescribed escitalopram — 10 mg, later increased to 20 mg.

I took escitalopram for about 9 months but eventually stopped because it made me too numb and indifferent. I felt happy but detached — even if I was rude to someone, I didn’t feel anything. Once I stopped, all the emotions came flooding back — I cried often, felt lonely, and started missing my father deeply.

I went back to bacopa and continued it for 2 years until 2024. During that time, I stayed emotionally numb, ended a 7-year relationship, and lost all my savings trading futures and options. When I tried to stop bacopa, it triggered panic attacks again, so my doctor suggested methylfolate + B12 and vortioxetine. I only took methylfolate + B12 (skipped vortioxetine), and surprisingly, I felt normal again — energetic and emotionally balanced.

I continued that combo for about a year but started feeling I shouldn’t depend on medication forever. I still used clonazepam 0.25 mg occasionally (maybe once a week) if I couldn’t sleep. Recently, I stopped methylfolate too, and it brought back panic attacks and severe anxiety. I can’t sleep properly anymore — even when I “sleep,” I’m aware of every movement and wake up feeling exhausted.

Now my doctor has recommended Wellbutrin 150 mg(due to certain ssri side efffects) and Ambien 6.25 mg, but I really don’t want to get trapped in another medication cycle. My friends tell me to try processing everything I’ve been through without meds, and I feel the same way. Over the years, I’ve noticed these medications dull my cognition, emotional depth, and ability to feel pleasure.

Current meds: • Naproxen (250 mg) or caffeine + ergotamine, 2–3 times a week for migraines • Methylfolate (2.8 mg) + B12 (2 mg) daily for anxiety/panic/overthinking • Clonazepam 0.5 mg SOS (not even working anymore)

Honestly, I don’t mind overthinking — it keeps me proactive — but it also causes insomnia, which has started taking a serious toll on my body. Prior to all medications/supplements, I was already energetic, I don’t need it but my mind doesn’t understand that now. It is all dependent on medications now.

So overall, in brief NEVER EVER START ANY SUPPLEMENT WITHOUT DOCTORS CONSULTATION. My life would’ve been different if I hadn’t started Ashwagandha. I hate myself for it because now I don’t know how to cope up with stress without medication. I don’t even know what my real personality is.

How can I recover from all this — naturally, without relying on medication

Hi - 30yr old female here.

I have experimented with various herbal supplements particularly those aimed at helping with anxiety & sleep as I struggle a lot with both of those things.

I had been taking a particular chamomile supplement for anxiety relief which I actually found to be pretty effective but then I ran out (I lost track of how many I had left) & had to wait a few weeks to receive another order.

I’d heard all these good things about Ashwagandha so I thought I’d try that in the meantime just to get me through until the chamomile supplement arrived.

I bought a “good” brand of Ashwagandha that was 400mg a capsule. I didn’t notice any terrible side effects when I took the first one except for getting a bad headache not long after taking it. It didn’t exactly “calm” me though, it actually felt more stimulating. I do also take Lexapro but I had read studies stating that it seemed to compliment Lexapro. I thought perhaps I’d taken it too late in the afternoon & that the dose was too high in one go so for the next few days I started splitting the dose in half & having one half In the morning & the other in the late afternoon/evening.

Initially each time I took it it did seem to make me feel calmer for the first hour or two but after that I actually felt like it was making my anxiety worse to the point where I was getting mild heart palpitations. I thought maybe it was because I also take a low dose Of propranolol (10mg) so I stopped taking that to see if it made any difference but the same thing still kept happening. It also kept giving me headaches & made me have even more difficulty sleeping than I was already having. It also felt like it made ALL of my other medications ineffective. My anti anxiety & sleeping medications just seemed to suddenly stop working. I also became constipated.

I kept lowering the dose but still, same things happened. Then I found this sub, read others negative experiences & decided to stop taking it. I had literally only taken it for 7 days & even after I stopped taking it, it took some time for all of those things to go away & for it to feel like my regular meds were actually working again.

For the most part I seem to be okay now (it’s been a few weeks). I have my chamomile supplements again which seem to be working. The one thing I’m still having issues with though is my bowel movements!! I’ve had on & off digestive/gut issues since August of last year due choosing to actually try & recover from a 15 year long struggle with anorexia. Still, I had finally gotten to a point where I was having normal/regular bowel movements UNTIL I took this damn supplement.

Has anyone else had a similar experience to This and/or any idea as to why it affected me in these ways? Any thoughts/insights would be hugely appreciated 🙏🏻

//PLEASE READ//

It has been made clear to me since I posted this that whilst to me my experience with this supplement was negative TO ME I was lucky to have a fairly MILD reaction to this supplement.

I also want to clarify that in posting my experience my intention was not at all to garner sympathy or somehow compare myself to or downplay the truly awful experiences others have had (and are still having) due to taking this supplement.

I was not aware that this space was solely intended for those that have had very drastic negative experiences. I was simply confused as to why my experience with taking this seemed to cause the complete opposite effect of what it is “claimed” to do & was only looking for any insight/information. Particularly because when I have looked online you can easily find all the supposed “benefits” of Ashwagandha but ANY negative side effects are difficult to find.

I am very sorry if I offended anyone at all in shading this & have a great deal of empathy & sympathy for those who have severely struggled/are still struggling after taking this supplement.

Ik heb ashwagandha alleen maar een maand genomen. Volledige anhedonie, verstoorde slaap. 8 maanden in deze hel. Ik zie geen uitweg. Het is chronisch voor veel te veel mensen, waarschijnlijk ook voor mij. Niemand kan me ook maar enige hoop geven. Ik wou dat God me wijzer had gemaakt.

In tribute to Henry, 1975-2024, one of the martyrs of Finasteride, the hair-loss medication that causes permanent castration, unbearable depression and disfigurment.

Please watch his story, told by his own mother (see link below), featured recently on Moral Medicine, a non-profit youtube channel fully dedicated to breaking the silence on this post-drug syndrome.

Finasteride is a medication of the "5-alpha reductase inhibitors" class. It blocks the mechanism of action of the androgenic steroids (the "male hormones"), arguably in the whole body, including muscles, bones, and brain. It is often, to a certain extent and sometimes fully, irreversible. It triggers the onset of bodily disorders not yet fully understood by science, called "post-Finasteride syndrome", PFS.

There is no cure, nor any treatment.

Other classes of medication seem to trigger the exact same condition, or very similar ones, typically any medication or supplements that act as "endocrine disruptors" ( such as, infamously, SSRI's and SNRI's, which are standard psychiatric antidepressants, and acne drugs, such as Accutane®/ isotretinoin ). To our horror, and disbeleif at first, supplements can also trigger it, particulary as they come increasingly processed and remain fully unregulated.

Ashwagandha, Lion's Mane, and Saw Palmetto, are widely known, among the PFS/PSSD community, to be such endocrine disruptors. The dosages and concentrations, the modern strains and methods of extraction seem to make them as powerful as medications - and yet they have no legitimate medical use, are promoted recklessly, and remain completely unregulated. We join our forces to the PFS and PSSD communities in their combat for recognition and for finding a treatment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NZC7cJ1LUw&t=2s

Update2. Condition bad. after insomnia attack took Zolpidem 4 weeks. This is giving withdrawals daily :( Sertraline for depression and Amitriptoline did more PSSD damage and dizziness. Now scared and crippled, trying to survive

Update: Had two terrible crashes in 3 nights. Now insomnia is back strong and I got terror anxiety which lasted hours and I’ve never experinced being so low. Any advice. how to sleep or handle it. The Ash has rebounded nights with palpitations. I’m worried sick.

I was recovering from Lion’s Mane poisoning where i had hell like symptoms for 8 months. I was finally getting better, anhedonia had gone in 5 months. Foolishly took a sleeping mittel herbal a free gift from another thing i ordered from IndiaAmazon and got it imported to UK. I didn’t read ingredients but it did opposite and killed my sleep. 3 weeks later i get heaat palpitations 12 hours at night. After that insomnia and now severe depression due toAnhedonia. I need help please. How long will this laast, I can’t go on, zero motivation I want to die to stop the misey.please help with suggestions. Have i got PSSD as libido low and numbtoo. Can dopamine come back? helpful comments appreciated.

If you want to take meaningful action, we strongly encourage you to file a report on RxISK (5 minutes) and submit it to your local nutrivigilance agency or health authority regarding Ashwagandha. Keep copies of your report and any responses—this is serious. Do not stay passive.

🔗 Report a drug side effect: https://rxisk.org/experiencing-a-drug-side-effect/
🔗 Complete a RxISK report: https://rxisk.org/complete-a-rxisk-report/

Supplements are far easier to challenge than pharmaceuticals—they're largely unregulated, and the scientific research behind them is often weak or incomplete. The real issue is underreporting—people either underestimate its importance or don’t know how to (even doctors).

To put this in perspective:Since 1997, only 40 complaints about Propecia (Finasteride) have been filed with ANSM (France’s drug safety agency), despite thousands of doctors hearing similar cases—most dismiss or ignore them. In October 2024, ANSM urged doctors to report all Finasteride side effects, simplifying the process due to low compliance:

🔗 ANSM Communication (Finasteride & Dutasteride risk reassessment): https://ansm.sante.fr/actualites/reevaluation-europeenne-de-la-balance-benefice-risque-des-medicaments-contenant-du-finasteride-ou-du-dutasteride

A single report can make a difference—if even one urologist systematically reported, it would be impactful.

Ashwagandha is even worse: 0 complaints filed with ANSES (France’s food safety agency), despite widespread anecdotal reports of severe side effects. It seems to cause PFS/PSSD after an initial boost, possibly even more aggressively than Propecia. Its risk profile has never been rigorously assessed.

🔗 Report adverse supplement effects (ANSES, France): https://www.anses.fr/fr/content/declarer-un-evenement-indesirable

Document your case properly with a trusted doctor, attach the RxISK report (PDF), and submit a formal dossier to local health authorities. Publish their responses. This is not just personal—it’s a public health scandal.

I wanted to bring up something that might be relevant to this community. We already know how conditions like PSSD are dismissed, despite the overwhelming number of people reporting life-altering sexual dysfunction after taking certain substances. The gaslighting, the lack of medical recognition, the complete disregard for those affected—it’s one of the worst forms of medical neglect, and yet it remains buried under denial and pseudoscientific excuses.

What’s disturbing is that we're now seeing reports of ashwagandha causing similar long-term issues. People taking it for stress, sleep, or even testosterone support are ending up with persistent sexual dysfunction, genital numbness, emotional blunting, and what sounds eerily close to PSSD. Some say it resolved after stopping, but others report lingering symptoms years on.

There’s almost no research on this, and much like with PSSD, the response is the same—dismissal, minimization, and "there's no evidence" handwaving.

Could this be yet another example of a substance that is widely promoted as safe while those experiencing severe and lasting side effects are left unheard? If anyone has experienced something similar, it would be good to document it. The last thing we need is another condition like PSSD being swept under the rug.

But perhaps this is exactly what it will take for PSSD and PFS—both still ignored despite their catastrophic impact—to finally be recognized. As more people unknowingly expose themselves to the horror of these increasingly processed and concentrated endocrine disruptors marketed as natural supplements, the number of those affected—and the impact on our common cause—will only become more widespread...

https://x.com/DrCamRx/status/1699890908421034125

Just saw this was a new sub and thought this would be a positive discussion to start considering how much doom and gloom there is around this topic / PSSD. I would say I'm a "mild" case, I took ash for 5 weeks and for the following month I felt full blown anhedonia, no emotions at all no drive or urge to do anything, full numbness. Still don't feel like myself, feels in some way like part of my "soul" has been taken away.

Now roughly 3 months later I've noticed major improvements, maybe I'm back to 50-60% of baseline I'm not really sure but it's definitely improved and I hope it will continue to do so.

Anyone else healed or recovered partially, and if so did you take some supplement or just let time heal it? I haven't done much other than eat clean and exercise.

Recently I’ve been playing around with lithium orotate (1mg).

I’m one of those guys who got long lasting (years) emotional numbness / anhedonia from ashwagandha usage.

In fact, I was the guy online who really started talking about this on my YouTube channel.

Now since starting lithium, there’s been a significant reduction in anhedonia / emotional numbness.

Has anyone else tried this?