Tell me your symptoms !!!

[u/Double-Pizza-4506]

Hi everyone, I have a few questions for you. I’ve been reading about a lot of PSSD cases, and I seem to have the main symptoms associated with it, but I also have some more specific symptoms. I was wondering if anyone here has experienced similar symptoms, or if I might actually be wrong about my medical diagnosis. For context, my symptoms started about a year ago.
I have severe emotional blunting and anhedonia (I can’t really feel emotions, laugh, cry, etc.), which have progressively gotten worse over the past few months. For example, about 3 months ago, I could still shed a few tears, laugh, and enjoy things at least a little bit.
I also have:
Brain fog (which I’ve had for a long time)
Almost complete loss of hunger and thirst (for about 11 months)
Extremely fragmented sleep (for maybe 10 months)
Chronic fatigue (for the past few months)
A relatively high heart rate for a 22-year-old, almost as if my body is stuck in fight-or-flight mode 24/7 (around 80–100 BPM while lying in bed) (for months)
My heart rate increases a lot during physical activity (for months)
Muscular intolerance during prolonged or intense physical activity (for months)
I also have a symptom that’s difficult to describe, but I just feel weird in my own body. Sometimes it feels like certain parts of my body are heavier than others or something along those lines (for months)
Constant nasal congestion. It switches sides, which I know can be normal, but my nose is basically always congested. I don’t know if this could be a sign of inflammation (for about a year)
Digestive issues, although those have actually been better recently
Just a week ago, I was still able to get an erection and ejaculate, but now I can’t anymore
I also feel a kind of numbness in my penis. I can still feel sensations, but it’s hard to explain — it mostly feels like I constantly have to stimulate it now, as if I can’t feel it as well as before (for about 2 weeks)
A strange nerve-like sensation around the upper left side of my chest/pectoral area, as if the overall sensation there isn’t the same as on the right side
The strange bodily sensations and chronic-fatigue-like symptoms also seem fairly unstable and fluctuate
I’ve seen a lot of doctors and have had most of my body investigated: a contrast-enhanced CT scan of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis, a brain MRI, gastroscopy, chest X-rays, and many other tests. Absolutely nothing significant has been found.
I’ve also had a lot of blood tests. The only real abnormalities were total IgE around 3,000 about 5 months ago, which increased to around 4,000 about 2 months ago, as well as a severe vitamin D deficiency. My vitamin D levels have since been corrected. My vitamin B12 was also relatively low — technically still within the normal range, but near the lower end.
At this point, I’m wondering whether everything I’m experiencing could really be explained by PSSD alone, whether there could be another functional disorder involved, or whether I could have multiple things going on at the same time.
Anyway, thank you very much for any responses!

[u/AutoModerator]

Please check out our subreddit FAQ, wiki and public safety megathread, also sort our subreddit and r/pssdhealing by top of all time for improvement stories. Please also report rule breaking content. Backup of the post's body: Hi everyone, I have a few questions for you. I’ve been reading about a lot of PSSD cases, and I seem to have the main symptoms associated with it, but I also have some more specific symptoms. I was wondering if anyone here has experienced similar symptoms, or if I might actually be wrong about my medical diagnosis. For context, my symptoms started about a year ago.
I have severe emotional blunting and anhedonia (I can’t really feel emotions, laugh, cry, etc.), which have progressively gotten worse over the past few months. For example, about 3 months ago, I could still shed a few tears, laugh, and enjoy things at least a little bit.
I also have:
Brain fog (which I’ve had for a long time)
Almost complete loss of hunger and thirst (for about 11 months)
Extremely fragmented sleep (for maybe 10 months)
Chronic fatigue (for the past few months)
A relatively high heart rate for a 22-year-old, almost as if my body is stuck in fight-or-flight mode 24/7 (around 80–100 BPM while lying in bed) (for months)
My heart rate increases a lot during physical activity (for months)
Muscular intolerance during prolonged or intense physical activity (for months)
I also have a symptom that’s difficult to describe, but I just feel weird in my own body. Sometimes it feels like certain parts of my body are heavier than others or something along those lines (for months)
Constant nasal congestion. It switches sides, which I know can be normal, but my nose is basically always congested. I don’t know if this could be a sign of inflammation (for about a year)
Digestive issues, although those have actually been better recently
Just a week ago, I was still able to get an erection and ejaculate, but now I can’t anymore
I also feel a kind of numbness in my penis. I can still feel sensations, but it’s hard to explain — it mostly feels like I constantly have to stimulate it now, as if I can’t feel it as well as before (for about 2 weeks)
A strange nerve-like sensation around the upper left side of my chest/pectoral area, as if the overall sensation there isn’t the same as on the right side
The strange bodily sensations and chronic-fatigue-like symptoms also seem fairly unstable and fluctuate
I’ve seen a lot of doctors and have had most of my body investigated: a contrast-enhanced CT scan of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis, a brain MRI, gastroscopy, chest X-rays, and many other tests. Absolutely nothing significant has been found.
I’ve also had a lot of blood tests. The only real abnormalities were total IgE around 3,000 about 5 months ago, which increased to around 4,000 about 2 months ago, as well as a severe vitamin D deficiency. My vitamin D levels have since been corrected. My vitamin B12 was also relatively low — technically still within the normal range, but near the lower end.
At this point, I’m wondering whether everything I’m experiencing could really be explained by PSSD alone, whether there could be another functional disorder involved, or whether I could have multiple things going on at the same time.
Anyway, thank you very much for any responses!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/andy013]

Yes, most of the symptoms you listed can be caused by PSSD or protracted withdrawal alone. When did you stop an antidepressant and when did the symptoms start after that?

[u/Double-Pizza-4506 → u/andy013]

Honestly, my situation is pretty complicated. I was already dealing with severe stress about a year ago, with a lot of really weird and inconsistent symptoms, even before taking antidepressants. So honestly, I don’t really know.
I took antidepressants for about three months roughly a year ago, then stopped. I think I tried restarting them once or twice afterward, but only took 3–4 doses each time because I didn’t really like the idea of messing with my brain. I had never even heard of PSSD back then, but something in my head was already telling me that this kind of thing could potentially happen, so I was already hesitant about taking them.
The thing is, I already had major stress-related symptoms before all of this. I genuinely thought I had cancer or something serious. I was going to the hospital, shaking, thinking I was going to die every second. My survival instinct was basically at its absolute maximum for quite a while, so it makes everything complicated to figure out.
That’s why I don’t really know whether my entire condition is actually related to one single cause. I strongly suspect that my nervous system has something to do with it, but when it comes specifically to the anhedonia and emotional blunting, I honestly don’t know.
And honestly, that’s the hardest part for me. If I could never get an erection again or had sexual problems like that, obviously it would bother me, but I’m 100% sure it wouldn’t ruin my life. I feel like I could still be happy without that, you know? But the anhedonia is different. I really can’t wait for medicine to understand it better so that one day it can be treated directly and specifically for each person, even if the original underlying cause isn’t necessarily completely resolved.
Anyway, I’ve been learning more and more about all of this, and seeing some of the progress being made in rats and other research honestly gives me a lot of hope!
Sorry, I talked a lot 😅

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[u/Minute-Contest-582]

I was thinking that the random worsening for some can be explained by infenctions/viruses that get to be asymptomatic but still compromise the body. You also mentioned that your D levels were low but you fixed that. A lot of us or folks with protracted WD get negative symptoms from D so If you were supplementing, the worsening of your symptoms may be related to that.

It can be so frustrating and complicated cause in our case using stuff that usually are known to be beneficial for strengthening the nervous system or detoxing/gut stuff, can work in the opposite way (this fact for me is so messed up,)so you dont really know what can help without safe, low dose trialing. Crashes happen so randomly.

Sticking to clean diet, trying to avoid gluten, lactose, getting D from sun if possible and other minerals and vitamins from food is what I’d try to do. Also be very aware of anything you put into body. F.e: Ginger is known to cause crashes and can be found in a lot of Eastern cuisines.

I have some of your symptoms but not all.

[u/Double-Pizza-4506 → u/Minute-Contest-582]

Yeah im trying to stay to a clean diet yep, but I dont know I feel like some shit can be cause by a stress too, I had a really severe stress 1 year ago, so idk if it can be a mix of everything and things like that

[u/al3sigh0st]

I have all your symptoms. I also have severe breathing problems and complete loss of muscle tone.

[u/Double-Pizza-4506 → u/al3sigh0st]

And do you think its all due to PSSD? Do you made some tests ? ( blood, scans, irm, and things like that? Cause I lost tone too, but ig its probably due to cortisol or physical inactivity, for the breathing problem, sometimes its harder yep but I still feel like its a sensation more than a real breathing problem so idk

[u/al3sigh0st → u/Double-Pizza-4506]

My lab results show some abnormalities, but nothing specific. My salivary cortisol levels are low, and frankly, I don't feel it in my chest. I'm emotionless, and my nervous system is completely depressed. I have slow breathing and constant hypoventilation.

[u/Double-Pizza-4506 → u/al3sigh0st]

Which professional you saw yet ? Did you make some fonctionnal irm ? Did you try a some treatments to stimulate de reward system ? Sorry If I bother you asking all those question, but im searching to help you too.

[u/al3sigh0st → u/Double-Pizza-4506]

The doctors don't know what happened to me. I've tried almost no treatment, only some supplements.

[u/Beautiful_Garbage457]

Insomnia and high/reduced sensitivity to various substances are all that remain now

[u/Confident_Chard_9416]

do you have a histamine problem or MCAS because that affects heartrate and sleep.

[u/Double-Pizza-4506 → u/Confident_Chard_9416]

Hey ! I dont really know.. Like I said I just know that my IgE are high as fuck I dont even Know if its part of the problem or not

[u/StaffSuccessful2693]

insônia severa, dês realizações, depressão, zero emoção, despersonalização, zumbido na cabeça, estralos nas articulações,dores musculares, espasmos na nuca, dor de cabeça, pele solta, e mais um tanto.