Posted by klein on April 24, 2014, at 23:56:30
Sometimes SSRI apathy hits me like a rock. Or it used to.
I searched Babble extensively, Pubmed, etc nothing seemed to work until I eventually struck gold. I found this here in Babble a couple of years ago:
"Posted by tex1 on May 2, 2002, at 4:56:03
... Anyway, I believe that apathy syndrome has nothing to do with apathy at all, but with anxiety most. I wouldn't treat it by using stimulant, but better with benzos or buspirone. Apathy infact is a sort of hyperstimulation of certain receptors (even if it's hard to believe it). Say to your pdoc to have a try with a benzo. You'll see results..."
Here's the link:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020425/msgs/104728.html
I don't know if Tex1 is still around, he or she posted this 12 years ago. But Tex, wherever you are, you are a genius!
I have no idea where this theory came from, it sounds completely counter-intuitive, maybe someone is more in the know and can explain how it works.
And it does work! Or at least it worked for me. At the time I was on Paxil and struggling with anhedonia, apathy and lack of motivation. Desperate. I could barely get out of bed. When I read Tex's post, I asked my doc if I could give it a try. I was on 1mg Klonopin at the time.
So he told me to go ahead and gave me diazepam to... experiment with (yeah he really trusts me).
Two days after adding the Valium (about 30mg/day), the anhedonia vanished. It was nothing short of a miracle. After a while I dropped the diazepam and felt fine. I've used this strategy several times since. Maybe it's benzo-induced disinhibition... Any ideas?
OK, I don't know if this is the right place to post this but, as so many people here (including lurkers) suffer from the infamous apathy syndrome, I just wanted to put it out there, hopefully it might just help someone else.(thanks Tex!!)
poster:klein
thread:1064752
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140419/msgs/1064752.html