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For the past 3 years I've been dealing with blunted emotions and sexual dysfunction that all began after an episode of emotional trauma. I lost my ability to feel emotions like pleasure, arousal, adrenaline, laughter, etc. I also can no longer feel sexual desire or attraction, I have erection problems, and reduced genital sensation.
For the past year, my Psychiatrist had me try Wellbutrin starting at 150MG, then 300MG, and then 400MG to no avail. He then had me try Wellbutrin with Rexulti and that didn't help. I then tried Trintellix at 5MG then 10MG and that didn't help. I then tried Auvelity and that didn't work. And then Geodon and that didn't help.
I have not been responding to the medications. I am not getting the results I am looking for.
I am really looking to regain my ability to FEEL things again. To feel emotions again. To laugh, to feel pleasure, adrenaline, arousal, anxiety, etc.
I am also looking to regain my sexual function. I would like to regain my sex drive. I used to have a very high libido.
I'm looking to try EMDR Therapy and I am also considering Spravato and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.
For the past 3 years I've been dealing with blunted emotions and sexual dysfunction that all began after an episode of emotional trauma. I lost my ability to feel emotions like pleasure, arousal, adrenaline, laughter, etc. I also can no longer feel sexual desire or attraction, I have erection problems, and reduced genital sensation.
For the past year, my Psychiatrist had me try Wellbutrin starting at 150MG, then 300MG, and then 400MG to no avail. He then had me try Wellbutrin with Rexulti and that didn't help. I then tried Trintellix at 5MG then 10MG and that didn't help. I then tried Auvelity and that didn't work. And then Geodon and that didn't help.
I have not been responding to the medications. I am not getting the results I am looking for.
I am really looking to regain my ability to FEEL things again. To feel emotions again. To laugh, to feel pleasure, adrenaline, arousal, anxiety, etc.
I am also looking to regain my sexual function. I would like to regain my sex drive. I used to have a very high libido.
I'm looking to try EMDR Therapy and I am also considering Spravato and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.
What do you guys think?
I think you should seek help for the mental health part of it. The reason you're experiencing this is because of the trauma. You need to resolve that. Everything else will just be a bandaid.
I think you should seek help for the mental health part of it. The reason you're experiencing this is because of the trauma. You need to resolve that. Everything else will just be a bandaid.
EMDR therapy is a psychotherapeutic treatment that focuses on trauma.
You could try "open focus" a way of paying attention described in the book "Open Focus Brain" ... most people spend too much time in narrow, objective focus, which is a way of paying attention that tends to drain a person's energy and stress them out. If you spend hours in front of a screen, break the screen addiction. Thoughts create feelings. Lots of people spend most of their time in "thought stories" mode or rumination over something that happened in the past. Simply focusing on the present moment breaks this mode of thinking. Open focus takes it a step further by diffusing focus onto surroundings.
Go out there and do things even if you don't feel like doing them. Get active. Don't let your feelings control your behavior. Use your behavior to modify your feeling state gradually. Basically "fake it until you make it."
Study up on polyvagal theory. You seem to be stuck in dorsal vagal mode... so maybe try to stimulate your sympathetic nervous system? What you need are good friends and laughter to cultivate the ventral vagal mode and get your nervous system to feel "safe" ... like how animal rescue people will sooth angry animals and get them to calm down over a period of days to weeks...
Honestly I think there's a lot of adults who could use that kind of cuddly talk therapy in that video above done on them and it would do them a lot of good. What most people's nervous systems crave is that unconditional affection without criticism or judgment... to feel accepted. Regardless, good luck to you! Hopefully you recover from your trauma and can enjoy life again.
I'm looking to try EMDR Therapy and ...
What do you guys think?
I did EMDR (for trauma and PTSD) and it is indeed very good. Very helpful. And you only need 6-8 sessions.
A clean diet would also help. Less carbs, more fresh fruits, salads, nuts, organic meats. No processed food and no sugar, alcohol, caffeine, stimulants. You'll feel much better, sleep will get improved.
Also daily exercise and exposure to the sun. Walking is very good. 20 min or so daily = great!
You should try short meditation sessions (a few minutes) or at least breathing exercises for calming the mind/relaxing.
Concentrate/focus on the positive all day, during the day. So: no drama, no loud music, no crazy movie scenes, less interactions with negative people etc. These will help keep your mind balanced all day and the sleep will also be influenced by this.
Try to spend some time daily working on your hobbies. Even if for 15 min/day, reading or working on a craft etc. Something you like and brings joy to your life.
I forgot about supplementing with Organic Cod Liver Oil for Omega 3. It's very important for mental health. One spoon in the evening. I recommend Carlson (Norwegian).
Pharmaceuticals aren't the only 'cure' as you found. You may have to experiment to see how all the rabbit holes of your personal trauma can be laid out for a clinician to examine. There may be only several that are the linchpins on which others are conditioned. Look at diverse psychotherapeutic interventions. Get information on how they are done. Find who does it well - there are several professional associations that have listings of providers. Get a consult (commonly at a university, with an intern, and often free by phone; do not dismiss this option, because it can be a rich resource). See if there is a connection when choosing among providers. There really should be a good 'fit.' You need to feel comfortable with the individual you decide to work with. Move forward into health.
And work really hard to avoid hokum. A whole bunch being sold out there as the cure and they are only placebos / have a small part in variance on established solutions.
Blue Chew will take care of sexual dysfunction. It's a pretty amazing pill w/ zero side effects, at least in my experience. It does exactly what its supposed to do and is reasonably priced.
That witch's brew of powerful psychiatric drugs is not the answer. They have big side effects and will absolutely blunt feelings, which makes us disassociate from experiencing interest in our current life. One has to live in the present moment or one is not living at all. If it were me (and I had to do this myself to get past addictions and emotional pain that was NOT being resolved by taking drugs), I'd wean myself off the medications and find a non religious meditation group like Zen, or do Zen meditation at home by myself. Its called mindfulness these days and is used frequently in many hospitals and clinics, including behavioral health. It pulls us into the present moment and out of our heads. It's the thoughts which are creating all this suffering. What's worse, they're thoughts of something that happened years ago. Time itself might resolve this, but it could take a long time.
For simplicity's sake, if we visualize the brain as having numerous highways and switching points on which our thoughts travel, the path's that get traveled the most become deeper furrows. One has to get out of that loop of continuous past thoughts of past issues or the neural connections just get stronger, and no, you can't think yourself out of thoughts, LOL. The drugs only keep us at a distance from our thoughts but resolve nothing. Stop taking them and the thought will be just as strong. The meditation consists of sitting in an upright posture, eyes half open and aimed about 8 feet ahead and downward slightly. We place our focus on the point where our breath comes in and out at the end of our nose. As thoughts come, and they incessantly will, when we notice we are caught in the thoughts, we simply pull our attention back to our breath. That's it. It lets us let go and move on and gives us back our life. But its called a meditation practice because we have to practice it.
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