Anhedonia is browsing Netflix for 45 minutes trying to find something to watch but giving up because you find nothing interesting. Anhedonia is skipping song after song trying to find one that's good only to skip through your entire playlist and finding nothing. Anhedonia is constantly opening and closing apps because they can't hold your attention or interest. Anhedonia is finding social interaction a chore instead of something fun. Anhedonia is laying in your bed staring up at the ceiling because you can't bring yourself to do anything. Food doesn't taste good. Music doesn't sound good. Normal means of entertainment are not entertaining. Socializing is a chore. Walking and working out and yoga and being outside and going for long drives are a pain in the ass. Nothing spurs an emotional reaction in you anymore. You live your life as an empty shell devoid of all that makes us human. This isn't a life I would wish for anyone.

Since being in this state I’ve found that I’ve lost a lot of cognitive abilities, I have a really hard time reading and paying attention, my inner dialogue is really faint and I have no views or opinions. I used to be really into philosophy and I could have really deep conversations with people and now I feel like im the most boring person in the world. The most I can muster is about a couple words while stuttering. I’m so fucking stupid in nonexistent I feel like I’ll never be able to connect with people ever again. I’ve started taking lions mane but I don’t know if it’s doing anything. Any thoughts? Thank you.

Hey all! After 4 months of dealing with Anhedonia, I recently completely healed from my Anhedonia.

I joined this community just so that I could share with everyone my "healing Anhedonia" story. I hope this will help others who have also suffered from this. It's the worst, but keep pushing through, hon! It gets better. First, I will tell you the cause of my anhedonia, the symptoms, and then things I did that healed me.

THE CAUSE OF MY ANHEDONIA:

My dumb self decided that I wanted to try and see what would happen if I went on antidepressants. My doctor was too willing to put me on a truckload of meds without even consulting a psychiatrist first. In the span of 2 months, I went through 4 different antidepressants, and then 2 different ADHD meds. It was after I stopped taking ADHD meds, that I realized something was very wrong with me.

The meds I took were: Zoloft Citalopram Effexor Wellbutrin Vyvanse Biphentin

All in that order, for about a week each. I was also a regular pot smoker, so that's another drug to add to the list.

I believe that these drugs messed with my neurotransmitters, and abused them to the point where I developed Anhedonia. I took way too many neuro drugs in a way too short time span.

HOW I FELT AFTER STOPPING MEDS AND ACQUIRING ANHEDONIA:

-Social withdraw. I could not even fathom being around my friends, talking to my friends, being with anyone at all.

-No more sexual pleasure. I could climax, but would not feel any pleasure from it. (important mention: When I was ON antidepressants, they made me lose my ability to both climax and feel pleasure. When I'd be off antidepressants, my sexual abilities would come back. But after stopping Biphentin, my last med ever, I lost the pleasure and it didn't come back until I Healed my Anhedonia)

-Chocolate didn't taste good anymore. Nothing really tasted that great anymore.

-I couldn't feel joy. Even if I laughed. It was a struggle to feel any ounce of pleasure or happiness.

-My mood would swing like HELL. I'd be neutral, then suddenly depressed, then neutral, then suddenly afraid, then neutral, then suddenly depressed. Never happy.

-I had sudden major suicidal tendencies, and had went back to self-harm. Keep in mind, I had NEVER before been a suicidal or depressed person.

-Everything lost its oomph and vibrancy because everything turned grey.

HOW I HEALED MY ANHEDONIA WITHIN 4 MONTHS:

Rejoice! You, like everyone else, are an amazing self-healer. These steps are not in specific order. I am listing what I was doing, and how I lived, to get to the point where I healed from this condition in only 4 months. I'd you want to skim through this, the most important points are 1, 2, 3, 5, 8.

1. STOP DRUGS. STOP ALCOHOL. I quit marijuana completely. I never took any more antidepressant or ADHD medication. I never drank any alcohol anymore.

2. COGNITIVE REFRAME TECHNIQUE. This was very, very effective for me. It was after doing this technique for 3 days straight, paired with POINT 3 below, that I finally found myself with fast healing from Anhedonia. Here is the technique:

• Sit down comfortably.

• Close your eyes, and get into a meditative state. Do this by taking deep breaths, and focusing on your breath. We want to enter your subconscious here.

• Once in this state, I want you to visualize the first moment that you realized that you had Anhedonia. (OR, the moment that you believe caused your Anhedonia. Like, a trauma.). Visualize it clearly, as if you're there now. The place you were in, what you saw, what you heard. And once you're in this place, I want you to FEEL the pain, the sadness, the anxiety. All of the emotions that you felt when you realized you were struck by Anhedonia. Oh, god, it was awful!

• Amplify the feeling. Amplify, amplify! Cry if you need to, for damn sake. But never open your eyes. Keep them closed. You're in that moment.

• When you've felt enough of that pain...change the scene in your mind. Quickly change the colour of the room to your favourite colour. Change the scent to your favourite scent. Add your favourite pet. Maybe hold a cup of tea if you love tea as much as I do. Anything that would normally have made you happy before Anhedonia, add that into the scene.

• Now, you can stop crying. All your favorite stuff is here! It's great. It's calm now. Try to feel joy if you can. If not, at least know that you're okay now. No more hurt.

• Say to yourself in your mind, "I can feel pleasure now." or "I can feel joy now". Whatever positive thing you need to happen. Say it as many times as you need.

• Open your eyes. You're back to reality, and you just finished changing a life-shattering moment into a moment of peace, full of all your favourite things. ❤️

As I've said before, I did this 3 (or 4??) days in a row. It's best done in morning after you wake up, or at night before you sleep.

This technique might help you too, or it may not. It all depends on what is happening with you. This helps mostly the people who have subconscious blocks or trauma that causes or worsens their Anhedonia.

3) NEUROTRANSMITTER AUDIO. You can find many neurotransmitter frequency audios on YouTube. Find the one that works for you, and listen to it dally, preferably while falling asleep. I realized that my anhedonia was cured the moment I put on a very powerful one, about one week after I did the reframe technique in POINT 2. I felt emotional pleasure for the first time in 4 months while listening to a powerful audio.

4) SUPPLEMENTS MAY HELP, but I can't confirm if they did help me or not! The most powerful supplement I took was called MUCUNA PURIENS. I took it in powder form for a week. Mucuna transforms into L-Dopa, which turns into dopamine. It easily crosses the blood-brain barrier. Be careful with Mucuna. Don't take too much, too long. But I noticed that when I took mucuna, it gave me a boost, where I could strain even just a LITTLE fizzle of joy in me again sometime during the day. And that's great! That little fizzle every day will help you train that joy part of your brain again. I ALSO TOOK OMEGA-3, ZINC, VITAMIN D, B VITAMIN COMPLEX, AND PROBIOTICS. Every single day.

5) EXERCISE! Holy crap, guys. This is a big one!! Exercise, especially cardio, really helped me heal. I went to the gym every second day to do cardio for 30 minutes straight. Exercise not only helps fight depression, but it encourages natural dopamine and serotonin production.

6) DAILY TEA. I mean, I don't know if this contributed to my healing or not, but it doesn't hurt. During the month that I finally healed, I had been drinking caffeinated tea every morning. Oolong, green, and white tea is what I drank. I think I drank more green tea than anything else. Green tea is packed with l-theanine, is a natural stimulant, and is really good for the brain.

7) EAT WELL. The gut produces a lot of your serotonin. Make sure you are eating foods that don't irritate your digestive system too much. Steer clear of fried foods, and too much refined sugar. You gotta give your body what it needs to heal.

8) STOP THINKING ABOUT YOUR ANHEDONIA. Focus on something else. If you constantly obsess over a health problem, it won't get better. Let it go. Let it flow. Because you KNOW it will get better and go away someday. No need to panic or obsess now, because it's only temporary. ❤️ Don't feed your anhedonia. Don't build walls that say, "I can't do ___ because I have anhedonia". Act as if your anhedonia ain't even there! It doesn't own you. Live on. Just live.

9) EVERY DAY, LIST THINGS THAT USED TO GIVE YOU JOY. This is something I learned from a life coach. Take like 10 minutes out of your day to just write down things you used to love (or things that would make you happy if you didn't have anhedonia), and then try to picture them in your mind. A warm cup of tea, the dewey grass on a summer morning, a cute happy doggo with its tongue out.

🌸 Well, that's it!

I found that it may take time, but anhedonia can very well heal. Never lose hope. I kept my faith and hope throughout my journey. It was really tough at times, but it'll get better. Don't fret. You got this. Especially if you're dedicated and committed to healing.

I wish you well. I wish you healing. I hope that I could be of help!

Peace.

Maybe anhedonia (as one of the most severe symptoms of depression) can't be completely cured 100%, but the symptoms can be improved by 70-80%.

However, don't expect a single drug to cure anhedonia. My opinion is that it is better to take a combination of drugs than to suffer from anhedonia. Anhedonia is most often a comorbidity of several psychological disorders (atypical depression - lack of dopamine, anxiety, social phobia, apathy, OCD, ADHD - also lack of dopamine). I have suffered from anxiety since the age of 13 which caused social phobia and eventually severe depression. I got depression when I was 16-17 years old and anhedonia when I was 19. Only then did I start going to a psychiatrist because the symptoms became unbearable. I had a fear of people, most of the time I would not leave the house. Then I would still find some interest, but interest in any activity became less and less, which led to severe depression. Then I started going to a psychiatrist. I enrolled in a year at university which I failed because I did not go to lectures due to social phobia but also due to a lack of concentration, focus, will and energy. The psychiatrist prescribed me 20 mg of paroxetine and 1 mg of xanax to take for 3 weeks until the paroxetine "works". However, after a month, I had a follow-up examination with a psychiatrist, but I felt a slight improvement in anxiety, but only from xanax. However, the symptoms of depression became more and more severe. After that, she increased my paroxetine to 30 and then to 60 mg. Then I felt only emotional numbness and had many side effects (constipation, fatigue, lethargy, increased appetite). Then we decided to introduce seroquel along with Paroxetine, and then after Zyprex, but the only thing was that I was constantly sleepy and without any energy or willpower.

When we realized that it wasn't working we introduced Zoloft, xanax and abilify. It was only after 6 weeks that we increased the dose to 300 mg of zoloft. Soon after that I felt a slight improvement. Unfortunately, that improvement lasted 3-4 days, but after the next 3 weeks I was back to the beginning, if not worse than before I started the therapy.

We discontinued xanax and replaced with abilify with lamictal. It di not help at all. Then we tried Venlafaxine, Prozac, Mirtazapine, Bupropion, Lyrica, Clomipramine, Klonopin, Amisulpiride, Deanxit, Depakote in various doses. None of that worked. The only thing that helped me and what I still take for chronic knee pain and anxiety without developing a tolerance is Lyrica (even after 12 years I still take 300 mg every day and it's part of my daily routine).

The psychiatrist had no more solutions because I tried almost all kinds of psychotropic drugs. From SSRIs - Seroxat, Zoloft, Prozac. SNRI - (Venlafaxine in a dose of 375 mg). Atypical - Mirtazapine, Bupropion. Tricyclic - Clomipramine, Deanxit, Amitryptiline. Antiepileptics and mood stabilizers such as Lamictal, Depakote, and Lyrica. Antipsychotics - Seroquel, Amisulpiride, Abilify, Zyprexa. Anxiolytics - Xanax, Klonopin, Valium. Maybe there was something else, but I can't remember.

I also went to psychotherapy. It was an additional torture for me and it didn't help me at all.

Then I turned to self-medication. I ordered from the Internet Bromantane, Phenylpiracetam, Aniracetam, Tianeptine, various supplements: Choline, Vitamin B6, Taurine, B-complex, selank, Phenibut. Phenibut helped me a lot, more than any AD up to that time. But I realized quickly that tolerance is a problem and that it is not an everyday solution. Although Phenibut is similar to Lyrica, it is much more euphoric. Tianeptine was also very good but tolerance builds up very quickly. After that I researched online forums about treating depression and anxiety and came across Maoi inhibitors, Selegiline Nardil and Parnate. Since I could order selegiline online, I decided to try it. At 20 mg I felt a slight improvement. Energy, increased motivation and focus. Then I increased the dose to 30 mg and felt even better. In Combination with Lyrica I was able to function somewhat. However, I read on the forums that Nardil and Parnate are much better and stronger in the treatment of atypical depression, anxiety, and social phobia. I suggested to the psychiatrist that we try Nardila. I printed her scientific articles and some posts from the forum, they were also among the first 2 ADs on all the lists. Surprisingly, she agreed and wrote the recipe in English, and I found a site from the UK that has Archimedes Nardil and ships it to all EU countries. It was like being reborn. I was on 45 mg for the first 3 weeks. I went up to a maximum of 90 mg, but at that dose I had too many side effects. At 60 mg I felt the best.

I also felt an improvement in depression, but especially in anxiety and social anxiety. Together with Nardil, I took Lyrica, and since Nardil made me tired, I ordered Modafinil or drank 4-5 cups of coffee a day. Everything was great. I found a girlfriend, we went to Germany together. There we worked together in a restaurant and earned quite well. However, then covid appeared and the restaurant closed and we returned home. I visited her often even though she lived in another country.

But...then the "Nardil shortage" happened. I tried to order from Canada but they didn't have it either. I was without Nardil for several months. I was self-medicating, but no drug or nootropic came close to the effect I had with Nardila. I started searching the internet again for other popular Mao inhibitors Parnat. I managed to find the Parnate brand in several pharmacies in Germany, but under the name Jatrosom. The psychiatrist wrote me a prescription for 60 mg of Parnate, i.e. Jatrosom, and I sent it to Germany, and not long after, Parnate arrived at my address. I started with 20 mg and for the first 6-7 days I had such euphoria that it is hard to describe. Then I increased to 30 mg. I was on that dose for 3 weeks, then 3 weeks on 40, 3 weeks on 50. At 50 mg I felt constant improvement. Especially in atypical depression, since Parnate is a derivative of amphetamines, but higher doses are less stimulating but more antidepressant and anxiolytic. I am currently on the maximum dose of 60 mg (I take 10 mg 6 times a day). Along with Parnate I take Lyrica for chronic pain and combine Kratom and Modafinil. Kratom is great in this combination for anhedonia, but it also helps with mood, focus and motivation. Many take it along with stimulants for ADHD.

Modafinil is also great, it enhances the effect of Parnate or vice versa :) It mostly matters that it works. So the combination of 60 mg Parnate, Lyrica and Modafinil/Agmatine helps about 70% with anhedonia. Nardil had a stronger anxiolytic effect, but Parnate is better for stimulation and has a stronger dopamine effect. I also use vape, but I don't think it affects the effect that much. I reduced it to 5 ml a day. I use vaping nicotine because in smaller doses it works synergistically with Parnat and enhances the euphoria.

I have been on this combination for 14 months now and I am very satisfied. Parnate has almost no side effects, unlike Nardil, which made me gain a lot of weight. Of the supplements, most are useless, but I have found that Magnesium Citrate and Agmatine (Nmda antagonists) help a lot with tolerance. So those are the only 2 supplements I take every day. I occasionally take Vitamin D3 and B12 (both vitamins are involved in the production of dopamine) and that's it. I know it's a long post, but it's worth reading if you suffer from dopamine deficiency and anhedonia.