To anyone that has gone through SSRI withdrawal, did you get sensitivity to light? Particularly to your phone?

This!!! I was thinking something else was wrong, but that gives me more insight (sorry you had to go through that though). My brain zaps are nearing the 10 day point, but sadly I’m going back on my SSRI because I cut it off abruptly. May I ask which med you were on?

@Recoverer Effexor/Venlafaxine it might've been 14 days, I don't remember cause it was 2 years ago. so don't worry, you'll eventually manage to taper off and completely forget about the withdrawal experience, shitty as it can be haha :)

So my justification for doing it was this: I’ve made progress on here through NOCD that I felt like that’s helped more than the SSRI ever did for me. I felt like it would just make me numb to emotions and also had a couple other side effects that I didn’t like. So I was already tapering down my dose when I stopped, I was down to once every other day, but I figured since I was taking a low dose already, that stopping it where I was at wouldn’t hurt me. Well, jokes on me now because I was dead wrong lol. But in my mind since I was on a low dose and already in the process of tapering off, my mind was thinking it wasn’t cold turkey, when it was. Before I started NOCD, I would still get obsessive thinking and what not, and some anxiety. Maybe I could deal with the emotions better, but I had no idea how to cope or deal with them with any exercises. Now that I do, I feel more confident in combatting them with that rather than the medication.

@Recoverer Thank you for that. Sorry that happend to you. Thats sucks. Im glad your getting the help through here. Ive heard many of people say about the numbness of emotions and that sounds so scary. So you still got bad intrusive thoughts even on the meds? Did it help at all? That just sounds so bad.

@Kls2121 Maybe you were on the wrong kind.

@Kls2121 Oh no worries, I brought the withdrawal on myself lol but thank you anyways! Truth be told, the numbness is just one side effect, the one side effect after months of taking it that was the most annoying for me was (forgive me if this is tmi) lower libido/arousal levels. Last summer when I first got put on meds, I started off with 3 weeks of Buspirone, but then I had terrible insomnia from it. Then spent a weekend on Zoloft, which caused a panic attack, then 4 days after that I got put on lexapro. So I essentially had 3 antidepressants in my system in the span of 1 week lol.

@Recoverer Omg! I am really suprised they didn't wait till each was out of your system. I did hear the low libido is a main side effect. I honestly would take that over the numbness. I have 3 kids do definitely want to feel the emotions. Did you intrusive thoughts and anxiety go away?

@Kls2121 Ah, I’m still a single man so the low arousal still bothers me a bit lol And no, sadly, even with all of the medication and therapy in the world, they never go away. But, after you’ve learned the coping strategies, you can get to a place where you can learn to live with your instructive thoughts/obsessions and not let them hinder you from living life. For example, my obsession was SOCD. For a long time, I couldn’t talk, call, or text any male outside of my household. I couldn’t read certain words in books, look at real or animated characters on television. I couldn’t even escape it in my sleep because I would have dreams every single night (when I didn’t have insomnia). But since treatment, I’ve been able to enjoy life as best as I can (within the restrictions of COVID). Do I still get intrusive thoughts? Yes. And do I get tripped up by the anxiety here and there? Of course. But I know who I am deep down and what my likes/dislikes/hobbies/attractions/obsessions are, and I keep all of that in mind. And if I have a bad stretch of days, then I do my exercises that my specialist showed me to get back on track.

@Recoverer Yes I dont blame you at all. I've been married for a while now so even though it will suck. I just want to feel better. Therapy is soooo expensive so I was hoping to just get meds from doctor and be ok. Hopefully be able to do the rest on my own.

@Kls2121 So you’re not currently in ERP on here?

@Recoverer Oh no its yo much money for me.

@Kls2121 Gotcha, hmm, are you apart of the discord groups on here?

@Recoverer What is that?

@Kls2121 Theyre essentially group zoom meetings, like group therapy. You can hear other people’s stories and struggles, but also get other opinions on how to cope with OCD!

@Recoverer And its free? Wow I didn't know. How do you even do it?

@Kls2121 I believe it is free, yes. As for how to get there, I just made another post on the board asking how to sign up because I forgot honestly lol. But if someone provides it, I’ll loop you in!

@Recoverer Lol sounds good. Thank you 😀

@Kls2121 Okay, so, I’m blind lol. It’s like the first thing that pops up on the discussion board. It’s called “community groups”, not “discord” like I said earlier.

@Recoverer Hmmm I never noticed. I'm definitely gonna have to check that out.

@Kls2121 For sure, I did one session, but I’m already in ERP. You might find more benefit from it than I did.

@Recoverer How long have you done erp?

@Kls2121 I started back in January