Ok, here’s my story. I used to take Zoloft (a common SSRI) back in 1997 for mild depression. While checking out the medicine cabinet about three months ago, I saw that there was still a half-bottle of it left. Now, I had been feeling somewhat down lately, and figured I’d take the Zoloft and see if I felt a difference. This was, of course, a Big Mistake. I took one pill every other day or so (a very small dosage; I had previously taken one pill a day when I was actually “on” the drug). After a month or so, the pills ran out, so I stopped taking them (having no current prescription, and not noting much of a change). Anyway, during the time I was lazily taking the drug (or maybe I first noticed it after, I don’t recall), I noticed a weird alteration in my sense of taste. Basically, it seemed as if my tastebuds were less sensitive than before. This got stronger over the course of a week or two. An interesting thing I might note is that while my “primary” sense of taste was vastly diminished, the “aftertaste” seemed unaffected. Go figure. I searched groups.google.com (formerly DejaNews), and found a number of people who complained of a similar side-effect. Ok, no big deal, I assumed it would go away in time. It’s been at least two months or so since I’ve stopped taking the drug, and I still feel “changed”…in a bad way. I feel like the sense of taste may be slowly returning, but its hard to gauge such a thing with no frame of reference.
However, I wish the sense of taste were all that seems to have changed. For lack of a better way to describe it, it seems as if I have trouble with “stream of consciousness”-style thinking; that is, the quick association of certain ideas with other ideas.
WARNING: Post is about to refer to instances of illicit drug-use. I don’t intend to glorify such things, and if inappropriate, I apologize. However, I feel this will help those with similar experiences to better understand what I mean.
I am an occasional pot smoker, and my favorite effect was the way it seems to enhance such thinking; you know, you’ll see something and immediately image all sorts of associations it might have. The last few times I’ve smoked, I definitely noticed an absence of this. It was almost like I was feeling the physical effects of the drug, but none of the mental ones. Needless to say, it was depressing.
About two weeks ago, I was to try psychadelic mushrooms for the first time. As I consumed them, I was struck with a depressing thought: these aren’t going to work for me. An hour later, my friends were tripping balls, and I was feeling what could be described as a “mildly stoned” feeling. Similarly to pot smoking, the clarity of thought that these drugs bring allowed me to focus on how my thinking “felt”, and it felt somewhat…blunted, is perhaps the best way to describe it.
After the underwhelming mushroom experience, I again searched archived Usenet posts, and found numerous references claiming that while under the effect of SSRIs, the effects will often be much diminished or even totally negated. This made me feel better, since I at least felt I was getting somewhere in understanding my problem.
So that brings me to today, basically. My sense of taste is still much diminished. I haven’t tried smoking pot for about a month or so, but my guess is it would still be a boring experience. I feel like my faculties for “stream of consciousness” thinking and association may be returning the slightest bit, but again, difficult to gauge. It depresses the hell out of me to think that this was caused simply by taking a small dosage of a drug that many, many people take daily and that I myself had taken before without experiencing negative side effects. Information gleaned online claims that the chemicals in most SSRI’s break down within a few days or weeks after you stop their use. I’ve heard several “horror stories” of physically painful withdrawels (some compare it to withdrawel from opiates), but this doesn’t fit that category.
Anyway. Here’s my General Question: I’ve seen many a thread on this board which discusses various peoples experiences using various antidepressants. Has anyone experienced like what I’m talking about? Has anyone experienced side effects of these medicines some months after stopping their use? They tell you that these medicines produce only temporary effects in the human brain, but I’m starting to wonder. Thanks.
