Help No longer actively suicidal but suffering from inability to feel happy (after years of prescription drug use).

[Nexey]

Just as it says on the tin. I've been on various different kinds of antidepressants, anti-anxiety meds, what have you, for nearly a decade now. I've recently tapered off of an SNRI and am drug-free for the time being.

However, even though my depressive symptoms have tempered down significantly, I no longer feel bouts of happiness like I used to before starting medication. Is it safe to say that this exchange is just something I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life? Is there any way to recover being able to feel happy?

 

[NeverGoodEnuff]

Doesn't it take a while to adjust to being drug-free?

I wouldn't say this is what it will be like forever. Nor would I say it will be like it was before. I know that the happiness I had years ago will be different from what I have now or will have in the future because so much has happened and wisdom has a way of tempering emotions.

 

[oneanonymous]

How long have you been off of them? Healing from a decade of prescription drug use can take quite a while. Honestly, I wouldn't even start worrying about anything being permanent until I got to the 2 year mark. I know, easier said than done and I can't even follow my own advice with that one. Even at the 2 year mark, it still may not be permanent. Though I would assume most people don't feel like they did a decade ago, drugs or no drugs.

 

[Nexey]

How long have you been off of them? Healing from a decade of prescription drug use can take quite a while. Honestly, I wouldn't even start worrying about anything being permanent until I got to the 2 year mark. I know, easier said than done and I can't even follow my own advice with that one. Even at the 2 year mark, it still may not be permanent. Though I would assume most people don't feel like they did a decade ago, drugs or no drugs.

Admittedly, I've only been off of them for a few months. You're probably right in asserting that things may balance out after awhile.

Doesn't it take a while to adjust to being drug-free?

I wouldn't say this is what it will be like forever. Nor would I say it will be like it was before. I know that the happiness I had years ago will be different from what I have now or will have in the future because so much has happened and wisdom has a way of tempering emotions.

I'd say adjusting can either be a breeze or absolute Hell depending on the meds you're using and just individual circumstances in general.

I was on both Adderall and Duloxetine up until a few months ago. Tapering off of Adderall was relatively easy, as it lasts in your body for only a short amount of time. I had some headaches and anxiety for about a week after going cold turkey, then things were fine.

Duloxetine, on the other hand... has been awful to get off of. You experience something called "brain zaps" and they're awful. I am still experiencing migraines and I've been off the meds for awhile. God help you if you decide to go cold turkey from a SNRI.

It's true that the way you experience happiness tends to change over time. I don't know, maybe I need to sit down and really think about just how different happiness is compared to contentness, as I'm not sure whether to view them as one and the same or not. It doesn't help that my flat affect makes me seem more miserable than I usually am.

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

First of all the "I'll have to deal with this for the rest of my life" or the more hardcore "I will never get out of this / I'll be like this forever" is a perspective among many. I'd recommend not accepting this sort of thinking since it will drive anxiety through the roof. The lack of something positive is also not a real phenomenon and also doesn't have to be accepted as real. Hard determinism and so on. The temporary and largely unimportant feeling of happiness from what I understand is achieved by working toward a goal.

 

[stygal]

The title pretty much sums up what I recently experiencing...I'm not actively suicidal (rn) but I once again came to the conclusion that life is meaningless to me and that I don't have any inherent reason to stick around.
At the moment I just embrace the weirdness of it all.