Hi Community,
As the title suggests, I feel like I am craving insane amounts of dopamine and looking for some sort of a human connection.
A bit of context, I have never lived by myself for most of my life: My school days were spent in hostel, further during my bacholers days I was always surrounded by my friends and we used to go out almost all days of the week. The first time I ever sort of lived by myself was during my first job, during which I started observing similar kind of feeling (I wasn’t diagnosed then) and to subside this feeling I used to smoke weed, it made me calm.
Fast forward to now, I have realised weed is a bad cope up mechanism (don’t smoke weed now) but I am going insane and unable to function at my best. I kind of get hyperfixated on my dating app matches, or go insane if my friends don’t pick up my call etc.
I am trying to distract myself with things I like such as movies, or finding new novelty, trying to meditate etc. I do weekly therapy as well. But despite all the efforts, I feel like I am going insane and thus reaching out to the community for any help.
Edit: I take Ritalin LA - 30mg, used to take SSRI (Lexapro) and stopped it few days back as I feel very dud when I take those.
Edit 2: Added information about smoking weed: I dont smoke weed now.
Thanks in advance.
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Move your body more. Join groups. Create something or make art. Meditate.
As a long time weed smoker I can only advise you to take a break from it. Whenever I smoke weed on a daily basis for too long I slowly start going insane too.
Also the withdrawal is real, prepare for a grueling couple weeks devoid of joy. It gets better after the second week.
Here’s a site that helped me understand weed withdrawal and get through with it. https://www.weedless.org/withdrawal/timeline/
Thanks a lot, I am not smoking weed now and putting in a lot of mindful efforts to not to start smoking. I am just hoping for the best 😅
As a long time vaper, I never get any withdrawal symptoms after quitting - quite the opposite: the first week is still tolerable, but then the depression comes back and never leaves in 9 months of abstinence.
Antidepressant and Anxiolytic Effects of Medicinal Cannabis Use in an Observational Trial
Results: Medicinal cannabis use was associated with lower self-reported depression, but not anxiety, at baseline. Medicinal cannabis users also reported superior sleep, quality of life, and less pain on average. Initiation of medicinal cannabis during the follow-up period was associated with significantly decreased anxiety and depressive symptoms, an effect that was not observed in Controls that never initiated cannabis use.
Maybe try a social hobby, one that connects you to others (but possibly not in a way where you need them to actually do the hobby). For example, a book club; you can read the book on your own and then discuss it with people at a scheduled time.
Also, how long were you on Lexapro? I have been on it for many years, it takes a month of daily doses to start working properly and you really shouldn’t just stop taking it. Sometimes it can make you feel (temporarily) worse before it starts to take effect.
That said, a single medication won’t work for everyone - maybe you could try another SSRI or even an SSNI?
I was on Paraxetene before Lexapro, but gradually discontinued it. Presently used Lexapro for 5 weeks before I discontinued, the biggest reason I discontinued it is because it makes my gut horrible and I cannot tolerate it
I had this, but then I got a job which requires me to be in remote places all week, working alone. It turned out I learned how to enjoy my own company but it took a while. I guess if you wanted to try going camping alone or something you could trial that out, it wouldn’t hurt.
I am of the firm belief that most people should not live by themselves. We are social creatures and the notion that we should be immediately independent and solitary as soon as we can afford to is completely crazy.
My advice in the short term would be to try to fill your evenings and weekends with as many visits to friends as possible and in the longer term keep a lookout for possible shared accommodation with some people you get on well with.
Living with people is viscerally painful for me, no matter who they are. Some people should live alone, but still be integrated into a wider community.
I don’t want to live in a situation where my “need for alone time” is “accommodated.” I need to have my own space. But I also need access to other people.
I honestly am looking for an arrangement where I am part of community of people, but the minute I enter my room it is my “space”
Yeah but I also need kitchen, bathroom, and a place to read and work.
I guess I’m very high maintenance in my solitude.
Sometimes, I just cannot fathom the ADHD tax and the toll it takes just to survive
As a severe introvert I could not imagine having another human living in my house. After working with people for 8 hours all day, 5 days a week, I do not want to come home to have more social interaction without at least a short buffer to cool down.
do you have social anxiety?
I don’t think so.
then the regular stuffs should work like going out and meeting new people randomly, making friends at work and doing social service, reading circle and such, joining hobby based group or simply going to a club.
edit: from other comments, you switched country. so perceived cultural difference could make it bit difficult to fit in. it is completely normal and it will get easy soon enough.
Thanks a lot, the thing is I have been in Australia for 2.5 years for now. Had a great friend circle in Melbourne, but shifted to Sydney because for jobs and I am going bonkers because of the same
It sounds like you just have a high need for socializing. I am on Discord voice chat with friends almost daily. It is basically a “hangout” spot where we can all come and go as we please. You may want more actual face time, so look into volunteering opportunities in your area. You get to interact with people and have a shared purpose so it makes starting new relationships easier.
Yeah I am in need of socialising, thanks for suggesting volunteering and agree on the shared purpose aspect as well.
Thanks
Do you use adhd meds? What about other meds?
I take Ritalin LA-30mg, the highest recommended dose for my genetics (Indian) is about 40mg. I used to take Lexapro, started observing that SSRI’s make me feel very dud and have stopped taking it in the past few days
You can try switching to Adderall, or one of the non-stimulant drugs like strattera. Also, i highly recommend shrooms. Doing it once every few months keeps my mind in a much much better place
I am finding it so difficult to deal with psychiatrist’s in Australia (moved from India to Australia), as there are insane wait times and only they are authorised to change my meds and I dont have a prescription for strattera.
Sorry to hear that. I have no idea about Australian health care, but are you sure your primary care doctor can’t prescribe those meds for you? They might be more willing to prescribe the non-stimulant meds. It’s worth asking them if you aren’t 100% sure they won’t.
Also, i definitely strongly suggest researching psilocybin mushrooms. Of course do some research first and see if there are any reasons for you personally not to do them. But yeah, they make a huge improvement in many people’s lives
As part of my prescription recommendations, I am due for a medical test soon. I dont want to mess that up, but will discuss with my doctors once regarding mushrooms.
Further, primary care doctor cannot recommend strattera in Australia (NSW)
Possibly bupropion might be what you want. Its a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. Not sure about Australia but in the US it is approved for treating depression and nicotine addiction but has found off label use as an ADD treatment.
Sure, I will discuss with my doctors. Thanks
Psychedelics can have bad interactions with SSRIs. So wait a few weeks after stopping before trying.
I think (think) ssri’s just change the dosings in unpredictable ways, so in that situation you would start with a lowish dose of mushrooms to see how hard it hits you and then increase the attempted dose on subsequent attempts separated out by a bunch of days.
I’m not a doctor or an expert in any way, just speaking from the experiences of other people i know about
Did you taper off the Lexapro? If not that could explain some of what you are feeling now.
What happened with Lexapro is, firstly my gut got worse, second (my theory) I feel like stimulants make me active but Lexapro makes me go insanely lazy: a lot of times, I would be insanely hungry but I wouldn’t want to eat or walk till hallway to put food in my mouth and this is what I mean by it made me feel dud.
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