60-matt-rexulti-emotions-gone-partial-return

“The withdrawal after the drug was I got kind of catapulted into what I think is complete anhidonia and emotional blunting and this all I could feel was this sense of doom and dread and like depersonalization... everything was just gone... the emotions gone, I couldn't enjoy anything... it was like my soul was ripped out.”

Cause

brexpiprazole (Rexulti) ~Aug–20 Dec 2019 for post-breakup depression, titrated to near-max dose, then cold turkey; childhood Lexapro/Zyprexa/lorazepam history age ~13–18. Attributes crash to Rexulti withdrawal.

Duration

~4 months on; the total-anhedonia state lasted ~2 months after the Dec 2019 cold turkey; residual blunting, sexual dysfunction and severe fatigue ongoing ~6 years at interview (age 36)

Recovery notes

Abrupt spontaneous partial recovery: 'I remember waking up like two months after cold turkeying that drug and I just felt like myself again.' Credits nothing but time — no treatment named. Sexual function never returned; ~10% orgasm intensity, near-complete ED, severe chronic fatigue (confounded by later COVID and Lyme), lives with parents, cannot work full time. ADJACENT: emotional pole is unambiguous but no blank-mind/no-inner-monologue claim — he reports Rexulti initially improved his thinking. Interview also relays two peers (one deceased by suicide) with full emotional loss; those are second-hand, not logged as cases.

Source URL

https://moralmedicine.org/stories/from-trusting-my-psychiatrist-to-losing-everything/