Insomnia Since Starting TRT

… Duloxetine

50mg is a good idea to start. If you feel better you can work your way down to 25mg.

For me personal I don’t care to be on meds. I only care for side effects which are not there so I’m fine. In my mind my body is just like a car. Sometimes something breaks and you need to tweak some parts no big deal.

And yes, experiencing that all those mental states are physical in fact gives you a complete new look at the world. I never judge myself for the illness I have or had because I’m convinced a lot of it is just physical and bad genes and my approaches to heal myself turned out pretty successful this way :blush: it also gives relief from the thought “I will never change”. Sometimes the solution is actually as easy as taking a pill.

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… ok so I have a GP appointment on Friday and/or a psychiatric appointment next Thursday if I want it.

I feel I cannot wait until next Thursday, I need some relief sooner so I think I will keep the GP appointment for now and ask him for the setraline, he mentioned this drug the last time I saw him so I am sure he will oblige.

I definitely believe I am serotonin deficient. I am not going to exercise until my body feels ready for it. My body is tired and needs rest.

I have considered it. I have read reviews about setraline and it sounds better all round than the duloxetine so I think I will give this a try…

Yeah get the prescription from your gp. I’m sure the psychiatrist will agree with that choice. :blush:

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When my testosterone crashed I was in a vicious cycle bad insomnia … anxiety. Depression. I never took any psychiatric meds. My cardiologist gave me 10 pills .25 Xanax. I took 1/2 a pill and it felt so good to get a good night sleep after weeks of not sleeping . I still got 5 pills left from last year. Never used again after using then a few days in a row. It broke that vicious cycle.

There is light…

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I know this is hard man, I went through the worst year of my life last year. I withdrew from testosterone cold-turkey on advice from my urologist at the time. I was told I’d have some irritability, maybe some fatigue. The reality was it fucked me up in ways I couldn’t have imagined were possible. I developed severe anxiety and OCD, I couldn’t leave the house. I couldn’t sleep, I had no appetite, I had zero energy and felt like an invalid. I lost a ton of muscle and I was obsessed with bodybuilding, so that took a mental toll. It took my life away and I felt like I had nothing left.

The depression this all caused was horrible. I, like you, didn’t know how the hell I was going to go on. I am slowly getting better after getting back on TRT and tweaking my dosage/frequency multiple times and going through absolute hell each time. I know your issue is different than mine but there is always hope. Something caused this, something WILL fix it. Please don’t give up, the feeling of hopelessness is coming from the fatigue, not you! This community is here exactly for cases like this, a lot of us are outliers here. I’m confident you’ll get some answers.

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Small changes in your dosage causes allot of depression and anxiety for you? It seems for me when I lowered and removed hcg , about 1 week later I lost my mind. Exhausted, fatigued and depressed like a mother fudged. Today a little better. Same happens for you about a week or two after changes? I guess your lowering the dosages right

Yes, weeks 1-3 are usually an unpredictable mix of anxiety and depressive waves for me. It doesn’t seem to matter whether I’m lowering the dose or increasing it, my symptoms are the same. I think I have other issues though, possibly thyroid.

Another thing is that when I get infections (which I do a lot, specifically ears) I practically lose my mind and go into an anxiety/panic attack spiral, with OCD symptoms, until in a couple days into antibiotics. An OCD specialist I see theorizes that I have an adult form of PANDAS which brings these symptoms on. PANDAS is where kids develop neuropsychiatric disorders, like OCD, rapidly after being exposed to certain viruses/bacteria when they’ve never had these disorders before. I think this happened to me after getting pneumonia in late 2016.

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So you’ve just described my life over the past 12 months. I went from 100% healthy young guy to someone in so much internal discomfort that I was contemplating killing myself on a minute by minute basis. I didn’t sleep for days on end. I had severe sleep anxiety and health anxiety. Eventually this took its toll and robbed me of all happiness (hello depression). I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that my life was over, that this condition would never improve, that there was something fundamentally wrong with me. 3 months into this my partner of 6.5 years left me. I was in so much pain, and I was confused by what was happening to me. None of the drugs my GP prescribed were working (Mirtz, Zolpidem, Seroquel, Gabapentin, etc).

I saw a clinical psychologist and everything began to change after that. He put my catastrophic fears into perspective. He helped me understand how my thought patterns were contributing to my physical turmoil (headaches, upset stomach, complete and utter exhaustion, wired but tired, etc). I also read that book I recommended to you on insomnia. These two things together were more helpful than any pill.

I’m not 100%, but I am so much better than what I was early last year. You are in the same place I was in last year. You CAN get out of there. You just need to hold the fuck on until your psychiatrist can see and assess you.

Please read that book I recommended - I’m not a ‘self-help’ type but that book was the next best thing to seeing a psychologist (and at a fraction of the cost)!

Hang in there mate. We are here for you.

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I really like your advice!

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Thanks mate for those kind words…

I’m now on 62.5mg E3.5D, no AI, going to give this 6-8 weeks then re-test…

Thank you so much, it’s nice to know I can talk on here without being judged.
I am going to try the setraline, I am also booked in for CBT with a councillor, I know my thoughts cause a lot of the anxiety. I need to get well for the sake of my family, I am just a shell that exists at the moment, I’m not really here. I ordered the sleep book and it arrived yesterday, will start it tonight.

Thanks again buddy

Wow, just been doing some more reading on Serotonin, I can’t believe how dibilitating low levels can be…

My wife started using 5 htp and so far so good. And it’s time release.

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i tried it and it made me hyper and really anxious, I had to stop after a few days :-/

Check out this video about help with sleep. Very curious about this. I might try this soon for my sleep.

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CBD oil. Same as hemp oil?

@physioLojik how about this for sleep?

Hemp oil and CBD oil differ in what part of the plant they come from and how they are used. Hemp oil is from seeds and is used as a protein supplement and in lotions and soap. CBD oil is from plant flowers and leaves. It is used primarily for medicinal purposes, such as treating inflammation.

CBD Oil

CBD (short for cannabidiol) oil is extracted from the flower and leaves of the hemp plant. It is a naturally occurring chemical in marijuana that is non-psychoactive.

The uses of CBD usually revolve around medical applications. Athletes often use CBD products for pain management and to lessen inflammation. A CBD-based medicine also has been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for treatment of certain types of epilepsy.

The uses of CBD are expanding as new discoveries are made. For example, CBD oils have been used by some to treat depression and ease stress. Still others have used CBD products on their pets, also to lower stress. Cancer patients also have used marijuana and CBD to lessen nausea and increase appetite when undergoing chemotherapy.

Both hemp oil and CBD oil have important uses, but they different greatly in both where they come from and how they are used. Take the time to learn about both before making your purchase decision.