Symptoms: Akathisia, emotional blunting, sexual dysfunction, cognitive impairment, depersonalization/derealization, suicidal ideation, neuropathy, GI disturbances
In May 2024, I was prescribed sertraline. I had already been on antidepressants since 2019 after the immense stress of being treated for a brain tumour. At 15, I was diagnosed with a brain tumour and hydrocephalus. I underwent two brain surgeries and intense radiotherapy at 19. I know what serious illness feels like. Nothing prepared me for this. I took my first sertraline pill in late May 2024. The next morning, I woke up completely emotionally blunted. My genitals felt strange, numb and disconnected. I assumed this meant the medication was “starting to work.” That’s what we’re told to expect: side effects at first. But over the next one to two weeks, everything worsened rapidly. My entire body began to feel numb, not just emotionally, but physically. Even my muscles felt dulled and disconnected. I felt profoundly unwell in a way I couldn’t explain. After three weeks, under GP supervision, I stopped the medication. I thought things were already bad.
When I came off sertraline, everything escalated. I developed severe full body numbness, including complete genital anesthesia. I lost my emotions entirely. I experienced intense cognitive dysfunction. my brain felt switched off. Then came the akathisia, a relentless internal agitation that became so severe my family feared for my life and so did I. When I spoke to my GP about this, no one told me this could be the medication.
At the end of June, I was prescribed mirtazapine for insomnia. I took it for eight weeks, hoping it would somehow reverse what was happening. It didn’t. By this point, I knew something deeper was wrong. Eventually, I came across a video on TikTok about Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD). The symptoms described were identical to mine, emotional numbness, genital anesthesia, cognitive dysfunction, loss of pleasure. For the first time, I realised I wasn’t losing my mind. It wasn't me, it was the medication. I have now been off all psychiatric medication for around a year and a half. My symptoms remain the same.
PSSD has completely turned my life and my family’s life upside down. To put this into perspective, I have survived a brain tumour, hydrocephalus, two brain surgeries, and radiotherapy. And PSSD is, by far, the worst thing I have ever experienced. After a ten minute consultation and one prescription, I was left with a life altering condition and no warning. No informed consent. No recognition. I have had to rely on online support groups just to survive.