Symptoms: Brain zaps, emotional blunting, cognitive impairment, suicidal ideation, severe anxiety/panic, seizures
At age 12, I was prescribed Adderall for my talkative nature and high energy in school. Shortly after starting, I developed mood issues. I became depressed and moody. I cried daily and developed anxiety. They then prescribed me Lexapro to help even me out at age 16.
I went off to college and experienced some traumatic moments. I developed severe mood swings shortly thereafter. The psychiatrist I was seeing decided to diagnose me as “bipolar” and put me on a mood stabiliser. I was given no informed consent. Things got significantly worse. I became suicidal, stopped attending classes, and started self-harming. I stopped making rational and calculated decisions. I felt nothing.
I stayed on these medications until I was 27. I began my taper in hopes of starting a family one day. I developed severe paranoia, panic attacks, brain zaps, insomnia, bursts of destructive anger, and was incapable of rationally approaching tough decisions. I kept tapering. I started self-harming regularly. It slowed my brain down.
The last few weeks of my taper, I quit Lexapro and Lamictal simultaneously and had three seizures in my sleep. My fiancé called an ambulance and I was rushed to the hospital. They had no explanation for me, as I had no history of seizures.
It took about two more years for my hormones to rebalance, my moods to regulate, and my body to start properly functioning again. I was given none of this information. I lost 17 years of my life to these drugs. I wholeheartedly believe that Adderall is the gateway to the psychotropic pipeline.