SSRIS and the affect they've had on me

[Iwillbeatthis]

So as a last ditch effort my doctor prescribed me ssris( 50 mg sertraline) for the first time. And I had a really usual reaction to it. The 3 days I took it I felt euphoria/ wanted to dance / was smiley had some feel good shivers go down my body, this would last for three to four hours and then I would get brain fog after. Then after the 3 days I started to have constant brain fog for about a week and increased anxiety. Also had lower abdomen shooting pain in the region of my bladder. And had some pain in one point of the  back of my head every time I moved my neck or head, I think this is linked to inflammation in my neck which crunches and cracks when i move it around in circles. I also get this clicking sensation in my head similar to when i move my neck. around I’ve been on them for 3 weeks now and the brain fog from the ssris has got better and less shooting bladder pains, now i only get a tiny pain when urinating. I also get intense rumbling in my low abdomen (bladder region) and I need to pass gas when I urinate. I do feel more robotic in conversations and I’m still stuttering some words. I have found when I’m imbalanced that eating a full meal containing beef or chicken with carbs I feel completely better after sometimes. Walking down the street I feel more relaxed than I was and my mind seems more active than it was before. However before the ssris I was in a stuck in a bubble dealing with pois neither depressed,  happy or sad or stressed. I was just trying to carry my life on as normal trying to ignore the pois as much as I could. But since taking the ssris I have been feeling stressed, depressed and hopeless at times and sometimes i get the euphoria feeling. My libido has been killed but it was also very low before I was taking the ssris. I have tried ejaculating once since I’ve been on them and I immediately went for a run after ejaculation. I did have brain fog and a headache that day but the next day I didn’t. I woke up the next day and the soles and top of my feet were aching. I do have a list of things I want to try but my doctor is reluctant to prescribe me anything without evidence. Also I’m worried how certain things might react bad to the  ssri. Although the ssris have made me feel more relaxed outside and somewhat more in tune with people and life minus the bad effects. I'm pretty sure this isn’t a fix for my POIS. I found a theory post today on the forums which seemed to perfectly suit my POIS (quoted bellow) . I suggested to my doctor to refer me to Dr Goldmeier one of the london pois doctors but that could take months and months to get an apointment on the NHS. I have been considering getting health insurance but I'm not sure if they will charge me a huge premium for having pois as a pre existing condition. Even though my doctor hasn't given me a proper diagnoses yet.

Out of all the theories of POIS, I have spent the most time considering the possibility of an allergic reaction to sperm.  After much consideration, I believe it is possible, but very unlikely and not the cause of POIS.  The body does create an antibody to sperm, recognizing it as a pathogen, and does cause polyclonal B cell activation (typically seen in autoimmune diseases) creating antibody clones for approximately 18 epitopes on sperm.  The specific antibody made varies among people, and some do cross react with other epitopes in the body.  "However, there is no association between chronic inflammatory or infectious diseases of the male reproductive tract and the presence of antisperm antibody in semen."  (PMID: 18715698)

Therefore I believe the much simpler explanation for POIS is a long term infection of the prostate, known as chronic bacterial prostatitis.  This is a rare but widely recognized problem in urology, and is very hard test for.  In my last posts I recognized this as the issue, but was unable to explain how the bacteria leaked through the blood-prostate barrier, and why POIS symptoms are not usually associated with chronic bacterial prostatitis.  Now I have come up with a reasonable theory to address this problem.

I believe that neurogenic bladder is the added link that transforms chronic bacterial prostatitis into POIS.  This is nerve weakness that affects the urinary tract, a result of damage due to viruses, alcoholism, diabetes, vitamin B12 deficiency (full list: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Peripheral-Neuropathy-Fact-Sheet).  Neurogenic bladder can cause a condition known as retrograde ejaculation.  During orgasm, muscles at the end of the bladder neck tighten to prevent retrograde flow of semen.  When the nerves that control this contraction are weak, some semen (mixed with infected prostatic fluid) flows into the bladder.  This causes urine after orgasm to appear cloudy, while normally it should be clear.  The primary receptor that controls the contraction of the bladder neck is the alpha 1 adrenergic receptor, therefore drugs that are agonists of this receptor like pheneylephrine should reduce the degree of retrograde ejaculation and POIS symptoms.  I've had great success with this widely available drug lately, and it only takes 30-40 mins to reach peak concentration.

Neurogenic bladder can also cause another condition known as vesicoureteral reflux, or the backward flow of urine from the bladder to the kidneys.  This happens because of increased pressure in the bladder, which can be reduced with muscaranic antagonists (such as Benedryl).  The bacteria then colonizes up the ureter into the kidneys, known as an ascending infection, impairing renal function.  Keep in mind the kidney's are responsible for filtering toxins out of the blood, so this causes you to feel like you're dying, and gives the bacteria the perfect entry system to the bloodstream.  The only way to help this is to drink water, which can be unplesant as bacteria in the kidney and bladder both cause frequent urination.

Once the bacteria hit the bloodstream a systemic inflammatory response occurs, causing mast cell activation, a cytokine storm, and lymphocyte activation.  The best way to prevent this is with mast cell stabilizers and anti-inflammatories.  If the bacteria is extracellular (does not have the capacity to survive the intracellular environment, as I think most bacteria involved in POIS are) then it will induce a Th17 immune response.  Th17 cells are incredibly important as they are strongly pro-inflammatory, and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of many inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.  Th17 cells also directly correlate with glutamate levels (possible effector mechanism), which can cause excessive activation of NMDA receptors, an important process known as NMDA excitotoxicity.  This process can kill neurons and is implicated in many neurodegenerative disorders, and likely most of the neurlogical symptoms of POIS.    Best way to prevent this is to first take supplements that reduce Th17 cells (https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/th17/#Supplements_to_Inhibit_Th17IL-17), second block NMDA receptors with supplements such as zinc and magnesium, or third increase Regulatory T cells (https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/treg/#Top_8_Picks_to_Increase_Tregs).

[Iwillbeatthis]

Update I have now stopped the ssris against the advice of my doctor and family. After a month and a week. I started getting constant brain fog every day and feeling imbalanced. When I started them I did have a few minor lower abdominal shooting pains which were bearable but that turned into constant painful cramps in that area. I was also waking up with back pain pain around flanks and feeling extremely dehydrated and feeling very groggy upon waking. I was also finding it harder and harder to urinate. Maybe I felt all these things because of whatever I was deficient in these ssris were making those deficiencies worse. I've also had problems in the bladder area for three years now and these ssris were aggrivating those problems and making me have all these symptoms i normally wouldn't have. I also was getting a tingling tounge and felt light headed everytime I got up from sitting. Now I am getting woken up in the middle of the night to urinate which didn't happen before in my life and when I drink alcohol I get sharp pains in the side of my head.

I am thankful for the ssris though as they have sparked a new motivation in me to be proactive in curing myself. And the in few days in which I felt perfectly balanced and even some days euphoric are the reason for that. I am not advising against the use of ssris as everyone's bodies are different and I think I have a very unique problem. They have helped a lot of people who have had auto immune problems such as Jordan Peterson.

[demografx]

SSRI’s have helped me for decades.

[Didi]

I am curious about SSRIs

My boyfriend took paroxetine for twoo weeks
and then He had O. He told me that it helped him to have a longer erection the next day he was well but he had pois symptoms days later.
I think that the problem was that my boyfriend stop the treatment because the dr did not write it on the prescription but the dr understood that he will continue with that.
On the next visit to the dr he changed the treatment to modafinil but it seems that i has not helped a lot.
My psychiatrist had told me that the solution for that is SSRIs and antihistaminiscs. He says that in a congress of gynecology a women was cured with that.

I see in the forum that some of you have improvements with SSRIs but other do not.