Hi Matt,
Sorry to hear that your POIS is deeply affecting your quality of life. You seems to have severe inflammation in your body during POIS, and also in your brain, which is affecting your emotions and your ability to connect to others ( I had that for years, and still would if I wouldn't take my pre-pack).
Did you try adding something else to your antihistamine, so you can develop your own way of controlling your symptoms?
I don't have muscle aches, but those who have, like Daveman, find some relief with ibuprofen. Did you ever try it?
To protect my brain, thus my emotionnal part as well, from POIS, I take many neuroprotectant before O ( omega-3 with EPA and DHA, L-theanine, curcumin, magnesium, to name a few). Did you try to protect your brain and nervous system before O, to avoid emotional problems? The emotional part of your brain seems to be quite affected by POIS, to the point to you do not enjoy anymore your favorite music, like if that part of your brain is totally muted, so it seems quite severe in your case. This irritability, and the desire to be alone, was very strong in my case too, and I was not tolerant at all to any problem, or even to the presence of anybody.
We hope for some deeper research for POIS, but it is already clear that inflammation in the body and brain is at work. So, try those things that have been successful for others, in order to reduce inflammation.
Have you turned to a healthy diet, and cut off sugars, junk food, preservatives, artificial colors, aspartame, MSG ? They raise baseline inflammation level in your body, so they boost POIS. Also, you may want to check for other food like gluten, dairies, and so on. Some members had great improvement when turning to a healthy diet. I do believe it's a great step when we want our POIS to become less severe.
