Hi all. Gonna get right into it. POIS started about 2 years ago for me and for a year to 18 months it was generally tolerable- I would have One full day of pretty crappy symptoms the day after O the night before, but after that second sleep I was usually good. Then at the start of this year a few things happened- I started abstaining with NoFap to prevent the whole thing, I had gotten off long term Prozac last summer and tried to restart in January but it just made me too anxious this time around so after a couple months I stopped, and during that time became hooked on Ativan .5 mg for the anxiety and am still taking. So about March I started having dreams every couple weeks that would cause awful symptoms again, this time for a couple full days often, and that worried me. But I kept abstaining bc I did not want to cause my own symptoms. Soon the dreams got more and more frequent? by May every week I?d have one, and even worse, I didn?t have to ?O? to have symptoms, just arousal would do it. Then past couple months have become INSANE. In June the dreams triggered by simple arousal or even a SECOND of sexual image in dream came 2-3 times per week, 1 full day symptoms, and last month just shit to the fan?. Just about Every night they?d happen, I even tried ?O?ing on my own a couple times by now to make them stop but they didn?t, and now my friends the Unthinkable has started happening- These little split-second ?Visions or images? can happen DURING THE DAY WHEN IM AWAKE. All it takes is trying to rest or meditate and just getting a little tired or deeply relaxed and an image can pop in my head and I get 3-4 hours of symptoms!! Can happen multiple times in a day. My eyes can be open while meditating and it can happen!! Symptoms are awful body pain, malaise, brain fog, fatigue, like a mini-Flu basically. I?m living in Fear now and it?s very bad? I never thought this kind of POIS triggering could occur!! But I?m in it. And I?m afraid to rest my eyes, take a nap, meditate which has tremendous value to me, etc. My anxiety is absolutely horrible. And I don?t wanna get back on an SSRI SNRI etc because that may indeed have worstened the condition early this year.
Idk what the hell to do. I?m in a bad place. I tried starting LDN (low dose naltrexone) upon advisement but that spiked anxiety and I couldn?t sleep. **EDIT: Gonna retry LDN at lower dose. I take Magnesium, Vitamin C, D, zinc, NAC, Taurine, Turmeric, all kinds of things that should help but they really don?t. My diet is clean as a whistle. Basically anti-histamine diet. Did all kinds of blood tests that came clean, except One from 2 years ago that showed very low DHEA levels and we just happened upon it so I?m trying to take that now, and damn does it ever cause anxiousness and insomnia! Meaning it does. Anyways, ANY suggestions, advice, relating stories, would be deeply appreciated. I?m in a lot of pain lately bc of these episodes every day. And I need to rest often due to chronic CFS/ Lyme which I don?t wanna get into, but avoiding rest or meditation is simply not an option sometimes. Alright thank you all.
