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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suffering With Anhedonia, Feel Halfway Conscious, Do Not Feel Positive. Is This A Sign Of Depression?

Hi could you help me with a cure please. I have Anhedonia , for the past 4 years. I do not feel alive, I feel halfway unconsious. I can feel positive emotion but I cannot enjoy that positive emotion at all, whatsoever. Please do not tell me it is a symptom of depression - it is not. It is a disease in and of itself. I am not depressed , I just cannot experience pleasure. To give you an idea of what it feels like, you ve heard of mindfulness right? Well Anhedonia is the complete opposite of that. I have tried welbutrin , paxil , prozac , seroquil, invega, a bunch of other one s I can t remember, and since I got zero results from any of those I moved on to natural remedies: I have tried tyrosine, l- dopa, tryptophan , sam-e, nadh, quantum physics energetic rebalancing, psychotherapy, counseling, phenylalanine , glutamine, deer antler velvet, cleansing, juicing, fasting, eating healthy, intense consistent exercise, Dianetics, meditation, acupuncture, rhodiola, acetyl l carnitine, hydrotherapy , RAW B-complex including mega doses of b12, fish oil which actually worsens my serotonin symptoms x100 (insomnia and PTSD), chaste tree/vitex, saw 2 alternative doctors that gave me travacort and isocort which gave me extreme fatigue and even less motivation than I started with, which was next to none. Nothing I have tried has even made a dent. Please help.
Fri, 12 Jul 2013
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You have described your condition in great detail.

You mention of "anhedonia", which is a symptom of depression. However, what you have described as anhedonia is actually depersonalisation. You do not feel emotions in a situation, things seem to be passing by and you are not feeling in grip / awareness of things, Everything seems surreal. Have I got you right?

If you have not got depressed mood or anxiety or you have not had any psychosis in the past; I suggest you can let the symptoms be. Do not try to medicate them - as you find medications are not working.

Try to have methods to relax, such as yoga, meditation, music and practice mindfulness techniques. You can also see which situations make these feeling of anhedonia worse and try and make conscious efforts to be "mindful" in such situations.

Depersonalisation disorder is quite prevalent, although they are not commonly seen in clinical settings. People do not walk to the psychiatrist with these symptoms very often.

It is important to get an EEG and/or CT scan done to rule out a neurological disease especially if you have had a significant head injury in the past leading to loss of consciousness, or if you have had epileptic seizures in the past.
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Suffering With Anhedonia, Feel Halfway Conscious, Do Not Feel Positive. Is This A Sign Of Depression?

You have described your condition in great detail. You mention of anhedonia , which is a symptom of depression. However, what you have described as anhedonia is actually depersonalisation. You do not feel emotions in a situation, things seem to be passing by and you are not feeling in grip / awareness of things, Everything seems surreal. Have I got you right? If you have not got depressed mood or anxiety or you have not had any psychosis in the past; I suggest you can let the symptoms be. Do not try to medicate them - as you find medications are not working. Try to have methods to relax, such as yoga, meditation, music and practice mindfulness techniques. You can also see which situations make these feeling of anhedonia worse and try and make conscious efforts to be mindful in such situations. Depersonalisation disorder is quite prevalent, although they are not commonly seen in clinical settings. People do not walk to the psychiatrist with these symptoms very often. It is important to get an EEG and/or CT scan done to rule out a neurological disease especially if you have had a significant head injury in the past leading to loss of consciousness, or if you have had epileptic seizures in the past.