Too Much Ashwagandha, Now Serotonin Syndrome? Please Help

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edd00

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Cordyceps almost fully restores my libido, and it works rather rapidly too. Keep in mind Cordyecps has a sensational dopaminergic profile (And lowers prolactin) and also interacts with the Glutamatergic system.

So I am not sure if I follow, if cordyceps helps, why do you still feel off?
 
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edd00

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Because it only partially helps when I use it, but on days off, I feel like I revert back to numbness/inability to feel orgasm.
Is your ejac delayed? Difficulty to get erections?
 
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edd00

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It's more related to the psychological gratification/reward that is significantly blunted. No issues with erections, its just sometimes a non-existant orgasm.
Cool well thats been difficult for me. A reddit poster said Ashwagandha affects GABA more than anything else. Which I have found to be more accurate
 

Joe C

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I find it really interesting talking about different receptors and their effects - but how does it tie into Dr Peat's view of the cell and of the cell membrane?

Could it be that the respiratory state of the cell determines how these substances interact with the receptors? Giving rise to all this variation? Because from my understanding Ashwaganda has been traditionally used as a prometabolic, anti stress herb in ayurveda, giving "energy with calmness" and improving hormonal profiles. And some research reflects this with increased t4 to t3 conversion.

I'm fairly new all this, and finding out about my comt double polymorphism was my entry point. I'm especially keen to avoid anything which raises serotonin for that reason, but still open to the possibility that herbs are so complex that there is often balance. Maybe the extra t3 ofsets the extra serotonin in some people?
 

Jerimy Brown

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Recently had a bit of a relapse with my serotonin syndrome recovery, and seemed to be much more sensitive to everything than the initial go round. My wife just happened to be reading a book on health and shared a chapter of the book about drinking celery juice. I started drinking 16oz of celery juice, very first thing in the morning on an empty stomach about a week ago, and I can not express what this seems to have done for my guy health… I couldn’t eat anything but rice, and steamed potatoes a week ago, and this morning after my morning celery juice, I had turkey, potatoes, green beans, made a wild blueberry smoothie, and I am barely feeling any effects from it. I just had to come share this with this community, and hopefully it will really help someone else, the way it has helped me.

Probably depends on the type of juicer you have, but if you have a good masticating juicer, about 24 fl oz of celery, should yield 16 oz of pulp free juice. You should juice it as close to the time you plan to drinking it as possible. You can do it the night before if kept in an airtight mason jar, but I recommend juicing it right before you drink it. Drink this first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach. From what I understand, you can do this twice a day for even more dramatic results (2nd time, make sure you wait at least 2 hours from previous meal), so I am getting ready to start twice daily juices today. One note of warning, I got really positive effects the first several days, then for a couple days, I got diarrhea after, but today the that went away, and I felt like I turned another corner with my gut health, so I tried a full fledged meal this morning,(mentioned above) and was shocked to find I did not get any of the usual negative effects. I always give the juice about .5-1hour before following it with food.

I really hope this helps others the way it has helped me.
 

Mossy

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Recently had a bit of a relapse with my serotonin syndrome recovery, and seemed to be much more sensitive to everything than the initial go round. My wife just happened to be reading a book on health and shared a chapter of the book about drinking celery juice. I started drinking 16oz of celery juice, very first thing in the morning on an empty stomach about a week ago, and I can not express what this seems to have done for my guy health… I couldn’t eat anything but rice, and steamed potatoes a week ago, and this morning after my morning celery juice, I had turkey, potatoes, green beans, made a wild blueberry smoothie, and I am barely feeling any effects from it. I just had to come share this with this community, and hopefully it will really help someone else, the way it has helped me.

Probably depends on the type of juicer you have, but if you have a good masticating juicer, about 24 fl oz of celery, should yield 16 oz of pulp free juice. You should juice it as close to the time you plan to drinking it as possible. You can do it the night before if kept in an airtight mason jar, but I recommend juicing it right before you drink it. Drink this first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach. From what I understand, you can do this twice a day for even more dramatic results (2nd time, make sure you wait at least 2 hours from previous meal), so I am getting ready to start twice daily juices today. One note of warning, I got really positive effects the first several days, then for a couple days, I got diarrhea after, but today the that went away, and I felt like I turned another corner with my gut health, so I tried a full fledged meal this morning,(mentioned above) and was shocked to find I did not get any of the usual negative effects. I always give the juice about .5-1hour before following it with food.

I really hope this helps others the way it has helped me.
Thanks for sharing this. This is intriging to me, as one who has had gut issues for years. Did the book your wife read happen to have any concern for the nitrate content of the celery juice? If I remember correctly, that is something mentioned by Peat about celery.
 

Jerimy Brown

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Thanks for sharing this. This is intriging to me, as one who has had gut issues for years. Did the book your wife read happen to have any concern for the nitrate content of the celery juice? If I remember correctly, that is something mentioned by Peat about celery.

Didn't mention any concerns about that, and at least for the time being, in less than a week, it has helped me immensely... As I mentioned, about a week ago now, I was having really negative effects from almost anything I put into my body, and the last two days, I have been eating complete, well balanced, meals. Was able to drink my greens and berries smoothies again today. For me at least, it has very quickly gotten me back to being able to put good healing nutrition back in the tank. Thanks for mentioning this though, because I hadn't read that here yet, so something I will research and keep in mind going forward. That being said, it sure seems to be getting me back on the road to recovery and good health.
 

Mossy

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Didn't mention any concerns about that, and at least for the time being, in less than a week, it has helped me immensely... As I mentioned, about a week ago now, I was having really negative effects from almost anything I put into my body, and the last two days, I have been eating complete, well balanced, meals. Was able to drink my greens and berries smoothies again today. For me at least, it has very quickly gotten me back to being able to put good healing nutrition back in the tank. Thanks for mentioning this though, because I hadn't read that here yet, so something I will research and keep in mind going forward. That being said, it sure seems to be getting me back on the road to recovery and good health.
I appreciate the additional detail. As time allows, I’ll post any Peat comments I find on nitrates (and celery).
 
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Mossy

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I appreciate the additional detail. As time allows, I’ll post any Peat comments I find on nitrates.
Ok, I found a Peat quote:
RP: I would suppose so. With old age, the conversion of ordinary protein arginin to nitric oxide is accelerated by the various things that interfere with your cellular oxidation. And then if you add environmental nitrates or nitrites to that, you’re making your ability to resist stress weaker and weaker, because these things accumulate and become a more abundant source of nitric oxide, which then feeds back and blocks the ability to use oxygen.

HD: What about natural sources of nitrates and nitrites, like in celery ?

RP: I think they are just as bad.
There is more on nitrates on the thread I pulled this from:
Nitric Oxide, Nitrates, Nitrites, And Fluoride, KMUD, 2015
 

bboone

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about 2.5 years ago, i went for two a ridiculous amount of NOW's ashwagandha extract over a period of 6-8 weeks, if i recall correctly. i took at least one 450 mg pill a day, but most days i took two. after a while of feeling absolutely no effects, negative or positive (perhaps a slight strength increase), i stopped taking it, believing that it was totally inefficient. however, after that, my interest in sex disappeared almost completely. i was still able to attain and maintain erections, and after fixing my slight hypothyroidism, i still get morning wood every day, but any interest in sex has disappeared. the only time i saw an increase (and by this i mean an extreme increase, perhaps 10 times what it had been before) in sexual arousal was when smoking large amounts of cannabis. i've since stopped smoking cannabis, because i got tired of it, and i didn't really have a serious habit of doing so. i would do it on rare occasions, but when i did smoke i would smoke a lot. now, this has made me feel very weird, as i am in my early 20s and have no interest in sex, with the exception of extraordinary situations, such as first encounters. i used to watch porn every day, and i still occasionally masturbate just to have something to do, but the "drive" to seek out sexual pleasure has been completely eradicated lol. basically, the only thing that can reintroduce the state i took to be normal is novelty.
i have confirmed high testosterone and my blood values are literally all within the normal range, so this has bothered me for quite some time. from what i understand, ashwagandha desensitizes the 5-HT1A receptor through excessive agonism, which then causes desensitization and decreased dopamine release. am i correct in this? i would very much like to repair this issue, but i fear that i have permanently damaged my brain. i have not only lost interest in sex, but basically seeking out any sort of pleasure except for those that could be considered "extreme", which someties leads me into precarious situations. basically, i feel like a sociopath. i have no other symptoms, and am in all other ways a very high functioning and healthy individual. is there any way i could possibly fix this? would rhodiola perhaps undo the damage, or should i try niacimide? i quickly connected the changes i felt to my ashwagandha usage, but after 2.5 years of not using it, nothing has really improved at all, despite my healing other aspects of my health. it is especially frustrating considering the fact that i have a good body and i know people feel physical attraction towards me, but i am usually unable to reciprocate it, and when having sex i have usually feel totally disinterested, despite performing as normal. nor do i feel any drive to pursue creative activities, which i had previously enjoyed a lot. in short, it feels as if i am completely incapable of becoming "addicted" to anything. perhaps a lot of people would enjoy this, but it's terrible. i can smoke a pack a day for 3 months and then quit without a thought. i feel no drive to drink alcohol. i still do a lot of the things i used to do, but it feels inherently pointless. the word permanent seems quite dire in this situation. would taking an antagonist really help if the 5-HT1A receptor has been downregulated? this study would seem to indicate so. i just read that people who eat at a caloric deficit while taking ashwagandha will end up killing cells, which is probably what happened to me.
 
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bboone

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As rhodiola has been shown to have a bell-curve response before, it is recommended to not exceed 680mg dosage

i also took rhodiola during almost the entire time i took ashwagandha, and now just popped 600 mg. however, i never felt any effect from it, positive or otherwise, and can't seem to feel anything now either. googling rhodiola immediately gives about a thousand suggestions towards its testosterone heightening properties, but as far as i can tell, there is only one study done on the relationship between rhodiola and testosterone and it showed no effect, whether positive or negative
 
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bboone

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@bboone your symptoms sound similar to PSSD
might help to google around for that?

maybe a very mild variant, but the only symptom i have is the reduced sexual interest. i don’t know how to describe it but i used to feel «horniness» in my entire body, and i got the feeling that i had to masturbate. this is not the case anymore. other than that, none of these symptoms apply to me. i still get nocturnal emissions and my orgasms still feel as good (this varies, but most of the time) - there is just no trigger mechanism that makes me seek it out. it does seem as if my 5ht1a receptors were downregulated to some extent. however, the onset kind of coincided with bad eating habits, so maybe it is a nutritional issue... it seems strange that just two months of moderate dose ashwagandha + rhodiola should have a permanent effect. there are many who have used higher doses for a longer time and seen nothing of the like. with SSRIs, the side-effects are guaranteed, from what i understand. i’ve read that ashwagandha can actually help with PSSD. however, some report PSSD-like symptoms from taking ashwagandha and rhodiola together, which both the OP and i did...
 
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Lokzo

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about 2.5 years ago, i went for two a ridiculous amount of NOW's ashwagandha extract over a period of 6-8 weeks, if i recall correctly. i took at least one 450 mg pill a day, but most days i took two. after a while of feeling absolutely no effects, negative or positive (perhaps a slight strength increase), i stopped taking it, believing that it was totally inefficient. however, after that, my interest in sex disappeared almost completely. i was still able to attain and maintain erections, and after fixing my slight hypothyroidism, i still get morning wood every day, but any interest in sex has disappeared. the only time i saw an increase (and by this i mean an extreme increase, perhaps 10 times what it had been before) in sexual arousal was when smoking large amounts of cannabis. i've since stopped smoking cannabis, because i got tired of it, and i didn't really have a serious habit of doing so. i would do it on rare occasions, but when i did smoke i would smoke a lot. now, this has made me feel very weird, as i am in my early 20s and have no interest in sex, with the exception of extraordinary situations, such as first encounters. i used to watch porn every day, and i still occasionally masturbate just to have something to do, but the "drive" to seek out sexual pleasure has been completely eradicated lol. basically, the only thing that can reintroduce the state i took to be normal is novelty.
i have confirmed high testosterone and my blood values are literally all within the normal range, so this has bothered me for quite some time. from what i understand, ashwagandha desensitizes the 5-HT1A receptor through excessive agonism, which then causes desensitization and decreased dopamine release. am i correct in this? i would very much like to repair this issue, but i fear that i have permanently damaged my brain. i have not only lost interest in sex, but basically seeking out any sort of pleasure except for those that could be considered "extreme", which someties leads me into precarious situations. basically, i feel like a sociopath. i have no other symptoms, and am in all other ways a very high functioning and healthy individual. is there any way i could possibly fix this? would rhodiola perhaps undo the damage, or should i try niacimide? i quickly connected the changes i felt to my ashwagandha usage, but after 2.5 years of not using it, nothing has really improved at all, despite my healing other aspects of my health. it is especially frustrating considering the fact that i have a good body and i know people feel physical attraction towards me, but i am usually unable to reciprocate it, and when having sex i have usually feel totally disinterested, despite performing as normal. nor do i feel any drive to pursue creative activities, which i had previously enjoyed a lot. in short, it feels as if i am completely incapable of becoming "addicted" to anything. perhaps a lot of people would enjoy this, but it's terrible. i can smoke a pack a day for 3 months and then quit without a thought. i feel no drive to drink alcohol. i still do a lot of the things i used to do, but it feels inherently pointless. the word permanent seems quite dire in this situation. would taking an antagonist really help if the 5-HT1A receptor has been downregulated? this study would seem to indicate so. i just read that people who eat at a caloric deficit while taking ashwagandha will end up killing cells, which is probably what happened to me.


I am sickened to read this, as it literally matches my experience. I am "stuck"in the same boat as you.

Please DM me, as I want to figure out a way to finally heal myself, and you as well.

I thought my issue was triggered by Shilajit (Which can induce the same sort of thing) but it was definitely Ashwagandha many many years ago. I really want to resolve it as desperately as you.
 

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