My PGAD Nightmare

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June 1, 2018 | 18 Comments

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  1. Very sorry to hear what happened to you. Once again psychiatry has wrecked another life. On and on it goes. It may be that the xanax caused your breathing difficulties. When I was on Lorazepam I began to have choking sensations and couldn’t breathe. I ended up on an inhaler and pseudoephedrine and my right lung collapsed twice as well as getting constant chest infections. Of course none of this was picked up on and it only stopped when I switched to diazepam to taper. I also had a constant flu like illness, tingling, shaking and broke out in acne type spots in my mid thirties.

    The symptoms you describe appear to be benzo withdrawal exacerbated by the sertraline.
    Eleven years later I still have raginf tinnitus, partial deafness, low blood pressure, blackouts, burning, tingling, numbness and a raft of other symptoms.

    I utterly despise psychiatry it is a disgrace, a pox on mankind. I really feel the time has passed where we should take the fight direct to them with direct action because it’s obvious that trying to engage is not having results.

    • Psychiatry isn’t itself bad. It’s the Dr that makes it breaks it. Unfortunately there are more drug pushers then health concious drs who are in it to improve patient care! It’s sickening. Meds save lives if the drs are using them intelligently. Never be a guinea pig for a Dr.

  2. Thank you for your testimolial, you are really a strong and courageous woman, I am sorry for your grave misfortune and I hope for a solution for all of us. I would like that the awareness about the horrible damages that psychotropic drugs CAN cause, to be banged on the face of every psychiatrist on Earth. How much unconsciousness, but also how much ruthless silence by the medical side.

  3. I feel very bad for the woman in this story.

    If PGAD is anywhere near as bad as PSSD, which I can imagine it is, I feel very sorry for her indeed.

    In November of this year it will be 11 years I will have suffered PSSD.

    That will be 4,015 days or 132 months I will have been deprived of any sexual desires, or sensation in my genitals. Also my orgasms are almost completely pleasureless and my emotions are numb.

    All because of a psychiatrist prescribing me citalopram at 22 which I only took for about 3 weeks.

    The citalopram also did absolutely nothing to help the OCD it was meant to treat. Ironically the OCD seems to have lessen over time, after I got away from some horrible family members who having contact with, seemed to trigger it off in the first place.

    I feel like I have been through a protracted war with all the denials and lies I have had from AWP and the whole medical system, since I tried bringing PSSD to their attention.

    There is no end in sight to the suffering.

    It just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on!

    And no one will believe me. Almost 11 years I have tried to get doctors to believe me that PSSD exists, but to no avail.

    No one wants to know.

    • Another terrible story of PGAD & bravely shared for others.

      Spruce, I’ve been trying to learn what it must be like to suffer PSSD (my libido did return somewhat after almost 20yrs of numbing- before I had to back on SSRIS after my last effort) and your comments under relevant posts are so helpful because you are so candid.

      Perhaps all of us suffering need to be raising awareness of PSSD. It’s mere armchair advocacy I’m afraid (as many are stuck in armchairs) but are you on Twitter?

      • 7,300 day I’ve been dealing with PGAD
        I’m at my whits end.
        It’s completely ruining my life
        20 years!!!
        I just need some support please.

  4. How about the truth.

    Let’s call a spade a spade.

    If you where to ask a psychiatrist these questions I think I know the answer.

    1/ Do you think amphetamines are dangerous drugs. So why do you prescribe them to children and increasingly adults.

    2/ same for cocaine. methylphenidate is virtually identical.

    3/ barbiturates, alcohol, meprobamate, chloral hydrate, etc the sedative hypnotics. So why do you still prescibe benzos from the same class.

    4/ Antidepressants. These are psychic stimulants, indeed some are classic drugs of addiction. venlafaxine is closely related to MDMA [ecstasy]. Here is a little tale.

    When I was polypharmacied up I was arrested 4 times. I’d started smoking again after 8 years, drinking heavily and taking street drugs, amphetamines primarily to give me focus and energy. I was sent to prison and on my release a probation hostel. Whilst there I had to give urine samples and twice it came back positive for PCP. Ridiculous as PCP is unheard of in the UK and I wouldn’t have touched it. Also my behaviour which was logged was not consistent with being intoxicated with PCP. I was recalled to prison and spent a further 3 months inside.

    I later found out Venlafaxine gives false positive readings for PCP. The injustice of what I have suffered due to psychiatry and their DRUGS not medication is a disgrace. I won’t let them get away with it, I won’t stop until I have my name cleared.

    • Hi Damian – I made a Freedom of Information request 7months ago asking what drugs are used in prisons (and elsewhere) without consent – or even with consent and been given a total run around. Can I ask if you if people were told which drugs were used in the prison? Was there any choice ? Could they be refused? Any medical checkups on the drugs prescribed during or after.discharge? Are people able to access their records? I was told each institution is able to make their own decisions about which prescription drugs they use – would this be true? Also that the medics who work in prisons are not employed by the NHS – is that true? Never give up was a young friend’s motto when threatened with deportation – it’s a good one. All the best with your struggle. susanne

      • I’m not sure to be honest I was prescribed what I was already on but changes were made during my time inside. When I was discharged I had been prescribed lorazepam inside a month before my release. My Gp had always been anti benzo and wasn’t happy at all and didn’t want to prescribe it but was overruled by the community mental health team. I wasn’t told it was lorazepam indeed it was just added to my meds when I complained of being anxious. Very unusual because when you go inside they take you off benzos whether you like it or not with their taper protocols. It was a private prison that put me on lorazepam and from what I could see they were trying to dope as many people as possible to keep them docile as staff numbers were low. The NHS now provides the healthcare in prisons although firms such as Virgin have the contracts in some.

  5. Good luck getting a psychiatrist to call a spade a spade when it comes to the dangers of psychiatric drugs.

    Even when you present the evidence right in front of their eyes, getting them to admit to the truth is like trying to draw a speck of blood from a very withered stone.

    I spent many years and a lot of my time and energy trying to point out to Avon Wiltshire Partnership some of the harms these drugs have caused me, backing up what I said with peer reviewed studies, and other credible supporting evidence.

    The stronger my supporting evidence was, that I was right that these drugs had caused me harm, the more defensive and nasty the mental health teams response got.

    Psychiatry seems hell bent on defending psychiatric drugs and practices that cause harm, all the way to the bitter end.

    All of this comes at the expense of the people who psychiatry is supposed to help.

    Sometimes this includes death.

    • Hi Spruce and Everyone
      I feel for you all and finally after reading these blogs for nearly a year decided to join in. Why are the people who are suffering the effects of these toxic drugs not listened to?
      Having to deal with AWP in UK on behalf of a family member is once again a living hell as most mental health professionals have blind faith in their medications. I made the mistake of trying to tell a psychiatrist that I believed the symptoms were caused by meds, well nearly a year later family member still locked away and still suffering. Drug holidays are not allowed.
      Good luck to all of you.
      Jam

  6. Very sorry to hear about your ongoing nightmare. I relate to the pudendal nerve involvement as well as the intersistial cystitis. I have pudendal neuralgia though like you the CT-guided blocks did not produce a straightforward response. I don’t have the PGAD component. I wonder if it’s pudendal and another nerve(s) in the pelvis. Got these injuries and others attempting to come off an ssri.

  7. Just read through the info leaflet on potential harmful effects of using ibuprofen – commonly used painkiller – huge number of them listed including warning about taking them with SSRI’s

  8. I have been searching for answers to what happened to me for over a year now. And I was gobsmacked to read that I have been going through the exact same thing as you since 2018. I was on Xanor 0,5 mg as well as tripilene 25mg. When all of a sudden out the blue I thought I has become possesed by the devil. It started in the middle of the night with constant throbbing in my vagina. Arousal. Wetness. My whole body would start trembling from this. The tinnitus in my ears started at the exact same time. I would hear scratching on my pillow.. It happens all the time day and night. In the beginning it was quit pleasurable but now it’s just unbearable. So I have been searching on the internet for information on this PGAS and it made some sense but no one hit the nail on the head quite like you did. Thank you for this article because I have been to embarrassed to go to a doctor at least I know I’m not alone in this.

    • Hi I been suffering pgad with vibration in my ears all day everyday the with feeling Aroused all day every day I take lidocaine cream I’m on antidepressant I do intense pelvic Therapy and I use a tens unit at home some days I just wanna punch a wall there really are no good days at all I just cry all the time I see some doctors I think do you think I’m crazy but I know what’s going on with my body and I just need someone to talk to sometimes I feel like I’m possessed by the devil I know I’m not everything is stress related I loss four sisters and a mother Back to back that’s when it all started so if you could take the time and text me back I will be thankful

  9. I also have PGAD no the doctors in my area even wanna talk about it people claim it’s some phenomenon it’s your medications it’s your hormones it’s this it’s that how do you explain it only occurs when I’m in a relationship I feel it has something to do with men but of course I’ll be sent to psychiatric care myself and told that I am delusional don’t rule out the possibility that it could be a man doing it.

  10. I’ve been suffering all the exact same symptoms of what I now realise is probably pgad as it explains the frustrating sensation pretty much to a T.
    I was also put on a few different antidepressants in my early teen years I took zoloft then serialine but that gave me the shakes too and wasnt on it long. But I didn’t notice these symptoms back then, it was only after I had gotten into other drugs, mainly amphetamines and pot that I noticed these uncomfortable sensations. after ignoring it for about a year or more I felt it had worsened and started interfering with day to day life. It seems to only happen when I have panic attacks, got high or as soon as I step outside my front door to go places -even without being in a panic it would just start out of nowhere. I thought it was just a symptom of anxiety or from the drugs whenever I’d take them but over time its grown worse and happens more often I notice since getting sober. Its now at the point I barely leave the house because of it, I can’t get mental help for myself or even go food shopping because it’s so unpredictable. But besides all the details I’m just really relieved I came across this page it really helps to know I’m not the only person going through this , definitely feel more confident to ask my gp for help after seeing this too just hope he’s able to help

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