Hi guys, I am really looking for some help here
I am 23,male and for the past four years i have suffered with anhedonia. I also have aspergers and being unable to enjoy my hobbies and obsessions has been complete hell as it served as my only escape. My memory has also taken a huge battering and there are a great many things from recent years and my childhood that I can not remember. That symptom has been more recent.
I have stopped caring about the things I loved and become completely apathetic. I have lost my imagination and a big chunk of my intellect. I no longer want to do anything. Nothing interests me now and I have become like a zombie. I desperately need help as this is effecting me greatly and my life is wasting away because of it. I can't even bring myself to watch anything or read a book at the moment.
To explain what happened, I began taking fluoxetine in 2011 and for 2 years it worked rather well. Things were very enjoyable and it was effective for my depression. However suddenly in 2013 I began to notice a decline and feel down again. Believing that the fluoxetine had stopped working I rather stupidly quit it cold turkey. I can't remember if I had the anhedonia before stopping the Prozac or after quitting. I think it was creeping up on me while I was on it. It was gradual at first but then everything became unenjoyable and I didn't want to do anything. Eventually I was prescribed new meds to help but this process was rather long and unsuccessful. I tried for a spell without them and failed.
I can not remember the names of them all but there were quite a lot. Unfortunately I was placed on Risperidone which I think did some damage. I had no idea what it was at the time. One I was most hopeful for, Wellbutrin, had no effect on the anhedonia and neither did amitriptyline. I have just come off the amitriptyline due to heart palpitations but I was on it for two years. All it did was act as an anti depressant and make it easier to cope and somehow get on with things. But I don't want to hide away from the issue anymore.
I have tried so many different medications and none have touched the anhedonia at all. Currently I am off anti depressants and trying l tyrosine to address possible low dopamine but it hasn't had any effect. Neither did vyvanse or tianeptine, actually. I am willing to try other supplements for relief but I want to solve the problem. Or even any medications that may help but I know they are few and far between. I do not feel depressed anymore, purely anhedonic. Though that may change in the future.
Recently I have come to believe that in my case it may all be down to hormones, and I intend to see an endocrinologist soon. In 2015 one of my eyes went out of alignment and I put it down to a lazy eye I had as a child. Now I am not so sure but I have been to the opticians and eye hospital several times since and i'm sure they'd of spotted something. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in December last year and suspect i have had an underactive thyroid for several years. After starting levothyroxine I was hoping that treating the thyroid would help the anhedonia but it hasn't at all. I also feel I have low testosterone and may have had for a long time too. This I believe could be key. My results for that, my thyroid and several other hormones are as follows..
TSH 3.98 mu/L (0.35-5.50)
Testosterone 6.3 nmol/L (8.40-28.70)
Prolactin 53 mu/L (45.00-375.00)
Cortisol 429 nmol/L (171.00-618.00)
Oestradiol 49 nmol/L (41-159)
In addition to all this, I also feel like I have chronic fatigue and become exhausted from doing minor things, and It's like I have lost my personality and the person I was. I desperately want to resolve the anhedonia as it has already took up so much of my life and I want rid of it once and for all. I want to be able to enjoy things again as I feel life without emotions is completely pointless. I have poured in countless hours of research but I just need some advice. Thanks and I hope you can help me