u/poet3991

This is a lot, and I doubt this is anything anyone can help with. I guess I am just looking for some perspective.

I have been Maladaptive Dreaming since I was a kid, now 33. I have also been taking high dose anti depressants for at least the last ten years.

In mid-December last year, I decided to stop the antidepressants cold turkey. I was deep into a daydream that had been going on for a few months, I believe, at that point.

I expected to feel like shit, but instead, for about a month and a half, I felt better than I ever have. I don't even know why I decided to turn the dream into a screenplay, got to page 96, and crashed.

The dreams are harder to access, like I can't feel them anymore. Part of me is glad they are gone, part of me misses them more than anything. I used them to cope with well, everything and now I am alone with my own mind with this blank space.

Apparently, this is rather normal for certain people giving up long-term antidepressants. I don't know if the dreams will return or if they are gone forever.

Has anyone else on here gone through something similar? any advice

I am applying and I wanted to know which campus is the better option between Mt Druitt or Granville.

There are 5 notifactions on the reddit chrome site, but nothing appears on the chat list. It isnt cleared by "mark all messages as read".

The android app list them requests, but nothing appears in the requests list

- Is 33 to old for something like this, I know I will need an apprenticeship after some tafe, will my age be an issue?

- What is the realistic day-to-day like for an electrician working in industrial settings versus domestic?

- How much social interaction is typically involved?

- I am looking into tafe full time, Any recommendations course wise? Which is most useful in the actual industry?

- For those who specialised in instrumentation — how did that transition happen? Did you plan it from the start or did it happen during the apprenticeship?

- What do you wish you knew before starting that nobody tells you?

- Any Western Sydney specific advice on TAFE campuses or employers worth targeting for industrial apprenticeships?

- Is the industry in a good place right now? are apprenticeship hard to find right now?

I have no experience in any field like this. Due to some family issues I am looking for a career to break into without a work history that can be of use.

- Is 33 to old for something like this, I know I will need an apprenticeship after some tafe, will my age be an issue?

- What is the realistic day-to-day like for an electrician working in industrial settings versus domestic?

- How much social interaction is typically involved?

- I am looking into tafe full time, Any recommendations course wise? Which is most useful in the actual industry?

- For those who specialised in instrumentation — how did that transition happen? Did you plan it from the start or did it happen during the apprenticeship?

- What do you wish you knew before starting that nobody tells you?

- Any Western Sydney specific advice on TAFE campuses or employers worth targeting for industrial apprenticeships?

- Is the industry in a good place right now? are apprenticeship hard to find right now?

I have no experience in any field like. Due to some family issues I am looking for a career to break into.

I posted this elseware, was pointed to this sub.
33-year-old male, living in Australia.

For about 10 years I have been taking escitalopram at varying dosages. Towards the end I was using 40mg daily.

After some things in my personal life made me question whether the pills were affecting me in a negative way. I decided to go cold turkey, stopping the escitalopram completely around mid-December 2025.

I told the prescribing doctor around 1 month after stopping it. Things have gotten weird since.

- I have lost around 25 kg since January.

- Considerable appetite changes; I eat perhaps half of what I did on the SSRI on a daily basis.

- Food tastes different; I can't exactly describe how it just does.

- Experiencing brain fog, difficulty with logic and connections, losing trains of thought, some tinnitus, occasional dizziness.

- Sleep issues waking before 5 am consistently for the past 1–2 months.

- Emotional flatness, anhedonia, irritability, and depressive thoughts. For a while I had suicidal thoughts; those have mostly subsided. But it isn't really consistent; I will have days where I feel okay, then the next I feel low as shit.

- I have had four thyroid blood tests since January; each shows a low TSH (0.4- 0.26 but normal T3 and T4.

- I had an SVT episode on April 12th; my heart rate hit 200 bpm. Refered to a cardiologist recently.

Honestly, those aren't what's worrying me, though, and this is the weird part that is screwing with my head.

After I gave up the escitalopram, there was a month where I was better than I had ever been. I experienced emotional clarity, motivation, and creativity like I never felt before.

I feel dumb adding this, but I wrote a 96-page screenplay out of nowhere after never having written any fiction before. I would wake up and just write like 6 pages a day. This ended with a gradual decline into the current state.

I don't know what any of this means, if giving up the escitalopram just has a weird long tail or something else.

I would really prefer not to go on the SSRIs again. I emailed the prescribing doctor my symptoms; she hasn't gotten back to me yet.

I should also mention I have ADHD and 40 mg of Ritalin a day.

I was on the SSRI's for so long I dont know what I am like off of them, what can I expect. I also pumped my symptoms into Claude and it mentioned it may point to Bipolar 2.

33-year-old male, living in Australia.

For about 10 years I have been taking escitalopram at varying dosages. Towards the end I was using 40mg daily.

After some things in my personal life made me question whether the pills were affecting me in a negative way. I decided to go cold turkey, stopping the escitalopram completely around mid-December 2025.

I told the prescribing doctor around 1 month after stopping it. Things have gotten weird since.

- I have lost around 25 kg since January.

- Considerable appetite changes; I eat perhaps half of what I did on the SSRI on a daily basis.

- Food tastes different; I can't exactly describe how it just does.

- Experiencing brain fog, difficulty with logic and connections, losing trains of thought, some tinnitus, occasional dizziness.

- Sleep issues waking before 5 am consistently for the past 1–2 months.

- Emotional flatness, anhedonia, irritability, and depressive thoughts. For a while I had suicidal thoughts; those have mostly subsided. But it isn't really consistent; I will have days where I feel okay, then the next I feel low as shit.

- I have had four blood tests since January; each shows a low TSH but normal T3 and T4.

- I had an SVT episode on April 12th; my heart rate hit 200 bpm. Refered to a cardiologist recently.

Honestly, those aren't what's worrying me, though, and this is the weird part that is screwing with my head.

After I gave up the escitalopram, there was a month where I was better than I had ever been. I experienced emotional clarity, motivation, and creativity like I never felt before.

I feel dumb adding this, but I wrote a 96-page screenplay out of nowhere after never having written any fiction before. I would wake up and just write like 6 pages a day. This ended with a gradual decline into the current state.

I don't know what any of this means, if giving up the escitalopram just has a weird long tail or something else.

I would really prefer not to go on the SSRIs again. I emailed the prescribing doctor my symptoms; she hasn't gotten back to me yet.

I should also mention I have ADHD and 40 mg of Ritalin a day.

33-year-old male, living in Australia.

For about 10 years I have been taking escitalopram at varying dosages. Towards the end I was using 40mg daily.

After some things in my personal life made me question whether the pills were affecting me in a negative way. I decided to go cold turkey, stopping the escitalopram completely around mid-December 2025.

I told the prescribing doctor around 1 month after stopping it. Things have gotten weird since.

- I have lost around 25 kg since January.

- Considerable appetite changes; I eat perhaps half of what I did on the SSRI on a daily basis.

- Food tastes different; I can't exactly describe how it just does.

- Experiencing brain fog, difficulty with logic and connections, losing trains of thought, some tinnitus, occasional dizziness.

- Sleep issues waking before 5 am consistently for the past 1–2 months.

- Emotional flatness, anhedonia, irritability, and depressive thoughts. For a while I had suicidal thoughts; those have mostly subsided. But it isn't really consistent; I will have days where I feel okay, then the next I feel low as shit.

- I have had four blood tests since January; each shows a low TSH but normal T3 and T4.

- I had an SVT episode on April 12th; my heart rate hit 200 bpm. Refered to a cardiologist recently.

Honestly, those aren't what's worrying me, though, and this is the weird part that is screwing with my head.

After I gave up the escitalopram, there was a month where I was better than I had ever been. I experienced emotional clarity, motivation, and creativity like I never felt before.

I feel dumb adding this, but I wrote a 96-page screenplay out of nowhere after never having written any fiction before. I would wake up and just write like 6 pages a day. This ended with a gradual decline into the current state.

I don't know what any of this means, if giving up the escitalopram just has a weird long tail or something else.

I would really prefer not to go on the SSRIs again. I emailed the prescribing doctor my symptoms; she hasn't gotten back to me yet.

I should also mention I have ADHD and 40 mg of Ritalin a day.