r/Nootropics • u/Oueqh234 • 1d ago
Discussion Is Ashwaghanda more harmful than an SSRI?
I'm quite anxious and took ssris in the past, which kind of helped but i became more numb and anhedonic on them. SSRIs were a really long time ago and my motivation got better over that time partly because of ADHD meds and a diagnosis.
Because of the numbess i stopped SSRIs and started Ashwaghanda, which helped as well but it made me numb again (i was doing 500mg ksm66 and never tried 250mg). Unliie ssris, Ashwaghanda didn't cause sexual dysfunction.
I'm thinking of switching back to Ashwaghanda but at a lower dose or a low dose SSRIs because anxiety is messing my life up, I'm also irritable because of it.
Which option seems safer/better?
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u/Fast_Investigator969 1d ago
ashwagandha can absolutely flatten your affect just like ssris do, the mechanism is different but the end result of feeling like a cardboard cutout is the same. ksm66 at 500mg is a hefty dose for some folks, i'd try 250mg or even 125mg before writing it off entirely
ssris have decades of safety data behind them which counts for something, ashwagandha is mostly "we think it's safe based on traditional use" territory. both can mess with your thyroid and liver if you're unlucky, but ssris at least have doctors monitoring that stuff
if the numbness was the dealbreaker before, chasing a lower dose of either seems smarter than accepting it as inevitable
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u/General_NakedButt 1d ago
Except the flatness goes away pretty quickly after stopping ash, at least for me. And you don’t have horrible withdrawals and sexual side effects.
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u/Oueqh234 1d ago
i think i may go with 250mg ash first then, if numbness becomes too much I'll switch to 125. If that doesn't help, then SSRIs or Agomelatine.
I really hated sexual sides on SSRIs so I guess if ash can be reasoned with and the lower doses you recommend work without turning me into a potato, that will be really good
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u/ared38 1d ago
Have you tried different/newer medications? SARIs are supposed to be much better for anhedonia and some SSRIs are more likely to cause side effects than others.
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u/Oueqh234 1d ago
Unfortunately that's only trazodone. It causes arythmias for me even at the lowest dose. It also metabolizes into some dysphoric serotonin releaser that messed up my mood/worsened OCD like symptoms (i speculate that it's from that, but it's usually credited with trazodones side effects)
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u/General_NakedButt 1d ago
Yuck I hate trazodone. Makes my nose all stuffy and I feel like a zombie the next day. Completely negates my Adderall too.
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u/emberlanes1 16h ago
if both caused numbness the issue might just be that your anxiety responds to serotonin modulation but you're sensitive to the emotional blunting side. 250mg is worth trying imo, the dose response curve matters a lot here and you never actually tested the lower end
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u/Cycx578 1d ago
I take about 1400 mg a day and really have no adverse effects to report. Maybe you're more sensitive to certain things but I would say it's most likely going to have a safer profile than an SSRI. I will also mention that I will be cycling on and off of it and it's not a continuous dose. Like basically I will run this bottle empty probably stay off it for a month or two, then get another bottle and run through that.
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u/QWERTY_FUCKER 1d ago
Considering the quality control and how almost all Ash that people buy is contaminated by lead, heavy metals, and god knows what else, absolutely. That’s in addition to what it can and often does do in regard to its general effects.