Marcos

Age: 27 | Spain

"At the age of 16, I was prescribed Lexapro (escitalopram) for anxiety. My anxiety was not severe at all, however, my doctor told me that it would be good for me to take it anyway.

I initially took it for 6 months. When I wanted to stop, I experienced horrible depressive episodes that I had never had before and cognitive problems appeared.

Shortly after stopping the first time, I reinstated the medication because my doctor told me my symptoms were psychological, even though I now know that I was actually experiencing withdrawal.

This happened to me several times. Once I realized that many of my health problems were due to the medication, I decided to stop taking it for good.

Shortly after quitting, I crashed heavily and horrible PSSD symptoms started to appear. I now struggle with anhedonia, sexual dysfunction, tinnitus, cognitive problems, photophobia and depersonalization.

It has been 3 years since I crashed, and it has been very hard for me to grasp all this. I hope that my story and the stories of many others will help raise awareness of PSSD. Us sufferers should come together and help one another get through this."