Those who took it specifically for apathy and/or anhedonia and experienced an improvement, at what dose did it work?
I had a conversation with Gemini on the mechanisms of this medication and concluded that higher doses could be counterproductive, so more would not necessarily be better in this case (of course everyone is different)
During the adaptation process the brain is recalibrating and remodeling, so taking drugs can be counterproductive: they provide instant relief with dopamine spikes which result in noise in the process of establishing a new baseline.
Were you able to avoid alcohol and any other drugs (I would exclude coffee since it's very weak) during this time?
I am taking vortioxetine for apathy and according to ChatGPT this is the last aspect to be resolved in the recalibration process. The waiting is a bit agonic and the temptation to use my usual dopamine boosters (mainly Kratom, alcohol in social circumstances) is always there.
So I'm wondering how many of you were not strict in your compromise during the first weeks (continuing to use alcohol or other substances) and if you think that influenced the outcome.
In my case I am making a huge effort (in part because I want to stop relying on short-acting drugs to boost my mood), but after 2 weeks at 10mg I took 3g of Kratom because I had a 40-year celebration birthday and I needed to be minimally engaged. I hope I didn't boicot myself... I am now 4.5 weeks in and still resisting cravings and waiting for this to raise my baseline (the floor seems to be a bit higher, but the ceiling has not raised yet, so I'm not doing any activities for pleasure, just slightly more capable to do my obligations.