Nothing is easy, and there is no free lunch with this stuff.
The Atarax (which I am taking at a lower dose, with greater frequency), *is* helping with the Dysesthesia attacks. Before I would get at least one attack that was at least a level 7 or 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, and several attacks in the 2 to 5 range. The drugs have pulled that top threshold down to a once a day level 4 or maybe level 5 attack, with several attacks that are in the 1-3 range. These smaller attacks I can manage with breathing, self-hypnosis, and temperature (ice and just walking outside.)
So… the side effects. I’m irritable, I’m having nightmares, and I have completely lost my libido. Like “whoosh” gone. It took me a sec to realize that is what had happened. But yes, that is what had happened. You win some, you loose some.
I told my therapist about it, and she said that she was frankly amazed that I managed to continue to have sex through this whole thing at all. Her comment was that between the hormonal shifts, and the physical falling apart, someone not as strong or vital or depression resistant would not have even made it this far.