How it went
Did it last?
- 7 of 22 said the benefit wore off (including the 5 who relapsed).
- 2 of 22 needed to keep doing it to stay well.
Read from what people wrote. A story that ends without a follow-up counts as lasting, so treat these as minimums.
| Outcome described | Accounts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Full recovery | 4 | 18% |
| Near-full | 2 | 9% |
| Substantial | 4 | 18% |
| Partial | 6 | 27% |
| Relapsed | 5 | 23% |
| No benefit | 1 | 5% |
By how ill people were
| Severity at worst | How it went | n | Recovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate | 4 | 50% | |
| Severe | 7 | 29% | |
| Very severe | 6 | 33% |
5 accounts don’t say how ill the person was.
Who published these accounts
Right-hand number: share describing a full or near-full recovery. Pages that sell something, and advocacy sites, tend to publish only the successes.
How often it comes up
Posts that mention SSRIs and antidepressants, per 1,000 posts each year. Hover a point for the count.
Show as a table
| Year | Posts mentioning it | All posts | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 0 | 184 | 0.0 |
| 2010 | 1 | 682 | 1.5 |
| 2011 | 5 | 704 | 7.1 |
| 2012 | 15 | 1,491 | 10.1 |
| 2013 | 40 | 1,708 | 23.4 |
| 2014 | 8 | 2,352 | 3.4 |
| 2015 | 26 | 2,158 | 12.0 |
| 2016 | 7 | 1,431 | 4.9 |
| 2017 | 48 | 3,110 | 15.4 |
| 2018 | 22 | 2,201 | 10.0 |
| 2019 | 7 | 1,075 | 6.5 |
| 2020 | 63 | 2,581 | 24.4 |
| 2021 | 22 | 1,867 | 11.8 |
| 2022 | 9 | 1,166 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 15 | 1,000 | 15.0 |
| 2024 | 24 | 1,237 | 19.4 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1,019 | 5.9 |
| 2026 (so far) | 8 | 840 | 9.5 |
Posts in the forum threads we archived, 26,806 in all, counted per year. A mention means the post names the treatment, not that the writer took it. These threads all contain a recovery story, so they show what those communities discussed, not everyone with ME/CFS or long COVID. All trends
All 22 accounts
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How I got in remission/cured my ME/CFS
Ali_Mardiyev, disabled for 1.5 years with POTS/dysautonomia/severe fatigue/PEM, layered a stellate ganglion block with beta-blocker, a testosterone course, several psychiatric medications, intermittent fasting and a slow graded-exercise ramp starting April…
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories (thread)
Blazer95 moved from moderate-severe to moderate ME/CFS after 3 weeks on citalopram, with less pain and enough function for minor chores; citing published research on citalopram reducing endotoxin-induced fatigue and cytokine production as a possible…
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Martin's Paradoxical Temporary ME/CFS Remission Story
Martin became ill after EBV reactivation, Lyme disease and food poisoning, and was bedbound for the last three of his ten years of illness with severe post-exertional malaise. Lyrica, benzodiazepines, tianeptine, quetiapine, rapamycin and methylprednisolone…
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Losing a whole year - my Long COVID story
D.C. Elton tried a series of psychiatric medications for sleep and mood — Lexapro starting at 1 mg, trazodone escalated from 10 mg to 150 mg nightly (ineffective at any dose), sublingual Ambien, Remeron 10-15 mg (caused daytime sedation), and Wellbutrin 75…
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Bromelain+NAC are really helpful to me
Took 600mg NAC plus 1000mg bromelain (1200 GDU) twice daily on an empty stomach for pre-COVID-onset ME/CFS, for 12 days before stopping due to insomnia. By day 5 reported "more energy, less brainfog, less joint pain and just felt better overall," and notes…
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An ME/CFS Expert Helps a Long-COVID Patient Recover
A nineteen-year-old developed POTS and mast cell symptoms after a mild PCR-confirmed COVID infection, leaving him with a wellness score of 45 out of 100 and out of in-person classes for about fifteen months. Under Dr Peter Rowe at Johns Hopkins he was…
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Impact of extended-course Paxlovid in established Long COVID (Case 11)
Case 11, a 33-year-old woman roughly three years into severe Long COVID/ME since March 2020, initially bedridden and dependent on caregivers and later "mostly housebound," had a 5-day Paxlovid course in May 2022 that brought significant improvement, ending…
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Robyn Dale
Robyn's treatment combined short courses of propranolol, zopiclone and diazepam early on with medium-term amitriptyline for insomnia, mood and muscle spasms, alongside daily walking, yoga, meditation and graded activity. She crashed severely in December 2021…
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Robyn Dale
Robyn was prescribed short-term propranolol for heart arrhythmia and palpitations, at doses that were increased despite her objections, short-term zopiclone and diazepam to help her rest, and medium-term amitriptyline for insomnia, mood, and to stop cluster…
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List of ME/CFS Recovery and Improvement Stories (page 6 discussion)
msf went from mostly housebound to functionally healthy - full-time work, a social life and strenuous exercise with minimal PEM - crediting a combination of KDM-directed treatments, trazodone, a low-FODMAP diet, ALA and Chinese skullcap. No single component…
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One week remission with an SSRI?
Bupropion produced roughly two weeks of remission from brain fog specifically, which then "mysteriously disappeared" and never returned, even after a later break from the drug and restarting it -- a symptom-specific improvement that faded and could not be…
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One week remission with an SSRI?
Citalopram 10mg (raised to 20mg after a week) was followed by "all my CFS/ME symptoms had disappeared, the whole suite of them" for about a week. A week later "all those missing symptoms piled back on," triggering a two-day crash before stabilizing back at…
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The Strange Cases of ME Remissions Induced by SSRIs
After 4-5 years of illness marked by significant neurological disability, started sertraline 200mg in 1992 and improved to roughly 70% functioning. The benefit did not last: "then I went into relapse and seemed to get no benefit," and around two dozen other…
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The Strange Cases of ME Remissions Induced by SSRIs
Before starting a standard NHS starting dose of fluoxetine, could not walk normally; on the drug, became able to walk several miles and navigate busy town centres with clearer thinking - a level of function not matched again in the 20 years since. Had to…
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Diet makes the biggest difference for Alexandra
Alexandra, a 26-year-old nurse when she first fell ill after flu, recovered initially but then relapsed severely for seven years, becoming mostly home- and bed-bound. She tried amitriptyline, which eventually made things worse, and used the mind-body…
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Louise Finds One Thing That Turns Life Around
Louise, who had a prior history of anxiety and depression, developed post-viral fatigue after stress-induced poor sleep escalated into flu-like symptoms, severe muscle and joint pain and a sore throat that left her unable to work. Amitriptyline, rest,…
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Clindamycin is a miracle drug for my CFS/ME/POTS/Fibromyalgia symptoms
Took clindamycin 300mg three times daily for 10 days on two separate occasions, once for a tooth infection and once for a throat infection. Reported it helped "tremendously with ALL of my diagnoses" (CFS, POTS, fibromyalgia and others), to the point of not…
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Dr. Smith Does It Again: University Student Returns to Health by Pacing
Heather, a university student, became severely ill in the early-to-mid 1990s and was eventually lying in bed 23 hours a day. Under Dr David Smith's meticulous pacing protocol, which initially limited any activity to ten minutes, plus very low doses of…
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3 Things that Help the Most!!
Uses amitriptyline solely for sleep and reports a "massive difference" as a result. The improvement is limited to sleep rather than overall ME/CFS symptoms, stated with clear attribution and no mention of fading.
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St Johns wort?
St John's Wort, including a New Chapter brand product, was tried more than once by this ME/CFS patient without any noticeable benefit on its own. Illness duration before starting is not stated, and doses are not specified. She notes a possible mild benefit…
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Eight Things I've Tried That Haven't...
Fluvoxamine, dose unstated, taken for close to four months as part of a broader protocol meant to address lingering post-viral inflammation. She had long COVID for about 3.5 years at the time of writing, with significant but non-bedbound functional…
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New sleep medication belsomra
Belsomra (suvorexant): 15mg taken every other night, alternated with 100mg trazodone, after finding a full 20mg dose caused more next-day sedation. She had long-term insomnia associated with her ME/CFS before trying it. At the lower every-other-night dose…