Hello! I'm new here so please bear with me as I'd like to chime in and help a bro out since I have also suffered from something similar and may have some relevant advice - though I admit I didn't expect to see these kind of issues being discussed here of all places
To give you some context - I have been through a rollercoaster of both anxiety and depression/anhedonia for the past 2 years, and I have made a recovery without needing any kind of controlled medication (though I DO still need
something, more on that later).
Do note however that I am NOT a doctor, so please do take what I say with a grain of salt.
Firstly and most importantly, like the other senior bros here have said,
if your meds are not helping as much as before - get OFF them ASAP
If you take them consistently and they're not helping you feel better or their effects are waning off, then it's more than likely that it's screwing you up instead and you're better off gradually stopping the medication or just stopping cold turkey.
There are other more natural (and less controlled) methods of fixing these issues which I will explain further below.
TLDR; Addiction, anhedonia, depression or anxiety usually stems from some kind of neurotransmitter imbalance - the (im)balance of serotonin vs dopamine, which is why a lot of anxiolytic (anti-anxiety), antipsychotic, antidepressant meds all aim to work on those specific neurotransmitters and counterbalance them to one side or the other, so if you take these meds TOO often, you end up 'overtilting' the balance and you end up with other mental issues.
What worked for me - Aminos, but not like those in typical protein shakes.
(Note: you don't need to visit a doctor to buy amino supplements)
For me, I need to take the amino acid specific to either dopamine or serotonin ALONE - meaning I cannot take those supplements that give me a group of aminos.
I either take L-tyrosine to fix my dopamine levels back up, or I take L-tryptophan (or 5HTP for me) to up my serotonin (see image below for how this works).
For my case I only need to 'nudge' my serotonin back up every 4 days or so -
I don't need to take it everyday.
My problem was that I was serotonin deficient due to an over-dependency on a long term tricyclic anti-depressant I was taking, which was for migraine headaches, which I stopped using due to other issues, which THEN caused a huge rift in my serotonin supply, which also then indirectly knocked my dopamine levels down due to the see-saw effect that kinda binds all these neurotransmitters together, which THEN finally caused depression.
BUT when I took too much of what was supposed to fix my serotonin (the aminos), I get anxiety from too much of it, which was why I only take it every 4 days or so, instead of everyday. This was also proof to me that something was working from taking the aminos, albeit a little too much.
If this sounds like you, I suggest you google the 'amino acid protocol reddit' - it should take you to a reddit thread explaining how you should go about doing this. You can PM me if you need help clarifying anything from there.
However, if this does NOT sound like you: GABA is probably your root cause
I am not familiar with GABA deficiencies, but given that you've been taking benzos AND especially IF you notice that they've gotten less potent the more you take them (even though they DO work to some extent), then I highly suspect this is your root problem, because from what I understand benzos enhance the action of GABA, and similar to drugs that act on dopamine and serotonin, the more you use them, the more your body desensitizes to it and additionally also becomes dependant on it over time.
You should try googling natural methods of increasing GABA and stop taking benzos.
Try shopping for GABA supplements/vitamins.
Like dopamine/serotonin, there are also other vitamins you need along with them, like B-vitamins, magnesium, etc.
You can buy supplements (including aminos) from completely legal online shops like iherb, there's also a sg version of that site.
From what I've seen, most of their stuff ships from Korea.
Longer explanations below
The drugs that psychiatrists prescribe you NEED to be frequently dose-adjusted (with frequent visits to the psychiatrists themselves) otherwise you risk going to the opposite side of the mental illness spectrum (i.e. you go from anxiety to severe anhedonia/depression/demotivational issues or worse).
Why? Because these meds are very strong and WILL mess up your neurotransmitters if taken too much or at a too high of a dosage.
In fact, if you read the leaflets packed in most antidepressants, it will caution you that while it
is used to treat depression, it can also ironically CAUSE depression, and this is VERY true and happens more commonly than you think, which is why a lot of people have no choice but to suffer through the cycling of different medications and different dosages over several months or even years before their issues are finally brought under control.
Drug addiction is in the same ballpark as depression/anhedonia/demotivational issues - dopamine is the pleasure chemical, the more you shoot, the more dopamine your body (initially) makes, up until the point it 'gives up' because the drugs you take everyday keep providing you dopamine in excess - but the body has limiters in place and the more you use this dopamine pathway, the more its desensitized and the more amounts of drug you will need to feel the same amount of high as before, which gets harder and harder since your body has given up on making dopamine naturally, relying completely on the drug to supply it, which is why quitting the drug feels even worse and makes you want to kill yourself, because your dopamine has reached rock bottom and you no longer have the 'drive chemical', dopamine, to drive your will to live and motivate you to do things.
This also applies to other forms of addiction, like porn addiction - when you pcc multiple times a day, everyday, your next pcc will feel less and less pleasurable, to the point you NEED to pcc more often and to even more extreme content to feel any semblance of pleasure.
If any of the above sounds like you, please look up a youtube video called "anhedonia after addiction" - this will clarify a lot of what you're going through.
Additionally also keep in mind that serotonin is the fuel used for melatonin, which is important for both sleep regulation and sleep quality - i.e. if your sleep is crap you won't be able to 'heal' as quite as properly as before, and you will wake up everyday feeling like you need MORE sleep even after you've slept for 12 hours (which feels the same as sleeping 4, 6 or 8 hours of sleep if you are serotonin/melatonin deficient).
This is made worse by the fact that what lets you deal with stress is serotonin itself, and not just mental stress, bodily stress (from unhealthy foods, etc.).
All this leads to an endless cycle of your body trying to catch up and constantly failing to recover and rest, giving you all kinds of issues related to chronic stress and chronic fatigue.
Some key pointers to takeaway:
- There are natural ways to up your neurotransmitters that do not rely on controlled drugs
- Drugs that act on neurotransmitters like GABA, dopamine, serotonin CAN cause your body to build a tolerance/dependancy requiring you to stop taking it or only take it every few days or so in order to maintain maximum efficacy
- Dopamine and serotonin are two sides of the same coin, with serotonin being 'heavier' in that its precursors (trytophan) is bigger in molecular size/weight than dopamine's precursors (tyrosine)
Dopamine deficiency symptoms:
- depression
- anhedonia
- loss of motivation/fun/pleasure (what was fun feels less fun)
- loss of drive/sex drive
- cognitive issues
- memory formation/retention issues (i.e. learning issues)
Serotonin deficiency symptoms:
- anxiety (of the overwhelming kind, like the world is ending tomorrow kind)
- panic attacks
- insomnia (or oversleeping because you can never get enough sleep)
- chronic fatigue
- panic attacks
- increased susceptibility to stress (less able to cope with all kinds of stress, be it mental or bodily/toxin stress)
- increased irritability