Med Stacked As a Teenager Until Young Adulthood, Now I'm Finding Home In A Body Once Silenced

Send us Fan MailStart with a simple premise: what if the “problem” wasn’t you, but a system that muted your body’s signals and called it care? We sit down with Rachel Reynolds—garden coach, sensitive soul, and antidepressant survivor—to trace a decade-long arc from teen prescriptions to tricyclics, stacked medications, and a side effect no one wanted to own: urinary retention so severe basic routines became a battle. Her story is candid, specific, and, ultimately, empowering.Rachel maps the medication maze—Prozac’s early lift, the slide to amitriptyline, and a carousel of add-ons and cross-tapers that never addressed root causes. We unpack how side effects get mislabeled as “anxiety,” why spironolactone for acne collides with psychiatric meds more than most realize, and how dermatology’s quick fixes can ignore inflammation, gut health, and liver load. When a self-directed taper brought withdrawal roaring in—anhedonia, nausea, sensory overwhelm—Rachel feared her personality was a pharmaceutical illusion. Instead, as she listened inward, boundaries sharpened and misaligned work fell away.The pivot came through terrain-based healing. With functional testing revealing candida overgrowth and sluggish digestion, Rachel rebuilt from the inside out: targeted diet changes (gluten and dairy off the plate), biofilm disruptors, and antifungal herbs like oregano and pau d’arco. We explore why you can’t just “starve candida,” how gut motility and neurotransmitters intertwine, and why food quality can change mood as much as it changes skin. Layer in purpose—volunteering at a co-op, learning herbalism, redesigning a business around energy rather than obligation—and her nervous system found steadier ground.This is a survivor story with takeaways you can use: signs your side effects are being overlooked, smarter questions to ask about cross-tapers and contraindications, and practical steps to support the gut-brain axis during deprescribing. If you’ve ever been told to quiet your sensitivity, consider this permission to treat it as a compass. Subscribe, share this with someone stuck in the medication loop, and leave a review with the moment that shifted your thinking. Your story could be the seed someone else needs.We're recruiting for a first-of-its-kind psychiatric medication withdrawal research study. If you've experienced psychiatric medication withdrawal, you may be eligible to participate.  Email [email protected] to learn more.  Savorista Coffee is offering our listeners 25% off their premium craft decaf and half caf blends with bold flavors, ethically sourced beans, and natural decaffeination. Small-batch roasted for exceptional taste. EUse promo code GASLIT at checkout! https://savorista.com/discount/GASLIT 💊 Ready to Deprescribe Your Psych Meds?Psych meds have harmed us—and we’re not just survivors, we’re deeply educated in psychopharmacology, psychology, and nutrition. As hosts of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, we guide people safely off psychiatric medications with strategies grounded in science and brain health🔥 You’ve been harmed. You’ve been dismissed. It’s time to take your brain back—with guidance from people who’ve been there and know their stuff.Support the showAre you tired of being gaslit and want to DEEP THROAT some more truth? We want to hear from you!  Message us your gaslit stories at [email protected] you are at it, Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube @thegaslittruthpodcast.  Be sure to Hit that subscribe button and get alerts for more episodes! Thanks for listening!Follow Us individually atDr. Teralyn:Instagram @Dr_TeralynFacebook  @DrTeralynTik Tok @Dr_TeralynTherapist Jenn: Instagram @TherapistJenTikTok @Jenn.Schmitz