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SSRI's


Guest Emi1999

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Guest Emi1999

Hey I'm being encouraged to take prozac to reduce my stress and compulsions. However I am unsure on the side effects and the actual effectiveness of this medication. Would you suggest it? What are your experiences with SSRI's?

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Hi Emi,

Fair questions. I think the first thing I would suggest is that for each and every person the effect medication will have will vary, some will have positive responses, some negative so only until you choose to try medication will you know for sure how it will affect you.

It may well prove helpful to minimise the effect the anxiety of OCD causes you, it may take those huge spikes of anxiety and round off the edges to make them less sharp, but I don't believe medication can get rid of anxiety and it certainly does not get rid of OCD. So the person suggesting it will stop compulsions is actually wrong.

Don't get me wrong, medication can and does help some people but from an OCD perspective real change comes from therapy (CBT). Some people think the gold standard is medication and CBT together, I would not argue with that, it's a personal choice, don't rule medication out but don't expect medication to make OCD go away.

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Guest Emi1999

Thank you for your reply! I am having CBT and my therapist is wanting to start exposure however I am very fearful of it. He says medication may make it seem like a smaller deal and will make it easier, but I don't want to become reliant on medication

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I'm in the same boat. Tomorrow I'm suppose to get the recipe for Lustral. I don't want to get dependent neither. I had my first ERP session last week and not trying to scare you but it is hard. It took me nearly a day to come down from the anxiety. So it was hard at work, not letting it show. I'm not sure how much ERP I can do while working. So I also hope that the SSRI will help me. Else I will try to do some intensive ERP session during vacation, where at least I don't need to worry about making a fool out of myself at work.

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Thank you for your reply! I am having CBT and my therapist is wanting to start exposure however I am very fearful of it. He says medication may make it seem like a smaller deal and will make it easier, but I don't want to become reliant on medication

That's perhaps a fair reason to take the meds. I think with good quality CBT you wont become reliant on the meds because you learn the psychological techniques needed to address the OCD, and if you come off them slowly, and wait until you are sure you have dealt with the OCD to come off them there is no reason to suggest you will be reliant.

That said, patient choice, there is no reason to try CBT with the meds first. If it's too tough and too much you can always start meds and ask for another course of CBT.

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SSRI'S work by inhibiting serotonin re-uptake, thus providing more serotonin & changing the persons mood.

Try putting the name of the drug in the search box at the top of the page, you'll find lots of company.

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Guest EMEGirl

hi i take meds and believe me it can either be ok for some but hell for others; it depends on what you ocd is based upon and what side effects might worsen your ocd. For me having emetophobia feeling extremely sick for me was not ok and it was a month of hell but if i can get through that and i have an extreme phobia of being sick then you can do it.

i would caution you not to expect the pills to work like magic overnight as it will take a while for them to work and can help reduce your anxiety more than anything.

It different for everyone and effects everyone differently.

However if you really want to see some results my advice is you must be prepared to be strong and stick to them no matter what.

Not trying to put you off but just to warn you for me it got a hell of a lot worse before it got better.

but now they do help with my anxiety and have allowed me to go back to studying.

good luck let me know how it goes :)

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Guest Emi1999

Thank you for all your helpful replies! I think I will at least get the prescription so if I am struggling with CBT I can turn to meds for some help. I am also really fearful of being sick and I always manage to persuade myself I feel sick which usually ends in me passing out, so I don't know if these meds will give me a reason to think I feel sick. I also really hate needles so do you have to have blood tests if you take these meds?

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I've just order it. Ordering an anti depressant is kind of depressing hahahhahah. I never thought I would have to do that.

It seems like playing lottery as no one can say with certainty if you will get better of it and what side effects you will get. Please cross fingers for me so that at least the side effects won't be too bad :) Good luck to you also.

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Guest Emi1999

Thanks, they are now saying sertraline would be more effective than prozac. Does anyone know how to reduce the feelings of nausea once on this drug?

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Guest EMEGirl

Not all Meds will make you feel sick but here are some helpful tips that got me through it and I am extremely afraid of being sick .

- remember to eat small amounts of food throughout the day to keep your blood sugar up ; otherwise your body will feel worse - I found that gingerbread ; toast ; digestive biscuits were all good dry things to have and also found sucking on sweets or Lollys also helped .

- you must also drink to to keep your from getting dehydrated ; having sugary but not fizzy drinks will also help keep your sugar levels up .

- have a fan in your room to stop you from feeling too hot ; I find the cool air helps when I feel sick and can help calm you down .

- you can also ask your doctor for medication to take alongside the SSRI's one that I found really helpful was cyclizine . It really does help with the nausea ; it can make you feel sleepy though but they are really good anti sickness Meds.

- finally if you're really panicking and finding it hard explain to your doctor and getting a short course of diazepam will help you get through the worst .

Hope these were helpful

Good luck :)

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I've just order it. Ordering an anti depressant is kind of depressing hahahhahah. I never thought I would have to do that.

Ordered a medication? What do you mean? Do you mean off the internet?

It seems like playing lottery as no one can say with certainty if you will get better of it

I can, I really don't believe anyone can better from taking meds. Don't get me wrong, medication may help some manage the anxiety but it wont treat your OCD. Medication won't get rid of your OCD, only YOU can do that!

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Ashley is spot on.

I think it best to treat meds as most likely to be "water wings" to help you swim while engaging with therapy, then look to reduce them and ultimately get off them.

And there is an element of chance in whether any one will suit a particular individual.

I can't tolerate prozac re side effects but my biological sister can.

But I can manage well on Citalopram though had to start on a low dose to acclimatise first.

And those who don't really use it as a platform to really conquer their problems through CBT Inc ERP may find that when they try and come off the meds any reductions they may have enjoyed in symptoms - and not everyone may have experienced that - will fade away.

My sister tried to reduce her dose of prozac and that is exactly what happened.

Edited by taurean
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Guest Emi1999

Thank you for those tips EMEgirl they are extremely helpful and I will try them out! And Ashley and Taurean I won't take meds alone as I also have CBT but the meds will help me start exposure, so I think I will go ahead with them. Thank you all so much for helping me make this decision!

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Ordered a medication? What do you mean? Do you mean off the internet?

I can, I really don't believe anyone can better from taking meds. Don't get me wrong, medication may help some manage the anxiety but it wont treat your OCD. Medication won't get rid of your OCD, only YOU can do that!

Yes off the internet, with a recipe. It's just a online drugstore.

Edited by Tenir
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Ordered a medication? What do you mean? Do you mean off the internet?I can, I really don't believe anyone can better from taking meds. Don't get me wrong, medication may help some manage the anxiety but it wont treat your OCD. Medication won't get rid of your OCD, only YOU can do that!

What about Polar Bear? He doesnt have ocd symptoms & is on meds for his ocd. Seems it's successful for him.

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Bear ? is one of those whose OCD was extremely serious; he found the combination of SSRI plus antipsychotic took away a lot of his OCD but he needed CBT to tackle the remainder.

He understandably chooses to remain on the meds but is a champion of using CBT and tackling compulsions.

Edited by taurean
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Yes off the internet, with a recipe. It's just a online drugstore.

I wouldn't order online, I wouldnt he sure of what I was getting & there would be no person doing a personal consult ...

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I wouldn't order online, I wouldnt he sure of what I was getting & there would be no person doing a personal consult ...

Oh well, where I live this is very normal. Therapist clinics won't sell drugs. They just hand you a prescription and you can buy the product from any drugstore. So I didn't choose it myself. Although I had the option between Prozac and Zoloft, we both agreed to try Zoloft. I still haven't tried it yet. I can pick up the pills tomorrow at the post office.

I'm a bit scarred to get depressed if I have to phase it out. Being anxious is hard, but I think being depressed is at least as hard. I'm only 90% sure to start taking it. I will think about it for a bit longer.

It's a bit a blur now but I believe she said Zoloft would be easier to phase out than Prozac, if I remember correctly. The listed side effects are very similar, but from what I read I slightly prefer Zoloft.

http://www.healthline.com/health/depression/prozac-zoloft#WhoThey%E2%80%99reFor3

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Prozac_vs_Zoloft

Edited by Tenir
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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi all,

I just felt like giving an update on my medication experience.

I took my very first dose of 25mg Zoloft on a weekend. It made me feel horrible. Side effects were: drowsiness, unable to concentrate, hyperactive, insomnia, diarrhea, loss of appetite, general feeling sick, and severe headache (really it felt like a bulldozer is working up there). I immediately stopped again and tried again next weekend.

To my surprise I had very little side effects a week later on the second dose. So I've continued through the week and that was fine. Then on the weekend I've increased to 50 mg without and significant side effects showing.

I feel a bit surprised that I had such a strong reaction to the first dose. I didn't read about it.

On the first few doses I felt a positive effect. Like my brain is finally free to think by itself again. The thoughts were flowing again. Now I don't feel anything anymore.

I really hope the positive effect comes back. :clover:

Edited by Transformer
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  • 3 weeks later...

Now I had 1 week of 25mg followed by 3 weeks of 50mg. The positive effect came back twice for about two days, but not as strong as with the initial dose and disapeared again. I wonder is this normal that the effect comes and goes?

I never had any medicine like that. I thought when it once comes it will stick and just get stronger as I read it takes time to build up. Maybe my dosage still too low or I'm not taking it long enough. Any thoughts?

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