Lynz

You're welcome Malina 😊. Good luck for the future. Unfortunately I think sometimes other OCD sufferers on these forums can't look past their own perfectionist tendencies and black-and-white way of thinking about the world, so their advice tends to apply those same perfectionist rules on to other people's problems. I always try and point out that there is no perfect world and the real world doesn't work that way. If everyone waited for these perfect conditions to exist before having children then nobody would ever have children! I think also as a man Handy is speaking from a position of privilege that many women don't have when it comes to having children, which is time! In contrast we have a relatively small window of fertility in which to have children, so we can't really faff about for a few years hoping we will get magically better and for everything to be perfect before trying to have kids.

I'm trying to respectfully say that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, Handy. A large bulk of my professional experience in my job in healthcare has been with mothers and babies, many of whom have had mental health issues (the mothers). Most have handled their pregnancies and newborns well. Whereas the sum total of your experience comes from reading a few posts on a forum, which is only going to feature the small amount of people who aren't doing so well at the moment. I don't understand why you feel like you know better on this when you don't have any real life experience of this issue. And you also need to tone it down in telling women what to do about having children or not because that is not for you or anyone else to say. The OP didn't come here asking whether she should have kids or not, she came here to ask for advice on her medication. To then tell her she shouldn't have kids is completely crossing a line.

You're welcome, Catfan, and all the best for your future plans 😊

Handy I really wish you would be a bit more mindful of the things that you post. Many women with OCD get pregnant and manage it well, just like with any other health condition. OCD is not a barrier to becoming pregnant or being a good parent. The best thing is to be open with the professionals caring for you about your diagnosis and treatment and they will be able to help you. In the UK there are very good perinatal mental health services who help women with mental health problems when they are pregnant and after they've had their baby. I've looked after lots of babies whose mothers have mental health issues and they have been fantastic parents.

That's great news, congratulations Summer 👏😊

I use this app called Loona which knocks me right out haha. Some of it is free but you do have to pay for the rest, but you could try the free content first to see if it works for you before paying for it.

In the UK if a woman is pregnant who is on an SSRI they usually try and switch you to sertraline if possible, as sertraline is very safe in pregnancy. That's not to say that the others aren't safe it's just that sertraline is linked with less issues in the baby once they're born. The main issue is that babies can be born "addicted" to the SSRI that you're on, but all that means is that they may need a short stay in the neonatal unit to medically withdraw from it. I used to be a neonatal nurse and I've looked after babies who had medication withdrawal. They're normally fine after they've had their treatment and can go home with no issues. This doesn't happen in all cases but it's more likely to happen if mothers are taking an SSRI other than sertraline. There is also a possible slight increase in risk of other problems too but these aren't completely proven. In many cases not being on any SSRI at all can be riskier for the mothers health and wellbeing, which can cause more stress for the baby leading to other problems, so on balance the best thing is for the mother to continue taking them. Worsening mental health in pregnancy can also lead to postnatal depression/postnatal psychosis after the baby is born which is absolutely horrible. So in short don't worry too much about staying on your medication whilst pregnant as in most cases it's absolutely fine. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/antidepressants/antidepressants-in-pregnancy/

My post was intended to convey how concerned I am for you. I was reiterating how dangerous these infections are and I'm shocked and concerned at how your OCD has such a grip on you.

Wow. As a nurse this thread has shocked me. Avoiding taking routine antibiotics due to an OCD-based fear of getting an upset stomach, and choosing to sit with a potentially dangerous dental infection is absolutely shocking and just shows how much of a grip OCD has on you and how much it has warped your sense of reality. Untreated dental infections are so dangerous. They are a common cause of not just sepsis but also heart problems, bone infections, and blood clots. I remember reading about this poor woman who struggled to access proper dental care and due to negligence her untreated dental infection wrecked her health for the rest of her life. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/apr/20/dentists-would-not-treat-my-toothache-now-my-health-has-been-wrecked-for-ever Yes I do mean to scare you because you absolutely cannot muck about with dental infections. Please please please just take the antibiotics.

I'm sorry to hear your GP is useless. I've no idea why he won't prescribe clomipramine as that is a common enough antidepressant. Can you complain to the GP practice? Is there another GP at the practice that you can see, or can you switch practices at all? I've had difficulties with rubbish GPs myself for my endometriosis issues so I do know what that's like.

GPs can prescribe anything. If they haven't prescribed something before usually they prescribe it on the advice of a specialist, but if not then that is not normally a barrier to prescribing something. They can always prescribe and take advice later like how snowbear has described. Also private prescriptions can cost hundreds of pounds at a time, or more, depending on the particular drug. NHS prescriptions are low because the government/NHS subsidises the payment, and patients only have to pay a standard rate of £9 or whatever the amount is. I agree with snowbear's advice above. I would definitely approach your GP about a medication review first.

Summer that seems a lot of money if it's just for an assessment. I don't understand why they need to assess you considering you already have a diagnosis of OCD. The cynical part of me is wondering whether they will do an "assessment" regardless and try to justify charging you the extra money, when you don't actually need to have an assessment done.

I'm assuming Prevent are the counter-terrorism agency? As Paul said his son has been racist to people so I'm assuming that he's been accessing right wing terrorist related stuff online and that is why Prevent are involved? I could be completely wrong about that but that's how I interpreted the post, and the only agency called "Prevent" that I'm aware of is the counter terrorism one. Prevent have a duty to quite literally prevent people from committing terrorist acts, so they would get involved at the stage of trying to prevent people from actually committing any crimes but when there might be warning signs. They're quite active in schools, colleges and healthcare settings. As a nurse and teacher I've had tons of Prevent training so I'm quite familiar with it. Most people think that it's Islamic terrorism that's the main threat in the UK but there's also an equally high threat from far right terrorism as well.

Hi Summer I've only just caught up with this thread now. I'm sorry to hear about your dad but I echo what others have said so far. It's good news in that it's completely reversible and could have been so much worse. Fingers crossed that this has been a wake-up call for your dad and that he stops drinking. Often that bit is the hardest bit for many alcoholics who have been told they have stage 1 liver cirrhosis and that is to not drink again. I'm hoping he's got access to some support to stop drinking as it would be very hard for him to stay sober without that I think due to the nature of the addiction.

Same! I hated all that going out drama when I was younger and hardly went out to be honest. Now that I'm in my thirties I'm quite glad that no-one cares if I go out or not and I can just do my own thing. Never did drugs except the occasional bit of weed which I hated. I didn't get drunk much as alcohol doesn't agree with me and I tend to feel really ill after a few drinks. Basically I'm pretty boring, but happy 😅