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I tried it and it had no effect. 

But taking vitamin and mineral supplements, eating a healthy diet, exercising sensibly and making sure I get enough sleep helps me as I feel fitter, burn off unwanted stress hormones,  feel happier and more able to maintain therapy. 

What also greatly helps me is when I achieve mindfulness - switching into mindfulness, just focusing in the here and now, in the moment, shuts off my obsessing and compulsing and helps me ease intrusions away. 

 

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An example of the mindfulness in action. 

I helped my wife around the home yesterday morning, then we engaged with separate activities, with me going to our health club to relax in the spa pool, shower then have a light lunch in the club cafe whilst reading the paper and listening to classic fm on my mini pocket digital radio. 

From the time I left home to the time I returned I was in a mindful state - my mind in calm zone just noticing where I was and what I was doing - in the spa pool I spent a blissful half hour purely in stasis, my mind empty and relaxed and so too my body, just noting and enjoying the sensations when the water jets periodically fired up. 

It takes work to learn to enter the mindfulness zone, but in it the past is forgotten, the future not thought about, and obsessions ruminating and worrying are left behind in the thinking "doing" part of the brain. 

For me, it's the nearest thing available to us representing a  means to mentally switch off OCD. 

I imagine this is why some of the later versions of OCD therapy now incorporate mindfulness training.

 

Edited by taurean
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Guest OCDhavenobrain

Dont take thos road.

It can very possible become an obsession in itself.

Starting to look for new supplements or trying to figure out if the supplement is working and so on.

 

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20 hours ago, taurean said:

IWhat also greatly helps me is when I achieve mindfulness - switching into mindfulness, just focusing in the here and now, in the moment, shuts off my obsessing and compulsing and helps me ease intrusions away. 

This. Mindfulness and chamomile or green tea.

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13 hours ago, MusicinNY said:

Supplements do nothing but make your wallet slimmer.

I beg to differ on that - a quality vitamin and mineral supplement makes sure that our body gets valuable nutrition - which gets depleted during periods of stress anxiety and not eating properly. 

This can help us regain our physical and mental equilibrium ; and when we feel fitter like that we can engage with CBT therapy better.

So not a direct treatment for OCD, but a very valuable contribution to aid treatment. 

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Hi Everyone,

Thank you for the replies. I was just wondering whether it was effective because I know it is supposed to affect glutamate levels in the brain and that there is some research suggesting that OCD sufferers have different levels of glutamate in their CNS. I've only read one double-blind study of NAC for OCD and it indicated that it was not effective as a treatment for OCD but there's not much research into its use. I'm wondering whether there will be any better medicines, which affect the Glutamatergic system rather than the serotonergic system in the future.

I do think it's possible to waste time and money on (researching and purchasing respectively) supplements and alternative remedies HOWEVER sometimes they can be useful. St John's Wort for example can be really useful as a treatment for mild depression and is thought to work in a similar way to SSRIs- the fact that there has not be quite as much research into some remedies does not mean that they do not have the potential to improve psychiatric symptoms.

Homeopathy is useless as it only involves very very dilute quantities of substances but other alternative/herbal remedies and vitamin supplements do have the potential to help.

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Guest OCDhavenobrain

ERP have a muuuch higher successrate, why not try that instead?

 

If a supplememt works will it get classified and i dont even think medicines work, because with work do i mean that you face OCD. You will probably get periods when you dont have obessesions but you still have OCD ifnthe themes just went away of some external reason

 

 

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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  • 1 year later...
Guest OCDhavenobrain

I am trying this from tomorrow. There are more and more studies who says that this works. 

They have narrowed it downed and they are seeing that people with OCD have higher inflammation in one part of the brain. I know that there is no magic cure but I got so depressed this weekend and I fear this winter so much so I will do what I can to avoid further rumination. 


I also have to disagree that medication would be some kind of a magic cure.. SSRI... well they are not really that useful when it comes to OCD, this however shows good numbers, also heard that OCD have the lowest Placebo-effect in studies, so they fact that this seems to work in some studies could say a little bit about the situation.

Obviously there is something in the brain which we in the future will be able to adress and fix this right away, the problem is what exactly that is and what remedy we need to apply. 

 

Take care everybody

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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On 03/04/2017 at 05:43, BelAnna said:

St John's Wort for example can be really useful as a treatment for mild depression and is thought to work in a similar way to SSRIs- the fact that there has not be quite as much research into some remedies does not mean that they do not have the potential to improve psychiatric symptoms.

St. Johns Wort has shown some effect on mild depression but its also potentially very dangerous, and is not recommended under NICE (for the UK) or NIH (US) guidelines.

https://www.nice.org.uk/donotdo/although-there-is-evidence-that-st-john-s-wort-may-be-of-benefit-in-mild-or-moderate-depression-practitioners-should-not-prescribe-or-advise-its-use-by-people-with-depression-because-of-uncertainty

While its always possible that new discoveries will be made and research into treatments involving substances such as St. Johns wort continue, you should be VERY careful about the supplements you take as they usually are much less regulated and the effects are much less understood.

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On 03/04/2017 at 03:00, taurean said:

I beg to differ on that - a quality vitamin and mineral supplement makes sure that our body gets valuable nutrition - which gets depleted during periods of stress anxiety and not eating properly. 

This can help us regain our physical and mental equilibrium ; and when we feel fitter like that we can engage with CBT therapy better.

So not a direct treatment for OCD, but a very valuable contribution to aid treatment. 

I agree 100% with what Taurean says (as is often the case).  Good physical health through diet, exercise, and proper nutrition can greatly benefit your mental health. Proper supplements taken for the proper reasons with a good understanding of their use and safety can help.  But it is important to remember, as much as we wish it were different, that there is no magic bullet for OCD among such things.  Even medication for OCD isn't a cure.  I highly highly HIGHLY recommend talking with your doctor before taking any kind of supplement as part of any OCD treatment regimen ESPECIALLY if you are on medication for OCD (or anything else really).  Its understandable to reach out for any possible help when you are suffering, but that doesn't mean any thing you find is worth the risk.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest OCDhavenobrain

It is definitely working to some extent. I once got that feeling of someone holding my back when I was on SSRI, like I could move on without doubting. 

I have this feeling now again but stronger. HOWEVER it is not optimal becauce NAC and other antioxidants could benefit cancergrowth in the body but it is defintely helping me to some extent. 

Instead of that feeling of always needing to be somewhere with my thoughts do I feel content with just moving on. 

I would bet my money on glutamate having a role in all of this (OCD). All of this could be placebo or just something else but I don't think so because it is more of that kind of feeling of being able to move on even if the thoughts was there in the beginning. 

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest OCDhavenobrain

Ran out of it for a week took it again and it is like I am getting this zoom. *zoom* *zzoom*

 

Guys and girls do you also get tired when it is winter? I am not gonna sit here and talk about SAD because I have done it enough. Also I don't know why I haven't bought one of those lights yet, it costs around 50 dollars and I really do think that I do have SAD to some extent. But the theory is that if you are living where there are bright year round you won't get winter-sadness? That seems very unfair to me, well life is not fair. End of that story.


Take care everybody.

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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