Going through a bit of crisis any help greatly appreciated (merged threads)

[john1978]

Hi I have been on mertazapine 15mg for the past year and a half and would say I felt fully recovered only in the past 2 weeks I have noticed an increase in my anxiety and ocd thought have come back just as strong the med is still helping me sleep but just feel like ocd symptoms coming back after over a year and a half feeling normal is it something I am doing or not doing went to my gp and he suggested changing meds I said lexapro didn’t work for me last time so he gave me 6 months of my current meds any help or advice greatly appreciated thank you 

[snowbear]

Hi John,

Periods of 'normality' and relapse aren't uncommon in untreated OCD.

Medication can only do so much. If your symptoms have increased again it suggests you need to do more work on the CBT side. Simply switching medications is at best a temporary stop gap, but unless you change the underlying problem (the OCD thinking) symptoms will always recur eventually no matter what medication you take. 

Are you receiving any CBT for your OCD? 

[john1978]

On 21/12/2017 at 23:15, snowbear said:

Hi John,

Periods of 'normality' and relapse aren't uncommon in untreated OCD.

Medication can only do so much. If your symptoms have increased again it suggests you need to do more work on the CBT side. Simply switching medications is at best a temporary stop gap, but unless you change the underlying problem (the OCD thinking) symptoms will always recur eventually no matter what medication you take. 

Are you receiving any CBT for your OCD? 

Hi Snowbear I was doing an online CBT which I found helped before it’s just weird how I was doing so well for so long and would have the odd little blip now and then but then be able to continue on with my day and forget the ocd thought to be honest I felt at my best when I was taking seroquel and the mertazapine together but wen I decided I felt strong enough I weened off the seroquel and felt okay I could sense that I was a bit more susceptible to a bit of anxiety on the mertazapine alone but I was able to practice ERP and move my focus on and be present 100% in what was happening around me it’s Christmas obviously at the moment and decided to have a few drinks yesterday probably going to pay for it today I don’t take my med if I do decide to have one or two drinks I am going to check out a few online cbt programs hopefully it will get things moving in a happier direction.Thanks for replying to me Snowbear much appreciated I hope all is going well with u and happy Christmas any advice is greatly appreciated 

[john1978]

Really in need of some help and advice please I’ve really struggled through these last 6 weeks I just found I had a massive increase in my anxiety and ocd symptoms 4-6 weeks ago and my sleeping is very bad since also . My wife noticed my mood is awful the past few weeks too. I have struggled with Ocd and anxiety Most of my life and recently added depression and insomnia to it also in response to Snowbears advice I signed up for a proper CBT course yesterday which I hope will help . If I am totally honest when I was in crisis over 2 years ago I went to my doc who prescribed lexapro (it affects everyone differently it works brilliant for a lot of people) just made me extremely worse I couldn’t handle the adjustment period so I changed to mirtazapine which I started taking on the doctors advice while weening off the mertazapine during this period I started to feel more balanced and my mood started to lift this was a slow process over 2-3 months I had started in outpatient clinic with the psychologist in the local mental health clinic around this time also they asked me to add seroquel 50mg with the mertazapine 15mg which I found greatly helped me sleep soundly all night and honestly balanced me out completely I am married over 4 years now and had a baby boy in our 2nd year married and towards the end of that year I started having bad nights sleep then anxiety then ocd spiraled then started my treatment but of course my wife and I wanted more children and my wife saw I was on medication and thought it would affect our chances or the health of the babies which is not the case I know now anyway I decided to cut down and out the seroquel and continue on with the mirtazapine 15mg on it’s own and honestly initially I found my sleep would be slightly less sound it was a lighter sleep but if I woke I could return to sleep all up to 6 weeks ago . I went to the doctor 6 weeks ago and probably should have been more honest with him I kinda made out I was handling it a lot better than I am he asked me if I wanted to try a different med but I said I’d stick with the mirtazapine my sleep has been awful the last few weeks and anxiety ocd and mood really suffering any help or advice greatly appreciated 

[john1978]

Really in need of some help and advice please I’ve really struggled through these last 6 weeks I just found I had a massive increase in my anxiety and ocd symptoms 4-6 weeks ago and my sleeping is very bad since also . My wife noticed my mood is awful the past few weeks too. I have struggled with Ocd and anxiety Most of my life and recently added depression and insomnia to it also in response to Snowbears advice I signed up for a proper CBT course yesterday which I hope will help . If I am totally honest when I was in crisis over 2 years ago I went to my doc who prescribed lexapro (it affects everyone differently it works brilliant for a lot of people) just made me extremely worse I couldn’t handle the adjustment period so I changed to mirtazapine which I started taking on the doctors advice while weening off the mertazapine during this period I started to feel more balanced and my mood started to lift this was a slow process over 2-3 months I had started in outpatient clinic with the psychologist in the local mental health clinic around this time also they asked me to add seroquel 50mg with the mertazapine 15mg which I found greatly helped me sleep soundly all night and honestly balanced me out completely I am married over 4 years now and had a baby boy in our 2nd year married and towards the end of that year I started having bad nights sleep then anxiety then ocd spiraled then started my treatment but of course my wife and I wanted more children and my wife saw I was on medication and thought it would affect our chances or the health of the babies which is not the case I know now anyway I decided to cut down and out the seroquel and continue on with the mirtazapine 15mg on it’s own and honestly initially I found my sleep would be slightly less sound it was a lighter sleep but if I woke I could return to sleep all up to 6 weeks ago . I went to the doctor 6 weeks ago and probably should have been more honest with him I kinda made out I was handling it a lot better than I am he asked me if I wanted to try a different med but I said I’d stick with the mirtazapine my sleep has been awful the last few weeks and anxiety ocd and mood really suffering any help or advice greatly appreciated 

[Em24]

Sorry to hear you are struggling right now. I think the only adevice I can give is to book yourself in with the Dr again and be completely honest with them.

It's OK to struggle sometimes, they will have heard it all before ☺

X

[snowbear]

16 hours ago, john1978 said:

I went to the doctor 6 weeks ago and probably should have been more honest with him I kinda made out I was handling it a lot better than I am

any help or advice greatly appreciated 

I'm afraid I'm going to state the obvious, John. You need to go back to your GP and be totally honest and open with him. Doctors make the best decision for you based on the information you give them, but they aren't mind readers!

Nobody here is qualified to advise on medication and it's so individual anyway that even if another forum user was on the same treatment what's right for them might not be right for you. 

Good news that you've signed up for a course of CBT. That's the ticket to sorting this all out in the longer term.