Medication

[sufferer]

Hi all.

I'm just wondering if anyone can offer any advice regarding medication.

I tried to take Fluoxetine last year, which I had used without issue previously but had a HUGE crash and felt SO much worse, so stopped.

I've recently tried Mirtazipine but as well as being starving hungry (ridiculously so) it also made me very angry. I came off that too.

I feel like I need something. I am constantly sad and anxious. My anxiety atm is around my health, and that one day I won't be here I worry about how my daughter will cope etc and I fixate on it and get so sad.

Can anyone recommend medication that worked for them without the awful side effects? 

I feel so sad and lost

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I do recognize the want of medication when having OCD but have you considered CBT?

[sufferer]

I had cbt before but wasn't sure how it would work with what I'm going through right now.

My ocd is usually contamination based but after years and years I've finally beaten that, only for it to be replaced with this which is so much worse. 

I wonder if this is depression, rather than ocd. It just feels so hopeless and like the joy is gone from everything.

[taurean]

It looks like you may have "secondary depression" where the cause of the depression is the fact that the OCD has taken a new turn. I.e. The new OCD theme is the cause of the depression. 

I take Citalopram currently. 20mg per day helped me through a very tricky patch with the secondary depression, and I am now looking to gradually decrease it to 10 mg with a view to come off it altogether in good time as I am doing well with the OCD. 

The Citalopram had some initial side effects to me but I managed to get over them. I believe there is a more expensive version, Escitalopram which the NHS may pay for if sufferers struggle to take the Citalopram because of side effects, and has apparently little side effects. 

But the best thing is to perhaps understand that, whatever theme our OCD takes, it still works the same way - based on a false, exaggerated or revulsive core belief. 

Uncover that core belief - with help from here if you need it - and you can apply the usual CBT methodology to challenge and minimise it, render it benign. 

But also bear in mind that with themes such as harm, paedophile, relationships, sexual preference what the OCD may also be doing is attacking our real true character values and alleging the opposite could be true, causing disorder through anxiety and distress. 

Hope this helps 

Roy 

Edited April 27, 2019 by taurean

[margarita!]

Hi sufferer,

I'm sorry that you're not feeling very well atm.

I'm taking sertraline and I have no side effects. Sertraline is an antidepressant and, as my psychiatrist explained, it doesn't target OCD directly but rather the depression often associated with OCD. It takes off the anxiety and it makes it easier to deal with OCD obstacles. I'm satisfied with how sertraline works for me and I never had any negative issues with it.

That being said, there are a couple of things I want to mention: as with most antidepressants, it takes several weeks before you start seeing positive effects, which means that you'll have to stick with it for sometime. Also, OCD medication is usually a trial-and-error process, which sadly means that what worked for one OCD sufferer might not work for another so you might have to keep trying different drugs until you find the one that works for you.

Hope you feel better soon.

Edited April 27, 2019 by margarita!

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

50 minutes ago, sufferer said:

I had cbt before but wasn't sure how it would work with what I'm going through right now.

My ocd is usually contamination based but after years and years I've finally beaten that, only for it to be replaced with this which is so much worse. 

I wonder if this is depression, rather than ocd. It just feels so hopeless and like the joy is gone from everything.

It will work. Otherwise nobody would recover from CBT. OCD will not let itself be beaten that easily, if you couldn't recover from whatever you are obsessing about now everybody with OCD would end up with your obsession.

I would like to advice you to give CBT a chance.  I have only taken sertraline, escitalopram and citalopram. Beside having nasty side effects it also took years for me to being able to stop taking them. Do not let yourself be unreserved convinced by the preachers of medication against OCD, they are often the same people who doesn't recpgnize CBT. But the data seems to say that CBT wins the fight. Do not let yourself be convinced just because it is what most doctors advice against OCD, I would personally like to downplay their authority on the matter.

Edited April 27, 2019 by OCDhavenobrain

[sufferer]

2 hours ago, taurean said:

But the best thing is to perhaps understand that, whatever theme our OCD takes, it still works the same way - based on a false, exaggerated or revulsive core belief. 

Uncover that core belief - with help from here if you need it - and you can apply the usual CBT methodology to challenge and minimise it, render it benign.

Thank you Taurean,

What I struggle with is that with contamination ocd, if no contamination had taken place, then no ocd flare up. Whereas with this new theme, it's just a fact that one day I won't be here, and my daughter will have to deal with that, and I don't know how to deal with that. I just feel there's no escape.

I guess it's ocd because this is something that every parent faces, but most don't obsess over it. But now it's in my head it's all I think about.

I'm so glad to hear you're doing well. Long may it continue.

[sufferer]

2 hours ago, margarita! said:

there are a couple of things I want to mention: as with most antidepressants, it takes several weeks before you start seeing positive effects, which means that you'll have to stick with it for some time.

Hi Margarita,

Thank you. I struggle to get through the initial 'worse before it gets better' part of medication, but I know it's necessary. I feel if I was in a better headspace it would be easier, but then maybe I wouldn't need meds at all. Such a toughie.

[sufferer]

2 hours ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

But the data seems to say that CBT wins the fight.

Thank you OCDhavenobrain,

I had cbt before which did work, though for an entirely different type of ocd. I did find it worked though. I'd certainly give it a try again if it were offered.

[leif]

Really sorry you are feeling so bad  

6 hours ago, sufferer said:

I had cbt before which did work, though for an entirely different type of ocd. I did find it worked though. I'd certainly give it a try again if it were offered.

Does that mean you have no access to counselling at the moment? I would think that even if you do opt for meds that counselling would be a good idea to have as well.

9 hours ago, margarita! said:

I'm taking sertraline and I have no side effects.

I also use sertraline and also have had no side effects. I started at a very low dose and worked up slowly--not sure if that helped with the side effects or not.

9 hours ago, margarita! said:

Also, OCD medication is usually a trial-and-error process, which sadly means that what worked for one OCD sufferer might not work for another so you might have to keep trying different drugs until you find the one that works for you.

Yes it is too bad, but that does seem to be the case. I know the first medication I tried made me quite jittery and interfered with my sleep. I was happy when I found the sertraline had a truly calming effect for me. But yes can be different for each person.

 

I really hope you find something that works for you soon--be it meds, or counselling, or both!

wishing you well.

 

[sufferer]

42 minutes ago, leif said:

Really sorry you are feeling so bad  

Does that mean you have no access to counselling at the moment? I would think that even if you do opt for meds that counselling would be a good idea to have as well.

Hi Leif,

Thanks for your reply.

I have a DR appt tmrw and will ask about counselling, they've been pretty good at providing it in the past.

I'm going to ask about sertraline too.

Hope you're doing ok too.

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

11 hours ago, sufferer said:

Thank you OCDhavenobrain,

I had cbt before which did work, though for an entirely different type of ocd. I did find it worked though. I'd certainly give it a try again if it were offered.

Yes please try to get some more CBT. Atleast try your hardest tobditch this notion that your kind of obsession is inpossible to get rid of. That is just not true, OCD-sufferers will always make up stories where something makes it not OCD. You are allowed to do so but you are just wasting your life away doing it. 

Edited April 28, 2019 by OCDhavenobrain

[sufferer]

14 minutes ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

Yes please try to get some more CBT. Atleast try your hardest tobditch this notion that your k

Kind of obsession is inpossible to get rid of. That is just not true, OCD-sufferer will always make up stories where somethibg makes it not OCD. You are allowed to do so but you are just wasting your life away doing it. 

I know what you mean. My issue is that my current obsession is with my own mortality and that one day I won't be here, which is a fact, and no amount of meds or cbt will change that fact. 

Other things I used to obsess over seem silly and trivial now, but I can't move past this one, because it's true

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

7 minutes ago, sufferer said:

I know what you mean. My issue is that my current obsession is with my own mortality and that one day I won't be here, which is a fact, and no amount of meds or cbt will change that fact. 

Other things I used to obsess over seem silly and trivial now, but I can't move past this one, because it's true

Well yes that is true. We will all die, obsessing abour it won't change that fact. Actually, you are afraid of not living therefore you are obsessing about not living, which makes your current life miserable.

Death will come, death is the ultimate uncertainty. I know that when somethings hapöen to me it makes me angry because I feel like I lose control. But that is a fact we have to handle, we don't know when it will happen and trying to control life will only make you have less control.

Edited April 28, 2019 by OCDhavenobrain

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

Something I have found uselful when I get lost to rumination is to try to catch the moment. For me that can be training or studying because then you get a perspective on time. I often find myself drifting away and it often end up with depression and anxiety. 

 Often you hear sufferer complaining about how free time makes them worse.

Edited April 28, 2019 by OCDhavenobrain

[sufferer]

19 minutes ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

Often you hear sufferer complaining about how free time makes them worse.

This is so true. I tend to keep busy during the day but as soon as I have a quiet moment my mind starts racing and that awful churning feeling comes back in my stomach.