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Hello everyone!

I would like to share with you all my recent OCD attacks I have been having lately. 

I have been driving when these have been happening. Before I took this Zoloft pill (which I believe that has triggered the problem!) I was fine on the motorway I wasn't having any of these attacks of any kind. I do have intrusive thoughts and I will circulate names in my head which is part of my obbsession with my thinking pattern, that seems to be every day now, most days. So once I took that pill I was fine and dandy, really calm and then I thought of a "unwanted thought" (think it was because I didn't have anything else to distract me) and it wasn't a very nice thought, it was a sexual thought and then out of the blue, it was like my mind had a firework explode in my head, the feeling was a sensation like a brain zap or shiver, as I have been doing research and that is what they are called. 

It has put me off driving long distances, I took the pill early last month and I have been having these brain shivers and shakes all over my body since that pill. Before I had NONE! I had to pull over in a safe place, my face was numb I was trembling and it was scary. I think I was allergic to the pill. Since then I am still having these attacks but not as bad as the first one. My last attack was last week, my arms and fingers were tense and I felt pins and needles and shakiness when I was driving, I struggled to drive further due to being scared as I could not face driving again. 

PLUS.. I am getting headaches every day is this because of the OCD??

I now take St Johns Wart and Milk Thistle for my OCD. 

I would just like to know what is causing this to happen? the pill would of been out of my body right now? 

Another person said it could be that I am having sezuires? 

Anyone else going through this? x

Edited by ButterflyBabe
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Throw the supplements out. They're useless. No supplements are advised for the treatment of OCD.

It is possible that your physical symptoms while driving are simply a byproduct of anxiety. It's sure not because of one Zoloft taken months ago.

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11 hours ago, ButterflyBabe said:

I took the pill early last month

Sertraline (Zoloft) has an elimination half life of about 24 hours, meaning 1 day after taking the pill about 50% is gone from your system.  As a general rule after 4 half lives the drug will have negligible (if any effect), so 4 days after taking the Sertraline you should no longer be feeling any effects.  1 month later?  The drug is (and has been) out of your system for some time.  Its extremely unlikely that the single dosage you took is having any effect.  If, and I mean if, any substance is causing your symptoms its more likely the St Johns Wort and Milk Thistle.  Also, it takes about a week of continuous dosage of Sertraline for the concentrations to reach and remain high enough in your blood for therapeutic effect, taking a single pill likely had little impact.
 

11 hours ago, ButterflyBabe said:

I had to pull over in a safe place, my face was numb I was trembling and it was scary. I think I was allergic to the pill. Since then I am still having these attacks but not as bad as the first one. My last attack was last week, my arms and fingers were tense and I felt pins and needles and shakiness when I was driving, I struggled to drive further due to being scared as I could not face driving again. 

To me this sounds like panic attacks, and as PB mentions are likely a result of anxiety and your reaction to it rather than an affter effect of a single dose of Sertraline. That they are continuing to happen, despite taking only the single dosage of the medication gives further evidence that it has nothing to do with that (as I describe above).  I recommend talking to your doctor or therapist about the symptoms you are experiencing, you can learn to manage and even cut off panic attacks (I know, been through them personally).

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Hello there,

Thank you for your response. 

I believe the first attack was from the Zoloft pill when I first experienced my first brain shivers, it obviously did not agree with me and I think I may have been allergic to it because my face was half numb and it obviously didn't agree with me. Before taking this pill I never had ANY attacks I was fine before, this pill caused more anxiety. 

Probably you are right about it being anxiety with the other attacks, I had one today for no apparent reason. I was anxious leaving the house because I have been suffering from really bad headaches every day and it's had an effect on my daily life routines. But when I drove I was fine, then it came on all of a sudden again, I could handle it this time as it was only small but god I do blame the medication I believe it has triggered the attacks. I haven't had panic attacks since I was 12 at school lol! So I don't know why they come on out of the blue! 

Last night I had trouble sleeping and I listened to a bit of music with my lamp on, turned it all off, then closed my eyes. Next thing my face twitches and I can't feel my lips they feel numb. I didn't feel I was in my body I felt I was floating maybe. Out of body experience maybe? I turned the light back on and felt a bit nervous as I didn't know what was happening. My head was hurting like it was swimming. Could this be a seizure or something? or a stroke? 

Today after feeling anxious, I felt better and felt I was becoming more balanced in my head (more normal) the feeling goes and gets heavy. It's all very weird. 

I am speaking to my Doctor this afternoon, maybe it's best if I have a blood test for epilepsy? 

Thanks for responding :-)

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18 hours ago, PolarBear said:

Throw the supplements out. They're useless. No supplements are advised for the treatment of OCD.

It is possible that your physical symptoms while driving are simply a byproduct of anxiety. It's sure not because of one Zoloft taken months ago.

Lol and these pharmacy drugs are better than St Johns Wart? I have heard lots of horror stories of these man made drugs and they cause more harm to your body than natural supplements. Most people can't get off them that's why they stick on them because the withdrawal symptoms are awful!

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I did not suggest you start taking meds. That is a choice you can make in consultation with a doctor.

If supplements actually did good, we'd all be taking them. The supplement industry is worth billions of dollars. They're marketed as natural but in large part it's all smoke and mirrors. It's all about profit; same as pharmaceuticals. 

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2 hours ago, ButterflyBabe said:

I think I may have been allergic

Assuming that’s the case it doesn’t explain the continued reactions we’ll past the point where the drug had left your system. 

 

2 hours ago, ButterflyBabe said:

Before taking this pill I never had ANY attacks I was fine before, this pill caused more anxiety. 

You are making a logical error here. Two events happened that MIGHT have been related but that doesn’t mean they are. People have panic attacks for no obvious reason all the time. My first panic attack came out of absolutely nowhere. It could be a complete coincidence that you had the two events on the same day. If they hadn’t continued I’d be far more likely to believe your theory that it was the Zoloft, since you only took one pill but had many subsequent panic attacks there’s plenty of reason to doubt the Zoloft had anything to do with it. Regardless the problem now is that you are having these attacks. Whether or not the Zoloft initiated the first one is irrelevant since you’ve already stopped taking them. 

2 hours ago, ButterflyBabe said:

Lol and these pharmacy drugs are better than St Johns Wart? I have heard lots of horror stories of these man made drugs and they cause more harm to your body than natural supplements

Yes, they have been proven to be better than St. John’s Wort in numerous studies. If St Johns Wort were effective companies would have taken it and isolated the specific compounds that create the benefit. Pharmaceutical company’s have no problem researching and deriving treatments from nature, why would this be the only situation where they don’t?  

Further there is nothing inherently better about coming from nature vs being man made.  Plenty of natural things are harmful if not outright deadly to people.  Arsenic for example would you rather eat a handful of arsenic or a handful of man made candies?  What about poison ivy?  Would you rather run that all over your skin or some man made plastic?  Got an infection?  We can offer you some nice belladonna on the one hand or some man made antibiotics on the other. 

Natural does not equal safe, it never has.

Pharmaceuticals have to go through rigorous testing, have to demonstrate their effectiveness, monitor and describe potential side effects and be manufactured to strict ingredient standards, ingredients that have to be disclosed.  In most countries supplements don’t have to meet ANY of those criteria.  You can’t even know that what you are getting is ACTUALLY St Johns Wort.  

Whether or not you continue to take it is 100% your choice, but the evidence is just not on your side when it comes to supplements for OCD.

 

 

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Come to think of it, if by chance you were taking St Johns Wort and Zoloft at the same time that could actually be what caused your initial problems, since the combination can result in serotonin syndrome, which happens when your serotonin levels get to high. You should never take a drug and supplements together unless you’ve cleared it with your doctor for that very reason, interactions can be very dangerous and the medication warnings all highlight this. 

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Guest OCDhavenobrain

I am not a doctor but SSRI can have. symptoms of withdrawls. Is it like because of one pill, I wont go there because I think you already are aware of likelihood and giving reassurance would be bad.

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On 04/06/2019 at 16:23, dksea said:

Come to think of it, if by chance you were taking St Johns Wort and Zoloft at the same time that could actually be what caused your initial problems, since the combination can result in serotonin syndrome, which happens when your serotonin levels get to high. You should never take a drug and supplements together unless you’ve cleared it with your doctor for that very reason, interactions can be very dangerous and the medication warnings all highlight this. 

You are spot on! I was ill and had a very heavy head last week, I couldn't sleep and I felt I did have serotonin syndrome! I bought the st johns wart from the health food store which was only sold by the shop owner that keeps it stored at the front desk because it's strong stuff. I did tell my Doctor, however the Dr's here are not advanced like they are in the States. I told my Dr about my symptoms and he couldn't understand what brain zaps were! then I repeated the same story to another doctor!

So now I have come off St Johns Wart and Milk Thistle altogether because my head was aching really badly and one night I couldn't even feel my lips, I was shaking, shivering and lost sensation in my fingers and face. So very weird. 

 

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On 04/06/2019 at 16:23, dksea said:

Come to think of it, if by chance you were taking St Johns Wort and Zoloft at the same time that could actually be what caused your initial problems, since the combination can result in serotonin syndrome, which happens when your serotonin levels get to high. You should never take a drug and supplements together unless you’ve cleared it with your doctor for that very reason, interactions can be very dangerous and the medication warnings all highlight this. 

You are spot on too! 

After the Zoloft pill, I started the other liquids a day after I believe I did have serotonin syndrome as my symptoms were shaking, forgetfulness, heavy head, numbing I also felt touch and go one evening late at night! it almost felt like a stroke maybe. I am not sure. 

Do you think I should have a MRI Brain Scan? 

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2 hours ago, ButterflyBabe said:

Do you think I should have a MRI Brain Scan? 

That would be a question best left to your doctor.  If you are no longer taking the combination of drugs and supplements that would have lead to that problem and no longer experiencing the direct symptoms of serotonin syndrome I doubt that would be necessary, but again, if you are concerned a medical professional is the best person to ask about that sort of thing.  

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On 11/06/2019 at 01:45, dksea said:

That would be a question best left to your doctor.  If you are no longer taking the combination of drugs and supplements that would have lead to that problem and no longer experiencing the direct symptoms of serotonin syndrome I doubt that would be necessary, but again, if you are concerned a medical professional is the best person to ask about that sort of thing.  

I'm not getting those symptoms anymore. Ok thank you. 

But however, I do want to ask, do any of you have any feelings in your hands when you touch your face? I do sometimes and sometimes I cannot feel anything,  I think I had Serotonin syndrome from it as I was shaky and losing feelings in my hands and lips. Or is this part of anxiety?

Thanks for reading

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3 hours ago, ButterflyBabe said:

Or is this part of anxiety?

Its probably anxiety.  I know when I am anxious I can become hyper-aware of physical sensations and worry about things that are almost certainly just normal, everyday feelings.  If you have a persistent sensation or such that is bothering you, (sorry I'm a broken record here) the best course of action would be to talk to a medical professional, but I've found that most of the time if I wait a little while and stop focusing on the physical symptom it goes away/I stop noticing it.

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On 14/06/2019 at 03:00, dksea said:

Its probably anxiety.  I know when I am anxious I can become hyper-aware of physical sensations and worry about things that are almost certainly just normal, everyday feelings.  If you have a persistent sensation or such that is bothering you, (sorry I'm a broken record here) the best course of action would be to talk to a medical professional, but I've found that most of the time if I wait a little while and stop focusing on the physical symptom it goes away/I stop noticing it.

Yes I understand where you are coming from. It must be anxiety! 

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