Medication and recovery?

[Baxter27]

So I only joined the forum yesterday and this will be my third post so I apologise!  This OCD  absolutely ruined the first 9 weeks of my   enjoying my sons life .. (all started after he was in neonatal)  

 

 Anyway just wondering any tips for recovery?? And what is everyone's medication and mg? I've just started on paraoxtine but only 5mg for a week then to 10mg as it sends my anxiety through the roof xx

[PolarBear]

Asking others what meds they are on is pointless. The reason is that meds are a crapshoot. Some people do well on them, some get some help and for others they are the devil's spawn. In addition, a med that works for me may not work for you.

You have to try one and see what happens. Generally, smaller to medium size doses of SSRIs are prescribed for general anxiety while OCD sufferers usually are prescribed medium to high doses. Always starting low and working up to higher doses.

[Baxter27]

1 hour ago, PolarBear said:

Asking others what meds they are on is pointless. The reason is that meds are a crapshoot. Some people do well on them, some get some help and for others they are the devil's spawn. In addition, a med that works for me may not work for you.

You have to try one and see what happens. Generally, smaller to medium size doses of SSRIs are prescribed for general anxiety while OCD sufferers usually are prescribed medium to high doses. Always starting low and working up to higher doses.

Oo okay thank you.    Xx

[seekingERPnorthwest]

My personal advice would be (with agreement of the doc) not to continue with the paroxetine. I have taken antidepressants for 17 years, including paroxetine. There are many reasons why this is my opinion. You are starting on the minimum dose and if you tolerate it you will be able to gradually increase it. But if / when you decide you want to stop it then you have to decrease it gradually, not stop abruptly. I would personally try to see if you could feel better with the CBT, and delay starting antidepressants if you can. Apparently another option for anxiety medication is beta-blockers, but I haven't tried them. 

If you do continue with paroxetine, please, please, please arrange with someone you trust and / or your prescriber to help you monitor any suicidal thoughts you have. I personally had a very bad experience with paroxetine, but presumably it does benefit some people.

Oh, one more thing. Those questionnaires you do in the doctors - some are sponsored / designed by pharmaceutical companies to get patients to use their drugs... 

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

 

 

 

1 minute ago, seekingERPnorthwest said:

My personal advice would be (with agreement of the doc) not to continue with the paroxetine. I have taken antidepressants for 17 years, including paroxetine. There are many reasons why this is my opinion. You are starting on the minimum dose and if you tolerate it you will be able to gradually increase it. But if / when you decide you want to stop it then you have to decrease it gradually, not stop abruptly. I would personally try to see if you could feel better with the CBT, and delay starting antidepressants if you can. Apparently another option for anxiety medication is beta-blockers, but I haven't tried them. 

If you do continue with paroxetine, please, please, please arrange with someone you trust and / or your prescriber to help you monitor any suicidal thoughts you have. I personally had a very bad experience with paroxetine, but presumably it does benefit some people.

Oh, one more thing. Those questionnaires you do in the doctors - some are sponsored / designed by pharmaceutical companies to get patients to use their drugs... 

I don't think that is a bad reservation. In Sweden you can see if the doctor is "bought" takes some work but it is possible. I would figure it is much more common in let's say USA that the doctor is bought.

[Handy]

I’d give it 12 weeks. A lot of people say their anxiety rises at the start that’s how meds affect people. 

Anyway, I don’t believe you should take medication without throughly discussing what is going to happen first. Including side effects.  

Do you exercise? Lots of users says it works great. 

[dksea]

11 hours ago, Baxter27 said:

Anyway just wondering any tips for recovery?? And what is everyone's medication and mg? I've just started on paraoxtine but only 5mg for a week then to 10mg as it sends my anxiety through the roof xx

CBT therapy is the primary tool for recovery.  Though it can be done on your own, its going to be more effective working with a qualified mental health professional.

Medication is absolutely an option and overall it provides strong benefits as well.  However as PB and others note, the effects can vary quite a bit from person to person.  Unfortunately the only way to know what works well for you and what doesn't is to try it.  It sounds like your doctor is taking the right approach, starting slowly and gradually working up.  For most people it will take a few weeks to really get any significant benefits from SSRIs like Paroxitine.  The reason being that they start to be processed out of your body as time passes.  So even though you take a 5 mg pill on day 1, but the end of the day only half the medicine is still in your body.  If you take another pill by the end of the second day you have half the second pill and 1/4 the first pill.   The exact rates and processing are a little more complex, but the overall idea is that taking the drugs over a long enough period of time will get your body in a kind of steady state, where the level of medication remains high enough all the time to be effective without ever being TOO high as to cause significant problems.  Unfortunately as with all drugs side effects are possible, and for SSRIs some of those side effects can involve increased anxiety at first.  Your body is adjust to the new medication and the changing levels of serotonin in your brain.  Keep in contact with your doctor and let them know how your symptoms progress, but if at all possible you'll want to try and wait up to 12 weeks to have an accurate idea of how the medicine will affect you (both good and bad) long term.  If the symptoms don't improve significantly or there are significant side effects you can slowly come off one drug and try another.  There are 5-6 SSRIs currently used for treating OCD, and people respond differently to each of them.  You have many options at your disposal so try and be patient as much as you can.

[leif]

13 hours ago, dksea said:

CBT therapy is the primary tool for recovery.  Though it can be done on your own, its going to be more effective working with a qualified mental health professional.

I agree--meds or not, be sure to engage with the CBT. And i would add that even if you do access a professional, i would also recommend getting an OCD workbook that uses CBT. It's really helpful to understand the whole idea behind CBT. I found the books more helpful than any of the counsellors i ended up being able to access.

I feel for you just having a new baby and then having to cope with this. I hope you have a lot of supports around you to help you deal with the caring of a new baby. People to make you meals, give you time for naps, take the baby out for a while...i would say that would help you to deal better trying to get the OCD under control.