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Hi all. 

I'm new to the forum but have dipped in and out of a few posts over the last week or so and have been a great source of comfort for me, so thank you.

I've had OCD all my adult life, I didn't realise it was OCD until quite recently, it was never explained to me that's what it was when I had CBT (I've had it two times). But I've had it around all different themes. Harm, health, contamination, past events etc etc. 

I'm trying to remember when it's been at it's worse, there was certainly time I completely forgot it was something I suffered from... As much as one can anyway.

I'm a vegetarian and have been for about 6 years, before that I had periods of not eating meat but would always go back to it after several months, a year maybe tops but this is the longest I've gone. My OCD at the moment is really bad, maybe the worst it's ever been. I recently called the Dr about SSRIs and was prescribed some but after reading the side effects my health anxiety kicked in and I couldn't bring myself to take them. 

I have two questions really:

Is anyone else a vegetarian/vegan and do you think it could be related to more intense OCD? I'm not suggesting I wouldn't have OCD if I started eating meat again, many of my family have OCD and eat meat, I'm just wondering if I could lesson it, I've read some articles online suggesting vegetarian is liked to mental health problems but I don't know if it's really true... 

Does anyone take suppliments to try to help their OCD. Things I've seen suggested are B12, zinc, is there anything else? I used to take D but stopped for a long time but just started again and I'm also taking St John's Wort... just in the hope it makes me feel a bit better. 

I imagine someone will reply and say "just take the SSRIs" and it might come to that, as I say my OCD is so much worse at the moment than it's ever been and it doesn't improve soon I don't think I'll have any other options. But I just hoped I could explore less scary options first.

I appreciate any reply. I've written this on my phone so sorry for any incorrect auto correct wording I haven't spotted. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hello and welcome to the forums.  I cannot answer your specific questions but I am sure there will be other forums members may be able to.

Just on a personal view, I have found recently that a more healthy diet has improved my OCD symptoms.  For other health reasons my GP advised I cut down on fatty foods.  This I have done and the problems I was having in that respect have greatly reduced and so too has the associated anxiety.  This has helped to lift my mood and as a result has helped to reduce my OCD behaviours.  So yes dietary issues are always worth looking at if the result is similar to my experience.

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2 hours ago, VEG-OCD said:

Hi all. 

I'm new to the forum but have dipped in and out of a few posts over the last week or so and have been a great source of comfort for me, so thank you.

I've had OCD all my adult life, I didn't realise it was OCD until quite recently, it was never explained to me that's what it was when I had CBT (I've had it two times). But I've had it around all different themes. Harm, health, contamination, past events etc etc. 

I'm trying to remember when it's been at it's worse, there was certainly time I completely forgot it was something I suffered from... As much as one can anyway.

I'm a vegetarian and have been for about 6 years, before that I had periods of not eating meat but would always go back to it after several months, a year maybe tops but this is the longest I've gone. My OCD at the moment is really bad, maybe the worst it's ever been. I recently called the Dr about SSRIs and was prescribed some but after reading the side effects my health anxiety kicked in and I couldn't bring myself to take them. 

I have two questions really:

Is anyone else a vegetarian/vegan and do you think it could be related to more intense OCD? I'm not suggesting I wouldn't have OCD if I started eating meat again, many of my family have OCD and eat meat, I'm just wondering if I could lesson it, I've read some articles online suggesting vegetarian is liked to mental health problems but I don't know if it's really true... 

Does anyone take suppliments to try to help their OCD. Things I've seen suggested are B12, zinc, is there anything else? I used to take D but stopped for a long time but just started again and I'm also taking St John's Wort... just in the hope it makes me feel a bit better. 

I imagine someone will reply and say "just take the SSRIs" and it might come to that, as I say my OCD is so much worse at the moment than it's ever been and it doesn't improve soon I don't think I'll have any other options. But I just hoped I could explore less scary options first.

I appreciate any reply. I've written this on my phone so sorry for any incorrect auto correct wording I haven't spotted. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a generally vegitarian diet and I don't think that causes OCD problems. I have tried a variety of supplements, 5-HTP, Omega 3 and a few others.

I forget some of this stuff but I think you need omega 3 so that some amino acids can be created which can affect mental processes.

I tend to just eat some fish occasionally. Plus lots of fresh toms, peppers, cheese, nuts, apricots, chocolate, grapes. Mostly stuff I enjoy eating!

Does the St John's Wort help do you think?

 

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2 hours ago, northpaul said:

Hello and welcome to the forums.  I cannot answer your specific questions but I am sure there will be other forums members may be able to.

Just on a personal view, I have found recently that a more healthy diet has improved my OCD symptoms.  For other health reasons my GP advised I cut down on fatty foods.  This I have done and the problems I was having in that respect have greatly reduced and so too has the associated anxiety.  This has helped to lift my mood and as a result has helped to reduce my OCD behaviours.  So yes dietary issues are always worth looking at if the result is similar to my experience.

Thanks northpaul, my diet isn't brilliant but I don't think I eat a lot of fatty, I think I'm probably just lacking the things you get from meat, because I make no real effort to get it from anywhere else. I appreciate your reply! I'm glad cutting down on fatty food has helped you.

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12 minutes ago, howard said:

I have a generally vegitarian diet and I don't think that causes OCD problems. I have tried a variety of supplements, 5-HTP, Omega 3 and a few others.

I forget some of this stuff but I think you need omega 3 so that some amino acids can be created which can affect mental processes.

I tend to just eat some fish occasionally. Plus lots of fresh toms, peppers, cheese, nuts, apricots, chocolate, grapes. Mostly stuff I enjoy eating!

Does the St John's Wort help do you think?

 

Thanks Howard, I tried 5-HPT years and years ago just when I felt depressed rather than for OCD and I think I remember it just making me feel anxious. 

Yeah omega 3 is another one I've heard is good. I've only just started St John's Wort, probably won't see any benefit for 6 weeks or so, if at all.

I appreciate your reply, I think I'm probably looking for a instant magical cure which just doesn't exist... But I'd really like to hear anyone else's input if they've had good results with suppliments. 

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Hello, welcome to the forum! :welcome: 

Diet is not going to be the cause, or the solution to OCD, but eating a healthy balanced diet will help with general health, which in turn will help your mental health to a certain extent and may also make it easier to engage with therapy. As far as I'm aware it shouldn't matter if you are vegetarian or not, as long as it's a balanced diet. I started a thread about diet and exercise on the 'non ocd general support' section of the forum and there are some links to an nhs site which details how to get a balanced diet if you are vegetarian. The nhs website is a bit complicated so let me know if you can't find the relevant bits.

In my personal experience, eating a low GI diet helps reduce back ground levels of anxiety because low blood sugar can induce a feeling of panic, and a high sugar diet will cause a roller-coaster like effect on blood sugar throughout the day. Lack of sleep and either too much or too little exercise can also influence blood sugar control.

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15 minutes ago, VEG-OCD said:

Thanks Howard, I tried 5-HPT years and years ago just when I felt depressed rather than for OCD and I think I remember it just making me feel anxious. 

Yeah omega 3 is another one I've heard is good. I've only just started St John's Wort, probably won't see any benefit for 6 weeks or so, if at all.

I appreciate your reply, I think I'm probably looking for a instant magical cure which just doesn't exist... But I'd really like to hear anyone else's input if they've had good results with suppliments. 

That's the problem with supplements, it's hard to see if it helps or not. Maybe it depends on the person, I'm sure we all have minor nutrient deficiencies for one reason or another. I think CoQ10 works but that for cell regeneration.

I think having a wide variety of tasty and nutritiously intense foods is better than supplements.

I don't really eat vegatables, so omnivore.

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I just take B complex.  Bs are water soluble so get flushed out.  B complex is full of folate & other stuff. Magnesium supplement is beneficial but I don't take it.

I also don't do caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, Ritalin, etc because they mimic anxiety. 

I did a blood panel once to see how my nutrition was. My thyroid was bonkers & so fixed that. Thyroid that is too active causes crazy anxiety. 

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Hey, I'm vegan and I have taken choline/inositol supplements, omega 3's,  and b-12 to supposedly help with mental processing, but not specifically ocd. 

I'm not sure if any of them had a big impact, but I think b-12 helped my general health somewhat. 

Edited by mapletree
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Hey, 

There is good evidence based practise and clinical trials that your gut can effect OCD. Probiotics have been proven to help, however not for me, don’t despair as everyone is different. Research into probiotics and OCD, I could always give you the link of the ones I tried (after days of extensive research).

This isn’t a “take a tablet and it’s gone”, it’s to damper symptoms I guess.

Edited by Smithy29
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13 hours ago, Smithy29 said:

Hey, 

There is good evidence based practise and clinical trials that your gut can effect OCD. Probiotics have been proven to help, however not for me, don’t despair as everyone is different. Research into probiotics and OCD, I could always give you the link of the ones I tried (after days of extensive research).

This isn’t a “take a tablet and it’s gone”, it’s to damper symptoms I guess.

Hey Smithy yes if you could share which ones you tried?

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9 hours ago, VEG-OCD said:

Hey Smithy yes if you could share which ones you tried?

Some promising probiotic strains for OCD include Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG®, Lactobacillus casei Shirota, Bifidobacterium longum Rosell-175 and Lactobacillus acidophilus Rosell-52.

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On 04/07/2022 at 15:15, VEG-OCD said:

Hey Smithy yes if you could share which ones you tried?

Microbiome Mood+ Shelf

that’s the one I got after extensive researching.

 

Edited by snowbear
Substituted name of product for external advertising link.
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