Medication for intrusive thoughts?

[SaltyLemons]

Hello, i am very resistant to going on antidepressants and wondered if anybody had any experience on any other meds for intrusive thoughts? Many thanks!

Thanks for the kind comments. I have tried podcasts, and they worked for ages. But I've hit a bad blip and not anymore. I'll digest all this useful info. Thank you

For those people that have said sertraline has stopped intrusive thoughts, can I ask what dose you take please? Is 50mg enough?

Yes!!! Exactly same story for me

50mg has been enough for me. It turns down the churning/whirling thoughts enough without any unwanted side effects. I've been on 100mg and it was fine but I found that I had a bit too much emotional blunting e.g. stopped tearing up at sad films etc which felt a bit unnatural for me. 50mg seems to be the magic number for me.

My friend needs to take 100mg to get the same effect I do from 50mg. I think it's all very individual.

I'm on 150mg and I'm never coming off them. I also believed that my thoughts kept my child safe but actually I was so wound up that I actually over reacted and under reacted. Now I simply respond and make sensible decisions without driving myself or the kid insane. It's great!!!

No, therapy doesn't change real life but with the right therapist working through stuff and processing/reprocessing can and does help ease the burden.

Sertraline has really helped me. Things didn’t get worse thankfully, but I shat myself in the night when I first started it. And I get restless wiggly feet at night. Other than that it’s great. It’s been a couple of years now.

Oh and studies show that for OVD/intrusive thoughts it takes longer to feel good effect (around 12 weeks) and you need much higher doses. I’m on a hundred which is really helping but I may try to go
higher to see how that feels.

@Moier how do you access EMDR? I've googled but still not that sure what it is!

I've found just a tiny dose (25mg) of sertraline has almost completely stopped intrusive thoughts and ptsd-related anger and irritability for me. I did feel dreadful for 2 days but all good after that, though some mild side effects are still here. I've also found it very easy to stop taking it when I've been on it in the past.

Thanks that's what I'm going to start on 🤞

Citalopram. It's not always the case that you get worse first; certainly not for me.

How are you getting on, @SaltyLemons ?

Hi! I took the advice on this thread and started on 25mg sertraline for two weeks before upping to 50. I had no side effects bar minor nausea for the first few days. I did not get worse in terms of my mental health as I'd feared. In fact, it's made things much more bearable and I'm so glad I took the plunge. I am still anxious, I haven't changed but I can somehow distance myself better from my worst case scenarios. It's just given me space, hard to describe exactly how. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice

Well done OP. I'm so glad.

Sertraline at the very lowest dose is enough often. 25mg or 50mg

Well done! Sertraline was a game changer for me. So positive