Ocd & anxiety

[Usedtolaughalot]

Hi,
Just needing a bit of support right now. Ocd and anxiety so bad.
I check things eg plug sockets, emails, etc but I think my mind is deceiving me so don’t always believe what I see. I am going to counselling but no improvement yet. Work is overwhelming anyway at time and this makes it worse. Feel constantly on edge. Considering starting antidepressants but know side effects can be bad and no idea which is best for ocd.
I’m worried it’ll get worse and worse until I maybe can’t even work or leave the house. Feel sorry for my dd (17) having to witness this.
I have no RL support at all other than dd and my counsellor.
Any thoughts or support or advice would be so gratefully received. 🙏

@Usedtolaughalot - sorry you're going through this. It's a miserable thing.

The most effective treatment is medication plus CBT with Exposure Response Therapy. Sertraline reduces the obsessive thoughts and makes it easier to do the therapy. I know this because I have an adult son with severe OCD.

Counselling won't work unless it's with someone who is trained with CBT-ERP. It's very specific treatment.

Have you looked at the OCD-UK website? They offer support / self-help groups.

www.ocduk.org/

A psychiatrist told me recently that, in his experience, Sertraline is the most effective with OCD. He trained at the Maudsley hospital, which is a centre of excellence for OCD treatment.

I can understand you being wary of taking medication, but it might be worth reconsidering.

@Toffeewhirl thsnk you for your reply. I’ve tried cbt & erp and it had no effect at all unfortunately 😞

I'm so sorry to hear that.

My son goes through hell with his OCD. It affects the whole family because we all get drawn into his rituals. He says Sertraline isn't a magic cure, but it's reduced the anxiety and made the OCD easier to bear. Maybe that should be your next step?

But if you don't want to take antidepressants, could you try a different therapist? It might work better with someone else.

@Toffeewhirl thanks. Is sertraline the best ssri for ocd?

This psychiatrist (Nhs) said he thought so. We were seeing him for my younger son for anxiety issues, but I ended up discussing my older son's issues as well because nothing was helping him and I was desperate.

My older son has tried fluoxetine, citalopram and sertraline in the last few years. He says sertraline is the most helpful for his ocd. He's on 200mg, which is a high dose. This gives him bad dreams, but he prefers that to the obsessions in the day. It's not a cure, but it has muted the ocd so that it's bearable.

He's been referred to the Maudsley as the local mental health services are rubbish. So the high dose of sertraline is just there to keep him sane whilst he waits for treatment.

@Usedtolaughalot - can you make any changes to reduce the load at work? Sounds as if that's exacerbating your stress and making the OCD worse.

Sorry you are going through this, with the plug thing would it help to take photos of them to show unplugged?

I have OCD but with another thing and it helps me to look back at the photo I took to know I did the action.

It's an ongoing process and I don't want to be doing this forever, but it means I can leave the house at the moment.

@ILoveToads thank you. I have fine thus before, but there are so many photos I’d have to take each day and can’t rally photograph things at work. It is a good idea for some things though, thank you and I’m pleased it helps you.

It's a bloody nightmare and so hard to live with. Sertraline really helps me when I'm feeling out of control with it. I take it for a while and it helps get my focus back, snaps me out of a spiral.

@Toffeewhirl if only! Only option would be to look for another job and I don’t feel
up to that currently

@ILoveToads thank, maybe sertraline is worth a try then

My dd has ocd. ERP worked slightly for her but it wasn’t until she started sertraline that she her ocd has got more manageable.
she’s still having ERP, the combination of therapy and meds are working.
best of luck