OCD- medicine

[Nea54]

hi. I’m about to start on medication in hope that this will help with my ocd. I developed ocd after my first child was born. How long did it take for you before the medicine started to kick in? I hope that someone has found help in using antidepressants.

@Pinkfluffypencilcase do you have ocd?:)

Optimum treatment op is sertraline and cbt the meds can take several months to have a full impact but normally do help and then the cbt can fully get a grip of the ocd. Would you consider being referred for cbt on the nhs?

@Nea54 yes

I know the nhs like CBT but I found it too much of a constant battle.

They like it as its measurable improvement.

The guidelines and evidence base is that cbt is the most effective treatment for ocd, even better when combined with medication. Obviously it's not 100% reliable as you found yourself but it is the optimum. I'm a psycho therapist and would always use cbt as my core treatment plan for cbt 😁 good luck op

But ordinary CBT is not recommended for OCD? @WhatMe123 - sorry is CBT ERP what you meant or do you actually offer standard CBT?

My DD21 has OCD on the severe scale and has specialist treatment at a national centre, years of CBT ERP which has proved ineffective and she spent a long period housebound (about 15 to 20). She's has tried various SRRIs but has been on fluvoxamine and aripirazole, under the psychiatrist, for several years. That hasn't worked but if she tries to stop it she gets terrible side effects.

OP I think by the sounds of it your OCD might not be at that level and hopefully it never gets there, but I think you need to read up on it a bit more. Who diagnosed you? Have you looked at the charity websites? These are great organisations and they run online support groups too:

https://www.ocduk.org
https://ocdaction.org.uk

@WhatMe123 thank you for the good advice:) Unfortunately I have tried ocd therapy for two years now, with an ocd team that specialises in ocd treatment. And I have really tried but I can’t get the ocd under control. I’m to afraid that if I don’t do everything to keep my little boy safe, I only have myself to blame. And that’s when the ocd started. I feel like the meds is the only option I have left, and if it doesn’t help me my life will fall apart.

but I have learnt that I should not go into the thoughts, just let it be. Do you have an example of how you work with CBT?:) so I can see if that is what I have been thought:)

@Pinkfluffypencilcase maybe you can talk to the doctors about medicine? If you want to try it of course :) My friend that’s is taking it for a different type of anxiety says that she feel all of her emotions:)

@Nea54 yes it’s something I am considering. I’m on lots of other medication for a serious condition and I have to be careful what else I take.
When I had emdr after years of unsuccessful CBT (really just knocking the edges off) it was miraculous. Long term change happened. Unfortunately I couldn’t afford more sessions to process the other roots.

@IWillAlwaysBeinaClubWithYouin1973 Thank you for what you are sharing with me. I’m actually really afraid that I never will recover from it. It is an ocd specialist that diagnosed me.

That’s gpod to hear about your friend’s experience

@Pinkfluffypencilcase I’m so glad you found something that works for you, that must gives you hope!:) and I’m so sorry that you couldn’t continued with what helped you :( that must be really though!

@Nea54 it was and a revelation after feeling so stagnant with CBT.
i am going to ask GP if I can have a referral. I must reduce my stress overall now and so
its become important to reduce it somehow.

And when I read online that if you first get ocd you will never recover completely, I get really scared.

@Nea54 - so are you still under a specialist team? Have you previously been in any OCD Action support groups? I'm wondering if you were late diagnosed that the prognosis might be better? If its around your DC I assume its harm OCD

I think that you might be able to control it, and live with it, but once it really takes hold I don't believe there is a "cure", I suppose its something you are always in recovery from. I do agree with those talking about EMDR but its finding the right practitioner, not to mention paying for it.

Yes I understand that. I think for me it has always changed. Sometimes almost disappearing and other times increasing in times of stress.

Having said that my friend no longer has it. She says she gets CBT when it feels likes it’s coming back. But it’s been a few years for her now.

I am 45. I first had ocd at 13, the therapy didn’t work but with the meds I managed to get it under control, stopped meds at 16. I relapsed at 25 and have been on the meds ever since so 20 years now. I am on an old med clomprimine and it is getting increasingly hard to get hold of, I’m dreading when it’s discontinued. I have tried to come off it and start thinking irrationally again so am now on a dose that suits me and I live a relatively ‘normal’ life. I still do small things to keep people ‘safe’ and sometimes have to have a word with myself about being irrational but generally ok. I used to feel guilty about the meds but a nice gp once said to me , if you had diabetes you wouldn’t stop your insulin , so what’s different about your medication , you need it to help the rational part of your brain . This has made me feel much better about staying on the meds , some people just need them. Good luck and don’t give up

@IWillAlwaysBeinaClubWithYouin1973
Yes for ocd it is erp exposure and response prevention which lies within a cbt approach 😁

My ds, now 19, had severe ocd from about 15 yrs onwards.

Had 3 rounds of cbt therapy and implemented all the strategies eg meditation. Still suffered hugely.

At 18 started escitalopram and then moved onto sertraline - gradually upped it to 200mg and pushed through the side effects.

Now at Uni and stable - it has been life changing! Still has ocd thoughts but can manage them.

Doctor recommends that he slowly cuts down but he's not ready yet and I agree - and when he does it will a very long slow process.

A year ago we were all living through hell with his illness - the medication saved him and our whole family. I wish you well.

@Pinkfluffypencilcase your friend is really lucky then! She started on medication and no longer need it? My friend that has anxiety has try to go of so many times, but has to start again. So the medication doesn’t fix the problem, it’s just helping when your one it, it seems.

@unluckystar thank you so much for sharing your story:) yes, I’ve heard that it is really hard to come of the medication, and a lot of people have to keep taking them because when they try to quit: it’s a living hell, and all the problems come back even though they have been in therapy.

@mirabella99 Thank you so much for sharing this with me. This gives me a little bit hope that something can help me, maybe. From what a heard it is really though to quit on the medications, and a lot get their problems back even though they have worked on it through therapy. So I hope he will stay on them as long as he need. My friend has tried to quit several times, and each time she has to start again. I have heard before that the medication doesn’t fix the problem, only camouflage them and I think that’s correct.

My psychiatrist is leading in the UK for OCD and he told me this when I first met him and I cried for hours after. But now, years of treatment down the line, I understand what he means. I can't imagine it will ever leave me, my first thoughts are always OCD thoughts. But now, with therapy/treatment/anti psychotics I listen to my second thought, which is more rational and sensible.

So I think the first thoughts will always be there. But now they're quieter and easier to ignore.

@NessaSmith I know now that will be my DD's experience too - she has Body Dysmorphic Disorder as well as OCD. Again I think you can only be "in recovery" from these illness, not "cured". She's 21 now, I am in OCD support groups where parents have kids in their 30s still very unwell, but I am thinking DD might cope more when she gets older, as you say. Would you be prepared to say how long you have been diagnosed/when it started and what medication you have now? DD has aripiprazole and fluvoxamine, but the side effects are grim. How do you manage?

@NessaSmith this actually makes me so sad, because it means that I’m stuck in this forever :/ do you feel that the medication have helped you in a way?:)