- Username
- FruitLoop
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 6y ago
Hey FruitLoop so here’s the deal, one of the rules of this community is not to recommend medication advice or anything like that. There is no way for any of us to verify that we are able to make those types of medical choices for each other, that is between you and your doctor/ psychiatrist. So keep that in mind when reading this that you should talk to them about this. I’ll give you my recommendation though. My recommendation is that if you’re worried about the anxiety of school starting and the OCD with all of that I’d say it could be a pretty good idea to go on a medication. From what my psychologist/ psychiatrist told me OCD generally takes a lot longer than other mental illnesses to have visible effects from medications. Generally a medication may start having it’s visible effects within a few days to a week of taking it but for OCD symptoms to become noticeably changed it could take upwards of four weeks or sometimes more in some cases. If you wanted to start a medication this would be the time to do so as you’d have plenty of time to see any bad side effects of the medication and may have a better timing impact on the OCD. I’d recommend you talk to you psychiatrist for options and take what I said with a grain of salt, I’m not supposed to recommend medications or dosages. I hope the best for your situation my friend, just hang in there
I mean some medication can take months to start working (SSRIs) and so you might not see postive effects when you start and so neither side effects so you might experience them during college but talk to your doctor about it because I’m not an expert yanno :)) x
What side effects do you anticipate having? SSRIs are mostly known for causing drowsiness and some stomach upset in the beginning. I think if you are thinking about medication, you should start now because it takes 6 weeks to reach maximum effect.
Lmao it took me so long to write that two other people replied first
@Ames Thankyou I will defintely talk to my doctor ?
I was terrified of starting meds, @FruitLoop. And of course everyone is different, but for me I got headaches for the first two weeks and then a few days of headaches each time I upped my dose. But that was it. If medication is the route you and your doctor think is best, just be patient with it. At first I thought it wasn’t working, but with giving it time to take effect and going back and looking at pre-medication things, it has actually helped so much.
Also tell your doctor about particular side effects you’re worried about. My doctor knows I have stomach issues already and knew that I would stop taking any medication that made me nauseous because I just can’t handle that. So he specifically steered me away from ones that tend to have stomach related side effects
@BlackSwan Ooo I will see what my doc recommends/says about the side effects!! Thankyou so much for letting me know about that?
Hi FruitLoop! I was worried about the same thing. I switched medications a couple of months ago and was really worried it would effect my concentration and make me lethargic. But actually, it gave me more energy and I could focus better in class! Everyone reacts differently to different medications, and I can’t say you’ll have the same experience, but if your doctor thinks it’s the right path to take it’s definitely worth considering :) d a i s y
Thanks SlyFox for reminding us of the guidelines!!
@daisy Thankyou so much That gave me hope and I’m glad you are focusing well in class!?
@WorriedDriver I am mostly worried about drowsiness during class. And thankyou for letting me know the maximum effect time?
@TheSlyFox Wow thankyou so much I understand that you’re not supposed recommend doses or anything and you gave me all the info I was wondering, thankyou for the help?
Hello,I'm so on the fence about starting medications or not. I know its a personal choice but what benefits have you all experianced? I also practice ERP with my therapist so I know that should be helpful with my OCD journey. But what made you decide to start or not start? I've been on Zoloft before but not long enough to feel the effects since I got freaked out about reading about withdrawl symptoms so my OCD messed that up for me.
So my OCD has gotten significantly worse in the last month or so. Constant anxiety and I decided to get antidepressants. I will begin taking them this weekend. I think there’s anyone have any good things to say about them? A couple years ago I got a script for them took one pill and the side effects were pretty hard to deal with so my doctor told me to cut one and a half and take that for a week but I decided not to take them. I think I’m ready to give it another chance. Does anyone else have anxiety about starting medication? Or does anyone have experience dealing with this?
Hi! Thankful for this space where I can talk about things that are way too TMI for other people! I’ve had ocd for about 3.5 years now and have always been terrified to start a medication due to possible side effects. My ocd started as sexual orientation/relationship ocd and I was always so afraid that the medicine was going to take away that attraction from me and leave me feeling like my fears were true. I tried 4 separate times to take a med but never took it longer than I week because I got so anxious of the side effects. I’m getting married next year, and we’re waiting to have sex until we’re married. Mentally, I am unwell and probably should be medicated, but I’m still so scared of the side effects!!! I don’t want my first sexual experiences to be while I’m having a side effect from a drug, we’ve been waiting for 4 years and I really don’t want to throw sexual side effects into the mix of that. Additionally, I’ve heard people talk about how meds numb their emotions, and I want to be feeling happy and excited throughout this season of life! I don’t want meds to suppress me, but I need my anxiety suppressed. I feel stuck
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