Medication

My Dr said you can take up to 300 mg of zolft ... to treat ocd

@Trish! Yes I think 200mg is the maximum they will prescribe in the UK but I think my problem with meds is that I'm afraid something bad will happen to me through taking them or that I will become hooked. It took me over a year to work up the courage to take Zoloft

@Joe87 I totally get it... I'm terrified of that amount... 😫

I'm not sure what wellbutrin is? Does that or fluvoxamine have a sedative in it? I sometimes feel that maybe I should try an anti depressant or something that contains a slow release sedative? Does anyone know if there is such a thing?

I ask about a slow release sedative as the most in control and least bothered I have felt by my mind in the past 4 years is when I had covid because I was so tired. It might sound ridiculous because who wants to walk around feeling tired all day but if it offered me enough relief so i could get myself back to work I could then gradually try to come off it

@Joe87 Zoloft is sertraline its an SSRI... wellbutrin helps with energy and focus... it's also called Budeprion its an NDRI... the 2 together help nicely

Are you at the stage where you can go all day without doing any complusions or rituals? Also do you have any thoughts to the sedative suggestion?

It feels like we are playing lucky dip with medication which is awful isn't it but I think this is just hownit is because doctors are just as clueless about what might and might not work and of course everyones case is different

@Joe87 I'm no where I would call back to normal... because I was so bad I couldn't function at all... so ... it's a fight everyday... but I do want to live now and can do alot more then before... I would say an improvement... others in my life say its helping... I Have taken the sedatives ... they are more for emergencies because they can be addictive of course... but I did and do take them at really hard times

@Trish! That's good to hear Trish. I am at the point where I can barely function at all and have been for almost 4 years although I feel like I am starting to understand it better and beginning to make a bit of progress. Can I ask how long you were unable to function for and does that whole period feel like a blur to you? Almost like a blackout?

Yes I totally get that. Your answer just proves to me that everybody's OCD story is different and I was naive to think anything different because I almost recognised straight away when my intrusive thoughts became so bothersome that I began doing physical compulsions to neutralise them. Unfortunately though I couldn't stop them and it soon spiralled into what I have now which is not being able to do anything without repeating it

@Joe87 Yes everyone is similar so much the same ... yet so different... at the root its ocd and its terrible...

@Trish! I think the big problem that I need to overcomw now is that one of my themes is perfection and therefore I have told myself that I won't go back to work and back to my hobbies until I am completely better and free from ocd. I am beginning to realise that this isn't going to happen and that as much as I dont like it I nees to go back to work whilt I'm still like this as it will form part of my recovery

@Joe87 Yes!! I thought the same ... I thought I would magically get better or back to normal... no such thing... because we are who we are now... we have to do our best each day ... try to embrace it and do the best we can