when did you know it was time to go on medication?

hi all hope everyone is doing well. i had been doing a lot better since my last ocd relapse last year in oct but i’m currently really struggling with health anxiety/ocd. it feels like the toughest theme yet. while i was able to get better without medication before, i’m now considering it because ive realized that ive had too many relapses in the past five years than I would have liked to have. i’ve always been hesitant to get on an ssri because i’m terrified of the adjustment period. and now my health anxiety is playing into the fear a little with the side effects and what not. anyway i’d really appreciate any insight/advice. thank you!!

Anonymous

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 47w

I got on medication for that exact reason. I would get over themes for a little while and then relapse not too long after. I’m still struggling but definitely not as bad as before and it makes erp a lot easier. I definitely recommend giving them a shot. I was very scared of side effects too but they were very minor for me. I’m on 20 mg of Prozac btw.

hopefulsunny

Date posted: 47w

@Anonymous thanks for replying! i’ve been in therapy on and off for the past three years but haven’t really done well with erp in terms of commitment and consistency. maybe an ssri could help with that. have you ever tried going off prozac? it might just be my ocd but i’m scared about being on them forever

Anonymous

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 47w

@hopefulsunny Haven’t come off of them yet, but plan to in around a year, and only been on them for a couple months. I am scared that might be on them forever too but it’s just more uncertainty that I will have to deal with, like everything else. But for now I’m just using it as a tool to kind of push myself in a better direction, because erp was extremely difficult without them. I was still making progress but it was just a lot harder. The ssris are really helping to slow my thoughts down a bit to make erp more helpful. I would definently try to full on commit to erp first because it really does help. Like sit down 20 mins a few times a day everyday and just sit with the anxiety till it gets to half. If you notice you are spending a lot of time doing this and not making much progress I don’t think it would be a bad idea to just try meds out. Whenever I actually dedicate myself to erp I notice that I start to feel better. I definitely think it’s a possibility that an ssri could help you, I didn’t think they would at all for me but I was wrong. I would just think of it as a tool to help you with erp.

hopefulsunny

Date posted: 47w

@Anonymous my ocd was much better when i was consistently doing exposures too. the issue is that i wasn’t really able to move past maybe 3-4 level exposures. exposures that i thought would be 5-7 ended up causing level 10 anxiety which made me stop exposures all together. my therapist has been patient with me trying to ease me back into them but I’ve just not done my part in actually doing them. i guess i just have to force myself.

Anonymous

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 47w

@hopefulsunny I feel you completely and don’t blame you, it’s super hard. It is super important that you do them though. You really just gotta ride it out till the anxiety goes down which is so tough in the moment but is really one of the only ways out of ocd.

eb123456789

Date posted: 21w

Medication Symptom Management

This is kind of a weird question, but I recently increased my SSRI dosage and have experienced tremendous relief. It has quieted my intrusive thoughts so much and my compulsions are no longer as all-consuming. However, I don’t want to be on this high of a dosage forever and know that medication alone shouldn’t be my only fix. I’m seeing a new psychiatrist on Wednesday and am wondering if the recent decrease in frequency of my symptoms will be a bar to my getting ocd treatment? In other words, if in this present moment I’m doing better, but up until a few days ago my compulsions were taking up pretty much every moment of my waking day, will I still be classified as having ocd? I start getting worried when I feel better that I don’t actually have ocd and just use it as a defense mechanism to avoid consequences of my actions/I’m secretly a terrible person

galina

Date posted: 17w

New here and want to connect

I’m new to treatment and only realized I have OCD a few months ago. I went through a tough and abusive marriage and ended up getting divorced. I had my first panic attack several years ago and ended up needing to go on Lexapro. This helped me significantly and allowed me to leave my partner. Several years later and I decided to stop Lexapro because I thought I was good to go. I’m in a very healthy relationship, have a great job, friends/family, go to the gym and have a wonderful life. It’s been about a year off the meds and I’ve had some panic, but I’ve been able to manage it. For some reason, the last three weeks has been really difficult for me. I have different spirals and different thought processes: what if I’m schizophrenic? What if I have a deeper mental disorder? What if I hurt someone? What if I need to leave my partner? What if I end up becoming so depressed that I end up hurting myself? My brain just goes from one what if to the next and once I conquer one, the next one pops up with even more intensity. I started taking NAC and inositol and I’m taking saffron during the day because I really don’t wanna go on back on medication but sometimes my thoughts scare me and I’m convinced that I’m not gonna get better and I know that’s just the OCD loop, but I’m wondering if this resonates with anyone else!

itwillallbeokay

Date posted: 11w

would medication be helpful for my case?

i’ve been dealing with OCD for years. my biggest theme being POCD. i have dealt with the anxiety aspect of it all but i think i now have a dysregulated nervous system that normal somatic grounding exercises cannot fix. i also experience only depression. it’s like i still have the POCD + intrusive thoughts. I try not to engage with them, but I’m still depressed but don’t experience much anxiety. should I go on medication? Is it more than just OCD now?

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