My therapist recently suggested beginning medication for my GAD/OCD. I am curious and open to the idea, but I think I’m more concerned about what will happen to me negatively. I have this thought that I have no ‘self’, and if I were to take medication, I feel that I’m going to change drastically. Can anyone speak to how medication has impacted them? I don’t know anyone who has used medication (that I know of) and this is the once place I feel comfortable asking for stories. Thank you.

I used to be anti-medication for a similar reason. However my last meltdown was one that happened as a mom to an 11 month old and I realized I can’t afford to be suicidal like I used feel that I could, so I decided to start medication. I now take seroquel for sleep because that’s when my ocd is typically the worst, as I ruminate in bed, and I’ve also started setraline and worked up in doses. I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t noticed any negative side effects that were worse than I was dealing with without it and it toned down the intensity of my thoughts a lot. You will never know until you try, maybe it would be good for you

I had really bad experiences with the medication I was taking personally I would try and do the erp without it at first just advice tho

I went on Zoloft this past year and I have noticed a big change in my intrusive thoughts. I used to ruminate on this one thought constantly and now I don’t have that (but I have retained some aspects of my OCD). The good news is that if you don’t like it, you can wein off and not take it again. I used to obsess over taking meds and what they are doing, but you really don’t notice a change. It is like taking Advil: it helps the pain but you don’t notice this crazy change until you suddenly realize “oh my headache is better.” But I will warn you that some people have side effects going on the med and coming off. They aren’t severe or crazy so I think it is worth a shot. My doctor said Zoloft has the least amount of side effects and if it makes you feel better, you can take a tiny amount of a pill, then work your way up to the full pill

My experiences with meds are basically that every person reacts to every med differently. It can be a really scary and frustrating experience to try to find something that helps you, because it might mean wading through disappointments, discomforts, fears, so on and so forth, or maybe you'll get lucky and strike gold on the first try! I think the best advice I can offer is try to find someone you can trust to confide in and ask them to have your back while you're figuring it out. Ask them to check in with you more often, keep an eye out for odd behaviors, and remain in contact with you consistently throughout your process of trying a new med or getting off of a med. if an outsider can have your back, you can try these new things without nearly as much fear because you know that person isn't going to let anything truly bad happen to you. I totally hear that you don't feel comfortable asking questions like this to most people in your life, but maybe you can think of one person, but if you can't, ask the prescribing doctor to be that person! Explain you want to try, but you're scared and you need them to be there with you throughout it. Tell them you'll need a phone call or email twice a week, schedule it, whatever will make it feel reliable and secure. As long as someone has your back, I know you can handle the journey. It could be scary walking the unknown, but the ends usually justify the means - if/when you find a med that helps you, you wont regret the time it took to find it.

I have been on 40mg of fluoexitine for about 6 months now. I haven’t seem to have any side effects except for fatigue and loss of appetite/bloating. I first began take fluoxetine because of how bad my anxiety was. I was so anxious that it was beginning to affect my physical body. I felt nauseas and bloated and sick all the time, to the point where I wouldn’t eat, and didn’t even want to stand up because of how uncomfortable I was. Flueoxotine witn the combination of therapy have seemed to bring down my general anxiety level. However, around May I began experiencing these OCD symptoms, which is when I increased my dosage from 20mg to 40mg. However, I feel like it hasn’t helped with my ocd at all. I’m fact, I think it has gotten worse. Or maybe that’s just because I am thinking about it more. IDK, but the doage of fluoxetine (Prozac) I am taking now (40mg), doesn’t seem to help my obsessions and compulsions (OCD).