Everyone says I should take meds but I genuinely can’t. I don’t trust them

It depends on how severe your ocd is. Not everyone can do the therapy without it and with the meds it gives a better chance to succeed in the ERP. It really doesn’t change who you are, if you take ssri like Prozac. It increases your serotonin and helps with your depression. I was scared at first but it helped me.

I’m da same I don’t like the way they change you but maybe we don’t need meds, like maybe we can be ok with enough mindfulness practice and self care and exposure etc

That is ultimately your decision to make, your body & mind will be affected. Be informed and knowledgeable about why you don't want to take them and then make a plan of what you'll do instead for treatment. I get pressured all the time, but I'm strong in my convictions and I have strong evidence to back up my claims, just like the people who choose to take them have their own reasons. One thing to think about is, how did people recover from OCD before certain drugs were widely available? Drugs or no drugs, recovery is possible! ?

While meds can be scary (they aren’t one size fits all and may take a couple of tries to find the best one for you), they can also greatly improve your quality of life. I think meds are sometimes stigmatized. We don’t stigmatize hand sanitizer or vitamins or antibiotics, or meds like Novocain for dental work, but we stigmatize mental health meds. I think it’s best to go into the topic of meds focusing on the positive ways the meds can impact your quality of life. If I worry about how a med may affect me, I do tons of research first and then carefully monitor how I feel while on them.

Why don’t you make a pros and cons list for this and ask yourself “what evidence do I have for this” for each point

Read the book by Jonathan Grayson he explains in it about why people do or don’t need meds. It made a lot of sense.