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Hi there, It is normal to experience a temporary increase in anxiety before the medication takes full effect. Everyone responds to medication differently, but it’s standard to give SSRI’s 4-6 weeks before determining if it’s the right one for you. It took almost three weeks before I began to feel relief from my SSRI. I began to feel a general reduction in my anxiety in the meantime, but it was a subtle difference in the beginning. I’ve just begun to feel the effects of it on my OCD entering week 5. That being said, the medication itself hasn’t cured my ocd, it’s just assisted me in how I respond to it and improved my overall functioning. The medicine may not be built up in your system for you to feel an effect right now. This also depends on the dosage and type of SSRI you were prescribed. I would recommend waiting the time length that was recommended and please, do not abruptly stop the medication, this may cause further problems. Stay strong, you’re taking a powerful step toward your recovery.
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Thank you for the info!
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I’m sure by now you probably know what’s OCD and what’s not (of course taking into account OCD saying, “I’m real!”) if you start you feel like you want to harm yourself or kill yourself and it’s not your normal fear of suicide, but a feeling like a strong urge or desire... I would report that. Keep a diary and write down how you are feeling and monitor it. If you are getting worse, and staying worse, it’s not right for you.
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Yes. Some of mine just didn’t work, but some actually made it worse. I tried overall, about 5 or 6 meds I think.
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Do you mind me asking how it made yours worse?
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@Anonymous The last one I was on (which ironically was for OCD specifically) made me want to self harm really really bad and made me go so far into my OCD brain I had a nearly impossible time “flipping it” and thinking rationally.
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@christinejg94 Oh goodness that’s scary because my theme is suicide ocd but I’ve never and don’t want to hurt myself. That’s my main worry with taking these medicines. :/
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@Anonymous Oh no, that’s not good. :( That’s gunna be very triggering for sure. Give it the full 4-6 weeks before you stop taking it but let your doctor know how you are feeling. You may need a dose adjustment.
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@christinejg94 Do you mind me asking if it made you suicidal out of nowhere?. I know everyone is different but I also wish I had better understanding of how people become suicidal with them :( and if you don’t want to explain I totally understand! I just want to be careful and aware while taking these.
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@Anonymous It never made me suicidal, my OCD would sometimes, I would think I couldn’t live with the guilt anymore (real event OCD) and want to die, or I was so terrified that I was a child molester or pedopile that I had to kill myself. The pills, they just gave me intense desires to cause pain. I always wanting to ram my car into the side rail when I was driving, I wanted to bash my body against a brick wall at school... it was wild, to say the least.
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@Anonymous I think it would be hard to monitor side effects with you since your actual theme is suicide. So I’m sure you think about it all the time. Does your doctor who prescribed the medication know your theme?
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@christinejg94 I tried to explain to her what it was but she didn’t think I had OCD because I wasn’t showing the “typical” ocd symptoms like hand washing counting etc. She thought I was thinking these thoughts on purpose. But I have my psychologist, who knows what I’m going through talk to her and they put me on celexa.
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@Anonymous Oh, I’m sorry. It took me a while to get diagnosed with OCD too. My first psychiatrist told me my thoughts weren’t outlandish enough so it had to be GAD, lol. Well, like I said, just monitor your thoughts and report them if you feel unsafe.
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@christinejg94 Yes it’s frustrating! But I will keep monitoring myself it just sucks cause OCD thoughts urges can feel so real!
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