Has anyone on here experienced a serious increase in OCD while pregnant? I am pregnant and my OCD is really bad. My general anxiety is worse too and I feel like I can’t escape it. I am constantly either worrying, doing rituals, or faced with unpleasant thoughts. Any tips on what I can do to get through this??

I am on a really low dose of my medication and will be stopping soon. I feel like at this point it can’t get any worse and since I’m at such a low dose it won’t even make a difference so I just gotta get through the last few months. I’m sure the hormones have a lot to do with our increase in OCD and after baby is born and we get into a routine things will get better. Good luck in your pregnancy and recovery!!!

@Caree I actually decided to get back on my meds while pregnant. I need them. It’s too hard without them. I got back on 40mg of Prozac and it wasn’t working and they couldn’t safely increase it. So they switched me to Zoloft and I’m at 200mg now and they say it is perfectly safe.

@Anonymous Same here, I am taking Zoloft 100mg pre pregnancy and I just kept my dose since then. Doctor said it’s fine instead of letting the ocd/anxiety untreated. I also don’t want any postpartum depression or full ocd relapse after, so I guess the benefits outweigh the risk.

@Merri Totally agreed.

@Anonymous Yeah I know there are lots of people that stay on meds throughout pregnancy! My OB when I lived in CT basically said my meds were safe throughout pregnancy, however, my OB in Florida said I’ll need to taper off them completely. And boyfriend also hasn’t wanted me to be on too high of meds and after I got the COVID vaccine I said I’d stay on less. But I feel like my mental health is SO bad now and I need them. It’s been so hard I don’t know what to do.

@Caree I think you need to do what’s best for you. My fiancé didn’t want me to do meds either but I basically told him it’s necessary and he understood. I won’t be able to take care of myself or my child if I’m not on them.

@Anonymous Very true. I will definitely need to get back a full dose when the baby’s born because I will be stressed and will need to be mentally healthy enough to take care of the baby.

Yeah that’s how it feels for me too. I went from being so excited to be pregnant to anxious,scared, and depressed. I am in the second trimester (24 weeks today) how about you??

@Caree I am on my 30 weeks now. My first and second trimester it’s not intense as my pre-pregnancy “ocd state”. But now I noticed my rituals are getting long like before. How about u, is it worse now than before u got pregnant?

@Merri Oh you’re getting closer to baby coming! Yeah my first trimester wasn’t as bad but it’s really bad now. I did have some episodes of pretty severe OCD minths before I got pregnant but then had some relief. Now it’s back and I can’t even take a higher dose of my SSRI to help it. I also just moved though and started a new job that is really stressful so I have a lot of change that can be adding to it. My rituals are almost constant and I am almost constantly having unpleasant thoughts. Do you see a therapist or take medication? How have you been getting through it?

@Caree I am still taking my medication. I am trying to practice again the lessons I’ve learned thru therapy before and in this app. Sitting with uncertainty and saying ‘maybe i won’t love my baby, maybe I would’. It’s so hard though, but it’s the only way to beat this I believe.