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Has anyone have had any experience with prozac (fluoxotine)? I have to take it and I'm very much afraid of the side effects like suicidal thoughts, more anxiety, but over that I have MAAJOR anxiety about having serotonin syndrome..

Hi all, I'm thinking of starting back on medication because my anxiety is too severe to cope but I'm also really scared of starting medication. How was your experience with it? What helped? How do you fair with dissociation and medication? Any advice or experiences would be appreciated!

I'm trying not to google, but I remember reading dozens of times that there are peds who feel bad for being peds. And actually there are communities? (i don't know how to call them) of non offending peds, who I'm guessing don't want to act on their thoughts because they know it's wrong. I have never ever done anything bad, but my fear is that the attraction is there. It feels completely real. My brain gives me reasons why. My chest feels so heavy. I'm trying to push through but I can't think of anything else. I am on meds now. I've been for 4 weeks. But what if that doesn't work either. HELP!!!!!

Long post ahead . I appreciate you if you read this . What are signs of depression? I have a fear of it , and I will say I have experienced depression before I think , with thinking things will never be the same and thoughts like I don’t even care anymore but it all started because of my suicidal ocd (I haven’t been diagnosed ) but I have bad health anxiety and death anxiety waaay before this , and then one day had an intrusive image of self harm and it was so distressing all I wanted to do was sleep the thoughts away couldn’t eat talking about it stressed me out and caused me so much anxiety so I know that was I think depression . But now because of this theme I am scared of either falling back into it or fear of getting it because I link it to said theme . I do feel sad sometimes but I feel as if it’s because of the thoughts and wanting to so badly go away ! And I will say even before this I was happy never experienced depression in my life my family does not have a history with it nor has ANYONE in my family “s” themselves . And my brain keeps telling me I’ll be the first . My brain also keeps telling me the weathers getting colder your gonna experience depression so then that makes my anxiety spike and I get a warm sensation over my body . I’ve always loved the fall and cold ALWAYS , now I’m terrified . Is depression always that bad ? Ugh 😣

Okay, so I have gotten cold sores in the past. I am aware cold sores are a type of herpes, but I was under the impression it was extremely different. Last year I told my friends when I got my first cold sore. when I have an active cold sore I would never share drinks with people or food or anything like that. I would however share food and drinks when I didn’t have any. honestly, I was never thinking about that and forgot that I even get them. My friends apparently had no idea cold sores were herpes. they all sat me down for an intervention last night and lit into me about spreading hsv1 to them and are forcing me to get a blood test and them as well. I am under the impression that if I am positive and so are they, they most likely won’t be my friends anymore. I never hid the fact I had a cold sore ever. in my head i’m confused because I don’t see how it is my fault they didn’t know a cold sore was a type of herpes. another part of me is so confused because my parents and everyone i’ve ever talked to has told me a cold sore is literally no big deal at all. I’m so shocked i’m losing friends over this, and that it is all coming up right now. I feel i may be in the wrong for it, but i’m honestly super hurt and upset with them now for ganging up on me and yelling at me for this for over half an hour last night. This is making me struggle with my mental health and I don’t even feel comfortable in my house any more. These next few weeks while I wait for their tests are going to be so anxiety inducing. Am i crazy?? Are they 100% valid? Did i really do a horrible thing??

I am honestly desperate to try anything, I tried prozac and it works but it makes me gain weight which makes my body image issues even worse, so I need help. Has anyone tried it?

I spend a lot of my time throughout days searching online for the things I struggle with because I guess it's how I can try to find closure about what I'm going through. That being my porn and sex addiction and my health in regards to it. I spend so much time searching online what my health conditions could be or what my mental conditions are like, and this time it's been about my sexual health. I look on health forums with doctors that can tell people their problems and I try to use those links to compare my concerns with other people to see if they're very similar. This usually doesn't put my worries to rest but I can't help but keep doing it time and time again. One time though, a link came up and it was a minor that asked about something along the lines of the same problem. The issue is people can post pictures about their sexual health concerns and I always acknowledge that it's an adult but if it doesn't say I don't click on it. If it does, I do. But when it involved the minor, I had no idea of the person's age before clicking the link, it loaded up their age in the sub paragraph text and it showed images and I instantly clicked off and stopped searching reassurance online. I felt so awful about this. I didn't want to see that. I wanted nothing to do with minors about this, only adults. I posted about this before and someone told me that doctors have to look at these kinds of things often, whether they are adults or minors. And it makes sense from that perspective because they need to treat those people as best as they can. It's in their field. But I'm just a patient just like those people. I didn't want to see that and if I knew that they were 16 before opening it, I wouldn't have opened it at all. Not at all. I hate that this happened and it just makes me feel really disgusted in myself. I realize that all of my problems come from my porn and sex addiction and I just want it to stop for good. None of this would have happened if I just didn't struggle with this for most of my life and I would have never been so concerned with my sexual health if I didn't act out on my impulsive addiction just to chase a stupid high. This stuff makes me feel weak, embarrassing, and just pathetic sometimes. I just hate having to deal with this time and time again.

Hello all!, I wanted to write one more post before I delete this app again in honor of OCD awareness week. I am incredibly thankful to NOCD, and all the tools they have taught me in learning to live with OCD. The difference between 10 months this ago and now is night and day and there have been a lot of days recently where I could just cry over this feeling of truly finding myself again and finally put this experience behind me. While I see signs of OCD in my childhood, I really see it taking a hold of my life 8 years ago. Eventually during that time where I first began being noticeably affected by OCD, originally due to health concerns, I wound up in a mental hospital for a night due to thoughts of self harm and an unforgettable feeling of numbness that lasted for weeks after that day when my theme switched to that of SOOCD, although I didn’t know what it was at the time. Even when I came across SOOCD days later and knew that that was what I was going through, I ignored the OCD part and instead let that part of my life become a scar that I hid from everyone, even my wife when we first met a year later. I was so ashamed of myself for being brought to that point, and let it hang like a black cloud over me for so long. Even now I still feel shame when I think of that moment, but I am working towards accepting that moment as a part of me, especially so this week. On Monday I made a Facebook post acknowledging my struggles with OCD. It was certainly not easy admitting to all the people I see on a regular basis that I deal with this, but I wanted to bring awareness to what OCD actually is and the struggles it can bring, as well as how important our support system can be, especially so with my wife. I do not know of anyone else I would rather have by my side as I work towards recovery than her and I am so lucky to not just have her in my life but also be able to call my wife. It’s hard working towards undoing 30 plus years, of what I know realize, was problematic thinking patterns, even if it has brought me success in some aspects of my life. It’s very hard accepting the uncertainty of the themes I especially deal with, like SOOCD, Existential, Morality, etc., but it is possible and while I am not happy that my SOOCD theme came back this year, I am also glad it did, because I learned finally of the beast that had been tormenting me, and have learned how to deal with it. It’s also made me appreciative of my own mother more, who let me know of her struggles with OCD when I admitted to my own. If you read this, thank you so much for taking the time out. There is so much I can say and probably want to go back and edit, but I would rather go on with my day than do that. If you are weary of reaching out for help whether it be with NOCD or any OCD specialist, I truly encourage you to do it. We all are afraid of being told that we don’t have this illness that we also don’t want to have, but getting a diagnosis and working towards going about it in a healthy and positive way, will make your life so much better than you ever imagined it can be. It will take time, a lot of time sometimes, so please be patient and do not rush recovery. Be kind to yourself, don’t aim for perfection or absolute removal of all these thoughts and instead just focus on the things that are most important to you. You can do this and you are not alone!

Hi guys! My name is Tessa and I just got on this app and wanted to share my story because reading other people’s story’s so far have brought some comfort to me so hopefully this will help some other people not feel alone. First things first I have Emetaphobia at the most severe level there is. As a kid I was never really scared of it ever until one day in 3rd grade kid had thrown up on my bus. I had never had a panic attack or anxiety attack ever untill that day and I didn’t even know what those words meant at the time. I was on that bus and I immidiatly grabbed my earbuds out of my bag while shaking and put them in my ears and played music as loud as I could while pushing them into my ears as hard as I could so I wouldn’t hear him doing it or hear anyone talking about it while scrunching my eyes shut as hard as I could so I wouldn’t see anything at all. I then started crying by myself in my bus seat and shaking super hard and one of the kids on my bus saw and came and sat next to me and comforted me all the way home. I got off the bus and had to go home and I laid on the couch with a bowl because I was so scared that since that kid threw up that for some reason I was gonna throw up. Since then I have had a crippling fear of getting sick to my stomach. It started out not so bad but got worse and worse as the years went on. By the time middle school hit I would start to begin the compulsion of not burping because I was afraid that if I burped a little stuff would come up or I would be scared that one of the times it wasn’t gonna be a burp. So I forced myself to never burp then eventually I couldn’t burp at all even if I felt it and tried to get it out. I couldn’t burp all the way into highschool untill sophomore year when I had to train myself how to burp again. That took a while and I have it back for the most part but I still have complications doing it and it causes me problems now like if I can’t get a burp out for a few hours and it’s stuck it will cause I digestion then make me feel nauseated untill I burp. And that’s gotten in the way of so so so many thing because then I feel nauseous and have panic attacks all the time that are super severe and even had to go to the ER one time bc now my anxiaty/panic attacks have gotten so severe that they mimic having a stroke without having a stroke. My fear has prevented me from doing anything I want in my life and enjoying it. It controls what I eat, when I eat, what I eat, how much I eat, and if I eat. It controls what I do on the daily. It controls where I go and at what times for example I have really bad anxiaty and going to the fair and going on rides bc I’m afraid that I will get sick or mostly someone else on that ride will get sick while I’m on it. I overthink everything I do befor I do it so I can create a complete thought out strategy to avoid anything to do with me or someone else getting sick to the stomach. It’s getting even worse now and it’s getting more and more noticable to myself because now I can’t leave my house without a small bottle of medical grade hand sanitizer that I use after touching anything someone else has touched repeatedly so I don’t get sick. I started sleeping with a towel at the side of my bed laid on the ground just in case for some reason if I ever threw up while in my room i wouldn’t have to clean it up or anything and it would just land in the towel and I could take it outside or something. It’s horrible. And I bring tums everywhere with me. If anyone else has this fear that turned into OCD please tell me about it or if you have overcome it please share❤️

I wanted to share a huge win in the hopes of inspiring y'all to see every situation as an ERP opportunity. My partner started weekly injections for health reasons, and self-administers them at home. I've observed and almost tried once, but chickened out at the last minute - it just wigged me out too much. Yesterday morning I committed to trying my darndest. Last night, we took it nice and slow, I almost bailed 3x, each time I asked for a minute to breathe and encourage myself and I was able to get it done! The biggest trap I kept falling into was "why does this bother me, this shouldn't bother me! I'm not afraid of this!" Instead I used my NER tools by acknowledging "this bothers me, this is hard, I feel anxious and uncomfortable, AND I want to do it. I believe I can do this. I'll be proud when I'm done. Let's keep going." HOORAY!

Hey guys, TL;DR: My Suicidal OCD is really bad rn after med change, it feels so real and urgent. I’ve been having a tough time lately, so I recognize it’s healthy to be sad and work through this along side it as Suicidal OCD likes to suppress sadness. Any advice or words of encouragement? My recent life: Recently I’ve been having a tough time. In August developed hypersomnia, which is like a constant pressure to sleep during the day. Developing this was quite triggering for my health anxiety, so I got all my vitals and stuff but nothing looked wrong. I decided to switch my meds (Zoloft, which was working decently) because we thought that was maybe causing it. I was going to switch to Prozac because it is more stimulating. The withdrawal process was BRUTAL for me, with brain zaps, dizziness, irritation, and worsening sleepiness. Switching to Prozac, it was clear the hypersomnia was not going away, so I made an appointment with a sleep specialist, but the earliest appointment is in December! The adjustment to Prozac has been VERY hard for me. Feeling really unstable during the process, libido is all over the place, but worst of all the last few days my OCD has been some of the WORST it has ever been. I’m Week 3 on Prozac and I’ve never had ocd this bad. I have Suicidal OCD, and right now it just feels so real, that it’s really gonna happen. I feel so much panic, but I know it is “tricking me” to feel like these thoughts are mine. While I’m managing with these intense things in my life, I’m now also realizing that I can’t suppress my sadness like Suicidal OCD often wants you to do. Things have been frustrating and it is HEALTHY to express sadness towards this. It’s just very difficult “being sad” while also having these dark suicidal thoughts along with them. What are some things that help you out in hard times, and what would you recommend for me? Thanks y’all, we are so strong.

So for basically half my life, ever since I was a teenager I've struggled with sex addiction and it has effected me in many different ways. I'm convinced that I have trauma that goes back to my teenage years due to being exposed to pornography with basically no knowledge of anything on the topic of sex. This also lead me to inappropriate activities with people online relating to sex and I have a lot of anxiety and guilt about this. It also desensitized my immature brain to seeking very inappropriate, disturbing content that I didn't think much of at the time and it bothers me that I was put through that when I didn't know better. Nowadays, this is all still a problem for me. There have been times where I have some reckless things just to get a high from pleasure. A year ago this happened, and now ever since I've been worrying about my health since. I've been worried for so long that I have some kind of infection, an STI, or that I've damage my body because of this addiction. I haven't told anyone about this because I'm too embarrassed too and I'm just worried about how my family will react to it. They know nothing about this part of my life at all. I've always worried about them finding out and not being able to handle the embarrassment and shame of it all. I've only told my therapist pieces of all of this, but I haven't opened up about wanting to get checked out for any kind of infections I've given myself because I was just so addicted to finding ways to get that high. Oddly enough, being reminding of the acting out just makes me want to go back to chasing the high all over again just to escape so I don't have to worry about it, but that only makes me feel worse. I don't know what to do.

OCD is so tiring. I’ve been dating this guy for about 3 months. I reallyyyyy like him. However, it’s also been so exhausting because I’m constantly questioning the relationship, and him. “Is this who God want a for me?” “Is there someone better?” “Do I even like him?” “If someone is good for you, you will be at peace” “Is this OCD or discernment” “follow your gut” I’m just constantly looking for answers! I can’t just be present. I know my upbringing may be apart of this. Im Christian, but my walk with Christ is not perfect. Ive fallen short to temptation and I feel like because of that the relationship won’t work or God is punishing me. Im constantly praying or thinking about what God thinks of me. Probably a compulsion. Which hurts as well because I used to be able to pray freely…if that makes sense. However, this has happened before. I leave someone then I start obsessing over something else. My sexuality or my health or if I have OCD or not. This relationship is still essentially new but this is the first relationship I’ve been open about my mental health struggles. And, I didn’t feel judged. But, my mind is saying if we breakup. I will be happy. I also get triggered by Instagram posts about relationships. It’s apart of my algorithm at this point, but I feel like any post I see is a sign?? It’s just so annoying. Sorry I’m all over the place, but that’s how it feels in my mind. I just need to get these thoughts out. I just want to be content with whatever happens.

My brain feels cooked, my nerves feel fried...I feel constant anxiety about my thoughts 24/7 now. My therapist told me he doesn't believe I have Depersonalization disorder and that it's all "placebo/nocebo effect" or "confirmation bias". I wake up feeling so disconnected from everything though, or maybe I am truly just telling myself that. I have intrusive thoughts that my brain can't mentally process what my eyes are seeing so it's almost like I'm blind even though I have perfect vision. It stresses me out to the point to where I don't wanna live anymore, yet the thought of death terrifies me. I never thought at 25 I would be experiencing these things, questioning how we exist, what causes it. I was prescribed Lexapro but the first 4 days of taking it my anxiety was so absolutely horrible that I stopped taking it...now my anxiety has labeled medication as a threat and taking any causes a full blown panic attack. I don't mean to come off as super negative but like...all I feel on a daily basis it seems is fear, panic, misery, and depression. I just don't know what to do. My therapist has told me to try and say "nope" out loud to these intrusive thoughts but it doesn't do much since my brain is obsessing and racing 24/7. I'm chronically tired and I'm just over it. My mental health is taking a toll on my bf now, and I'm terrified of losing him because of it and we've been together for 5 years now. People relating to me used to bring comfort, but now it feels like nothing does. I feel alone despite others dealing with the same mental issues I am. And all of this started, all of it From a migraine that caused a panic attack on July 27th. That right there was what caused my mental health to take a nose dive...idk what to do...I always feel like I'm not long for this world...like my life story is gonna be over soon...idk why, i dont have excessive thoughts of self harm.

this is probably gonna be all over the place so sorry in advance but lately my intrusive thoughts have been driving me up the wall and i feel so exhausted because of them. i recently pinched a nerve in my neck and its causing me a lot of discomfort (some dizziness & a little bit of stiff neck) and because of this, my intrusive thoughts have been so loud because i keep thinking i’m gonna faint every time i stand up since i’m a little dizzy (not enough to actually pass out), and i also keep worrying i’m gonna get paralyzed because my neck is stiff (i can still move it just fine). its like i logically know i’m worrying over nothing, but i can’t help it. its getting to the point where other symptoms are popping up like i cant sleep or relax, my stomach can barely handle food, and my muscles are tense at all times. i feel so exhausted. im disassociating so hard that i havent felt like ive been present for the last three days and its making me basically bedridden. its moments like these where i really wonder if itll get better. sometimes i feel too tired to even fight off the thoughts and i let myself panic. last night i had a small anxiety attack because i was so concerned about this pinched nerve and it made me feel so sick. i just want these thoughts to stop. how can i even teach myself to accept them and combat against them if i cant stop fixating on them? everybody says you need to stop giving the thoughts power and i fully agree, but god its so difficult to not worry. sometimes i dont even give the thoughts attention and they still give me physical anxiety symptoms. its just so exhausting. i guess all im wondering is will this get any better? i know it probably will, but i dont know…just moments like today make me really worry ill be like this forever. i dont even know what step to take to get myself back to normal at this point. ive been taking care of my neck to make sure i dont injure myself any more, and itll probably go away in a few days, but im afraid the mental affects will be longer lasting. i just feel lost and confused. my head hurts and i want to figure out how to relax myself again. i dont like seeing myself stuck in bed, forcing myself to focus on every thought and worry i have. im just tired

I've figured out thatit isbetter for me to avoid people. They have a strong tendency to annoy me. I've stayed away from people today and I've gone from a very grumpy morning to an evening where I feel like I'm recovering. Obvs I'm transitioning between a schizophrenia disgnosis to an OCD diagnosis and whenI'm moody OCD tells me I do have schizophrenia. For a fact I bottle up my anger in an effort to be polite for some reason. Also being confrontational is a side effect of my escitalopram. It is hard to work with Drs while travelling as there is a language barrier, the health services might be struggling and I move so much.

I’m trying to hold off having a panic attack but I feel this weird feeling in my stomach skin and it feels cold and kind of sore I looked it up which ik I’m not supposed to, but I was curious because it was not going away.It said something about nerve damage or diabetes? I’m kind of doing good ignoring the anxiety but I’m noticing part of my leg is also twitching a little and it’s making me feel more anxious, Idk what to do right now because I’m in college and I have to finish an assignment by today but the anxiety is making it hard for me to focus 😔

Hi this is my first post! My biggest thing is that im scared if I don’t do something something bad will happen. The consequences vary depending on the situation. Like for example one of my biggest fears is throw up so when my stomach hurts I have to touch something or do something or step on something in a certain way 4 times and I have to get it perfect. If not I think that I’m going to be sick. Thats just an example but my mind has fully convinced myself that these repetitive acts have actually worked and protected me. I don’t know how to stop or fight against it because I find comfort in thinking I have control over things. But sometimes doing these things can take so much time and it happens all the time. Certain rooms in my house there are certain things I have to do. It’s just becoming really overwhelming as a teenager especially. Does anyone have any advice?

My obsessions vary a lot, but lately I've been struggling with people close to me going into cars/driving. I'm feel like I'm starting to make them feel like I'm morbid or something, and also don't know how to explain them my mental process without sounding crazy,because this doesn't happen always. I'll try to explain: i really feel like i'm a bad omen for anyone close to me, and if they are making me a favour, like driving me somewhere it goes two ways in my head: 1.They are safe while i'm with them because(????) 2.When they are coming back without me they are at more risk because the universe is gonna make me pay for my egoism (being helped). Now, I know what magical thinking is but is really hard to explain to people without OCD, like, sorry but telling someone that i think i'm some kind of chosen one thay will keep us safe but a great force is gonna punish US BOTH for getting help is BONKERS. I'm right now at a good space in my life compared to years ago, but my head keeps popping with new fears randomly, i've been doing quite well with trying not to give into compulsions but this past week it's been so hard, both with this an health rumination. Just so hard. I couldn't help to give into it and i've been: -asking them to call as soon as they get where they were going. -checking the wheather and telling them please try not to drive, go outside or be careful in general if its windy or rainy. -Refusing rides and taking the public transport instead even if it's inconvenient and the other person insist they want to drive me. I just couldn't today my bf forgot to tell me he came to the office bc of reunions etc and i almost lost it, panic attack and multiple calls included. I just needed to let it out, and started reaching help again so i hope at least this makes someone feel understood :)

Last night was one of the worst days of my life. i went out with my girlfriend and two of my friends, it went okay at first i was trying my best to focus on the task ahead but the after i got a bit sleepy and it was just downhill. i had derealization. i had anxiety so bad that it made me unable too walk and now that im writing this im just scared of doing anything because i dont wanna fall in that nightmare again. last night was third day of prozac for me, people say it makes you feel worse then better but i dont wanna feel worse.. i wanna get better, im tired of making people around me feel useless cause they cant help me.