Shown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by shocker147 on July 25, 2003, at 23:08:48
Hi everyone-
I am reaching out to everyone out there who know their OCD is severe and crippling. I would really like to hear back from you if you live with this and have advice to give. Especially if you're older than me (23) and have been battling with this particular mental illness your whole life. My OCD became so excruciatingly debilitating starting at approximately 19 years of age I started locking myself in the bathroom and turning on the shower just to hear the sound of the water to calm myself for hours at a time. I got academically dismissed from school, overdrew my checking account $1000, had thousands of dollars in credit card debt, collection agencies after me, got in trouble with the law for fighting. I'm sure many of you reading this have been to this point and know that its impossible to describe in words how horrible you felt. I'm curious if anyone else besides me was so ill they didn't know they were ill? Finally God flipped a lightswitch in my head that said I needed to go to a psychiatrist. Never crossed my mind once until that day. Finally got to the doc in January of 2002. So ill the effort to open my mouth to utter a mere word took everything in me.
He immediately started me on Effexor XR, two days at 37.5 I woke up in the morning and didn't have a panic attack. It was an experience I hadn't enjoyed in years. Eventually went up to 375 mg of Effexor XR and back down to maximum benefit at 300mg. Doctor added Celexa to my regimine at that point and talk about a nightmarish hell, I turned into Mr. Hyde. Discontinued that and started taking Lithium (made me a complete zombie) discontinued that. Took Synthroid to no avail. Finally started on Paxil CR. I don't know if any of you take Paxil CR but of all the medicine I take it definately has the most power. Maximum dosage is 50 mg, at one point I took 100 mg one day and thought I was going to fall into a coma. I have been at 75 mg ever since. I felt no relief from the obsessions with effexor. The first came with paxil. I typed in www.ocd.com and it took me to the Luvox homepage (it doesn't anymore). I took a small dose of Luvox one afternoon and by 6 pm while at work I knew something was horribly wrong. I had to go to the hospital (first and only time) that night. Doc then tried me on 0.25 mg of Risperdal which completely changed my personality. Zyprexa after that (I put on 20 lbs in about 2 weeks). Finally he prescribed anafranil (clomipramine). I started at 25 mg and now I'm at 75 mg. The obsessions have almost completely died away. Today the doc added 10 mg of desipramine for mild depression which remains. I enjoy not having the obsessions anymore but I think it dulls me somewhat mentally. Has anyone else experienced this. Tonight I took the desipramine for the first time. Any feedback on that would be appreciated. I take 15 mg of Remeron at night and 4 mg of estazolam (excellent benzodiazapine). Has anyone experienced appetite increase with the remeron? Has anyone felt that seeing a psychologist has helped them overcome that 'scars', mostly the barriers your mind has built, from the OCD? My current medications are as follows:
Effexor XR 300 mg
Paxil CR 75 mg
Anafranil (Clomipramine) 75 mg
Desipramine 10 mg
Prosom (Estazolam) 4 mg
Remeron 15 mg.I hate being 23 and taking all of these medications, but everyone has their cross to carry. Please reply with feedback about what OCD (especially severe obsessing) has done to you and how you've confronted it medicinally and psychologically. I appreciate it.
Your friend in Wichita, shocker147
Posted by Ame Sans Vie on July 26, 2003, at 0:01:14
In reply to Severe OCD? Need feedback please, posted by shocker147 on July 25, 2003, at 23:08:48
Sorry I can't really comment much about the OCD--I have a moderate degree of obsessive and compulsive thoughts/behavior that has just recently been treated completely with Ultram (an opioid analgesic with norepinephrine and serotonin reuptake inhibition properties).
I'm mainly posting this because it greatly concerns me that you are on THREE different serotonergic medications--Effexor, Paxil, and Anafranil. And at pretty high doses, nonetheless (especially the Paxil). There is a *very* high risk of developing serotonin syndrome (a potentially life-threatening state of serotonin overload) when combining two serotonergic meds, but you take THREE?? I would very strongly urge you to discuss this with your doctor; that combo of meds is just plain dangerous. FWIW, I highly recommend giving Ultram a try. There have recently been a lot of case reports of Ultram (generic: tramadol) bringing immediate relief to people with treatment-resistant OCD, and I can personally attest to its efficacy. I also take Xanax XR (3mg), which I recently switched to after being on Klonopin for three years. I've tried all the SSRIs, atypical antidepressants, Nardil, stimulants, mood stabilizers, and many of the antipsychotics, barbiturates, not to mention an assortment of other non-psychiatric medications that are occasionally prescribed psychiatrically (i.e. Soma, Inderal). The Ultram + benzodiazepine combination is the only thing that completely rids me of obsessions, compulsions, panic, social anxiety, agoraphobia, and depression.
Posted by Ed O`Flaherty on July 26, 2003, at 7:58:59
In reply to Re: Severe OCD? Need feedback please, posted by Ame Sans Vie on July 26, 2003, at 0:01:14
Have a look at www.omega3.20megsfree.com for reports on some whose O.C.D has greatly improved using omega-3 fish oil added to regular medication.
Posted by brittnay on April 1, 2008, at 23:20:44
In reply to Severe OCD? Need feedback please, posted by shocker147 on July 25, 2003, at 23:08:48
> hey i read ur post and thought i would tell u my story, well im only 20 and i have been dealing with this since i was 11 years old well my god it has gotten so bad that i went on ciperlax well the same day i had such bad anxeity that i was in the hospital like a mental case blood pressure through the ruff whatver else since that dasy i now struggle with eating or drimnkin anything in a day bcuz i think its in everything i wish i knew someone like me but i guess ur simular , ive been on every pill u just mentiond anywayz i cant even touch my bread without freakin out that i had drugs on my food but i reallly cant take pills so what i do everyday is challange myself to eat and try to reassure myself that there was now drugsa on my food i also have a b/f that helps me reassure myself that eveyrthin will b ok so that helps me for the most part anwayz. i also have a 16 month old son which makes it harded for me to get better cuz im always stressed out but he takes my mind off it somtimes to. so maybe just challange ur self everyday and try some yogas thats always good to maybe the gym thats good for ur brain to. i dont like drugs i think all human with this illness can overcome it on there own with time and its so much more harded but we can anywayz get back
Posted by mogger on April 3, 2008, at 0:41:41
In reply to Re: Severe OCD? Need feedback please, posted by brittnay on April 1, 2008, at 23:20:44
I am so sorry to hear that you are not feeling well. I too have suffered from ocd as far as I can remember and the best thing I have recently started taking is inositol (vitamin b8). Out of all things I have taken by far this is the best for ocd and has literally no side effects whatsoever.
mogger
Posted by Molybdenum on April 5, 2008, at 20:43:29
In reply to Severe OCD? Need feedback please, posted by shocker147 on July 25, 2003, at 23:08:48
Well....when I was about 12 or 13 yrs old I used to rush into my bedroom & then look into the corners of the ceiling looking for spiders. I really hated spiders - at least the big ones we had. They weren't actually tarantulas or otherwise poisonous to humans. They were just big & fast & freaked me out.
Australia is famous for a few things - Errol Flynn, kangaroos, and more of the most venomous animals on earth than anywhere else. So I used to count the corners over & over & over. I also used to turn taps off in a certain manner. I didn't tell anyone about this of course. I knew it was somehow "nuts".
One day I picked up this interesting looking book from the library called "The Layman's Guide To Psychiatry & Psychoanalysis" by Eric Burne (?). Anyway, he had little stories about people doing weird things which were really "text book" patients. I started reading a chapter & instantly recognized myself..!
It was such a trip to be reading about ME. I had what he was calling "neurotic behavior". If it impacted my life too much he would call it a neurosis. I think I was borderline. Would this be called OCD today?
I don't think I ever counted the corners or fcuked with the taps ever again. I just decided it was crap & I stopped it. I was angry at myself & I just stopped it.
I'm telling you this because I think it's important to know that it is indeed possible to do such things. As we (or at least I) get older we tend to tell ourselves what we can't do all the time. Back then I believed in anything that sounded interesting.
A few years later I started having trouble sleeping & was depressed a lot - at least I realize now that's what it was. I didn't seek treatment of course. So according to the book maybe I was "sublimating" / moved my stress to some other area. At least the sleeping was easier to treat as I didn't feel awkward telling the dr about it. So started me on the benzos....another story.
So I know this is probably not great advice to help you necessarily. Maybe with help from the right meds and knowing that you can feel that way and still stop, your brain might just decide to abandon it too one day...? You might just get fcuking angry & sick of it & see what happens.
OK - I'll stay out of it now. ;)
Good Luck....it sounds awful & mine sure was too.
M.
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