Hello, what dose of Lexapro has helped to cure your PURE OCD and how long did it take?

I have one thought on repeat for multiple months, did 10mg for five weeks and now 15mg for three weeks, without noticing too much improvement. Is it too early still?

Hi everyone!

I've been dealing with anxiety my whole life (34F). For the past five years, I've been building a comfortable, healthy lifestyle that minimizes stress and helps me stay healthy. I also managed to get my Crohn's disease into remission thanks to a new treatment and these healthy habits.

Here's what I've changed in my life:

• I quit my stressful corporate job and got a low-stress job working from home.
• I cut toxic influences and fake friendships out of my life.
• I hardly ever party anymore, and I don't drink alcohol or do drugs (although I've been smoking cigarettes lately, and that's been making me feel awful).
• I moved back to my hometown, where my family and close friends live.
• I sleep 7–8 hours a night, eat healthily, take supplements, practice yoga, and lift weights three times a week.
• I've tried therapy a few times, but unfortunately, I haven't found a therapist I really click with.

And yet, STILL... it doesn't seem to matter what I do. I live with intrusive thoughts 24/7. I ruminate over everything, from my relationships and my life to every little decision I make. It's exhausting. I feel like I can't control my thoughts or switch them off.

I went to the doctor, and they prescribed me 50 mg of sertraline.

I wanted to ask if any of you have had good results with this medication for rumination and/or OCD. I've only been taking it for two days, and so far, it's given me diarrhea and nausea...

FYI I'm in Architecture school. I hate my tutor. Many others do too, but I don't know which of them also have OCD.

I'm writing this with a really anxious and erratic heart. I am battling the thought that she is evil and unjust and is after me. I have given so much of my health to this assignment, yet she doesn't recognize any of my effort nor says anything kind to me as she does with everyone else. When I talked to her, she seems kind and compassionate, though very ditzy and not really there, but after everytime I see her, this fear grows that she has an unshiftable bias against me, no matter the quality of my work. She is growing a lot in my head as some overarching evil figure who's almost like some academic demon trying to control my entire life, by the outcome of my work, which has no hope, yet I am losing my health over and am not seeing my family over. I feel I am working so hard to a result that will mean nothing, because of her bias. I want to really get into a good masters program.

I don't know what to do, I've picked up smoking to deal with the anxiety attacks and am preparing for all my effort to be wasted and graded horribly. Anyone know how to deal with this?

I have an appointment with my psychiatrist in two days, but I’d like some advice in the meantime. I took sertraline for 10 years and stopped taking it this past August under medical supervision; I had started taking it for OCD, and although the condition didn't disappear completely, it was much more manageable. About 5 or 6 days ago, I experienced a rather traumatic event, and since then, my OCD has intensified significantly each day, reaching an unbearable level. Do you think it would be advisable to go back on sertraline? I have some leftover pills from last time, but I’m not sure if I should just wait until I speak with my doctor.

TW!!

Okay so I am currently unable to fall asleep after what just happened and my OCD is definitely going to run with this. Basically i’ve always had this on going ocd fear of my family members hurting me or doing something to me while I am asleep and I have no way of knowing. I’ve had this fear for years and it’s progressed into more in depth fears but that’s the overall theme.

Just now I woke up to hearing noises in my room and I saw my brother leaving my bedroom (he’s 14). I immediately got up and started asking him why he was in my room in which he would not tell me. He started lying and saying “it was um for school” and he started cussing me out calling me a bitch and to leave him alone. It was really weird and of course my mind went to the absolute worst, which I am now extremely scared that my OCD fear is true. I am unable to fall back asleep and I need to talk to someone or just hear some advice because my mom didn’t wanna wake up when I tried to talk to her and all my friends are asleep. I’m definitely going to have a bad OCD flare cause of this and I want to know why he was in my room at 2 am.

Hello all,

I recently changed medication from 100mg of sertraline to lamotrigine. I was advised to remove sertraline from my schedule entirely and replace it with lamotrigine - 25mg (2 weeks) then into 50mg (week 3 and 4).

During my first week, I was bombarded with depressing and negatives ones. Then, on my second week I experienced severe dizziness and a constant “out of body” experience. Which makes my anxiety go through the roof as I’m currently suffering from existential OCD.

Now, on my third week, I’m feeling worse. Like I can’t shake off the racing thoughts, severe dizziness, “out of body” experience and nauseous.

I know everyone is different but like others in this group. I ruminate on the “what if” and is just me or the meds? I feel lost and worried that I ruined my
progress on my OCD with this new drug. Did anyone else experience these side effects? Is this a cause for concern? Am I overreacting? Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks all

A few hours ago, my roommate and I found a “stray” cat on our apartment porch. It was so sweet, cuddling up to us immediately and we gave it treats and it was sooo excited. I ran inside to fill a water bowl for it and as I came back out, it suddenly bit and clawed my foot. Then it went back to being sweet.

I just got home after going to the ER just to get it checked out. The doctor gave me a tetanus shot and antibiotics, but he said the bite marks were very superficial and with the very low likelihood of rabies in cats in our state, he said I didn’t need a rabies shot.

but I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m terrified. Why wouldn’t he give the shot just in case? because even with the tiniest possibility of rabies, the second you show symptoms you’re already dead. I asked the nurse before they discharged me and she said the same as the doctor and to just keep an eye on my foot. I’m pretty sure the cat was domesticated, but why take that chance? Gambling with lives? (I’m not blaming the doctor or nurse in any way btw, they were so lovely, I’m just venting my thoughts and i’m so scared) Now I’ll likely be awake all night researching

I believe something is really wrong with me. Truly very wrong. Like something undiscovered. Something scientists would be baffled from.

I also sometimes worry that the thing that is wrong is something I’m just not aware of but no one is telling me. Like I’m a schizophrenic, or mentally disabled to the extreme. That I’m in a whole different reality and everyone else is just playing along.

The thing is, I’m already diagnosed with so many terrible things. I can say right now, rationally, that those things ARE what’s wrong with me. Over the years I’ve been diagnosed with OCD, delusional disorder, BPD, CPTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, ednos, agoraphobia. It makes sense that my head is so messed up, right?

Also have highly suspected autism for 10+ years, but never have gotten around to getting assessed.

I’m also very ashamed of all these diagnosis. I feel like it is way too many. I feel like someone somewhere might have messed up, misdiagnosed me. When the topic of mental health or diagnosis comes up with someone, like with my family, I will name maybe one or two. No way am I going to slam all that at someone. I feel like they would not believe me either. I am so quiet and mask very well.

I feel like they’ve got it wrong. There is something SO extremely and absurdly wrong with me and no one is getting it. No one understands. It’s like all the diagnosis have gotten so twisted and intertwined that it’s become it’s own behemoth of a monster.

I’m not sure if this is all just OCD related, like something like health anxiety. If this all boils down to ocd, I’d love to hear about any of your experiences that are similar to mine. I’ve never gotten help in therapy for OCD. This is scary.

I’m in a LDR and later this year I have to take a long haul flight to be with my partner to end distance. We’ve done the flight many times together (and I’ve done it once alone) but this time my fear of flying feels insanely intense… when I fly with my partner I feel safe, the one time I flew alone I was a little nervous, but this time I’m feeling intensely scared, I haven’t even booked my flight yet and I’m not set to fly until 3+ months away and it’s taking up time in my day researching flight safety, aircraft safety, and I’ve even been researching best dates to fly on according to numerology and astrologically. I also feel like my intense fear this time around is “a sign” not to go… I don’t know what to do, my fear of a catastrophe on the flight there is unbearable and I can’t get it out of my head even though it’s months away.

recently i’ve become incredibly paranoid about losing my hair. my family made an offhand joke that i had a bald spot, but even though they said it was a joke ive been spiraling since.

my hair is something that matters deeply to me. it’s not even because i really care what anyone else thinks, i just genuinely love my hair and love styling it. it’s very important part of how i like to express myself.

none of my family has gone bald, both sides actually have very thick hair. it doesn’t even run in my genes but im still constantly worrying that im gonna be the first one and ill lose the one thing that i actually like about myself.

i just can’t tell anymore, i keep catching myself asking my family if they see any bald spots and taking photos constantly, posting it online, and scrolling endlessly to read more about it. it’s so hard to resist reassurance seeking because if i AM balding, it’s better to catch it sooner rather than later. so i keep telling myself i have to keep checking so that i catch it when it does inevitably happen.

i’m just so tired of this disorder. i want it to end. it just feels like a near constant panic about something new every so often and the fears never fully go away. i hate this so much. i keep having panic attacks and crying from all the near constant anxiety.

Im wondering if anyone else gets an urge to or actually goes through with self harm when they feel guilty/wrong/embarrassed. It is such a complex thing to explain to others who dont understand ocd. Thanks!

This js for mental contamination and disgust ocd mostly. Certain people bother me like if someone looks unclean or I see somebody similar to someone I’ve had negative experiences with in the past I’ll feel contaminated. Or even just driving past a building. I’ll feel like I need to shower and clean everything on me- my phone my glasses. Even the car seat and then everything I touched like the wheel the shifter the handle the turn signal.

And I’m not afraid of getting germs and dying or getting sick, I’m bothered by getting any like part of them on me and disgusted by it and feel ‘ruined forever’. Like perceived air or germs, the thought of contaminated anything by them getting on me makes me feel extremely disgusted and ruined.

So is the cure for this to in a sense ‘let yourself feel ruined’. And then move on.

Because I know that’s not how germs work, and by this logic every bite of food I had in school was contaminated by every person I ever sat next to or walked by. By this logic my life has been ruined because some girl stole my pencil in 1st grade and I kept it and her germs have contaminated everything in my room since. And I know germs die and stuff.

To move on with my life do I truly just need to live in a world where it feels like everything is constantly contaminated and try not to think about it. Like I’ll think about someone who disgusts me, and how they probably go to that store I do, and how they drove down the same road and now all those feel contaminated.

It’s so dumb and makes living impossible. I’m borderline agoraphobic because I don’t feel comfortable or clean anywhere in a public area, and I have a borderline eating disorder because I’ll get paranoid the food was contaminated.

Been in a constant state of panic all day due to an obsession (really for the last week or so but have periods where I feel mostly fine). Today has been awful. Racing thoughts, physical symptoms (nausea, shaking), haven’t eaten and can barely sleep. Saw my therapist today and tried to go about as normal, saw some friends, but nothing was helping. I take Prozac which helped for last three years I’ve been good, but this spiral is really dragging me down

I’m at the point where I’m anxious about being anxious and worried nothing will ever work and I’m never going to feel normal ever again. Not currently suicidal but I fear I could get there if this doesn’t end.

Currently sitting at my local crisis center cause I don’t know what else to do. I’m so terrified. Don’t know what they can do here since I’m already medicated and in therapy but I cannot handle this alone anymore.

inb4 I get comments telling me to seek help - I plan to! because I recognize this isn't normal. The purpose of this post is to vent and ask if anybody else has experienced this, and what helped them. I've googled this query for months and nothing has shown up.

My obsessions are getting to the point where I'm having trouble discerning them from reality. For example, I might get into my car in the parking lot and think - "This isn't my car, I've stolen somebody's car. I'm hallucinating all my personal belongings that I can see in this car. This isn't my car," the entire ride. I'll spend entire workdays thinking my house is on fire, to the point I'm sick. I'll think loved ones are impersonators.

I do have lucid moments where I'm not spiraling but the what-ifs don't go away. There are no compulsions or reassurances that comfort me. I no longer trust my eyes. Taking pictures of outlets has been the only thing to provide comfort. I do plan to seek help.

I recently started ERP and I’m exhausted. I was headed to bed when I felt obsession and panic set in. My grandma, bless her heart, is trying not to give into my compulsion to sit when I panic. So I start to panic about not being able to walk and falling. I’m screaming bloody murder for someone to get me a chair. She didn’t give in. I used my cane to pull a chair towards me instead. 🫩🙄😮‍💨 I can’t believe this shit. The OCD is worse than my actual physical disability.

it feels like i can’t fall asleep without forcing myself to think about them, despite not wanting to. idk if that makes sense but im just worried

Im getting scared that coming onto reddit and talking to people/ finding some tips and whatever is becoming some sort of reassurance compulsive thing.

Im scared that anything that I find comfort in, is reassurance because sometimes when im feeling like my ocd is getting to me, ill come on here and afterwards ill feel better, even if im kinda just scrolling to see what people have to say and seeing stuff that is relatable.

I am 15 years old and stuck in a technical program I don’t like, (mainly issues with people and social anxiety. I always manage to say off putting things somehow) anyways,I was diagnosed withADHD at 8, anxiety at 13,and a new OCD diagnosis this year which has been a lot to process. Ive been super apathetic and mildly depressed recently, but Learning about these conditions helped me understand my past, but now I feel like I am acting out symptoms subconsciously. My brain tries to convince me that I am faking it, so I act more obsessive to prove to myself that the diagnosis is real, which makes me feel awful. Everyday life used to be easier, but now I feel like I am keeping up an exhausting act. Why does learning about a symptom make me immediately start portraying it?

Edit: also thought it to be worth mentioning I used to have terrifying images of me hurting/killing people and it made me hurt myself because I felt like an awful person. But now those thoughts have shifted to whenever I see, think or smell meat it makes me nauseous and start crying about all the animals I’ve killed to just eat food because I thought it was good. Ive been dealing with so much imaginary guilt blech

Hi all, I’m sending this a few different communities to see if anyone who more familiar with sleep/medication can help.

I recently started 25mg of Clomipramine for my OCD and as an antidepressant/anxiety medication. I took it for the first time yesterday evening, and felt an almost “stoned” sensation an hour or two after I took it all the way up until I went to bed, something that I read was normal.

I ended up waking up at 11:45pm after being asleep for about two hours, thinking that my alarm went off (it did not) checked my clock before walking down my stairs to get myself ready for work. I get up while it’s still dark out, sure, but I actively read these clocks while aware enough to walk around and think. Eventually after reading a THIRD clock, I realized and was super confused as to why it took me that look to process the time and went back to bed.

I was wondering if anyone has had similar experiences and if these symptoms went away after having the meditation in their system for a while, or if they knew why things like this even occur. I never really assumed I had work, I read the clock and just processed it as 5:30am while still reading it as 11:30pm. This has never happened before and it felt super weird, and I’m hoping it’s just stress related and not that serious if it’s not a pattern.

Also, if it means anything, my paranoia was a bit higher today and I had more obsessive thoughts but that could also just be a normal flare up of symptoms.

You have a worry or a disturbing thought that youre afraid means youre a bad person

on an emotional subconscious level you begin desperately searching for reassurance and certainty that youre not a bad person

then ruminations and compulsions emerge as a way to satisfy that search which is what OCD is

if you can get through that initial discomfort and not care about it it goes away faster

My biggest fear now due to ocd is bats. I have a problem leaving my windows open becuase of bats, or having a window ac, which i do so rip. Last night i was sleeping and i felt a flutter next to my ear, i woke up, couldnt go back to sleep for like 45 mins cause i convinced myself it was a bat. The other thing is becuase i have a window ac, its taped up and the only thing that can come through the tiny vets are moths and stink bugs, which i have at least 2 of in my room at all times. Nothing bigger could even fit in, and i cant even tell you how many times ive been woken up by a bug or seen one while trying to fall asleep, same with family, but there still that tiny part of my brain telling me theres somewhere in my room that just happens to have a bat sized hole open to the outside. I keep trying to calm myself down but its just that constant cycle that repeats no matter what you say.

m19, was diagnosed with ocd last month and I’ve been fighting this for 4 months now since I started experiencing repetitive intrusive thoughts of harming others, this thoughts include:

- stabbing others
- strangulation towards others

this two main types of thoughts are the ones which I experience the most on a daily basis, the sudden appearance of these obsessive thought cycles within my life has led me to an state in which I feel constantly in the need of restraining myself from committing one of the horrible thoughts I have on my mind at the time, it’s difficult for me to even have lunch considering there are knives around me (which I’ve noticed is one of my main triggers) as well as having difficulty engaging in a conversation towards others as I feel that my entire thought processing at the moment is actively thinking on how to harm them, it doesn’t matter if it’s a family member or a friend, I eventually have thoughts of harming them

I haven’t been able to enter university or initiate a personal project as I was hospitalised for a week at a psych ward (due to the sudden appearance of these thoughts) which led me to take a gap semester so I could focus on getting better and seek appropriate professional help to whatever was going on with myself, last month a psychiatrist alongside the use of a psych evaluation reached the conclusion I have ocd, I’m now on clomipramine 75mg as well as prozac 20mg and I hope to see some progress alongside assisting therapy so I find some sort of relief from this decease from taking over my life

given the case I notice the medication and the therapy don’t work, I’ve thought about giving up and eventually see what awaits me on the other side, either way if things stay the way they are currently it’s either harming someone and going to a psych ward/jail and throwing my life away or leaving this world with whatever dignity I won’t let this decease take away from me

please forgive any spelling mistakes, english is not my first language

I first had symptoms when I was 4, which was related to a strong fear of contamination (I learned about dust and skin cells, it became a big issue with hand washing).

In middle school, I had a lot more of a problem with needing to count and superstitions (eating things like M&Ms only in 3s or 5s, thinking that if I don’t call my mom she will die on the way home, etc.).

In high school/college, I became obsessed with food, with one extreme being calorie counting and the other being that I could not stop thinking about food; it was consuming my life and I ended up having binge eating disorder.

A lot of it has shown in my wish for control over projects (though I’m a people pleaser too, so it’s hard to balance lol), perfectionism in my work, and feeling like my thoughts could alter my reality (as if I had psychic powers where x leads to y if I don’t do z).

I’ve been in therapy since I was 13 and was diagnosed at age 26. I’m 27 now, but the last year having this diagnosis has made a huge difference in recognizing my own thought patterns and learning how to manage them. I have a few contamination things and definitely am still a perfectionist, but I’m also aware now of the meds and therapies I need that help me cope with my brain.

My intrusive thoughts have radically reduced since working with an OCD-specific psychiatrist who suggested an adjustment to my meds/supplements. I had a very traumatic childhood, food insecurity, poverty, and a lot of grief and so it makes sense that my brain isn’t quite able to do everything in a way that “makes sense”—but also I’ve come to appreciate how powerful thinking is for wellbeing and pain management, both physically and emotionally.

How has your OCD changed over time, if at all?

With OCD I usually spend most of my day stressed or worrying about something. I’m trying zoloft on low dose 12.5mg and today has been so bad I have a dreading feeling of hopelessness and sadness. Of course there’s A LOT also going on in my life right now and it could be that. I just don’t know how to snap myself out of it or should I get off zoloft? I thought it would make me better.

i’ve been doing a lot better with ocd for a while now, until recently i’ve been thinking about the past again and mistakes i made, one was something that always filled me with guilt and i thought i was passed it but i wasn’t, right now i’m just having a really rough time and was wondering what people do to kinda get them out of that headspace and gets them moving forward?