Posted by umberto on October 7, 2008, at 10:23:15
I have been suffering from pure-O OCD for the last 15 years. For the first 12-13 years, one or the other SSRI managed to keep the problems at bay enough for me to get through academic life and then work. However, 2 years back, I stopped Lexapro (it was working very well, but I had put on a ton of weight) . I was off medicines for 3 months before I had a huge relapse. Since then, I have tried multiple SSRIs (as well as clomipramine) at high doses but nothing seems to work beyond 60-70% efficacy, which leaves me still significantly disabled and very highly anxious. The last 2 years have been very rocky, and I am completely confused on how to proceed since SSRIs are supposedly the only medicine for OCD.
Can someone relate to my symptoms and sudden med-resistance? I do not have any compulsions, and obsessions are non-content specific ( --- I am obsessed about obsessing , if that makes any sense --- ). I fear sporadic thoughts will arise in my mind which prevent me from attending with full focus on the task at hand. Therapy does not help. Doing anything - work, talking on phone etc. makes the anxiety shoot up. I am currently taking 2 mg clonazepam to combat anxiety, but it is doing a mild job at best, the anxiety is still significant.
Any medicine which acts on the NE system ups my anxiety significantly. Thus venlafaxine and clomipramine have been disasters. I responded to Paxil once but failed to respond the second time around.
If anybody has been in a similar position, what did you do to get out of it?
Thanks for ur help.
poster:umberto
thread:856191
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081006/msgs/856191.html