Posted by phidippus on September 29, 2012, at 17:11:37
In reply to Need to figure out meds to take for SA and OCD, posted by Chris2011 on April 21, 2011, at 14:16:44
>I have not taken medication(s) mainly due to my OCD obsessions about the meds and partly because of not being able to tolerate the side-effects.
If you take a medication long enough, you will find most of the side effects will go away
>I'd go into detail about the obsessive thinking about the meds but it's difficult to explain and wouldn't make much sense.
Tell me what intrusive thoughts you have about the medication
>I just want to take a med and stick with it for a month or so.
With OCD, you need too try on a medication for at least two months.
>I've been on Lexapro 2.5mg and klonopin .25mg 4x's a day for the past 3 years, which has sort of stabilized me
2.5 mg of Lexapro is doing nothing for you. For OCD Lexapro should be prescribed at a 40 mg dose. Your Klonopin is at an extremely low dose as well.
>I tried Parnate on a few occasions but only for a day or two. This is the one med I feel would help me significantly as it would address my
severe social anxiety and OCD.Parnate will not treat your OCD. There is very little literature about MAOIs being efficacious in the treatment of OCD.
>My main concern is that I don't think I can handle the increased anxiety from the med in the first few weeks of taking it.
What amount of anxiety will you deal with in order to get better?
> From brief trials of other meds of all classes, and from the extensive internet research I've done on meds, the only other meds I will try are Anafranil (again) and AbilifyLuvox, Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft are all approved to treat OCD. Plenty of studies back up these drugs.
Cymbalta,Effexor, Pristiq, Mirtazapine, Lexapro, Celexa and Anafranil are all medications studied in the treatment of OCD.
after you've been on an antiobsessional for a couple months and you're still having issues, the APA recommends the addition of an antipsychotic
>(for the mild paranoia and to see if my social anxiety is actually a form of psychosis
Trust me, you're paranoid, but not psychotic. OCD can play tricks on you.
>I've already tried to increase the Lexapro dose to a "therapeutic" level (15mgs for 6 weeks)
Try 40 mg
>I also know that meds might not even be the >answer and that there is a lot to be said for >cognitive therapy, exposure, exercise, etc. >Especially CBT and exposure for the social >anxiety.
ERP, ACT and CBT will bbe invaluable tools for you
If you're reading this you can probably sense my extreme frustration in trying to figure out the perfect answers to my problems,
There are no perfect answers to your problems
>
> If anybody out there has any ideas, advice, insights, please let me know.I have plenty of ideas, I am a fellow OCD sufferer. In the 13 years I've had this disease I have had experience with many drugs and many therapies.
Eric
poster:phidippus
thread:983445
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/neuro/20110604/msgs/1027034.html