meds?

[Guest jake]

I have had like anxiety and ocd for like 10 years.  I don't have rituals, just always thinking, worrying, and obsessing over stuff.

I have seen quite a few doctors and the issue is the meds.

I tried 120mg of prozac a day and that did no good.  I have tried other things but only for a few days because I hate the side effects or think I will get them.

TOday I went to a psychiatric nurse and she wants me to try risperdal and then probably an ssri next week.

I never heard of this med and I am scared but she says there aren't many things that work on the racing mind, obsessing and stuff like that and the other thing will work on the anxiety?

anyone have experience with this?

Oh and some depression mixed in?

[Echo]

I have had like anxiety and ocd for like 10 years.

[Guest jake]

I have seen a few psychiatrists and finding a good one is proving to be difficult.  Never been told at all I was bipolar.  I have been told I was depressed, ocd, and anxious.

I take kolonopin as needed and have been for years which helps the anxiety.

I tried prozac for like several months at 120mg and I just didn't care about much, gained weight and wasn't as anxious but still the racing thoughts and obsessive thinking, worrying.

I tried paxil with some weird extra heart beat things going on so stopped that.

Had a bad experience with effexor and drinking.

Tried wellbutrin, luvox, anafranil, neurontin, zoloft, serzone, and I think that may do it.

I think that this clinical nurse probably listened better than any other person I have ever seen and even called me tonight at 10pm to see if I took the medication, which I didn't.

I am seeing a psych tomorrow and will see what he says.

I am wondering what will help with the issues I have.  I don't get agitated or do things I normally wouldn't but:

I will ask the same questions to people several times just because I get anxious, want to hear some other answer, or like my wife says, that is what I do.

I get agravated if people don't do stuff my way.

I call back someone a few times in a row to ask something I forgot the first time.

I worry about EVERYTHING

I have obsessive thinking so I think about stuff and then just keep going with it

I "what if" everything

worry about stuff I have no control over

sit and read all about meds before I take them and usually just give up on them and then suffer and make my wife crazy.

stuff like that basically.

I have had like anxiety and ocd for like 10 years.  I don't have rituals, just always thinking, worrying, and obsessing over stuff.

I have seen quite a few doctors and the issue is the meds.

I tried 120mg of prozac a day and that did no good.  I have tried other things but only for a few days because I hate the side effects or think I will get them.

TOday I went to a psychiatric nurse and she wants me to try risperdal and then probably an ssri next week.

I never heard of this med and I am scared but she says there aren't many things that work on the racing mind, obsessing and stuff like that and the other thing will work on the anxiety?

anyone have experience with this?

Oh and some depression mixed in?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm going to offer my opinion here being that I have ocd/anxiety/depression mood swings (probably bipolar) and have experience with risperdal. Just keep in mind that the best advice is always the advice of a doctor.

With that said my experience with risperdal was an al right one. I took 1mg at bed time for a while and it didn't cause any side effects, but it also didn't do much else. I have also been told by a number of doctors (pdocs) that it can actually make OCD symptoms worse.

I went off it and am now starting a cocktail of depakote and seroquel with klonopin to take as needed. The depakote is a mood stabilizer as I have had no luck with anti depressants (paxil, celexa, zoloft, effexor) because of the likely bi-polar thing. They all whacked me out. What has your experience been on the ssri's you have tried? You might want to be careful as you say you have depression mixed in with the anxiety and ocd as well. Do you ever have hyper-active times when your mind races, you get agitated, maybe don't think rationally and do things you wouldn't normally do? If there is any possibility at all that you might have a bi-polar (or somewhat related) disorder than make sure to be EXTRA careful when experimenting with anti-depressants. Have you had a full evaluation? That's definitely your first step if you haven't already done so.

If they are going to put you on any anti-psychotic (that's what risperdal is) I would personally suggest seroquel. It has a pretty good rep for being a good anti-anxiety and anti-obsessional - especially since you say a lot of your issues are more thinking and worrying. Maybe you can mention the possibility to this nurse? At any rate it might be a good idea to read up about both risperdal and seroquel and any other med you might be considering to gain a better understanding of them all.

Also, do you have anxiety attacks? There are some medications (like benzos) that can be taken to help stop the symptoms in their tracks. This might be an option you can explore.

Lastly, and most importantly, you say that all the other meds you have tried (might be helpful to list them here for us?) you have either stopped taking them after a few days because of side effects or because of worrying about side effects. I totally empathize with this, where you are is me right now! I'm a total head case about starting my meds (which is tonight.  ) but you must always remember that our systems take time to adjust to these meds. Some take weeks, and other take months. You must give the meds a chance to work. Lots of side effects are present at the beginning of treatment and go away shortly thereafter. If the symptoms are regularly outlined ones (check the sheet your pharmacy will give you outlining normal symptoms) and they are tolerable then please stay on the meds! Start to worry if and when you notice any of the "please tell your doctor about...." side effects outlined on the sheets. Your pharmacist is an invaluable tool, please use them!

You will never feel better if you don't put some faith in your doctors. My advice is to find a doctor you like (preferably a psychiatrist), get a proper evaluation and diagnosis, and then figure out the best option meds wise and stick with it.

Hope you start to feel better soon.

Echo

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Guest jake]

The meds I tried were:

120mg of prozac a day

Then was given anafranil and i hated it.

The other ones, well probably all the ssri's, luvox, effexor, wellbutrin, celexa, zoloft, and paxil.

Paxil is the one I tried a couple times but had a side effect so the others I tried for a few days and gave up.

So now here is an update

Hi,

I have seen 2 people in 2 days.

I have anxiety and worry about stuff, ask the same questions a bunch of times, obsessive thoughts, trouble making up my mind, etc and one clinical nurse wanted to give me risperdal and then probably some ssri

The other dr. wants me to try lexapro.

does anyone have similar problems and what do you take?

[Sunshine]

Well, first of all, you have to give these things more than "a few days" to work. SSRIs in particular can take up to eight weeks before you start feeling the effects and the side effects level out.

Secondly, you are going to have side effects. There's really no way around it. It sucks. But it becomes a question of what sucks less... the side effects, or the untreated illness. Personally, I'll take the side effects.

All that said... you might want to ask your pdoc about Cymbalta. I'm not OCD, but I was having a really big problem with rumination that an assortment of meds wasn't dealing with, but Cymbalta stopped them immediately. It was also the first med (among the same assortment) that even put a dent in the bout of severe depression I was in (almost two years after it started).  Adding in Wellbutrin and Xanax XR have all but "cured" my symptoms. I never thought I'd feel good again.

~Sunshine

[gringa79]

The meds I tried were:

120mg of prozac a day

Then was given anafranil and i hated it.

The other ones, well probably all the ssri's, luvox, effexor, wellbutrin, celexa, zoloft, and paxil.

Paxil is the one I tried a couple times but had a side effect so the others I tried for a few days and gave up.

So now here is an update

Hi,

I have seen 2 people in 2 days.

I have anxiety and worry about stuff, ask the same questions a bunch of times, obsessive thoughts, trouble making up my mind, etc and one clinical nurse wanted to give me risperdal and then probably some ssri

you really have to give the meds a chance to kick in...at least a month.  i have panic disorder, depression, and OCD.  your OCD sounds a lot like mine-no rituals just constant worry and aggitation if something does not go my way.  have you tried cognative behavioural therapy? sounds like you need to change thinking patterns.

The other dr. wants me to try lexapro.

does anyone have similar problems and what do you take?

[Velvet Elvis]

Prozac is the weakest of the SSRIs, so you might want to try some of the others.  Luvox and Paxil are generally considered the best for obsessions.  OCD typically responds to them at doses much higher than what is required for depression or GAD, so give them some time as you titrate up on the doses. 

For intrusive thoughts I've really found low doses of anti-psychotics to be more effective with Seroquel being the most effective of the ones of tried.  Others with a reputation for having anti-obsessive properties include Risperdal, Geodon, and Zyprexia (overkill, IMHO).

Check the link in this thread for a bit more info.