HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Dealing with OCD, anxiety and panic attacks

Support Forums
>
Anxiety & Panic Disorders
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 3/8/2014 7:34 AM (GMT 0)
I am having a hard time dealing with my OCD , Anxiety and panic attacks. After realizing that SSRIs do not really work for me. I usually get very bad side effects , or not help at all. I have gone done the 6 months of Lexapro, Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox and Cymbalta. Some kind of helped me , but it has never lasted. I have noticed that when my anxiety is down my ocd is almost gone. As soon as I feel anxious for whatever it is, my pure obsessional ocd comes back. I take xanax only to sleep, it is .5 mg.I was feeling a little better for about two weeks,then I had "scary intrusive thought" it can be anything to be quite honest. I don't want to say what because it is usually when I am trying to look for reassurance. I feel like at least now I can sleep better. My sleep cycle is back to normal , with or without the xanax. I will try to find another doctor, I just really wish there was something to help me calm down my anxiety and panic so I could work on my ocd. I do feel like this has changed my everyday life, I really want to get better. It is hard specially when it comes to find a right doctor that know about this issues. My last Psychiatrist charged me 250 for one single appointment. He gave me prozac and I spend 1 month recovering from it. My primary doctor told me the following he said " there is nothing else that I can give you, maybe you should become religious like put faith in god and tell me what do you want xanax?" To me that sounds unprofessional.
I want to overcome my anxiety but I get i
ntrusive or scary thoughts when I am anxious , it could be anything if I am watching the TV and someone went crazy and did something I immediately have a panic attack because I fear It could happen to
If anyone answers thank you for taking the time to read my post. I do feel a little bit over stressed. shocked
Posted 3/8/2014 7:43 AM (GMT 0)
Mind if I ask you a question?

I may be confused, so bear with me. You listed 5 different A/D's and said you've tried them in 6 months? Your body needs 4-6 weeks, on average, to adapt to a medication to see if it's going to be effective. So that's quite a few to go through in a short period of time.

My psych doc, the one I currently see, also asked me about church. But in my case, she knows I'm Catholic, so she wasn't stating anything to me I hadn't already brought up. Spirituality is a personal choice and it's up to each individual to find for themselves what they do or do not want to pursue.

Finding something to do when you get intrusive thoughts to distract you can help. This sounds strange but what I've done is start counting from 1....and go on. When the thought comes in again, I start over at 1, and keep counting. Repeat as necessary. It takes a few tries but your "inner voice" can only be "saying" one thing at a time to you so if you're counting you can't be talking negatively to yourself inside.

Interchange that with anything else, such as mantras that you repeat. The idea is to replace (not try to ignore or stuff down) your thought process.

I still work on this by the way. The process itself is a whole process in itself!





M.
Posted 3/8/2014 10:43 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Luna,

It sounds like you have had some ups and downs. This is not unusual, and goes along with dealing with anxiety. At least your sleep is improving, and that is a very good thing!

Have you tried using CBT worksheets to combat the intrusive thoughts? If you can do this when they first pop up...you may be able to avoid a prolonged cycle of worry and ramped up anxiety.

Here is a link that provides free downloads of such thought worksheets. You will find a couple specifically for OCD.



http://www.get.gg/freedownloads2.htm

If you have not tried this before...why no give it a chance?

If you havd done these in the past, continue to work them, as prctice and the discipline of doing these regulary improves their effectiveness.:)

Best wishes and keep posting!

S.C.

Posted 3/9/2014 8:01 AM (GMT 0)
Hi! sorry I was freaking out and wrote really fast :S! Merrida I have taken many SSRIs. I took cymbalta for 7 months until I could not sleep, took zoloft for 5 months, took luvox for a month( I could not stand it made me too hyper and nervous), effexor for 2 months( couldn't sleep and made me sad) lexapro for 1 year( then it stopped working) then took it again for another 2 months but this time made me feel extremely sad and I could not sleep. Last I took prozac and I almost died of heart palpitations , I could not sleep. It seems none of these pills do what they should, at least in my case none work. The thing is none of this work for my OCD, my ocd is mostly gone when I am calm, I do have intrusive thoughts but I can ignore them easy. When my anxiety is up I am anxious for nothing , and I get heart palpitations and panic but then it only takes one thought. Anything that can make me panic , I could be watching something on the tv, like a person that goes and commits suicide and then I start worrying and panicking if it could happen to me. I know it sounds extremely stupid and when I am calm it seems this way,right now I feel like doing actual compulsions not only mental. Like if I think I heard something, I think " OMG I did I hallucinated that ? I am going crazy" and I feel like I should check and make sure that noise was not something I hallucinated. The same goes with what if I am not careful , it changes , my worries change.
Thank you for your support it helps me a lot, I will do the worksheets . I am searching for another psychologist or other doctor. I have no problems with having faith , I have my faith. I think as a doctor he should know that anxiety has nothing to do with not having enough faith. It is sad that there are doctors that don't care as much for their patients , if he had no idea what to do he could just say it and give me a reference to a doctor that knows.
I am a tough person I will do anything that it takes for me to get better, to conquer this anxiety. Even if I have to take it day by day and I feel good for two weeks then bad. I have so many people that need me and I really love my life. It is just this anxiety, then my OCD fears about getting out of control!

Thank you for reading !
Posted 3/9/2014 2:26 PM (GMT 0)
Luna,

Ohhh, okay, now I get it. You're right. I was confused about the time frame of you taking the meds.

Can you explain what you mean by "hallucinate?"

In our house, it's common to hear noises (that sound bizarre), wind can whip through, the house settles and creaks, and the woods all around us bend and sway making unusual sounds. Sometimes we hear sounds and get scared they may be something else until we find out what they are.

I personally believe that CBT is one of the most effective ways to manage OCD. I'm glad that you're seeking the help of another mental health practitioner. Sometimes we have to go through a few until we find the one that fits us. If we do not feel we can trust and believe in our practitioner's ability and care, we'll always cling on to fears and the "what if's"....

For the record, you can always come here for support. This forum continues to be an amazing sense of strength and help for me!




M.
Posted 3/9/2014 7:08 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you.Well I could be sitting here and then I could hear a noise that sounds like a voice, or song, or whatever any noise. I immediately think " OMG did i just hallucinated a voice , song, whatever it is ? or is just a " what the heck was that ?"Then I suddenly have a panic attack right after and I think "I must make sure I am not hearing things" and I try to check where this came from and freak out thinking what if I hallucinated that noise!!! I must find a reason for , this I must make sure I am ok.This happened first after I began to have going crazy OCD, before I never had any "hallucination fear" or had an actual hallucination. I fear going crazy and loosing control. Most of the times is random noises that particularly make me fear I hallucinated them. If i try to check what it is, that is when everything gets worse and I panic. So what I try my hardest to do is just accept that maybe I could be hallucinating, a therapist a really good one that I can't afford told me to do this. I have to accept that maybe I could be hallucinating everything around me, and that is ok, it is ok to not know everything and be sure of everything.
Posted 3/9/2014 7:44 PM (GMT 0)
Right now that I just posted all that , I start doubting myself and I feel a lot of anxiety. I usually research and try to find answers about what happens to me, but I feel is just my compulsions. So I will try to not do it no matter what!
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply