YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Does anyone have experience with treatments for OCD?

I'm particularly interested in supplements that might be helpful. 5-HTP has been suggested. I'm curious if anyone has tried this, or something else, and what your experiences have been.

My Doctor has been treating my OCD with Luvox and it has worked pretty well. I have tried it seems every med in the world for my OCD and this is the only that works. Not much side effects, unless you stop taking it cold turkey. In which case you should just go check yourself into a Psych ward as soon as you stop. Withdrawals are horrendous.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm basically done with meds of any kind. It just seems like a huge waste of time and money.

I looked up Luvox, and the potential side-effects -- like many psychiatric meds -- scare the shit out of me. I was on and off SSRI's for close to 20 years and had to deal with massive weight gain (>300 pounds, awesome for helping me deal with my self-esteem issues), high blood pressure, and more. Which might actually be worth living with if I got something in return -- but I never seem to. So I'm done.

I had come to the 5-HTP with the hope it might not have the same effects. Tried it for two weeks. I was specifically interested in its ability to control obsessive thoughts -- I went through a traumatic termination of a relationship with a therapist last March and the emotional reaction has been extreme and long-lasting. Was hoping for some help in getting past it.

The first week, I used a dose of 100 mg once a day (morning). I found it caused my emotions to be flat and it seemed to be sedating. There was also a touch of time distortion -- the day would pass very quickly, from a subjective standpoint. And, since it felt sedating, I ended up getting nothing done -- just watching the clock spin by in an absurdly calm manner. By the end of the day/evening, it wore off and I was back into the negative emotions.

The second week, I switched to a time-release version to try and minimize the impact while avoiding the wearing off. That sort of worked. I took it twice a day, morning and night to get a consistent level in my system. It started out well enough - I was a little calmer, and it weakened the hold of the emotions -- but didn't eliminate them. After several days though, I began to experience feelings of de-realization. I ended up standing in front of a building with the distinct impression it was just a façade that had been erected for my benefit.

That felt really reassuring.

Not.

So. No more 5-HTP. As I say, I'm just done with meds. I'm glad they work for some people, but I'm just tired of dealing with all the side-effects and withdrawal -- and lack of improvement. I'll either figure all of this out on more own, or give up trying.

Hope others have better luck.