Best medication recommendations

[TheNachtjager]

Hello all. My name is Jon. I've finally decided to take steps in the right direction again after trying to battle OCD without meds or therapy (tried with both for a year in 2007 with no success). I tried seroquel and it was ok, but I know that there are other drugs for OCD that may work better. I was wondering if you guys could throw out the names of some pharmaceutical drugs for OCD that have been known to help people suffering from it.

My plan is to gather as many different drugs that may work, research them and through my doctor this summer, try them out 1 by 1 and find the ones that work best for me and seek out group therapy for OCD.

So yeah, would you guys mind giving me as many different drug recommendations as possible for treatment of OCD? Thanks, and stay happy.

Jon

 

[David Baxter PhD]

There are several. The choice will come down to the nature and severity of your specific symptoms, what other non-OCD symptoms you may experience, how you have reacted to various medications in the past, and your doctor's preferences.

Among the SSRIs, there is some evidence that fluvoxamine (Luvox) is the most effective for OCD. There are a couple in the so-called "atypical antipsychotics" family (e.g., Seroquel) that appear to have antiobsessional properties, as do one or two of the older style antidepressant medications.

 

[TheNachtjager]

I'll look into fluvoxamine. Thank you

 

[Kobayashi]

I've done alot of research on this and have gone through the medication merry-go-round a few times so my 2 cents might have some use to you here. I've researched loads on this subject by talking to Doctors, reading forums, blogs and articles on the internet. People with OCD are in a similar boat to people with depression and anxiety when it comes to meds: You need to find what works for you and this may take some trial and error. Meds that do seem to stand out are as follows:

Luvox - Fluvoxamine
Anafranil - clomipramine
Other Newer SSRI's with a low-dose Atypical Anti Psychotic (EI Lexapro combined with low dose seroquel or rsiperidone).

I can only offer my personal experience with these meds. To date, I have not tried Luvox. I am currently on 20mg of Lexapro (cipralex) combined with .25mg of risperidone at bedtime. I have ups and downs with this combo, but I would say my OCD is improved. I have tried anafranil and it only made my symptoms worse, but there are a huge number of people who swear by this med as the "gold standard" for OCD. I also read a whole lot of success stories about Prozac.

I'm no doc, but I would start with these before looking into other ssri's or snri's.

 

[Cat Dancer]

I have had great success with both Prozac and Lexapro. Of course, you should work very closely with your doctor as it seems you intend to do.

 

[TheNachtjager]

I've done a lot of research on this and have gone through the medication merry-go-round a few times so my 2 cents might have some use to you here. I've researched loads on this subject by talking to Doctors, reading forums, blogs and articles on the internet. People with OCD are in a similar boat to people with depression and anxiety when it comes to meds: You need to find what works for you and this may take some trial and error. Meds that do seem to stand out are as follows:

Luvox - Fluvoxamine
Anafranil - clomipramine
Other Newer SSRI's with a low-dose Atypical Anti Psychotic (i.e., Lexapro combined with low dose Seroquel or Risperidone).

I can only offer my personal experience with these meds. To date, I have not tried Luvox. I am currently on 20 mg of Lexapro (cipralex) combined with .25 mg of Risperidone at bedtime. I have ups and downs with this combo, but I would say my OCD is improved. I have tried Anafranil and it only made my symptoms worse, but there are a huge number of people who swear by this med as the "gold standard" for OCD. I also read a whole lot of success stories about Prozac.

I'm no doc, but I would start with these before looking into other SSRI's or SNRI's.

Thank you, very much. Being a student in school, I have little to no time or energy to do all the research you did, so that just saved me a lot of time and helped me, so honestly. Thank you.

I will do exactly that. Start learning through trial and error with my doc.

It's funny that you say you've heard success stories about Prozac and that you had a negative experience with that 1 drug because I also tried Prozac and it made my symptoms of OCD feel even more real and had horrible affects on me. As soon as I went in to the docs after my 2 weeks trial period, she said to completely stop using them. I'm going to ask my doc about those current medications.

Take care.

Jon

 

[Kobayashi]

It's funny that you say you've heard success stories about Prozac and that you had a negative experience with that 1 drug because I also tried Prozac and it made my symptoms of OCD feel even more real and had horrible affects on me.

Jon

So this is something you need to be aware of: Sometimes these meds can initially make everything worse. For some, (myself included), OCD, anxiety, depression etc can spike within the first week of taking an SSRI. Something else I've picked up on the forums is that this is often the case, followed by an abrupt ending of this worsening. When I went on Cipralex for the first time last year, I initially felt even worse (terrible actually), but my Doc prescribed me a limited amount of Ativan (tranquilizer) to help me through the start up. Within 5 days the worsening of my OCD etc completely vanished and I indeed felt MUCH better. Be sure to consult with your Dr. They don't typically mention this as a possibility, likely because it may not happen.