Clonazapem

Hi everyone...I am currently taking 75 mg of sertraline for ocd and manic depression. It is just not doing anything for the Ocd yet the mania is under control. When I take clonazapem, I almost feel normal and all bad thoughts and obsessions are gone. I know you can’t take this medication long term as it is highly addictive. My next step is an anti psychotic and/or mood stabilizer. Can anyone comment on what might have worked for them. I am desperate!

Thanks...

[Hidden]

Hi there! I looked at your earlier posts and found this one.

I mentioned having been in hospital some 30 years ago for depression in Anxiety and Depression. I was taken into the psychiatric ward suffering hypomania at first. I was pumped full of tranquillisers and eventually Lithium and labelled bipolar. I had regular check ups when I came out of hospital with my Psychiatrist, whom I trusted. I remember complaining to him that the days felt all the same, no up no down and he said that most people live their lives feeling balanced like that. It took 2 years but with his guidance I came off all meds including lithium.

Lived a life with productive, creative highs followed by not so good down times..never as black and hopeless as before.

I’d see my GP who always ignored my my fear that I had bipolar disorder and prescribed antidepressants. I never took them, bar once when my sister died, because I worried that they might send me into unmanageable mania.

So I did well up until these last few years when life became too much again and I started daydreaming about my death daily.

I got an appointment with a psychiatrist through my GP and after 3 appointments and a lot of talking she prescribed Lamotrigine. It’s a mood stabiliser and it works for me.

I started feeling some relief after 3 days. Side effects at first; a few early morning headaches and nausea. There are some serious ones to be aware of, but thankfully I didn’t get those.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

So you only take the mood stabilizer not the anti depressant? I had some mania issues...did some crazy stuff that I won’t mention...so I am wondering if I should be on anti depressants at all. Maybe I just need a mood stabilizer ??

[NWOntario]

I was given an antipsychotic as a sleeping aid. It certainly worked - I'd be unconscious within minutes of taking it - but I was in a perpetual fog as a result. That said, I stopped taking it five years ago.

For me, the most effective medication was an antidepressant (either Celexa, Cipralex or Trintellix). Ativan helped as needed. I went off medication last year - I'd been on antidepressants for 11 years, minus seven months somewhere in the middle - and now focus on sleep hygiene, a Mediterranean diet and regular exercise. I realize that not everyone can tackle their OCD without medication, but I find those techniques to be critical to the effective management of OCD with or without antidepressants, antipsychotics or anything else.