Medication success anyone? Real event ocd....

Has anyone had any success with any medication especially where it pertains to Real Event OCD. I am beginning ERP therapy soon and still do not quite understand how this will help Real Event OCD.

[kellikaye]

Medication will help in general and will make doing ERP easier. I resisted medication for a long time and now that I’m on it I feel much better. And yes ERP will help with real event OCD as it will with any other obsession and compulsion. You are stuck in the cycle of obsessing about the real event and it is no different than obsessing about any other thought, whether real or imagined. Wishing you the best! I’m glad that you are starting ERP. It has really helped me.

[Hidden in reply to kellikaye]

That is the most positive thing I have heard so far when it comes to real event ocd. When the event is real and not necessarily something you are proud of, as is the case with me, what are the exposures like?

[kellikaye]

When the event is something that happened in the past or is imaginal, the exposure you do mentally and you resist any physical or mental compulsions that you are doing to rid yourself of the thought. So my homework has been to write out a script of the event in all the distressing details. You can either read this script for 30 minutes a day or listen to a recording of it on your phone for 30 minutes a day. You have to learn to sit with the anxiety. Eventually you will get bored and the thought will stop bothering you. With my physical compulsions, such as hand washing because of my contamination OCD an example of an exposure would be to touch a contaminated surface and not wash my hands after and sit with the anxiety of not doing that compulsion. Eventually those surfaces don’t bother me anymore and I don’t feel that urge to do those compulsions. Your therapist will be able to help you with this and you will work your way up and start with what you are comfortable with. I’m so glad that you have found an ERP therapist. It really is the gold standard treatment for OCD. Regular therapy never helped me. You will do great!

[Hidden in reply to kellikaye]

Thank you so much! This will be an answer to my prayers if it works...

[kellikaye in reply to Hidden]

It totally will! Take care!

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Did you have a negative event to process.

Did it help?

[kellikaye in reply to Hidden]

Yes I have a traumatic experience that replays in my head. PTSD flashbacks but then I get afraid of having the thought or image there and so then it gets worse and that’s all I think about all day with tons of anxiety. I want it to stop but the more I try the worse it makes it. The ERP exposure does help and in time the memory goes away and if it pops back up the high anxiety isn’t there. At least I know what to do if it comes back again. Think about it more which is so counterintuitive. That’s how ERP helps though. You run towards the things you fear instead of away from them and it takes their power away.

[Hidden in reply to kellikaye]

Good for you! Glad you are recovering....

Very hopeful.

[Gimi44]

Meds definitely helped me. I still think ERP is very important but my health OCD has a lot of to do with the quimical in my brain(seratonine and dopamine) so whether I like it it not meds make a whole difference. That's something I have experienced hundred of times when I tried to quit meds. Hope you get better!!!

[Fargo-Guy in reply to Gimi44]

What meds do you take? There seem to be so many.

[Gimi44]

Fluvoxamina...isrs...

[Carbon21 in reply to Gimi44]

My dd just started fluvoxine, seems worse but I’m trying to give it a few weeks since it’s a low dose. Please tell me it’s a good med 🙏🏻

[Hidden in reply to Carbon21]

I have not taken that one so I cannot answer. May I ask does she have real event ocd?

[Hidden]

I take sertraline which I really do not think is doing much. I need intensive therapy as my ocd relates to things that actually happened. It is debilitating. Meds tame down the anxiety but it is always there.