Nutritional Therapies for OCD

[sedulous]

Has anyone here tried treating their OCD with a change in diet, eating habits (intermittent fasting, for example), the use of nutritional supplements, or some combination thereof? What has been your experience?

[Sallyskins]

It makes sense on all health fronts to eat well - plenty of fruit and vegetables, not too much meat etc. I've found that I feel better when I eat well - avoiding junk food (though I do have a weakness for chocolate and cake).

But there is additionally research that suggests that a healthy gut with plenty of good bacteria can improve symptoms of OCD. There are prebiotics and probiotics that can help here, but it also means feeding your gut the sort of food that the healthy bacteria like. Fruit and vegetables, lots of fibre are good for the gut, and things like the rind on blue cheese apparently contain lots of the friendly sort of bacteria as well.

I should steer clear of fad diets - they are often rather restrictive and stop you getting the nutrients you need. And they often leave you hungry so you're tempted to fill the gap with junk food.

I don't know that much about supplements - I do take Vitamin D myself, and the B vitamin group are considered good for brain health. In particular, Vitamin B6 (also known as pyridoxine) can help women with PMS.

[sedulous in reply to Sallyskins]

Thank you Sallyskins for your thoughtful response.

Here is a little more context to put my question in perspective:

For about 10 years, I ate as you said: very little junk food, very little sugar, very little meat, fruits, vegetables, grains, healthy oils etc. Essentially, what modern medicine is confident enough to recommend in a field that has far less certainty and unanimity than, say, the treatment for gout.

Then I decided to drastically change things since my mental and physical health still left much to be desired. I started with the "carnivore diet" (literally only beef and fish, salt, and water for a month) and then gradually added new foods one at a time (about one per week). After about a year and a half of this experiment, my diet is still pretty much carb-less and consists almost exclusively of fish, meat, eggs, dairy, avocado, olive oil, tea, coffee, and a few vegetables. I don't feel any worse than I did a year ago. I feel a little bit better but perhaps not enough to justify the social consequences of such a restrictive eating regimen. The only two foods that I can say with any certainty improved my OCD were matcha and beef liver.

Now I'm ready for a change. I'm curious to know if anyone has gone in the other direction (a sudden switch to a vegan/purely plant-based diet) and what they've learned from the experience. I'm also curious about the IOCDF's list of supplements: iocdf.org/expert-opinions/o.... The only one I've tried is NAC and I failed to notice any real difference in my symptoms so I stopped taking it. I'm a little nervous that I'm engaged in a wild goose chase here and that is why I am so eager to solicit the wisdom of the crowd on this subject.

[Sallyskins in reply to sedulous]

That really is a restrictive diet! It's the sort of diet that I would class as a 'fad' diet.

I don't think it's healthy to eat so much meat - the body needs protein, but not that much! And there are other sources for protein - cheese, eggs, chickpeas etc - that also have other beneficial properties, such as calcium and fibre. It's good that you are including cheese and eggs in your diet, but I'd say you need more fruit and veg. A few is not enough!

The diet you're currently on - high in protein, low in carbohydrates - has been called the 'keto' diet. It can help you lose weight, or keep the weight off, but it can also clog up your arteries and your digestive system and give you halitosis.

I don't think there's any need to go to the other extreme and go completely vegan (although I did learn that Roman gladiators ate a vegan diet!) - the sort of diet you were on before you started your carnivore diet is a good one.

Overall good health is what you should be striving for. That in itself will improve your sense of wellbeing. The more varied, on the whole, the better.

The basis should be a broad range of fruit and veg, some protein - stick to a couple of moderate portions a day - and a few carbohydrates. Oatmeal is particularly good. The olive and other healthy oils are also good, as you know.

For myself, I eat very little meat, though quite a bit of fish and lots and lots of fruit and veg. I try to restrict my consumption of sweet things like chocolate and cake, but it's difficult! No single food is a cure for OCD, but feeling physically well helps you to feel mentally better.

[Sallyskins in reply to sedulous]

Just a few things to add on supplements and over-the-counter remedies. I've read the article - the only one of those that I've tried is St John's Wort, and I didn't find it at all helpful with OCD. The studies with inositol sound promising. I've also heard that bone broth can be helpful. I did try Rhodiola Rosea - a herbal remedy - for some while, but it didn't have a noticeable effect on my OCD and it's quite expensive.

[sedulous in reply to Sallyskins]

I would also classify it as a 'fad diet'! Although probably one located in the remote borderlands of the fad-diet world.

You are not alone in judging this to be an unhealthy diet : ) My doctor agrees with you, for one, and I am certainly not recommending it to anyone on this forum. A good friend of mine was struggling with depression and chronic pain and he explained to me once how this diet had turned his life around. That was my intiial inspiration. Though I was surprised how little such a dramatic change in diet had on my subjective health, the panacea attested to by many of its loyal adherents never ended up materializing for me.

St. John's Wort I've never tried but it's helpful to know that for at least one person it didn't work. Thank you for sharing. I also tried Rhodiola last year... and also to no effect.

[Mister_Ecks]

I went through a long phase of thinking certain foods aggravated my OCD. This was back before we knew much about it and I'm sure my strange diet was one more OCD symptom. That's always what I worry about when diet is mentioned - it's so easy for it to become one more compulsion. I recently read about glutamate playing a part, so I looked up what had glutamate and saw Parnassian cheese - I actually resisted eating pasta dishes because of that. Thankfully I forced my way through that one. Same with supplements - there's a reason that labels say they aren't meant to treat any condition.

[sedulous in reply to Mister_Ecks]

Certainly, something to be mindful of! Often easy to slip into the trap of compulsively treating your OCD with something unlikely to have much of an effect. And I think that risk is particularly high at the onset of the condition when one is less likely to recognize a compulsion for what it is.

[Lotus92]

Hi! I did try this approach and didn't find it particularly helpful, but everyone's situation is different. You might have a better experience. My psychiatrist told me that dairy and chocolate are bad for OCD so I've been off of them for a year. I didn't really notice that this made any impact. My psychiatrist also put me on a number of natural supplements including NAC and Inositol. For me I haven't really noticed that it's made a difference. But again everyone's reaction is different. Here is an article about research on Natural Supplements and OCD. gpsych.bmj.com/content/33/2.... If you are going to try natural supplements, I think it is good to work with a doctor or psychiatrist whose knowledgeable about this. Even though they are natural, they can still have side effects and a doctor can advise you about proper dosage. For me what was most helpful was learning skills to work with my brain. I learned ways to get my amygdala to calm down and stop generating so much noise. I learned that through a technique called Havening. Wish you a lot of luck on your journey!

[sedulous in reply to Lotus92]

Thanks Lotus92. I too tried NAC and did not notice a significant effect, though I must add that an OCD-afflicted friend of mine claimed to find significant relief with the compound. I have yet to try inositol. During my elimination diet I was off dairy and chocolate for 3 months or more and I did not notice a difference in my OCD when I reintroduced them. I read the article you referenced about the use of natural supplements for OCD treatment. I was familiar with most of them but not the trace elements, vitamin B12, and valerian. But of course everything works in a research study : ) Negative results rarely get published...Honestly, I wish I could find a psychiatrist who has expertise in OCD, psychopharmacology, and alternative medicine, but they appear to be few and far in between. I wish you luck as well! I'm glad you found a cognitive-behavioral technique that was helpful. I agree that such techniques are probably more powerful than any supplement ever could be. And the lack of positive findings reported on this thread seem to be additional proof of that fact.

[Lotus92]

Hi Sedulous, I'm glad to hear that your friend had such a positive experience with NAC. It just goes to show that every body and brain is different. I think it's great that you are thinking outside the box and willing to try alternative approaches. You can always experiment and then see if it appears to be helping you or not. I know that thinking outside the box really helped me. The technique (Havening) that worked so well for my OCD was actually not a CBT technique. It's a technique used to help people with trauma or anxiety and stress related disorders. I found it through a friend and it ended up being the thing that worked for me, even though it's not technically a treatment for OCD. So I think creative thinking is great and I wish you luck as you experiment and see what will work for you. I also agree that it can be incredibly hard to find a psychiatrist that has expertise in OCD, traditional and alternative medicine. Hope you do find someone good to work with. Be well!