Mood stabilizers and Ocd

I am on 150 mg of sertraline and 0.5 mg of clonazapam. Some days are really pretty good and my ocd thoughts are under control. Other days, I am ruminating all day and barely functional. At one time my psychiatrist suggested perhaps adding a mood stabilizer. Has anyone ever taken a mood stabilizer for their OCD?

Thanks.

[Sallyskins]

I think clonazepam is a tranquillizer - I took a low dose of Valium alongside sertraline for a while and it didn't make much difference to me.

If the sertraline suits you well, perhaps you could ask for a higher dose - the maximum usual dose is 200 mg a day, but some practitioners are allowed to prescribe up to 400 mg a day. I'm on 300 mg a day. A high dosage is often necessary with OCD.

Another thing to ask about it a low dose of an antipsychotic. I'm not saying for a moment that you're psychotic - far from it! But a low dose of an antipsychotic can really boost the effects of the sertraline (or any other SSRI) and make you feel better. I take 5 mg a day of aripiprazole (also marketed as Abilify) and it has made me feel more like my old self.

I recently ran out of aripiprazole and couldn't get any due to supply problems - the OCD reared its ugly head good and proper again! Once supplies had been resumed, I felt much better again.

But don't let anyone prescribe you the one call sulpiride (also marketed as Dolmatil). I took that for a short while and put on 35 pounds in weight. Apparently it almost always makes you put on weight, and I didn't feel any benefit from it.

[CharlesIII in reply to Sallyskins]

Abilify is a good thing to balance, but for me it raised my blood sugars fairly significantly. I am type 2 diabetic and also take Sertraline and low dose Klonopin. Abilify did help me, but I felt the very high blood sugar was not worth the price.

[Sallyskins in reply to CharlesIII]

It's often so much of a balancing act - trading off unwanted side effects with benefits. Each of us has a different physiology - prescribing can be so hit and miss.

[Pluriel]

You can try to increase the dosage of Sertraline or you can try another SSRI. Sometimes it is necessary to try different SSRI or SSNRI to find the right medication and dosage. Please, always discuss your worries and proposed changes with your MD. Augmentation with an antipsychotic drug may also be helpful but should also be discussed with your MD as possible side effects and laboratory tests should be monitored closely.