Confusing: OCD and lexapro

[mindy9898]

Hi all - I’m really hoping someone can relate to what I’ve been experiencing for the last few years. I had bad bouts of “pure O” OCD in middle school (faded away on its own) and early college (treated with ERP, no meds). It hadn’t really come up acutely for me for years. I still would have mild to moderate contamination and health ocd but it’s manageable.

5 years ago, I started taking lexapro for general anxiety— mostly relating to dating, relationships, etc. Then in summer 2020, I slowly realized I was starting to have some intrusive thoughts again (sexual orientation OCD, relationship OCD). BUT it took me so long to realize it was OCD again because it wasn’t like in middle school and college when I would spend hours upon hours ruminating. The thoughts come up and they affect me and they skew my perspective in various ways but I don’t go down the whole OCD rabbit hole… it makes me question whether it’s even OCD since it doesn’t have the typical structure. Is it because when my OCD bout started up this time around I was already on lexapro?? It’s so confusing!! I mean I also know a lot more about OCD and myself this time around but still…

It’s hard because it still affects (negatively) the way I’m perceiving myself and my marriage, but I’m not going through all the ruminating. It’s just confusing.

[IStillHaveHope]

I'm not a doctor, but I have OCD and am on Lexapro for it. What you're describing does sound like OCD to me and it could be that the medicine is helping with it. That may be why you're not feeling the emotions so intently. I know that Lexapro helped "tamp down" my OCD thoughts so I could deal with them more effectively.

If the thoughts are affecting your day-to-day life it would probably be a good idea to talk to your doctor about it. If you wanted to you could ask them to refer you to an OCD specialist who will help you deal with the OCD.

OCD affects everyone differently and at different levels. You may have just a mild case. However, I do believe the skills I learned in therapy help me with even fun of the mill day-to-day anxiety.

I hope this helps. You're not alone in your thoughts and most of the people here can relate exactly to what you're feeling

[aparente001]

What's your Lexapro dosage? For OCD an effective dosage level is much higher than for depression.

I hope you have or will have a therapist you're comfortable with, to talk things over with. Sounds like you've got some good insights to share with him or her.