I have always had a good memory – ask me what your phone number was eight years ago and I’ll be able to tell you like a shot, but there is one thing that I just can’t remember to do, no matter how much I integrate it into my routine – take my medicine.
On the day that I was diagnosed with OCD I was given a prescription for some anti-depressants. Nobody quite knows why, but at high doses these can be very effective. So off I went to the chemist to be welcomed into the world of the medicated mentalists.
First on the list came Paroxetine (or Paxil or Seroxat or Deroxat… whatever you want to call it) – not only did this do nothing for me but the side effects were less than desirable. If I didn’t take it for a couple of days then I turned into a pre-menstrual like monster, sobbing and screaming at regular intervals. Not surprisingly it was my parents who suggested that it was time to look for another drug. Oh, and you can’t mention Paroxetine without talking about the brain shocks… the feeling that small electric shocks are going off inside your head. Needless to say, this was another reason to change.
Next came the Sertraline – and this worked for me straight away. With OCD you gradually push the dosage up to the maximum that your body can tolerate (within the guidelines – you don’t just shove a packet down your throat) and this is exactly what we did. The best side effect of Sertraline? I am now a very cheap date – it takes just one glass of wine and I’m anybody’s.
Then there was what they call augmentation, which is just a medical word for when you add something else to the mix in the hope that it will help the existing medication to work better. In my case this was with Risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic. At first I didn’t want to take what I call my super crazy pills – I am not psychotic and even the thought of them scared me. In the end I agreed to try them for a month or so, and that’s where you find me today – still on them. They help to reduce the frequency and intensity of the intrusive thoughts and trust me, they are so worth it. Side effects wise they aren’t too bad – they make you quite sleepy but as I take them before bed that isn’t a problem.
So there you go, the ground work for my next blog.
Obsessively compulsively yours
Bellsie
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