OCD Action

blueboy
Member

hi folks.. just thought i would post an update of how i am getting along with sertraline..
i have to say i find my former disabling ruminations practicaly non existent..i have the feeling they are still around but i just dont take those thoughts out anymore and try to do battle with them "for that one last perfect fix" well thats how it was for me... a no win situation... as soon as i felt i had made a decision regarding one obsession ..then another was waiting in the wings to play its part in my agony...now i have a large degree of freedom of thought.
and formerly my original obsession would raise it's ugly head after i had solved the last obsession.. and had forgotten how i solved the first.
i am now hoping cbt will improve matters further... only i have experienced an awful winter..of oversleeping (all day) and up all night..due to the fact i have severe S.A.D although i have never been formerly diagnosed... i know my own body..i just cant deal with low light and low temperatures...so i practicaly hibernate... i feel no need for food or the loo.. i feel that i could stay in bed until the climate improves.. like suspended animation..
perhaps i should be studied in that respect...so my idea is that i have very low levels of seratonin.. but that in a climate with stronger sun i am happy..and experience more of the effect that the sertraline gives..
When i have been say in italy and portugal... i have felt very confident and more myself...no self consciousness...therefor i propose that my ocd is connected to the low light and lack of sertonin...even here i feel better in summer.. but not so much as abroad.. and it has an all too brief lease..i am just recovring from winter when wham bam it rolls around again...in the last few days my body clock has done an about turn in reaction to stronger sunlight...when it streams thru my bedroom curtains i feel need to rise..and i stay in the living room all day.. once this week i even accomplished a long walk in the countryside/
and last night i had a sound normal sleep..the sun is strengthing and the day lengthening..(hallelujah) but i know each winter i am going to end up with a messed up mind like snow slush until those first warming rays of sunshine put all to rights...so i would say sertraline has been kind..however, i dont know what part (if any) it played in my extreme S.A.D this last year.. as indeed i think this has now gone down on record as my worst ever winter..physicaly i feel fresh and healthy..i need to add that i do dream vividly and often since taking sertraline.. and libido(can i mention that?) is very strong.. it was before but even more so now..once the initial freeze up ,subsided shall we say...i wonder about your sertaline experiences...hope someone finds this useful out there in cyber universe..

Sun Jan 29 2012 6:49:16 #
Twitchy
Member

Hi Blueboy,i've been on sertraline for about 6weeks now and although i had a feeling of being spaced out to begin with i've stuck with it and feel like i have improved. I had a week off work a fortnight ago and it is the first week in years i haven't worried about anything i have done wrong in work. I have given myself a 6 months plan to knock OCD on the head, it's taken up and ruined too much of my life and i can't let it do that anymore. I am determined with the help of the meds and my therapist that this is it for the OCD.
Fingers crossed!x

Sun Jan 29 2012 10:41:47 #
Cuthbert ffoliott
Moderator

Hi Blueboy -

I think there's a lot of positivity in that post of yours. Feeling the need to rise, in broad daylight, and having done that long walk... huge improvements! And I am pretty certain that CBT will improve your situation even more. I have good hopes that it may be effective in reducing some trains of thought that you mention, about serotonin levels, low light, and climate issues. IMHO that's a form of 'theorising', and rationalising, that potentially might hamper your ability to get in touch with your immediate, spontaneous, most direct feelings. OCD can form a formidable barrier between our 'wanting to feel', and our 'feeling our feelings', so to speak, because of our inclination to ruminate.

I wholeheartedly second Twitchy: I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Cuthbert.

Sun Jan 29 2012 10:54:39 #
Twitchy
Member

I've just lost my patience with it, it's a big bully that brings good people down.We all deserve to be free of it and kick it's butt!

Sun Jan 29 2012 11:08:36 #
wannabefree
Member

Hi there! I agree! I want to escape from all the worrying I'm suffering with too...
wannabe

Sun Jan 29 2012 13:33:19 #