How do I go about getting help for OCD?

[zero]

Just to give you my story I've had OCD for about 6 years and I'm a now 21. I've had just about every ridiculous fear you could imagine. Intrusive thoughts are just part of my daily routine. Just as one fear that will have been plaguing me for a weeks dies away it is quickly replaced by a new one often completely unrelated by which causes just as much distress. These intrusive thoughts interfere with my uni studies, relationships and ruin my quality of life. A couple of years ago my OCD was so bad I would feel overcome with feelings of guilt, shame and anxiety that I had trouble sleeping and was on sleeping pills off and on for quite a while. Back then I didn't even realise I had OCD. I've read some material on OCD which has been helpful but I still feel crippled by it. The thing is if I go to the doctor, what exactly am I supposed to tell him without him thinking I'm crazy. I'm sick of OCD and just want to get it treated. Although I feeling antidepressant medication wont help me and that people with OCD have to take a lot higher dose than someone who being treated for depression. Is this true? Anyway I'm not too keen on taking drugs especially if they are not even guaranteed to work but I would if it did get rid of my intrusive thoughts. I would like to have cognitive behaviour therapy but it sound like it's pretty expensive and how do I find a good specialist? I live in New Zealand. It's nice to find a forum where people are going through the same thing as me. It's not that I want a pity party- I haven't even told my closest friends that I have OCD- what I want is a cure.

[CarolynN]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

 

Just a few things I thought of when I saw your post. Chemar, who heads up this forum, dealt with OCD on a very high level with her son. Her son also has tourettes so she created a treatment plan for both the OCD and the Tourettes. Here is the post she created for the treatments that greatly helped her son for both of these issues http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=687 .

 

I have had OCD myself since I was a child. Here is a post of things I have done to help my situation. After you read the initial post by a person calling herself Desperate you will see my response to her http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=2623 .

 

Some other things to consider that may help you is to start looking at it from a biological angle is you can research the link between candida and OCD. Candida is an overgrowth of yeast in the intestinal system. Believe it or not because of the link between the gut and the brain, think about how alcohol effects the brain and it is in the gut, the candida can cause problems with neurotransmitters getting distributed correctly. There are lots of posts on this forum regarding candida. Chemar used a product called "Candida Clear by Now" to help her son's candida. I have used it for myself and it certainly does help get rid of candida very effectively.

 

My son, Daniel who is 7, is on a product called GABA. Daniel has tourettes and started showing signs of OCD type of thoughts. The GABA has really helped him. A lot of people find Inositol very effective. You can read about that on this forum too if you do a search.

 

Many people are low in magnesium and magnesium is just crucial to a body running effectively. I have used magnesium taurate for my son. It has really helped his tics out and it also helped him stop grinding his teeth at night.

 

Another thing to look into is something called PANDAs. Some people will experience a quick on set of OCD and a lot of times it is related to PANDAs. This has to do with the strep virus and how a persons brain has been effected by it. Once the strep is treated a lot of times the OCD goes away. You can also read a lot about PANDAs on this forum.

 

Certainly biological factors contribute to OCD. But there is no way of saying it any other way, once I truly grasped on to God's grace and His love for me so much of these "toxic" type of thoughts just went away. I cannot explain it in human terms but I can absolutely tell you 100% Christ changed my life. I talk about that in the above post.

 

I hope this helped and I will be praying for you.

 

Carolyn

[Basils_mum]

Zero

 

Whatever you do don't ignore your symptoms - you can live a happy and productive life if you seek help. I have a niece and a cousin both of whom suffer with OCD. The cousin is recovered, the niece still battling with it. I do not know where abouts in New Zealand that you live but I understand that Middlemore Hospital in Auckland has a great Mental Health unit with a group who specialise in OCD. Give the Mental Health Unit there a call and ask for someone in your area who can help. Believe me there is help out there and you deserve to get it. Good luck for your future and lots of love