desperate for help

[Guest Munazza]

Hi.

 

I've had OCD for over 10 years and my situation is becoming desperate. I have the washing and germ-contamination obsessions and compulsions, and these have become very severe now. So much so, that i was unable to complete my PhD with just a year left, and feel i need to leave my home city to escape the contamination.

I am in desperate need of help. I'm on the SSRI, paroxetine, but experience too many unwanted side effects. So far nothing has helped. I'm currently on a short waiting list to become an inpatient at a cognitive therapy unit in london, England. Ive read about inositol and omega-3 fatty acid supplements. How do i know how much to take? Also, is there anything else i could take (medicines, supplements etc) or alternative therapiesto try, to help alleviate the symptoms so that my life can become more manageable? I so very much want to lead a normal life, to get married, have kids etc, none of which i can do in my current state. All advice will be greatfully received. Thanking you in advance.

[Ausclare]

Hi,

 

I'm kind of new to this forum stuff, but there is so much info on this site for you.

I would suggest that you read through some of the links on the Tourettes site, that one has some amazing help.

 

I'm convinced that a lot of the problems on this site are caused by Diet- food intolerances, heavy metal and environmental toxicity, and unfortunately hereditary traits. Yeast infection is also a big one.

 

I cannot find a family link to my 3 children having Tourettes, but I am now looking into the allergy factor. Trying to find out if past family members have had slight allergies/intolerances which somhow have become magnified in this generation along with the environmental influences.

 

In Australia alone our governemnt allows 350 legal additives in our food, these include colors/ preservatives and flavours a lot of them are deamed ok, but for a minority that is fast turning into a majority it has outlandish effects such as OCD, ADHD, Oppositional Defience Disorder, increase in Autism and Tourettes symptoms.

 

I'm currently having my children tested for heavy metals especially mercury, which is still being used in the UK for immunisation. Maybe you could start there?

 

A lot of it is trial and error and is very frustrating, but I truly believe there is something natural out there that can help.

I really feel for you, as my children all have some form of OCD with their Tourettes symptoms. If you read the other threads, you'll see that it is not uncommon and there is some excellent info on types of drugs and their effects.

 

If you need anymore info, just say.

 

Good luck

Ausclare

[Malcolm Campbell]

Hi desperate;

 

There are several newer models of therapy that are doing great things with two categories of problems. One category is physical stuff related to auto-immune problems (may include some neurological problems), the other is psychological and psychoneurological stuff. Your post didn't specify the area of you doctoral work; it may be you're already ahead of this message in finding these models)

 

John Grinder and Richard Bandler' in the mid-1970s at Univ of Cal in Santa Cruz, developed Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). Out of that came several other related models: Eye Movement Desensitization and Retraining (EMDR), Thought Field Therapy (TFT), Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and a number of others. I know of six and there are probably more as the genie is now out of the bottle.

 

Fastest growing at present is EFT, which is showing astonishing results when offered by a competent practitioner. OCD seems made for this therapy model. There's a website: http://www.emofree.com. A number of UK practitioners are listed (under "Find a Practitioner") who's specialties include OCD.

 

Unfortunately, the "mainstream" of psychotherapy in the US is not particularly friendly toward EFT. People almost always get their desired results in very short order, after only a few hours of work with a practitioner. Means one must have a lot more clients to maintain a practice over time. Success rates are unimaginable in conventional circles.

 

Note of interest: Since you've expressed interest in Cognitive thereapy, you might find it interestiung that NLP (and to a lesser extent, EFT) is really a combination of Cognitive and Behavioral txs with a dash of Ericksonian hypnosis

 

I encourage you to talk to one or more of them and find one you with whom you can feel some sense of rapport.

 

Please post your expeerience if you do pursue this.

 

Wishyouluck!

 

Malcolm

[Guest Guest]

Hi Ausclare and Malcolm,

 

Thank you so much to both of you for replying. I'm glad to know there are treatments out there that give hope of relieving symptoms of OCD.

Claire - I'll be asking my doctor about heavy metal toxicity testing as well as the yeast infection hypothesis. I've read quite a bit about that on other threads and it sounds like an issue worth tackling.

Malcolm - Wow, EFT sounds very promising. I'll definitely be looking into that and hopefully taking further. Thanks for the link. My PhD was on genetics of a haemorrhagic disorder. I doubt I can continue with it. I'm also considering going into OCD research - that would be a worthwhile and fulfilling career move I think.

I'm quite afraid of CBT since I keep wondering if I'll come out worse off! Im currently on an in-patient waiting list at a CBT unit in the UK. I'm glad there are other avenues I can pursue in my attempts to bring my illness under control. Thanks again.

 

Munazza

[Malcolm Campbell]

Hi again, Munnazza,

 

RE: your concerns about CBT and interest in EFT

 

CBT helps the client (patient in UK?) become conscious of the mental tracks in the thought and cognitive processes. Once understood as options or choices, different thoughts or cognitions may be chosen. And different choices can lead to different experiences, etc. It is perhaps impossible that increased self-awareness leaves one in a worse position than the problem state which caused one to seek help in the first place. To call CBT benign is to suggest it's less dynamically effective than it often is; it's probably the single most effective of the models used in conventionally recognized practices. Great stuff, really!!!

 

EFT enters things from an entirelly different perspective. It is derivative, taking a lot from a large, cumbersome model called Thought Field Therapy (developed by Roger Callahan at Berkeley) and refining it while making it much more "user friendly". EFT (and TFT) also borrow from NLP (see last post).

 

EFT approaches all negative feelings (emotional or physical) as imbalances in the body's energy system and provides a quick and painless way for balancing that. With the Chinese map of the meridians (used in acupuncture), EFT facilitates that balancing in a matter of just minutes. The pattern itself can be learned in about half an hour (13 acupuncture points) and is easy to do on one's self. Skilled practitoners offer the added value of being able to help clients find the stuff (mental and physical) that sets off the imbalance. Again, I'm tempted to call the process benign, because it seems that way while doing it. But it is also laser sharp, prtofoundly powerful andfast in clearing stuff, old, recent, traumatic, whatever.

 

OCD seems to have a very identifiable neurological component. Maybe that's how (or why?) EFT has done so well with it. (All neurology is electrochemical and somehow the Chinese, about 3,00 years ago, figured that out and came up with a healing model that is still in use today.)

 

Best wishes for your healing and success. (And who knows? Maybe that dissertation will get written yet...)

 

Malcolm