OCD Medication-How to Get Rid of OCD with Medication?

 

Obsessive compulsive disorder is a disorder in which the patient has intrusive, irresistible thoughts or ideas (obsessions) about a specific act or ritual (compulsions) and a strong urge to do it over and over again. To combat the anxiety and stress, the people suffering from OCD have to perform the particular ritual or action multiple times like foot tapping, washing hands, blinking eyes, throat-clearing or scratching. OCD is fairly common according to the data collected by Harvard Medical School, around 2.3% of the population had experienced OCD at some point or the other in their lives.

OCD is a long-term condition which has the ability to worsen overtime, it can hinder the way a person leads his/her normal life. While OCD can’t be cured completely, there are OCD medications that can help ease the symptoms and compulsions. OCD is normally treated with medication, cognitive behavioral therapy, brain stimulation therapies, TMS or other holistic changes. Most of the people suffering from OCD never seek medical assistance when it's in the early stages, they choose to ignore the symptoms and indications, maybe due to the fact that the symptoms vary in intensity and come and go at varied levels.

The patients often seek treatment when the condition worsens but at that time the OCD medications and other methods of natural anxiety relief fail to work. The best course of action is when an integrated team of professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists, pharmacologists and doctors work together to create a plan that focuses on the individual needs of that specific patient. In this article, we will get to know the antidepressants and antipsychotic medications that can help treat OCD and have been effective according to studies.

OCD Medication

If you’re diagnosed with OCD, your doctor’s first course of action would be prescribing you the most effective OCD medication called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs are the first line of medical treatment as they are effective and approved by FDA. It is also the latest medication with much fewer side effects than its predecessor SRIs. SSRIs work by directly affecting the neurotransmitter called serotonin, a chemical messenger in our brains. It increases the levels of serotonin in the brain, selectively blocks serotonin reuptake precisely at the synapse, a place where brain cells connect and exchange information. SSRIs work by keeping the levels of serotonin high in the synapse by averting the reuptake of serotonin back into the nerve cells that triggers an impulse. As the reuptake turns off the production of new serotonin, the active cells that were deactivated by OCD starts to revive and relieve the symptoms of OCD.

SSRIs Medication

SSRIs are basically used for treating depression, panic attacks and anxiety disorders but research has shown that it can also very competently treat OCD and its FDA approved for doing so.  There are four main SSRIs that are approved and are effective in relieving the symptoms of OCD. Fluoxetine salt with brand name Prozac, sertraline with brand name Zoloft, fluvoxamine with brand name Luvox and paroxetine with brand name Paxil and citalopram with brand name Celexa. If a patient doesn’t respond to the SSRIs, the doctors may prescribe Anafranil, which is a tricyclic antidepressant that is also FDA approved OCD medication but has much more severe side effects like parched mouth, rapid heartbeats, blurry vision, obesity and drowsiness.

SSRIs don’t work overnight, they take time to build up in your system and reach a level of effectiveness, some research shows that it might even take up to a year for the OCD medication to show best results. Keep in mind that if you’re taking any kind of medication for treating OCD then talk to your healthcare provider before increasing, decreasing or abandoning the does of medication as it can be very harmful and can even lead to suicide.

Recommended Dosage

For treating the patients suffering from OCD, the dosage of SSRIs is normally higher than that given to the patients of depression. To start off, the health care professional will give you a low dose but will increase it if needed. So always consult a proper psychiatric doctor, get a prescription and take the right dosage to ensure proper treatment. If after 12-16 weeks of medication, your symptoms aren’t decreased by at least 40-50% then then your doctor might tweak your dosage.

Around 40-60% people suffering from OCD don’t show anticipated response towards the OCD medication. A satisfactory response is when the symptoms decrease by at least 25%-35% On the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. If after 10-12weeks the symptoms prevail with more or less the same intensity then the doctor will augment your SSRIs with an antipsychotic medication.

Antipsychotic Medications

There are two types of antipsychotic medications that can augment the SSRIs in order to treat OCD and provide natural anxiety relief- first-generation and second-generation. First generation medicines like Haldol have caused extrapyramidal effects in patients whereas the second-generation medicines like Risperdal, Seroquel, Abilify and Zyprexa have shown far less side effects in people using them to augment the SSRIs. There are no specified thumb rules for the dosages of the antipsychotic medication but it’s been proven, according to studies, that the medium to higher dosages have better and faster results than smaller dosages. But the dosage is nothing in comparison with people who are being treated for bipolar disorders or schizophrenia.

Just like the SSRIs, antipsychotic medication also takes their due time to work and you’ll see improvement with a 2-3 months of regular usage. But never try to quit the medication, whether it’s SSRIs or antipsychotic in one day. In fact, the best way is to keep taking the medication even after one year of symptom remission, as it will decrease the chances of relapse and also the withdrawal will be comparatively easy.

A Word from Us

In order to treat OCD effectively, never hide any symptoms, intrusive thoughts or feelings with your doctor. The more you’ll confide in the doctor the better he/she will be able to help you.

 

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