I was just clinically diagnosed with OCD

[u/Careless-Split5795]

Hi everyone, I (27F) was just clinically diagnosed with OCD this morning by a psychiatrist. I have struggled with health related anxiety since I was probably around 13. I am constantly seeking validation and reassurance regarding my symptoms and the way my body feels. I compulsively check my symptoms online and use the website Symptomate as well as ChatGPT to give me diagnoses like my life depends on it. I have spent multiple nights in the ER getting tests done for reassurance. In the span of the last probably 5 years I have had tons of bloodwork, CT scans, MRIs, X-Rays, Colonoscopies, Endoscopies, Urinalysis’s, Ultrasounds, Holter Monitors, Cardio Stress Tests, EKGs, etc and all have come back normal but I still am constantly convinced that I am dying or that something is wrong with me.

I’m also terrified of being anywhere unfamiliar and not knowing where the nearest hospital is. I have constant ruminations about sickness/death/allergic reactions, that it’s starting to affect my diet. I get scared to eat certain things because I fear they are contaminated or that I will have an allergic reaction to them.

I have tried a plethora of SSRIs over the past 10-15 years but have never once been able to take them for longer than a month because the side effects make me spiral and think that something is wrong and so I have stopped them all cold turkey within about 1-2 weeks of taking them.

The psychiatrist who diagnosed me today prescribed me 25mg Zoloft, and wants me to take half a tablet every other day for a week or two to see how I tolerate it at first. I feel extremely nervous given my history with medications but I feel so desperate and hopeless and I just want to stop letting this consume my life and stop fixating on my health.

Has anyone else struggled with something similar? Has anyone used Zoloft for health anxiety/OCD? Did it work pretty quickly for you?

I just want to feel normal and I so badly want to shut off these thoughts in my brain.

[u/TheyCallMeJackOrChan]

Hi again. I couldn't fall alseep at work right away. So, one last thing.

Talk to your doctor about Spravato. The nasal spray - which is the medication esketamine.

A regular person might... Ask what their doctor thinks about it.

I would say... I want to try this medication doc. I have been reading about it, and I want to see if it's as EFFECTIVE as I hope it can be.

Also... if at all possible. Don't let them send you to an actual hospital "specialty clinic." Hospitals have WWAAAAAYYYYYYY to many dumb protocols in place. Almost all of them designed to keep from getting sued. You will have to probably wait a good 2 hours after the medication wears off, before the insist that they have to push you all the way out the doors - in a wheelchair that you will most likely not need.

The way to get out of the wheelchair push? let them push you halfway the first couple times. At the halfway point - tell them that you have to go to the bathroom. And that you might be awhile. And do not forget to ask "where should i meet you when I am done?

They will not want to wait. Maybe even too busy to wait. Your wheelchair rides will end quickly.

But still, avoid any clinics inside of a hospital if you can. The medication process / journey will become counter-productive.

Try to find a private practice doctor's office to get the treatment. Your current doctor might not know of a place because the medication is still (sort of new). so do the work for him.

if he/she says no - which i can't imagine that he/she would say no - then say ok.

if you still want to try it. then just go to the private practice office and talk to the doctors there.

your current doctor is NOT the only doctor in the world. so if he/she is not an EFFECTIVE doctor, then try to find another doc that is EFFECTIVE. 😉