Anyone else with OCD & PTSD that is making them feel crazy?!
Question: Well I can't take meds due to being pregnant. Prior to that never found a very effective treatment, and therapy hasn't helped either. Some days I get so overwhelmed, and I'm so compulsive thinking about my worries over and over like a bill or a stressor. I just sometimes feel like checking myself in somewhere and checking out for a while to get myself together. It drives me crazy that I just can't "turn it off". If you have OCD and PTSD do you feel this way too at times? What helps you out? Medication advice won't help right now, but anything else might just help me keep my cool.
Answers: Well I can't take meds due to being pregnant. Prior to that never found a very effective treatment, and therapy hasn't helped either. Some days I get so overwhelmed, and I'm so compulsive thinking about my worries over and over like a bill or a stressor. I just sometimes feel like checking myself in somewhere and checking out for a while to get myself together. It drives me crazy that I just can't "turn it off". If you have OCD and PTSD do you feel this way too at times? What helps you out? Medication advice won't help right now, but anything else might just help me keep my cool.
I'm like you also. and I'm Trying to get pregnant. and no meds help me either, but I say that I know its hard but you can drink some TEA like calming teas? I drink sleepy teas they help calm me down. I have PANIC DISORDER>
You have to tell your doctor, because there are some safe meds to take while you are pregnant, I was too ashamed to get help and I SUFFERED everyday needlessly, I am not in the military but my husband is, I had a nurse who was a capt. tell me that post partum depression only happened to civilians, I thought she was nuts, but when I told my midwife whom I had been seeing most of my pregnancy, that I found it hard to leave my bedroom due to anxiety and post partum, she became very cold and standoffish, and told me to get help at my husbands next duty station, so if you are in the military, I hope you have some way to get help off post.
I have OCD and medication doesn't work. I keep having obsessing thoughts about Columbine & my sanity. I know I would never do anything like though. I really hate OCD. I wash my hands over and over too.
Hi. Congrats on your baby to be!!! I would do everything else you possibly can to get through this pregnancy without taking meds UNLESS it is absolutely necessary. Here are a few suggestions:
- go to counseling (it doesn't have to be expensive, you may even be able to find some for free or almost free if you look hard enough)
- find a self-help group in your area or online (do some research online)
- pray (every morning, every night and in between when you're having an especially hard time)
- exercise (suppose to be as effective as Prozac!)
- make sure you're eating super-nutritiously and taking vitamins (nutrition has a BIG affect on mental health. Eat as many "raw" fruits and vegetables as you can - that's where the natural vitamins are, organic is best, but non-organic is better than nothing. Try to stay away from sugar, but don't use chemical sugar substitutes like Nutra-Sweet and Splenda while you're pregnant. Try not to use caffeine.)
- read self-help books (for more ideas and suggestions)
- join any type of group where you can get out once a week and talk to other people
- start doing "daily affirmations" (positive self-talk) and really mean it and really believe it
- phone a friend or family member just to "talk"
I'm running out of ideas just now, but one last one:
-Don't beat up on yourself!!! Give yourself a break, you're pregnant. Try to talk to yourself as gentle and as lovingly as possible. Do special things for yourself to lift your moods. You'll make it through this, you really will. If you need to go on meds after the baby is born, then do it, but first try all these other "natural" ideas before you make that decision. Exercise, nutrition and talking to others should make a big difference if you're really serious about them. Good luck and God bless!!!