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Has anyone cured lifelong anxiety depression and ocd

Messages
84
I am a 36 year old male. I have had OCD, Depression and Anxiety as far back as I can remember. I have done everything that I can to treat it - multiple medications, multiple therapists and a slew of naturopathic treatments

Is there any hope for me?

I remember being very young and telling people that I was depressed and they would tell me that I didn’t know what that word meant….but I did. As I got older and more sophisticated, I realized that I had OCD. As an aside, both of my parents had issues. My Mom has OCD to an extent and is very anxious. My Dad has mental health issues too. IDK what….definitely depression. My fraternal twin had bad OCD but it isn’t as bad as mine. He has never treated it.

About ten years ago I decided to do something about it. I started to see a therapist who obviously suggested medication.

Years later I relented. It was becoming so difficult to manage. I started on Zoloft. I don’t know if it was a placebo effect, but I felt better almost immediately. The next 4 or 5 years I went up and down on doses and meds to try to get something to work. I had tons of side effects and didn’t feel much better. I had awful fatigue. I tried more meds and doctors and therapists.

Over the years I was on Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Luvox, amphetamine salts, Prozac, Lamictal, Risperidone, Xanax, Adderall and Ativan.

I was diagnosed (by diff docs) as OCD, ADHD, BIPOLAR2, DYSTHMIA AND GAD

My Father, Uncle and a friend died within 6 months of each other. I didn’t cry. I just felt numb (meds?)

I started to see a NP who helped a friend of mine. She was very nice. She put me on Prozac. When I didn’t feel better, she had me talk to her mentor, a Psychiatrist. He told me that drugs I did as a teenager (pot, etc) screwed up my brain and that I needed to take large doses of Prozac. That was my only hope. I am sure the drugs didn’t help, but I had had this stuff prior to drug use. After that the NP had me on Prozac, Risperidal, Lamictal, Ritalin, Xanax at the same time. I was exhausted. She suggested Provigil. I knew that something wasn’t right. I was so tired that I was falling asleep at stop lights. It was a never ending parade of meds. “Tired? Take this! Can’t sleep? Take this!” At this point, my EXTREME FATIGUE was ruining my life. When I was on 5 things at once with no relief in sight, I told her that I wanted off. I had this feeling that nobody in the mental health field knew what they were doing.

Under her supervision I tapered down over a couple/few weeks.

I did “ok” that year. The fatigue was gone. About 9 months later I crashed. I had major life stuff going on, but I had panic attacks and crying fits for the first time in my anxious life. This was very confusing as I hadn’t cried in 20 years – even when my Dad died. I now think that this might have been protracted withdrawal. I had no clue at the time.

After being on meds and being so fatigued, I started to see a ton of docs and developed health anxiety. On the good side, I radically overhauled my diet. I had tons of very expensive and elaborate bloodwork done. Thousands of dollars worth that takes up a whole binder.

I was having such a hard time that my therapist (not a fan of meds) suggested seeing a local psychiatrist. What was appealing about this guy was that he did genetic testing, serum testing, toxicology testing, transcranial magnetic stimulation and biofeedback. He wanted me to take Deplin and Pristiq. I opted not to take the Pristiq, but to take the Deplin.

My decisions were based on discovering that people had a hard time coming off Pristiq. I also had high norepinephrine and wasn’t sure that was the best med. I opted to just take the Deplin. I then discovered that I was MTHFR a1298C and stopped taking the Deplin because it was a huge dose and I wasn’t taking B12. Methyaltion is SO complicated.

I then tried magnesium, cod liver oil, rhodiola, holy basil, gaba, passion flower and a ton of other natural treatments. I haven’t had success.

I am so lost. I have spent so much time and money on all of this. I feel that no one has any answers. Mediation doesn’t work (too anxious to do it). Therapy doesn’t work. Is this withdrawal? Should I be on meds? Is naturopathy bs?

HELP!!!!!
 

helen1

Senior Member
Messages
1,033
Location
Canada
I recommend you check out @Hip's links and documents in his signature if you haven't already discovered them. I'd say he's our resident specialist on anxiety and anxiety treatments here. Hopefully he'll chime in with advice too.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
I recommend you check out @Hip's links and documents in his signature if you haven't already discovered them. I'd say he's our resident specialist on anxiety and anxiety treatments here. Hopefully he'll chime in with advice too.

Thank you helen1. Certainly I am an expert in having first hand experience of horrible severe anxiety symptoms!



@anxiousguy

For people with generalized anxiety disorder, the supplements detailed on the following thread have often worked very well:

Completely eliminated my severe anxiety symptoms with three supplements!

Just how well they might work for OCD, I don't know, as I don't think anyone with OCD has tried them. But they do work well for GAD in many cases.


Generally, high dose inositol is a supplement treatment is often helpful for OCD, at a dose of 2 heaped teaspoons (15 grams) of inositol powder daily.

And since inositol works via the serotonin system, you may want to try other supplements that increase serotonin. One that works well is Spanish saffron, at a dose of around 60 mg or more a day (that equates to around 20 saffron stamens). Spanish saffron (and it must be Spanish, not Egyptian) has been shown in one study to be as effective as Prozac, but without the side effect profile of Prozac. You can buy Spanish saffron quite cheaply on the UK eBay.

If you combine saffron with inositol, you should get a further boost in serotonin, which will improve mood, but also should help anxiety / OCD.

Cat's claw is another herb that boost the serotonin system, and has good anti-OCD effects.
 
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stridor

Senior Member
Messages
873
Location
Powassan, Ontario
@anxiousguy

I guess that I had most of those things. My OCD was the ruminative thinking sort. I didn't not wash hands, count or other rituals. I thought about the same conversation with my boss every day for 5 months. I could not derail for long..my mind would boomerang back.

I had anxiety attacks but not full-blown panic attacks. They were associated with arriving at work and with leaving home - even when the destination was desirable - agoraphobia type.

I was hospitalized 5 times for "Brittle Bipolar II, Rapid-Cycling, Mixed States". I think that the Bipolar cycling responded to thyroid override and that the CFS-type depression responded to B12/mfolate. All in the context of Heavy-Metal detox.

My mood is steady as a rock. Better than tons of people who don't have my residual problems. I do have a bit of brain-fog left. It seldom imposes on my conscious thinking but is there if I search for it.
I have diminished energy and exercise tolerance - not the PEM kind. This is not delayed and responds to rest and sleep. I am badly deconditioned. It's a common Catch 22 around here.
 
Messages
84
Thank you @Hip and @stridor

I am leaning towards inositol as it has been on my list and one of very few supplements that I haven't tried. I did try the NOW brand 500 mg pills but it didn't do anything.

How long does it take for these supplements to work? When do you give up? Should I start at a lower dose and work my way up or just go right to the dose?

I am not CFS btw.

I am really torn b/w trying methylation (simplified - just taking Yasko multi and some b12) or inositol.

Thank you again
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
. I did try the NOW brand 500 mg pills but it didn't do anything.

500 mg is a minuscule dose; it's just half a gram. It will have no effect for OCD. You need around 15 grams daily, or higher.

You can buy inositol powder online.


I am really torn b/w trying methylation (simplified - just taking Yasko multi and some b12) or inositol.

You might want to try them both, as they work on different timescales. Inositol powder will kick in after 24 hours, but methylation may take weeks or months before benefits accrue.

N-acetyl-glucosamine is also a star anti-anxiety supplement. Kicks in within two hours.
 
Messages
84
Thanks @Hip my anxiety and ocd cause my depression. They are the main problems.

I am considering
inositol
methylation
st johns wort
a daily benzo (really afraid of this option as I've heard bad things)

Which would be the best thing

I still have the pills, i could start using them until the powder arrives. Do you take it all at once? Split it up through the day? Eat it with food?

Are there any side effects?

Thank you
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
I still have the pills, i could start using them until the powder arrives. Do you take it all at once? Split it up through the day? Eat it with food?

You could do, but it will take 30 x 500 mg inositol pills to make 15 grams of inositol.

I don't think it matters whether you take inositol with food or not. Some report mild stomach upset or diarrhea with inositol, which is lessened when taken with food. I did not experience these myself.

You can take the inositol all at once, which is easier, or divided doses. It makes no difference to the effect.

I can't really advise what might be the best treatment for you. With these sort of things, it's often a case of trial and error: you may only find what works for you by trying lots of things and observing the results.

So the more things you try, the more likely you are to find treatments that work for you. But of course, it's not such a good idea to just try random things; it's best to do your research, and find out what specifically works for OCD, anxiety and depression.

High dose inositol by the way works for all three.
 

ahmo

Senior Member
Messages
4,805
Location
Northcoast NSW, Australia
@anxiousguy I'm linking a simple questionnaire for pyroluria. If you rate high on this, it points to missing minerals and Vitamin B6 as P5P. Adding these minerals halted my river of negative thoughts within 5 days. Don't underestimate the role of B12 deficiency in anxiety,etc. I'm also linking 2 vids, one re B12, the second by Dr. Theodore Theoharides re histamine release in brain, which has prompted him to liken autism to allergy. I eventually added his supplement to my list, and find that when my mind is going non-stop, this calms it within 15 minutes. I'm sorry for your ongoing misery and prolonged search for help. I went looking for when I'd communicated with you before, and found it's a year ago :( Hoping some of these strategies help. Psychiatry and medicine in general have little understanding of the true complex biochemical issues that are impacting our mental state. So they write rx for the drugs they know.

http://www.hputest.nl/evraag.htm Online questionnaire to suspect pyroluria

Short Version (36pg) Pyroluria/Lyme protocol.
http://www.lymeinducedautism.com/images/1_KlinghardtKPU_09_PX.pdf


Diagnosing and Treating Vitamin B12 Deficiency‬
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QqjyAeOLyKM

‘Brain Allergy’ and ASD - T. Theoharides, MD, PhD‬https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9QbZp3WcC1Q
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
@anxiousguy

Are you talking about inositol? Then the starting dose is 15 grams, the same as the full dose. Inositol will start working after around 24 hours. So you will see benefits the next day. If there are no benefits after a week or so, I would think it's not working. However, it can sometimes be hard to notice the benefits, and often you only notice when you stop a supplement, and things get worse again. So it can be a good idea to start and stop supplements now and then, to check that they are working.

If you Google "high dose inositol OCD" you will find more info.
 

stridor

Senior Member
Messages
873
Location
Powassan, Ontario
Just wanted to add my n=1 experience. Inositol worked within an hour or two. I'd take a gram or two when I got up and then had several grams in a water bottle that I sipped on through the day. I combined this with P5P to help with serotonin production.
I never needed 15 gms.
Inositol hexaphosphate = IP6 is the form I used with the capsules. It has a (+) effect with some forms of cancer. I thought that I'd kill 2 birds with one stone.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
@stridor
Are you saying that you used inositol hexaphosphate (aka: IP6, or phytic acid) in place of inositol? As far as I am aware, IP6 does not act on the serotonin system as inositol does.
 

stridor

Senior Member
Messages
873
Location
Powassan, Ontario
@Hip
Yep just looked this up and you are right.
I was sick as hell back then and this is not the only thing that I was wrong about. I had over 100 polyps and was trying to hold things in check while I tried high dose curcumin to see if I could change things. I sensitized to the curcumin which didn't matter as it didn't work anyway.
I came across the IP-6 while searching for cancer treatments and thought that it was good as I was taking it anyway for anxiety. So, this was an add-on in addition to myo-inositol. Guess I wasn't killing 2 birds with one stone...in fact, since I lost the colon, I wasn't even killing one bird....
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
@stridor
IP6 is a natural killer cell function booster though, so it might have some benefit for ME/CFS.
 
Messages
84
Thanks @stridor @Hip @caledonia for all the help

I ordered the now inositol powder and will start it tomorrow.

I have been on the now inositol pills for 2 days now (8 500mg pills = 4mg) and I haven't notice any benefit (to be expected at that dose I suppose) but I have gotten upset stomach after taking it, even with food.

I hope this goes away.

Thoughts?
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Not sure what might be the best way to mitigate the upset stomach, but I found myself that when some supplements were giving me a stomach pain, taking the supplement with one or two tablespoons full of vinegar helped, as I think in my case, the pain was due to low stomach acid, which meant the supplement could not be properly digested, and the acidic vinegar remedied that.

Another thing to try might be taking the inositol in 4 divided doses throughout the day.