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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by tim100 on December 15, 2004, at 22:17:47
Sorry, this is going to be kind of long.
Here is my problem:
I suffer from OCD, Depression,Bad Anxiety and Insomnia. But I think I may be suffering from something else and my psychiatrist may not be seeing this.
Also nothing seems to be helping my anxiety or Insomnia.
1) Is this part of the OCD? - "Overthinking" meaning that mostly everything that comes across my mind I analyze and "figure it out".
2) As soon as I start to think about anything that requires you to analyze - Mathemetical formula etc... I get frustrated very quickly and Anxiety builds up badly. Then I draw a "Blank" and get confused.
3) As soon as I wake up I'm totally confused and "out of it". I just feel like I'm really confused and Weird. What can that be? It takes at least a half hour up to an hour to "get back on track". And I have these weird dreams that sort of interfere with my thought process. I wake up and the very first minute of the "confusion" I'm distinguishing the dreams from the reality.
4) Bad memory problems. When I study I can't remember a thing. I also have to think hard to remember things that happened the day before. One example is - What time did I watch this TV program? And What did I do yesterday at whatever time?
5) Nothing seems to work for my Insomnia or Anxiety. For anxiety - been on high doses of most of the benzos - didn't do anything.
For Insomnia - Remeron, Restoril, Ambien. Didn't do a thing either except confuse me more.Can somebody help me here? My current Meds are Prozac 40mg and Ativan 3mg a day.
Tim
Posted by smokeymadison on December 16, 2004, at 5:45:57
In reply to Need insight and help!, posted by tim100 on December 15, 2004, at 22:17:47
i have pure obsessional OCD among other things and find antipsychotics to be very helpful. have you tried Abilify or Geodon?
yeah i have tried ambien and restoril and remeron too and it didn't help a bit w/ the insomnia. but i did just find out that there is like a 5-10 minute "window" in which Ambien will put you to sleep, so you have to lay down and try to sleep right after you take it. knowing that and doing that has helped me a little. they do seem to cause weird dreams though!
i used to constantly try and see "patterns" in everything and just get frustrated b/c i couldn't quite figure "it" out. i also used to spend hours going back over conversations and wishing i had said something i hadn't or said it differently. my thoughts just totally took over and ruled my life. i found that Abilify at 15 mg daily really cut all that out.
i hear a lot about memory problems w/ OCD but i am not sure that any studies have actually found it to be "true" the studies i have read say that the memory lapses seem to happen b/c the person worries so much about losing their memories. the studies are quite conflicting on the matter in general, though. i know that i have memory problems too, though. i can't ever keep what happened when on what day straight.
i think that if you could just get on a drug that helps cut out the thoughts that a lot of the anxiety would go too. at least that was the case for me. obviously, everybody responds differently to medication. i wish you all the best!
SM
Posted by tim100 on December 16, 2004, at 6:28:20
In reply to Re: Need insight and help!, posted by smokeymadison on December 16, 2004, at 5:45:57
Thanks for replying. I've tried some antipsychotics like zyprexa and risperdal but it seems like they have the opposite effect on me - I feel like i'm insane/weird with a bad side effect of total confusion, especially the Risperdal. I don't know why this happens. When I took the risperdal I was so afraid of this happening again that I ended up with more anxiety than before. Since then I've been afraid of any antipsychotic. What would be a possible reason for these effects? Also What number 3 in my first post - Did that ever happen to you? Thanks.
Tim
> i have pure obsessional OCD among other things and find antipsychotics to be very helpful. have you tried Abilify or Geodon?
>
> yeah i have tried ambien and restoril and remeron too and it didn't help a bit w/ the insomnia. but i did just find out that there is like a 5-10 minute "window" in which Ambien will put you to sleep, so you have to lay down and try to sleep right after you take it. knowing that and doing that has helped me a little. they do seem to cause weird dreams though!
>
> i used to constantly try and see "patterns" in everything and just get frustrated b/c i couldn't quite figure "it" out. i also used to spend hours going back over conversations and wishing i had said something i hadn't or said it differently. my thoughts just totally took over and ruled my life. i found that Abilify at 15 mg daily really cut all that out.
>
> i hear a lot about memory problems w/ OCD but i am not sure that any studies have actually found it to be "true" the studies i have read say that the memory lapses seem to happen b/c the person worries so much about losing their memories. the studies are quite conflicting on the matter in general, though. i know that i have memory problems too, though. i can't ever keep what happened when on what day straight.
>
> i think that if you could just get on a drug that helps cut out the thoughts that a lot of the anxiety would go too. at least that was the case for me. obviously, everybody responds differently to medication. i wish you all the best!
>
> SM
Posted by smokeymadison on December 16, 2004, at 19:05:58
In reply to Need insight and help!, posted by tim100 on December 15, 2004, at 22:17:47
yes, number three happens occasionally. i think that dreams are suppose to help integrate the days events and other memories into your sense of self, but sometimes it backfires and the dreams just make things more confusing and worse. my old therapist said that he thinks that people in our dreams are really facets of ourselves. i can see how that might be. i remember i had this recurring dream that my dad was trying to kill me for a while--couldn't figure it out. i did eventually, but i can't remember what it was about right now. ohhh--i think that i equate him w/ religion since he is a pastor. in my dreams i kept doing sacreligious things and he kept trying to kill me b/c of it. it took some thinking on my part to come up with it. i have heard that keeping a dream journal can really help. you write what you dreamed as soon as you wake up. then, supposidly, over time, things might start to make sense. haven't tried it myself.
about the meds, i tried risperdal and hated it. that and zyprexa are older antipsychotics with greater side effects. you might want to give abilify or geodon a try. they are newer and i never felt bugged out on abilify. i tried geodon but the doc put me on it too fast and i was tired and clumsy and it raised my blood sugar--which any antipsychotic can do. but i have heard really good things about geodon if you go on it slowly. abilify is my wonder drug, really. it keeps the thoughts from repeating or taking over my mind.
sometimes i miss the way i used to ruminate and obsess over little things--like trying to see the patterns everywhere--but it is more important to get on w/ life and live it i suppose. i never could get to class trying to see patterns in the leaves on the ground. i remember having to look at every single one--and that was on the risperdal, mind you, though a small dose. i never could take a large enough dose of risperdal b/c it made me so tired and like you said, "weird" feeling. abilify won't help that much w/ anxiety, though. i take other stuff for the anxiety.
SM
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