i have always suffered from anxeity and probably slight ocd sympotoms but in the past two months it has taken an awful turn for the worse. My amazing life has turned into a everyday living turmoil. I have never expierenced this and im looking for support, i have had numerous intrusive thoughts in this time it has varied from hurting the ones i love, to myself, to being skitzo. It is literally tearing my life apart. I am seeing a therapist who reassures me weekly that this is just ocd, and last week started on 12.5 mg of zoloft, today i start 25mg. I m very afraid to take medicine so i feel i am questioning every intrusive thought to make sure this is not something i secretly want deep down inside. Medicine would never make me act on these thoughts or loose control right?? really looking for some positive sucess stories and support, thank you
Will zoloft stop intrusive thoughts?
Question posted by no more ocd on 18 Sep 2012
Last updated on 3 August 2019 by Beautiful95
5 Answers
Hi, Zoloft has worked really well for me!! I have been on it for 6 years now. And I used to have really bad thoughts of hurting myself. And was really depressed and sad all the time. I would definitely recommend Zoloft it has changed my life. Good luck
How are you? I am going through the samething. Did the meds help?
Zoloft did not help me but made me feel much much worse. I apparently had an adverse reaction to the medication.
Zoloft did not help me but made me feel much much worse. I apparently had an adverse reaction to the medication.
I am going through the same as well. I would like to talk to someone who understands what its like.
no more ocd... I would realy like to talk to you, my life has suddenly turned into hell. I cant even leave the couch, i feel like the worst person in the world! I could realy use some support from someone going thought the same thing. I was just given zoloft but im too scared to take it incase it make me lose control. please let me know!
Take the Zoloft. It will help you get part of your life back. Not taking it is what is making you frightened. Please do this. Thousands and thousands take this medication and do very well. It will help. It will help.
I am going through the same thing as you :/
There is a medication called Ativan and the other name for is Lorazapam and I ve been taking this medications to treat the intrusive thoughts and for my anxiety since 04/2013.And I have been doing very well while on this medication. I hope this gives everyone hope. God Bless you all.
Have you found any help yet? Did you take any meds?
Hi
I am goingtjrough these obsessive thoughts , and each time i recheck and double check if the yare there, and the act of doing so makes it worse and makes repeat same ritual over an dover an di become obssessed and i fear losing control, i want to shout out and yell and scream my head out and or put a gun in my head so the repetetive thoughts stop!!! I am taking 50mlg seroquel XR and 10 mg Celexa each day... but now going through a turmoil of anxierty and fearful thoughts about the thoughts themselves... please help me what can I do?
Is the medicine that you are taking helping? Or did it make the thoughts worse? If it made the thoughts worse I would call your dr. Do you believe in God?
Hi Flicia
I do believe in God but in these turmoil times I even forget God
I too have been suffering with horrible intrusive thoughts. I keep checking myself to make sure that I don't want them to actually happen and it's making me feel like I am loosing my mind because I don't want these thoughts to even exist. I am in constant agony and I feel like no one I explain this to even my counsoler understands. She had me go on 25mg Zoloft at night and it made my instrusive thoughts worse and I had a breakdown in which I thought I was going seriously insane. It also made me have very strange dream like thoughts in the middle of the day and I felt like my brain was on hyperactive mode but my body was not moving quickly like my brain was. I had an adverse reaction to the Zoloft. I am considering switching counsolors to someone who will work with me using CBT instead of trying to get me to take countless medications to see which one will eventually work. I don't have time for that and I need my life back.
Hi, I was just after abit of advice really and a general chat with anybody who can relate to what I am saying. I am 24 & have had OCD for as long as I can remember.. It honestly has been the pain of my life. I don't even know where to begin with it, anyway I finally went to the doctors about it 6 months or so ago and they prescribed me with 50 mg sertaline, upped to 100 mg a day after two weeks. It has helped quite abit but the OCD is still clearly there! It's like I can't control my thoughts and it drives me mad sometimes. I try telling myself "it's just OCD" blah blah blah and before I know it me reminding me of this has then become a repetitive thought and I find myself repeating the same things in my head over and over again! I have had OCD in so many different traits. I have worried on occasions that I am going totally insane but reaserch and speaking to a counsellor have agreed that it is OCD.
The doctors referred me to the counsellor and to be honest from seeing her a couple of times I didn't really gain much, I don't know what the next step is? Do I go back to the doctors and see about upping the doseage... I hate the thought of relying on tablets but if it's gonna help me at the moment then so be it... If I was free of this my life would be perfect I just feel it's holding me back so much and it is so frustrating!!! Any comments are much appreciated
Hello No More OCD, you just received a very good answer. The fear you are having may seem overwhelming. I wish to assure you that as long as you know that it is not real, you are not crazy. it is a battle you can survive.
Should you feel very frightened with where your thoughts are taking you and they become too strong, please consider going to a hospital and spending some time to feel safe and get methods that will help you get through this. your psychiatrist ought to be able to guide you. this can be a very smart move, and many here will tell you it can be life saving. Best of all it is in your control!
Be careful not to drink alcohol or do any recreational drugs at this time like pot, uppers, pain meds, ecstasy, whatever is out there. it could cause great damage to you or others. Ok? You will make it through this time. Don't hesitate to call your doctor when it is too much. That is what they are there for. Night or day, right? I truly hope that you can make progress toward a better life. You are young and much remains for you to do.
Take the Zoloft as prescribed. It takes time to work and it will slowly improve your mood. I have taken it and it was a very good thing to do as i felt so much better. My thoughts became happier and less worrisome. In the mean time, remember that you are not alone and there is help for you. Karen
thank you for your responses, i have been evaulated many times and do not need to be admitted into a program because i do know the thoughts are irrational i just have a fear of taking any type of medicine which is heightening my anxeity, i truthfully no longer even have these thoughts im dealing with the guilt of ever having them to begin with because i feel it was so out of character to me and i attached emtions to thoughts that eveyone has
Good. Then you understand how to protect yourself. Guilt takes forgiveness of your self. The process is simple but takes guts to do. Simply stop blaming yourself for irrational thoughts. I am sure you have had other thoughts that were off base before all of this. we all do. We all say wrong things. We make mistakes and choose to hang onto them. I am over sixty. Can you imagine how many errors and wrong things I have done by now? Learn from it and move on. You had an illness. Would you blame a broken ankle for being broken?
Keep going. if you said things that hurt someone apologise. If you can fix something, fix it. Keep going.
Hi there.
I suffered in silence with my obsessive thoughts for many years.. The best thing I ever did was get help! I had horrible thoughts, I was afraid of them being real.. My mind would run in loops convincing myself in and out of thoughts and having this terrible guilt.
I started on Zoloft.. My dose was gradually increased and I am on 150mg now. I was on 100mg for nearly a year, until my new Psychiatrist suggested lifting my dose to 150mg. Its been 6 weeks since the increase of dose, and I've been dealing with my intrusive OCD thoughts again.. It isn't as severe, but it is there.. Creeping back. Is this due to the dose increase? Is this normal? Will things subside?
Hello no more ocd, welcome to the site. OCD is the (my own point of view) the most difficult of the psychatric conditions to treat. Zoloft is used more often today in the treatment of OCD than ever before Since you were having these thoughts before beginning Zoloft, I am fairly certain that the Zoloft is not the culprit. Thier are other drugs that can be used along with Zoloft to help you with your thoughts, of harming others or self harm. (anti psychotics) Zoloft is used more often today in OCD than ever before. Simple reason being its success rate in helping to treat the rituals, daily repetitive time consuming, senseless behaviour that consume a person. OCD can be treated but thier is no cure. However, OCD can and is through drug therapy made manageable to the person/patient having the condition. If you believe that you are going to act out your thoughts, notify your doctor/therapist. Regards pledge
I have been told over and over again that you would never act on these awful thoughts, hence the point they are causing me so much distress. My ocd fears all steam from a fear of loosing control which is apparently extremly common amoung those with pure obessional ocd. I am not a violent person, never have been nor have ever been suicidal even in my worst of depression. It just seems these "thoughts" are targeted around things i love the most. After a month of changing my diet, excersise and self help books i decided medicine could be helpful. I will not even have a sip of alchoal for being scared of a lose of control hense why taking medicine has frightened me so much. I hope this makes sense i have only been dealing with this for 2 months, and it has been awful, it has made me question my metal stability, and everything about the person i know i have been for the past 23 years
Hello. It makes sense. Only in that OCD is not a logical illness. A friend of my mine, successfull in the business world, a former CEO, has OCD. The ritual in his case is when leaving his home, he checks to make certain every window in the home is locked. He has a large home, and repeats the routine three times. For him to simply walk out his front door takes close to over a two hour time frame. And this is repeated daily, any time he needs to leave his home. This man is in his seventies and its been like this most of his life. OCD effects people from all walks of life.
I'm also 23 and experience literally the same thoughts. It's wild how this all works. I'm in therapy as well and have been dealing with the thoughts for 3 months and I've finally hit my last straw. I will be going to see a psychiatrist to get some medicine. Not sure what medication I'll be on but I'm ready. Tired of struggling all the time. Also have never self harmed before. It seems these thoughts are triggered by extreme stress.
Related topics
zoloft, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, fear, medicine
Further information
- Zoloft uses and safety info
- Zoloft prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Zoloft (detailed)
Similar questions
Search for questions
Still looking for answers? Try searching for what you seek or ask your own question.
