Hi doctor, I am 25 years old. I have OCD. I have the habit of counting books for the past five to six years. I have disturbed sleep with many thoughts for one hour for at least seven to eight years. But, for the last two years, I am avoiding such rational things. I also experience mood changing behavior, sometimes I am very confident, excited, sometimes very depressed. I have started avoiding to have such thoughts. It affected my sleeping pattern entirely. I wake up every day with the confusion that I have not slept for the entire night. I have experienced child bullying in my school days. My classmate used to beat me every time in those days. My father is dominating, and my mother has experienced domestic violence. My home environment was tensed in my childhood days. In my school days, I had a better memory power to remember the page numbers. But now, I am having low memory power after I got OCD. I had no stage daring from early childhood. Now, I avoid public meetings, family functions because I am afraid of talking with a large group of people. Sometimes, I am scared of talking to a specific individual. All these things have affected my life entirely. I have missed a lot of opportunities due to these problems. I have a family history of issues in mental health. I have taken medication Fluvoxamine, SSRI, Olenz, Clonazepamine last year. But I felt tired and sleepy every day after taking pills for two to three months. So I stopped it. Now what to do, received treatment from four to five doctors. But I have not visited consistently due to sleepiness, tiredness due to medication. Still, the problem persists. Now, what to do?
Hi. I can understand your concern. You are having symptoms of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), social anxiety and depression. You have controlled most of your OCD symptoms and have a problem of excessive sedation with the drug. Most of SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor), Oleanz (Olanzapine) and Clonazepam can cause sedation. But Fluoxetine is one of the SSRI that usually does not cause sedation. If your doctor has not tried Fluoxetine, then you can ask him to give a trial of it as it has good efficacy for OCD and depression. Also, psychotherapy has good positive evidence in the management of OCD. If you have not received it, go for it, it is a type of therapy in which the therapist will lead you to behave in a better way. Forgetfulness can be due to many reasons including poor attention, depression and poor concentration. Do regular exercise and take adequate sleep. Avoid any substance use like alcohol, smoking. For more information consult a psychologist counsellor online.--->