advice on medication for ocd, anxiety ( specitically health anxiety)

[Lilly13]

Hi all,
I have reached the point where I feel I need medication. However in the past it has always made me feel like a robot. I love being passionate about things, I am an artist and I need passion and emotion to work. Can anyone advise me on some meds that are good for ocd and anxiety as well as health anxiety ?!

Thank you for your kindness,

Lilly

[Miche31]

Hi Lily, did you ever end up finding a med? :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Lilly,

I can't say on meds for OCD, although there is medical excellence advice in the UK stating which ones that I could post if you needed it, but how about trying Mindfulness? Being an artist, this will greatly appeal to you and you will likely be able to engage with it easier than many people. It is combined with art thesedays too so you could learn the techniques and then apply it to your work or have a look at the MBAT style to see how they do it.

[Lilly13]

Hey guys,

Apologies for the late reply. My issue with meds is that I suffer from health anxiety. I focus on every new sensation in my body. I tried Zoloft but it gave me extreme dry mouth, could not talk properly or eat... It sucked and made me health anxiety worse.

I'm not sure if just normal anti depressants work for me. A few people on here have told me about beta blockers to help anxiety. Is anyone else on these for anxiety?!

Best wishes,

Lilly
Xx

[Carrera74]

I suffer with health anxiety too and I take propranolol. They are good at taking the edge of the physical symptoms of anxiety such as racing heartbeat and the adrenaline surge but they don't touch the mental anxiety.

I am plucking up courage to take a medication called mirtazapine. I've had the prescription 2 weeks but too scared to take it. I tried citalopram years ago which freaked me out so have been terrified of meds since. I am hyper conscious of every body sensation. It sucks!

I have been on a mindfulness course which was great but you need to put in the practice. I also started cbt on Monday which I hope will help me conquer this anxiety battle :(

[Emphyrio]

Have you considered any herbal remedies like St John's Wort? Rhodiola Rosea is also a good choice but I found it too 'activating' when I took it in the past - kind of like I had drank too much coffee.