Hi, I'm new here but I've been browsing the forum for a while looking up information as I've recently gone back on Fluoxetine.
I was initially prescribed fluoxetine 5-6 years ago as I was suddenly crippled from OCD and I'm not using that term lightly...
I had an affinity towards washing my hands as a teen (which I now realize was milder OCD) but it had calmed down significantly and it had been years since I had any desire to "clean" myself. For all intents and purposes I was a normal college student.
Then suddenly, it all happened. I won't go into details but I started feeling dirty and "unclean" even though there was no physical dirt there. It was as if someone turned a switch and made me a completely different person.
I was staying home all the time, washing my hands every time I felt I got dirty (about thrice an hour). I used half a pack of latex gloves every day and many many packs of sanitizing wipes. When I felt especially dirty I would use raw chlorox bleach on my skin. I would gargle with mouthwash and betadine to clean my mouth. This went on for months and my skin was suffering from the harsh treatment. I was later told I reeked of chlorine during that time.
I hid it from my parents as well as I could but it didn't take long until they realized something was wrong and decided to sent me to a psychiatrist. We could barely afford it but they knew I needed help.
The lady psychiatrist was great and very sympathetic to my problem. After a couple of sessions she put me on 20mg Fluoxetine and advised me that I would potentially face many problems with the side effects until things got better. She said that it would take about a month until I noticed improvement and that I should disregard any thoughts that came to my head while going through this initial stage. While I was on Fluoxetine we continued sessions using cognitive behavioral therapy.
It took more than a month, I'd say about two, until things started improving. I was feeling better and better, feeling less and less inclined to wash my hands obsessively. After a few more months the symptoms had receded to the point where I was mostly functional. With the advice of my psychiatrist I increased the dosage to 40mg daily and things kept improving.
A year later (about 2013) I was back to normal. I went back to college, made new friends and was so proud to be finally free. I still had some of the side effects of SSRIs like hyperhidrosis, somewhat decreased sexual desire and I did gain a lot of weight (though quitting smoking might have been the primary cause of this) but I was so much happier that such little things barely crossed my mind. I wasn't 100% "cured" but I was 99% better, only feeling the need to wash my hands when they were actually physically dirty.
Eventually I graduated, and was conscripted to serve in the army (it's mandatory where I live). While serving I was going on and off fluoxetine because I had to hide the fact that I was taking it.
This brings us to the present day. I completed my mandatory service and started postgraduate studies in a different city and quit fluoxetine, big mistake. It took a while but my OCD came back at full force.
Realizing I was relapsing, I started taking fluoxetine again about a month ago and my symptoms are once again improving though I've lost a lot of ground. I now know I shouldn't have quit and I'll be more careful in the future.
To all those out there suffer from crippling OCD: it gets better. It might take a while and the side effects do suck but your life will be completely turned around. If I hadn't received this treatment I probably wouldn't have graduated and god knows what all that bleach would have done to my skin and lungs. I'm now completing my postgraduate studies, have a loving dog and cats which help me a lot through the hardship of studying. Keep at it, things do get better, I promise.
PS. Please excuse my poor use of English, it's not my mother tongue neither do I reside in an English-speaking country.
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