Okay, alright, I struggled with OCD beginning pretty bad age 16 and a half, and periodic worry outbreaks since, but I've figured out some tricks or really just methods for dealing with it. One helpful thing, if I can wind to a place where it's okay to do the extra precaution and also okay not to do it, that's a pretty good place to be. I mean, I'm not a bad person for doing the precaution.
And some medications such as Prozac can work for OCD, but it may not be the first medication, just that everyone's biochem is a little different. And also, it's often important to step down from a medication in phases even if it doesn't seem to be working.
One thing you probably should be aware of is PANDAS. This is where antibodies to strep attack the basal ganglia of the brain causing OCD symptoms. So far, they've only looked at children and adolescents, but I don't see any logical reason why this couldn't apply to adults, too. One study found that approximately 50% of kids with rapid-onset OCD probably had PANDAS. Plus, some doctors are skeptical about the whole thing, reasoning that children get strep all the time and OCD symptoms tend to come and go anyway, so of course there's going to be all kinds of apparent correlations. But, if you seem to have an increase in OCD following a sore throat (or perhaps other strep infection), might be worth looking into. Especially since given the seriousness of OCD, the cure of prophylactic antibiotics is relatively low-risk, longterm antibiotics like someone might take for acne or an ear infection.
And as far as what doctor, a person can go to a psychiatrist or to a 'regular' doctor such as an internist or family practitioner (who used to be called a general practitioner) who can prescribe prozac, other SSRIs, or antibiotics as needed just as well as any other doctor. Either choice of type of doctor can be a good choice. I myself have not had the best luck with so-called mental health professionals. Other people have.
And there's something called responsibility OCD where I'm 'responsible' for preventing bad things. I got a heavy dose of this from my parents to the effect that if something bad happens, I must have done something wrong. Not necessarily, there's a heck of a lot of luck involved in the natural flow of life, it's more like percentage baseball, and the really beneficial skill is building and flowing with positive things (of course easier said than done, and zen mistakes made here, too), and not just damage-controlling negative things.
And my mom did secret health precautions, and she described sensory issues pertaining to smell as 'allergies.' Well, this is to be expected in an age before it was known that autism is a spectrum. And when I was a teenager, it seemed like about the only thing they talked about in health class pertaining to germs and disease was sexually transmissible diseases, plus my fellow students seemed to find this embarrassing and at times giggly and didn't take it with the level of seriousness I thought they should. So, the whole situation was awkard, tension-filled, and the fact that I knew a lot seemed to work against me.
All this is so much better knowing about influenza. For example, if a child (or presumably an adult) seems to be getting better and then relapses with high fever, that's a red flag, for that relapse might be bacterial pneumonia and should be treated promptly with antibiotics. Well, believe it or not, a lot of people aren't interested in hearing about this, even when H1N1 swine flu was in the news. Well, that's their loss and that's how I look at it. This is usuable, practical, non-obvious information. I'm not really embarrassed about sharing it. It's more a problem on their side, and maybe I over-explain, but fine, they should still make more of an effort to reach me halfway.
So, one possible avenue is to be open to learning health or safety information which might be easier to share.
10 Jun 2013, 8:11 am
