I heard Zoloft is a good drug for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

Question

What does it do exactly and does anyone one know any other good treatments

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

ASK A DOCTOR OR PHARMACIST!!

Answer 2

Major Depressive Disorder¾ZOLOFTÒ (sertraline hydrochloride) is indicated for the treatment of major depressive disorder in adults.

The efficacy of ZOLOFT in the treatment of a major depressive episode was established in six to eight week controlled trials of adult outpatients whose diagnoses corresponded most closely to the DSM-III category of major depressive disorder (see Clinical Trials under CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY).

A major depressive episode implies a prominent and relatively persistent depressed or dysphoric mood that usually interferes with daily functioning (nearly every day for at least 2 weeks); it should include at least 4 of the following 8 symptoms: change in appetite, change in sleep, psychomotor agitation or retardation, loss of interest in usual activities or decrease in sexual drive, increased fatigue, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, slowed thinking or impaired concentration, and a suicide attempt or suicidal ideation.

The antidepressant action of ZOLOFT in hospitalized depressed patients has not been adequately studied.

Source(s):

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/sertra…

Answer 3

A shrink

Answer 4

You need to talk to a doctor or a shrink i mean u will have to have a prescription for it if u want to try it so you should go ahead & talk to some one & they can answer any questions about it u may have a lot better than any one here can!

Answer 5

It served me well for about four years or so...then I crashed and burned.

Answer 6

It's addictive and makes you sleep alot.

smoke a joint

Answer 7

It is one of the drugs used to treat it. It's from the SSRI family (as is Prozac etc). Speak with your doctor about it as it can have some side effects.

Source(s):

I take 100mg a day!

Answer 8

Zoloft is an anti-depressant drug that controls the brain's release of seratonin.

In my opinion OCD is a mental illness (one that's all consuming) in combination with therapy, Zoloft could help OCD.

Source(s):

Pharmacy Tech

Answer 9

I have been dealing with OCD for most of my life, and I took Zoloft for about a year and I found it to depress me and aggrivate me.

The thing is, drugs are different for everyone. It may do wonders for you, but worsen other people's lives.

I deal with my OCD without any drugs, and I have overcome many parts of it. Some of it still effects me, but it's not so bad. I did however, see a therapist once a few years ago and they helped me understand it better. If you think that you may need medication, I suggest you see a therapist for a few sessions to see if it's right for you.

There is no harm in trying the medication out! If you find to dislike it, just stop taking it, no big deal.

Goddluck!

Answer 10

Zoloft is really good for OCD. Other medications include:
Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, Luvox and Anafranil. These are all classified as antidepressants but which are also indicated for the treatment of OCD. Not all antidepressants will work, though. Those 6 are the only ones at this time.

Source(s):

I research drugs and devices.

Answer 11

The answer is YES!

FDA Approved Uses: Major Depression, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (adults and children), Panic Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder.

Off-Label Uses: Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Chronic Fatigue, Multiple Sclerosis, Bipolar Depression, Lupus, Headaches, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), ADD/ADHD, Eating Disorders, Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

Zoloft's Dosage and How to Take Zoloft: I'm just sticking with adults. Zoloft (sertraline hydrochloride) is approved for use by kids with OCD, but it's too tricky for me to deal with.

Depression and OCD - 50mg, once a day, usually in the morning. That's it. No titration. You can try taking more, as Zoloft (sertraline hydrochloride) is rated up to 200mg a day, but Pfizer's data don't prove it to be effective at more than 50mg a day. In the real world people do get plenty of benefit from taking more than 50mg a day, but give it a month before increasing the dosage. After that increase it by 25-50mg a day each week, as required, until it works or you give up. You should know by six weeks after starting if it's going to do anything or not.

Panic, PTSD and Anxiety disorders - 25mg, once a day, usually in the morning. After at least a week you may increase it to 50mg a day. That's it, just like depression & OCD. You can try taking more, but as above Pfizer states it's not worth it.

PMDD - start at 50mg a day. You'll have to work it out with your OB-GYN as to which days in your cycle will work best. If that doesn't work, up it by another 50mg next month. Then try other days in your cycle. Then try another 50mg a day. There's a bunch of fine-tuning required here.



Really, folks, don't go increasing the Zoloft (sertraline hydrochloride) every week until you've given it 4-6 weeks. You're risking a nasty bout of discontinuation syndrome for something that may not work for you at all. You'll know if it's going to work after a month. If it doesn't do anything at all at the initial dosage after six weeks, give up and move on. If it does something, just not enough, you can discuss a higher dosage with your doctor.



Days to Reach a Steady State: About a week.

When you're fully saturated with the medication and less prone to peaks and valleys of effects. You still might have peaks of effect after taking many meds, but with a lot of the meds you'll have fewer valleys after this point. In theory anyway.



How Long Zoloft Takes to Work: Like all SSRIs anywhere from a couple days to over a month. If you don't feel any positive benefit after six weeks, then you should talk to your doctor about either another SSRI or trying a med that hits another neurotransmitter.

Source(s):

www.crazymeds.org

Answer 12

Here is some sites to read up on this medication. If you think the drug will help with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder then you need to contact the doctor and ask him. He will know. Good luck!

Source(s):

http://health.yahoo.com/drug/d00880a1
http://www.zoloft.com/zoloft/zoloft.port…
http://www.mentalhealth.com/drug/p30-z02…
http://www.healthsquare.com/newrx/ZOL150…

Answer 13

zoloft just vaporizes your brain cells.

dude, you should really try some, it takes the edge off.

yeah hug a rainbow or something.


dude, i'm so high i have no idea what i'm saying

Source(s):

i'm pretty sure acid and / or pot would be safer than that corporate perscription crap

Answer 14

I have a family member with OCD and that's exactly what he took. That and regular therapy helped him considerably.

For more information on OCD, go here:

http://www.ocfoundation.org/

Answer 15

distract yourself when the compulsive thought occurs, tie a wrist band and pull it when you feel the compulsion, join a sport , or visit a psychologist.

Answer 16

I don't know about obsessive compulsive, but I took it for my post partum depression after my first child, and it worked wonderfully. It corrected my excessive mood swings and cleared the unusual negative thoughts. Plus it wasn't habit forming.... I just stopped taking it cold turkey after 6 months and none of my symptoms returned.

Answer 17

ZOLOFT MAY HELP BUT THE BEST THING TO DO IS GET SOME HELP OTHERWISE

Answer 18

EFT or tapping is good for OCD www.emofree.com
IF you can trace the emotional cause of the OCD

Alfons Ven has got an excellent and cheap cure
www.alfonsven.com
it's very sophisticated and works on your invisible systems
This is the only cure I know for OCD so far

May be an chiropractor can help you in doing a good alignment of your spine. (as your spine holds all your trauma)

Good luck my friend
I wish you all the best

Answer 19

Zoloft is a newer anti-depressant. Anti-depressants are being used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder because they are Serotonin reuptake inhibitors which means that more of the neurotransmitter named Serotonin is available for brain functions. It is suspected that a "shortage" of serotonin is contributing to many mental health illnesses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and anxiety. Because these medicines were first developed for depression, they are called anti-depressants.

Answer 20

Zoloft is an SSRI (Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitor) it selectively blocks the uptake of serotonin post synaptically.. In laymans terms. SRI's keep Seratonin (the neurostransmitter important for a sense of calm and well being) from being metabolized too quickly. It is speculated Seratonin channels in the brains of OCD, ADD, and depressed people are over active. SSRI, block the channels that allow neural transmission within the neural pathways.

Answer 21

Zoloft is usually the first choice of many doctors to treat OCD.

This site lists the usual protocol of meds for OCD and links to direct you to the medication websites which explain how they work to treat the disorder.

http://understanding_ocd.tripod.com/ocd_…

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is also helpful for OCD

Good luck!

Source(s):

Research
http://understanding_ocd.tripod.com/ocd_…

Answer 22

Zoloft is well tolerated and effective for the treatment of depression and certain types of anxiety disorders.

Zoloft is FDA approved to treat depression, social anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Zoloft® (sertraline HCl) is a type of antidepressant known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or SSRI.
Nerve cells in the brain and the rest of the nervous system use chemical messengers. These messengers help cells send messages to each other. One of these messengers is called serotonin.
Studies show that serotonin plays a vital role in how our body works. It controls sleep, appetite, temperature, and blood vessel tone. It's also in charge of the release of certain hormones and how much pain we feel.
Because it is linked with so many functions in our body, serotonin has an effect on a wide range of conditions such as depressionThis tie between depression and serotonin led scientists to an interesting find. Scientists believe people with depression could have an imbalance of serotonin in their brain.
That means the level of serotonin is "off." So the nerve cells can't communicate, or send messages to each other the right way. This lack of contact between cells might cause depression.
Zoloft helps fix this. Zoloft helps the nerve cells send messages to each other the way they normally should.
Watch the animation of how Zoloft works to correct this imbalance of serotonin levels in the brain. What zoloft does is block the seratonin from going back into the nerve cell that sends the chemical message.

Some of the newest antidepressants are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. SSRIs alter the levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain, which, like other neurotransmitters, helps brain cells communicate with one another.

Fluoxetine (Prozac®), sertraline (Zoloft®), escitalopram (Lexapro®), paroxetine (Paxil®), and citalopram (Celexa®) are some of the SSRIs commonly prescribed for panic disorder, OCD, PTSD, and social phobia. SSRIs are also used to treat panic disorder when it occurs in combination with OCD, social phobia, or depression. Venlafaxine (Effexor®), a drug closely related to the SSRIs, is used to treat GAD. These medications are started at low doses and gradually increased until they have a beneficial effect.

Source(s):

http://www.zoloft.com/zoloft/zoloft.port…
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/anxiety…
For More Information on Anxiety Disorders
Visit the National Library of Medicine's
MedlinePlus (www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus).
En Espa-ol, http://medlineplus.gov/spanish
For Further Information
National Institute of Mental Health
Public Inquiries & Dissemination Branch
6001 Executive Boulevard
Room 8184, MSC 9663
Bethesda, MD 20892-9663
Phone: [phone] or
1-866-615-NIMH (6464) toll-free
TTY: 301-443-8431
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Web site: http://www.nimh.nih.gov

Answer 23

I used it for OCD - and it did not help me at all. It made me feel like a zombie and everything was sureal. I have a friend who is on it for OCD and it has worked really well for her though. It just takes about 3 months to figure out. Good Luck!

Answer 24

I have OCD.

Zoloft is a serotonin re uptake inhibitor, they keep improving them slightly but that class of drugs (which is specifically the best for OCD) have side effects.They are quite effective but I personally will not take SSRI's because I do not like the side effects (not every one gets them though).
This is to my own demise because clinically and through experience they work the best. It is hard to explain what they (SSRI,s) do unless I draw it. Basically there has to be a build up of serotonin in order for the nerve to fire to the next, after it fires; the overflow of serotonin is collected and used to maintain enough serotonin to fire again. (that is very basic). I have given at least 15 different meds a good try over the years. I remember that I liked Zoloft but refused to give it a fair chance because I thought that I was having side effects.
What worked for a while was a combination of wellbutrin and serotonin precursor amino acids (kind of an alternative route) I took it for over a year but now I am working on switching to serezone due to my panic (which has taken on some type of different form). I hate it sometimes, you know? I am normal and educated , productive and have good intentions and I know what is going on..... but that does not stop it.
There are like 4 different classes of meds to try ,but. I think that if you really want relief the Zoloft has all of the right criteria to relieve OCD symptoms.