Treating Obsessive Compulsion Disorder

[Patient]

Hi,

Looking for alternative options for treating Obsessive Compulsion Disorder.

I was told that all regular routes lead to Anti Depression medication and these days that medication is leading a lot of people to suicide.

I have recommended for them to search out a good natural path doctor, but any other information that I can provide for them would be greatly appreciated.

[Bill Ryan]

Might this be helpful??


The 22 Best Natural Treatments and Remedies for OCD
https://optimallivingdynamics.com/blog/the-22-best-natural-treatments-and-remedies-for-ocd

[Paul D.]

Meditation & mindfulness can help .

[Patient]

Might this be helpful??


The 22 Best Natural Treatments and Remedies for OCD
https://optimallivingdynamics.com/blog/the-22-best-natural-treatments-and-remedies-for-ocd





I searched - I did! Lol! Thank you!

edited to add; Ah, at first I thought that was a thread here on Avalon. :)

Yes - thanks for that! I am still looking for someone who has used "something" for a tried and true method(s).

[Clarity]

Both my son and I have ADHD, there are some Dr's who believe this is caused by gut bacteria.
I didn't believe this theory but three years ago I ended up in hospital with a serious infection and was on IV antibiotics and oral antibiotics. On day 4 I awoke with the most beautiful peace, my mind was still - I'd never experienced that before (and yes I used to do tons of meditation.)
I had a couple of days of this peace but ended up going back to my baseline.
I working my way towards being carnivore as many have claimed its helped for mental health. Going off my experience I believe it kills off the glucose/carb feeding bacteria

[Patient]

Both my son and I have ADHD, there are some Dr's who believe this is caused by gut bacteria.
I didn't believe this theory but three years ago I ended up in hospital with a serious infection and was on IV antibiotics and oral antibiotics. On day 4 I awoke with the most beautiful peace, my mind was still - I'd never experienced that before (and yes I used to do tons of meditation.)
I had a couple of days of this peace but ended up going back to my baseline.
I working my way towards being carnivore as many have claimed its helped for mental health. Going off my experience I believe it kills off the glucose/carb feeding bacteria

Thank you for sharing - sometimes I feel that the thanks button isn't enough!

I expect that different things will work for different people. And my first thoughts on this was that it could be treated with the right diet.

I will need to find out about the person's diet and see what they are lacking. People can easily fall into a routine of eating the same thing over and over. It will eventually lead to some lack of/or over saturation of different vitamins and minerals.

Some really good, basic info that a person should be able to digest! (Yes, pun intended here!)

[thirtythree]

Both my son and I have ADHD, there are some Dr's who believe this is caused by gut bacteria.
I didn't believe this theory but three years ago I ended up in hospital with a serious infection and was on IV antibiotics and oral antibiotics. On day 4 I awoke with the most beautiful peace, my mind was still - I'd never experienced that before (and yes I used to do tons of meditation.)
I had a couple of days of this peace but ended up going back to my baseline.
I working my way towards being carnivore as many have claimed its helped for mental health. Going off my experience I believe it kills off the glucose/carb feeding bacteria

It's no wonder gut is known as the second brain. For years, experts believed serotonin was produced in the brain but according to more recent studies 95% of serotonin is produced in the small intestine.

So many mental disorders can be treated with the right diet and excercise. Medication is used mostly to manage the symptoms and often cause unwantred side effects.

I highly recommend Nigella sativa (Black seed oil) as a suppliment for brain and gut health.

[Pam]

Check out the role of B complex vitamins and particularly Thiamine deficiency. B1 deficiency can be devastating to some in terms of mental health. Have your friend check out the You Tube channel EOnutrition for some very interesting info and testimonials about the benefits. There are also a couple types of B1 supplementation and he discusses this on his channel.

I

[Strat]

I have OCD/ADHD/godknowswhat. It's a nightmare to find a solution because it's not a cookie cutter problem, it manifests differently in different people therefore there is no one solution. Some people with OCD wash their hands constantly or flip the lights on and off but for me it's OCD in the mind. What made a difference for me was getting a therapist.

It's ok to try out your own methods of getting your life in order but if you're going on years of 'getting your life together' but you haven't made any forward progress then you need outside help. And once you get a therapist, you have to make sure they're not an idiot. Unfortunately, many are, and you have to go through them like speed dating to find the one who's right for you.

Also I'd suggest just go to the library and start getting books. I can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but there was a book written for those that have adhd and it was really great. It's a horribly boring read but it has tools that helped me to get my act together. This world was made by people who don't have weird quirks and it doesn't have time or patience for them. So you have to work at it and develop your own tools that can help you get along.

So in short my answer is therapy and education (books).

[Sérénité]

Patient, I’d highly recommend to them to try to avoid any anti depressants at all costs.
Speaking from a Psychotherapists perspective, they need to deep dive the root cause, unpack it all and then heal (this can take time) and in the meantime learn coping mechanisms rather than patching over with pharma medication.

Is it possible you could suggest they looked into some form of Integrated Therapy?
Or at the least, try Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for assistance with coping mechanisms?

Also CBD is showing some very positive signs of being a great assistance for OCD, just advise them to make sure it’s clean and has no THC in there.

[Sérénité]

It may also be worth them having a full blood count and checking vitamin levels?
Low vitamin d can cause/intensify many things, including mental health disorders so it could be something as simple as their levels need upping.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9435610/#:~:text=The%20results%20of%20the%20study,levels%20and%20OCD%20symptom%20severity.

[Patient]

It may also be worth them having a full blood count and checking vitamin levels?
Low vitamin d can cause/intensify many things, including mental health disorders so it could be something as simple as their levels need upping.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9435610/#:~:text=The%20results%20of%20the%20study,levels%20and%20OCD%20symptom%20severity.

Yes, vitamins (and diet) was my first thought on this and a lot of what I am reading so far supports that. I am also thinking that this may have only showed itself after the pandemic, although I am only guessing at this time as I have not spoken to them about the time frame yet. As people were closed in their homes and then the jab came along I suspect that many people are still staying inside more as they have adopted a new routine.

I really appreciate everyone's help with this!

[Tracie (Bodhicee)]

Have you heard of Peter Smith, a London-based natural health practitioner?

Peter has successfully treated or managed a range of mental health conditions, including his own severe case of bipolar I disorder. He principally uses supplements, diet and meditation as his protocol and also freely gives a wealth of information at his webpage:

https://www.balancingbrainchemistry.co.uk/peter-smith/73/OCD-Natural-Treatment..html.

Peter conducts reasonably-priced sessions all around the world via Skype or Zoom.


About OCD treatment, he writes:
(note Peter suffers also from dyslexia so please disregard grammatical errors)

....."Treatment of OCD
For best results in treating this troublesome anxiety disorder combine brain-chemistry balancing approaches with psychotherapy techniques.

The nutritional/herbal approach to OCD focuses primarily on boosting natural serotonin levels and to a lesser extent boosting GABA levels. These two neurotransmitters put the brakes on worrying thoughts going around and around in the mind. The vitamin inositol has been found to be specifically therapeutic for people with OCD, seen below.

Nutritional Therapy

Follow the advice in the sections on serotonin deficiency depression and GABA deficient anxiety for techniques to boost serotonin and GABA.

Try tryptophan and St John's Wort to increase serotonin. Rhodiola has been shown to help generalised anxiety disorder however Rhodiola has the ability to raise “brain energy” (probably increasing dopamine) and therefore hypothetically may exacerbate OCD symptoms. Any worsening of symptoms would be only short lived however and it would be worth trying Rhodiola to see if it may actually be helpful to your OCD.

L-theanine or just theanine for short is an amino acid found in tea that has a calming and anti-anxiety affect. Studies have shown that theanine changes brain waves within 40 minutes of ingestion, increasing alpha waves which are associated with a calm state. Theanine probably increases GABA activity in the brain and is well worth a try.

The Inositol Treatment of OCD

Inositol, one of the B vitamins, has been found effective in treating OCD. Inositol is used in biochemical processes that effect serotonin receptors.
A double-blind study reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry, 1996 [153(9):1219-21] was done on 13 patients. They were given 18 grams of inositol per day (2 tsp in juice 3 times daily). At 3 weeks there were no significant effects. At 6 weeks inositol significantly reduced "OCD" scores compared with placebo. It was as effective as some drug treatment of OCD.

A study in Israel compared the level of B12 in the blood of people with OCD, schizophrenia and healthy individuals. The results showed significantly lower levels of B12 in people with OCD. (Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1988; Hermesh H, Weizman A. Geha Psychiatric Hospital, Beilinson Medical Center, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel). More research needs to be done to establish whether or not low levels of B12 are a consequence or a contributor to OCD and whether or not supplementing B12 has a therapeutic benefit. My advice is to just try it.

Psychotherapy. (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Exercise.

Numerous studies have shown the benefits of exercise upon mental health. Some studies have shown a beneficial effect of daily exercise (at least 20 minutes per day) on reducing the symptoms of general anxiety disorder. Whether or not exercise benefits of OCD is not proven.

Relaxation Training & Meditation.

Learning meditation and relaxation techniques may enhance one's ability to control anxiety and one's thoughts in general. However people with anxiety and OCD may find that peaceful, in active forms of relaxation and meditation makes them feel worse when they try to perform the exercises. The empty, peaceful mental space one creates during many meditation and relaxation techniques often becomes quickly occupied by anxious and obsessive thoughts. For this reason peaceful, quiet-contemplation type meditation and relaxation techniques are not recommended until you have largely brought your OCD symptoms under control using other methods.

The exception to this is to use meditation techniques that do not use quiet-contemplation, but rather instead busily fill the mind by chanting mantras and performing repetitive mental exercises. The best of these techniques that I know of is kundalini yoga. A study at the University of California, San Diego found a specific Kundalini yoga protocol to be effective in treating OCD as well as a broad range of anxiety disorders (Shannahoff-Khalsa DS 2004). Kundalini yoga classes are now taught throughout the world. You could attend several classes to learn the basic techniques then tell the teacher you have OCD and anxiety and you would like to learn a meditation exercise that calms the nervous system but most importantly is one of the most complex, busy and mentally engaging to perform, the more complex the better.

In kundalini yoga there are more than several hundred meditation combinations, so don't be surprised (or disappointed) if your teacher cannot give you something straight off the top of their head and need a little time to prepare something and get back to you. I did two years training as a kundalini yoga instructor and now offer private instructions with prior arrangement.

Putting It All Together

Follow the diet for serotonin deficient depression, and GABA deficient anxiety.
Consult with a qualified therapist using behavioural rather than analytical techniques.
Do some repetitive mind-occupying/filling as opposed to mind-emptying meditations everyday.
Try a six-week course of the following supplements and then evaluate your progress

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING DOSAGES ARE FOR ADULTS AND WILL NEED TO BE SCALED DOWN FOR CHILDREN.

Tryptophan 1000 to 1500 mg per day.
B6 100 to 250 mg per day (up to the point it induces dream recall).
One or two B complex daily. (I highly recommend Higher Nature True Food B complex, despite being low dosage the vitamins are in a highly absorbable organic form. If not available Solgar multi-B50 or equivalent will do)
Inositol at least 2000 mg per day. I would recommend 4000 mg three times a day as a starting point. Inositol is safe and side-effect free, for OCD buy it in powder form and take it by the teaspoon up to a total of 18 g (yes 18,000 mg) in total per day.
L-theanine 200 milligrams (mg) twice daily to decrease the symptoms of OCD.
St. John’s wort (standardised) 300 to 900 mg daily
if generalised anxiety is also concurrent to consider supplementing GABA 500 to 2000 mg as needed up to 3 times per day.".......


Wishing your friend success in finding help. :flower:

[palehorse]

How old are them?

If they can still exercise, it should be done.. to be frank even if they are very old, they still can do exercises, why not give a try to Tai Chi or just Qigong (this one is much easier to get in). I know elderly doing it and they started a few years ago, they still doing, their health improved a lot they say. Also I heard from Qigong practitioners good things about not getting ill for years when everybody around getting the usual flu, etc.. give it a try.

If they are middle-age, tell them to run or jog or just long walks, hiking too, start and improve from that. Exercises in general are a great boost, followed by good diet, good sleep time, and good laugh, no friends? no problem, laugh alone :)

Screw big pharma my friend, they are not here to help.

[Patient]

How old are them?

If they can still exercise, it should be done.. to be frank even if they are very old, they still can do exercises, why not give a try to Tai Chi or just Qigong (this one is much easier to get in). I know elderly doing it and they started a few years ago, they still doing, their health improved a lot they say. Also I heard from Qigong practitioners good things about not getting ill for years when everybody around getting the usual flu, etc.. give it a try.

If they are middle-age, tell them to run or jog or just long walks, hiking too, start and improve from that. Exercises in general are a great boost, followed by good diet, good sleep time, and good laugh, no friends? no problem, laugh alone :)

Screw big pharma my friend, they are not here to help.

I totally agree with everything you said.

They are in their mid teens. I feel so bad for kids these days when you look at all the crap they are having to deal with. I think it it will be a step by step process of vitamins, diet and then hopefully regular exercise. I am not sure how much exercise they currently are involved in. These days of online activities compared to when I was a kid playing outside everyday, I think that you have kids that are really into and enjoying a sport or the kid avoids physical activity and would rather spend all of their time on a computer.

I am sure that there are some that do both, but if they are NOT into sports and other outdoor activities I imagine that could be a tough change to bring to them. I suppose a person would have to find that one activity that really attracts their attention away from the PC screen.

I was looking into Qigong myself a short while back and there are videos online that a person can follow along and go through the exercises. Thanks for mentioning it and reminding me!

[palehorse]

How old are them?

If they can still exercise, it should be done.. to be frank even if they are very old, they still can do exercises, why not give a try to Tai Chi or just Qigong (this one is much easier to get in). I know elderly doing it and they started a few years ago, they still doing, their health improved a lot they say. Also I heard from Qigong practitioners good things about not getting ill for years when everybody around getting the usual flu, etc.. give it a try.

If they are middle-age, tell them to run or jog or just long walks, hiking too, start and improve from that. Exercises in general are a great boost, followed by good diet, good sleep time, and good laugh, no friends? no problem, laugh alone :)

Screw big pharma my friend, they are not here to help.

I totally agree with everything you said.

They are in their mid teens. I feel so bad for kids these days when you look at all the crap they are having to deal with. I think it it will be a step by step process of vitamins, diet and then hopefully regular exercise. I am not sure how much exercise they currently are involved in. These days of online activities compared to when I was a kid playing outside everyday, I think that you have kids that are really into and enjoying a sport or the kid avoids physical activity and would rather spend all of their time on a computer.

I am sure that there are some that do both, but if they are NOT into sports and other outdoor activities I imagine that could be a tough change to bring to them. I suppose a person would have to find that one activity that really attracts their attention away from the PC screen.

I was looking into Qigong myself a short while back and there are videos online that a person can follow along and go through the exercises. Thanks for mentioning it and reminding me!


I truly feel the drama, I have a teenager daughter.
What I do is to get her to do some activities like swim, she loves that, walk in the park too, go to the beach too, gave her a bicycle but seems she didn't like that..
Their parents will have to try a few things to get the feeling what their kids like, there is no such a thing only phone, I went through serious discussion, must be a balance or it will be nothing, but I am a bit radical with things, I just don't like to **** around that much if you know what I mean haha.

I wish good luck for them, but beside luck, the parents have to do their part too, like everything else start slowly and improve.

Another good idea, do they like fishing? I got the gears and went a few times with her, she liked that, usually we spend the evening at least 1x per month.

[Strat]

If they are middle-age, tell them to run or jog or just long walks, hiking too, start and improve from that.

I've had incredible results with running. It's better than any drug but my body isn't handling it very well.

That being said, I get amazing results from walking. It sounds like bs, and if I heard this years ago before I did it, I would definitely think the results I see now are exaggerated. For me, I only see results if it's done consistently. Like walk a 5k, every day, for a month. After that my mind functions much better.

I don't want to get into it too much (because it's too much to type) but I have anxiety for certain scenarios, mainly public speaking and making appointments. The latter is a problem because thats a common part of just being a normal person. It's a serious problem for me because I obsess over not making appointments, which prevents me from sleeping, which triggers my epilepsy, which activates depression and drives 'problems' (negative thoughts, substance abuse). If I just walk, that anxiety goes away and I can be a regular human. This sounds silly but for folks that go through this **** it's miraculous.

I think walking in nature is best, not so much because it's nature but more so you're getting away of looking at nice cars, loud music, honking horns, and all the things that insert themselves into your mind. However, I don't doubt the life of the nature around oneself is a good kind of 'reset' for the body/mind. It's healthy to be 'on the menu' as I say. Unfortunately this isn't always an option for me because I live in a suburban area.

The 'cure' for this is stilling the mind but nobody wants to hear that. And it's excruciatingly difficult to do if you're a 'laymen' in a society that doesn't understand these things.

[palehorse]

If they are middle-age, tell them to run or jog or just long walks, hiking too, start and improve from that.

I've had incredible results with running. It's better than any drug but my body isn't handling it very well.

That being said, I get amazing results from walking. It sounds like bs, and if I heard this years ago before I did it, I would definitely think the results I see now are exaggerated. For me, I only see results if it's done consistently. Like walk a 5k, every day, for a month. After that my mind functions much better.

I don't want to get into it too much (because it's too much to type) but I have anxiety for certain scenarios, mainly public speaking and making appointments. The latter is a problem because thats a common part of just being a normal person. It's a serious problem for me because I obsess over not making appointments, which prevents me from sleeping, which triggers my epilepsy, which activates depression and drives 'problems' (negative thoughts, substance abuse). If I just walk, that anxiety goes away and I can be a regular human. This sounds silly but for folks that go through this **** it's miraculous.

I think walking in nature is best, not so much because it's nature but more so you're getting away of looking at nice cars, loud music, honking horns, and all the things that insert themselves into your mind. However, I don't doubt the life of the nature around oneself is a good kind of 'reset' for the body/mind. It's healthy to be 'on the menu' as I say. Unfortunately this isn't always an option for me because I live in a suburban area.

The 'cure' for this is stilling the mind but nobody wants to hear that. And it's excruciatingly difficult to do if you're a 'laymen' in a society that doesn't understand these things.



Me too, I run for many years, not long ago I was doing around 50k to 70k per week, but I was running almost everyday, some weeks it was everyday, which is not that good because the body the nervous system need to have a break, at the very least 1 day per week.

Nowadays I still run around 30k per week which is not bad, sometimes I do 3 runs of 10k, sometimes I do 2 runs of 15k and very rare now I do 30k in one go (it depends on my mood lol).

I prefer short runs but in incline terrain, like 5k up and down the hill, it is much better train rather than run 30k on the flat.

Regarding the body not doing well, yeah I can feel you, I got dehydrated quite a few times to run in the heat (I don't recommend it), followed by diarrhea and hyperthermia which last for hours, it comes when I run long distances like over 30k or 40k in one go which I did quite few times but not anymore, also I live in a freaking hot country which make things even worse for runners lol

All I can say, I went from big belly dude to slim in 2 years, lost around 16kg of fat only running and controlling the diet (not like a freak, I just cut off the junky food and beers, was enough), today I got half of that weight in lean muscle and I can do pulls up, push ups, sit ups easily, but there is a sacrifice behind it, and train hard hurts a lot, the body pain is constant, today I am more in maintenance mode, some months I push harder for example we are getting into raining season now which cools down the weather around here, it is a great season to go run in the outdoors or even in the highway.

I do recommend to anyone go for a run, or a walk or a hike or anything that make you feel alive and happy doing it.. people should stop giving excuses about this and that.. I had a completely ****ed knee in the past, that alone was a reason for me not run for many years, I decided to fix that (without surgery) just lifting weights (leg training like squats, press, walking lunges, etc..), right now my knee feels like when I was 20 years old, I have no issues at all.

As you said in your last sentence, "nobody wants to hear that".. I don't usually talk about training with anyone, except some training buddies to exchange experiences (it is very important), beside that I do it for myself only, there is nothing I can do to others regarding exercising and many other things as well. It is a very personal thing, who actually want to get out of their comfort zone and run until your body gets dehydrated and have pains for a day or two afterwards ??? You got the point.

Unless someone has a huge medical issue that prevents them from exercising, you should get out and run or just do whatever make you feel alive and do it to the best of your abilities, that is all it takes folks, there is no formula or secrets.