OCD getting worse. 9.5 weeks on Fluoxetine

Does antipsychotic medications get prescribed for OCD? Have you only been diagnosed with OCD?

I too, have OCD and mine also started with panic attacks. Specifically one (my first one ever) and it just so happened to happen in the middle of the night. I was desperate feeling and felt like I was in a constant state of anxiety majority of the time for about 10 months. My doctor tried me on lexapro which made my panic attacks even worse and I felt spaced out. I didn't take this one but twice. I was then prescribed Zoloft 25mg which I am too scared to take because of the way Lexapro made me feel. I refuse to take any medications now. I have been going to therapy. They have tried giving me SSRI's, benzos, and anxiolytics but never an antipsychotic. Not saying doctors don't, that just seems a bit extreme for OCD in my opiinion.

How long did you try therapy. I had to find the right one that really helped me. and it took a good 3 or 4 months before I could really get it under control to the point I could calm myself down before the panic attacks and thoughts got too much out of control.

I do different things depending on how bad it gets. I also have GAD on top of my OCD and panic attacks. So you could probably only imagine how my mind gets when something stressful happens....For instance my husband and I built a new home and just moved in this week and I guess the stress of moving on top of all the excitement and my son having 3 ballgames this week and my husband I both worked everyday....my life got pretty stressful hahaha

If i am in the middle of a full blown anxiety/panic attack the best thing for me to do is sit it out. Once it is over to the point I can think straight and realize that it was "only" a panic attack or anxiety attack whichever it was I just simply try to stir around and keep  my mind off of it to keep from ruminating over it. That is how all of mine started. Having a panic attack and not really knowing what it was and thought about it constantly for 3 weeks on top of my OCD before I could get in with my GP. 

Sometimes I count backwards from 500, sometimes I go for a walk, sometimes I try to picture myself on the beach or in a "happy place"

What helps me the most though is using my senses....It kind of "grounds" me back to "normality" so to speak. And you can do it anywhere at anytime. I start with five things I can hear and describe them..in my head....(I hear my dog barking outside, she has barked 4 times, the second bark was more like a whine rather than a bark....I hear the fan in my room blowing, it sounds like it is  whistling at times, I hear the TV on....There is a female voice, a male voice, and a song....blah blah blah...),,,then 4 things I can see ...( I can see a tree, half of the leaves are gone, the leaves that are on the tree are green and yellow, and they are small leaves....I see a sign it is green with white lettering, I see my wall that is painted grey there is a blue picture with a bird int he middle....) You get the point....but I just keep going ..... 3 things I can touch/feel, 2 things I can smell, and 1 thing I can taste. According to my therapist it is impossible for your mind to have anxiety while fully using your senses. Whether or not that is completely true or not I don't really know, but I can tell you ANYTIME I do this, I feel better than what I did when I started it.

ALSO! I just want to say this...When my GP realized I refused the meds and was not getting better she sent me to a psychiatrist who was always trying to push meds down my throat...I would get really frustrated because I saw her for an hour and I usually spent 40 minutes telling her everything I was going through and feeling and the other 20 was used for her to tell me what meds she wanted me to try. 

I decided to try a therapist and as it did take a while for it to all set in and make sense she really listened and got to the bottom of the anxiety part. She actually dug into everything I was saying and found out what was TRULY triggering my anxiety and how to manage and deal with it and as I still have OCD and anxiety and probably always will....I am 10x better than I was last year this time and I have half the panic attacks and have learned how to control my OCD thoughts rather than letting them control me

Yes exposure is important. If you try to push it away until later ....later will always come. It takes time and A LOT of practice and even more patience. Ive learned a lot through it all, but i hope I never have to go back through as extreme as it was ever again.

Yes! Challenge your fears! Go through the worst fear. “What if I’m going crazy” and add to it and say it out loud 10 tines. What if I’m going crazy, and end up in the hospital, and lose my job, and my husband, and never the same again..... say it out loud until you can say it and not have anxiety about it anymore. My therapist told me to do this about one of my fears and it really helped. Don’t avoid the thought play with it. When your thoughts know they don’t scare you they quit coming. Anxiety tries to trick us but in reality we can trick anxiety if we don’t fear it