The Power of Holistic Approaches: An Alternative OCD Treatment

During my time in school, the standard treatment taught for OCD was to administer a high dosage of an SSRI medication such as Zoloft, Prozac, Lexapro, Luvox for months at a time. However, in many cases this does not always work (Parli et al., 2023). Whereas, the treatment is in-effective in some cases and then results in adverse-effects commonly occurring in SSRIs like decreased libido, nausea, diarrhea, and for some increasing the risk of induction of mania (Parli et al., 2023). Therefore, many providers and patients become stuck on the next step to finding a resolution. I continue to utilize this approach of a high dosage of SSRIs, but now I often will incorporate a supplement known as NAC at around 600 to 1200 mg twice daily or in other words a total of 2400 to 2700 mg daily (Parli et al., 2023). This dosage is supported by research in terms of effectively improving OCD-related behaviors such as trichomanillia and skin-picking as an adjunctive treatment option within 6 to 12 weeks of administration (Parli et al., 2023). Moreover, the supplementation is known for at times causing Gastro-intestinal side-effects (Parli et al., 2023). However, it helps to limit the usage of anti-psychotics that are also commonly used off-label for the treatment of OCD (Del Casale et al., 2019).

References

Del Casale, A., Sorice, S., Padovano, A., Simmaco, M., Ferracuti, S., Lamis, D. A., Rapinesi, C., Sani, G., Girardi, P., Kotzalidis, G. D., & Pompili, M. (2019). Psychopharmacological Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Current neuropharmacology, 17(8), 710–736. https://doi.org/10.2174/1570159X16666180813155017

Parli, G. M., Gales, M. A., & Gales, B. J. (2023). "N-Acetylcysteine for Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders in Children and Adolescents: A Review". The Annals of pharmacotherapy, 57(7), 847–854. https://doi.org/10.1177/10600280221138092

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