Olivia Rivera77 said:I don't drink, period. I mean, I've had a drink maybe once in my entire life... but thanks for looking out for me, haha.
My doctor told me the same thing, but it doesn't really matter since I don't touch the stuff anyway. I can find plenty of ways to have a good time without needing a cocktail. 👍
So, I've been dealing with OCD for like, ten or more years now, and there was this period where depression hit me pretty hard too... I really wanted to share what I've been going through. Honestly, it used to mess with my head so much back when I was still in middle school that I couldn't even function normally. Like, there were times I literally couldn't make it home from school unless I had repeated certain actions at least a hundred times. If I didn't do them exactly right—I don't even know how to explain it—I just had this overwhelming feeling that something absolutely catastrophic was going to happen. And the worst part? With every single thing I did, I had to visualize something specific, like a positive thought, because if I accidentally imagined something bad, I was terrified it would actually come true. So I'd have to go back to the exact same spot and start all over until I finally pictured the "right" thing. My parents ended up picking me up from school quite a few times because I'd just get stuck there for hours, caught in this loop of visualizing, undoing, and repeating these totally pointless rituals... I guess it was just exhausting.
So, after a while, my folks finally dragged me to see a therapist because they realized things weren't just gonna fix themselves. Honestly, it was getting pretty bad. My parents were almost at their breaking point, maybe even heading toward an ER visit, because every time one of my rituals failed, I would just absolutely lose it. I’d get super agitated, lash out at everyone, and basically act like a complete maniac. It was a mess. After that whole blowup, I started seeing a specialist child psychiatrist and they put me on Zoloft and Ativan to help with the anxiety and just to calm me down. But man, for those first few months, the meds didn't seem to do anything at all. Things were just... catastrophic. My parents even tried pushing some herbal remedies on me, thinking plants could somehow cure childhood phobias, which was kind of wild. Basically, I was terrified of everything.
So, after a few months, Zoloft finally started kicking in—thank God—and my life is actually starting to feel somewhat normal again... I managed to get my grades back up at school, and those intrusive thoughts and compulsions are slowly starting to fade away. A few years back, I stopped taking it, and things were honestly pretty decent—I had some good times and even my first crushes. But since I'm such a hypersensitive person, every little argument would just send me spiraling into depression. Anxiety started creeping back in, and I told myself I wasn't going to wait until things got really bad this time, so I went straight to my psychiatrist. I started the Zoloft again, which helped the depression, though the OCD kind of came back... but now, being in my fourth year of being back on it since that break, I feel like I've got it under control. I still get hit with panic or depression sometimes, but I know it'll pass. I have better days and worse days, I guess, but mostly I'm just like any other teenager—dealing with those thoughts and compulsions, though I'm learning to ignore them more and more. Honestly, though, I can't even imagine what life would be like without Zoloft.
So, I guess OCD has pretty much been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. But honestly, thanks to Zoloft, I’m doing okay—like, mostly normal. Nobody outside of my own house even knows what I’m dealing with... most of the time when I'm out hanging with friends, I actually forget about it all. Maybe that's just how it goes.
As for the alcohol thing, I mean, I definitely drink every now and then just like everyone else my age, and honestly, I haven’t really noticed any weird interactions with my Zoloft so far. Plus, I guess Zoloft is one of those milder antidepressants that isn't even considered addictive or anything—at least, not that I've heard of. The only real bummer is how long you have to stay on it... personally, it took me at least two months before I actually started feeling like myself again.
That’s pretty much all I’ve got to say... hang in there, guys. Just remember that depression doesn't always need some massive, specific reason to hit you. Sometimes it's just a hormonal imbalance with serotonin or whatever. I mean, sure, psychotherapy helps, but trying to fix it without medication? It's kind of like trying to cure a bad flu just by talking about it... maybe it works for some, but I doubt it.
