Fluvoxamine for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder User Reviews (Page 5)

• Zay...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• May 6, 2023

"I started fluvoxamine a couple of years ago, I actually began in my senior year of high school. After trying many different medications for my OCD, everything seemed like nothing worked, and my thoughts seemed to always come back. My OCD began affecting my daily life routines, relationships, and overall well-being. When I started taking fluvoxamine, it was a major change in my obsessive thoughts and behaviors. Everything feels so much better, and I feel so much happier and alive. I started my undergrad last year, and I am able to focus, maintain my grades, and spend time with my friends and family thanks to fluvoxamine. My nurse practitioner did help me significantly by prescribing this medication. Just to note that I didn’t have any type of major side effects. I recommend fluvoxamine for those whose OCD isn’t improving."

• Anonymous
• November 24, 2012

"Fluvoxamine brought out a bubbly personality in me. Whilst taking fluvoxamine, I do not experience many pressing needs in my life, despite the necessity for me to do things. However, I do feel more capable of remaining positive despite bad experiences in my day."

• TOL...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 30, 2020

"After the first night on fluvoxamine, I woke up the next day with cotton mouth. The next day, I was urinating every thirty minutes without anything that would quench my thirst. The third day, I felt like I was getting physically sick. The fourth pill night, I had insomnia and was up about four hours after my usual bedtime. My mind was racing, and I was exhausted all the way through half the next day. When I did fall asleep, I woke up twice with incredible paranoia. I felt like I was on some kind of stimulant and an odd feeling I’ve never felt mentally. Totally did NOT like it. Stopped taking it after the fourth pill. I’m BP 2, GAD, panic disorder, OCD."

• Hey...
• January 7, 2016

Fluvoxamine "I've been on Luvox for 6 months now at 200 mg/day. I switched from Prozac because of libido problems, but it actually didn't make any difference. I completely lost interest in sex and gained weight really fast. My OCD is controlled, but I feel depressed, sleeping a lot during the day and nothing during the night. Haha, it's horrible... Also, I compulsively scratch my head until it bleeds (trichotillomania?) and Prozac had helped me stop it. Now on Luvox, the problem is back. I'm switching back to Prozac or giving a try to Zoloft."

• Bec...
• December 13, 2016

"Always thought I had 'misophonia' (hatred of noises) but never realized it was OCD until I went to my free university psychiatrist. He said Lexapro or a drug (Fluvox) more specified for OCD. I went with fluvox because I do not so much suffer from general anxiety, rather bursts of obsessive and compulsive thoughts, mostly due to noises. Anyway, fluvox is all I've had, and I can't imagine changing! I went from 50 mg to 100 mg (sounds like a lot, but fluvox in its nature is just a high mg mixed with the buffers, 100 mg is not a really high dosage). I can now watch lecture without ear plugs, when it used to be 100% of the time. Slight weight gain might be my fault. I still hear small things, but I can more often forget about them!"

• mar...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 5, 2023

Fluvoxamine "Initially, at 25 mg, it worked decently well. I went out to eat for the first time in months; I went shopping an hour away, and I wasn’t obsessed with cleaning my apartment 24/7 as bad. I’m a college student, so something I did notice was the little bits of extreme panic that lasted maybe 5 minutes at a time, but resolved quickly. The other thing I noticed at the beginning was that it made me extremely dizzy, and I started developing migraines, which I’ve never had before, so I chopped it up to being dehydrated and not drinking enough water. Then, about 6 1/2 to 7 weeks in, things really went downhill. I started developing an extreme social phobia, and anytime I would do little bits of cleaning, I would start having panic attacks. It turned into full-blown agoraphobia after a week. I have almost committed myself after these past 2 weeks, and I have quit my job as of last week. I almost had to drop out of college. This probably works for some people, but definitely not for me."

• Emi...
• November 22, 2020

Fluvoxamine "I have been on Luvox for 4 years now, and it has worked for me very well for OCD. I almost have no anxiety anymore. The downsides are that I have had loss of libido, constipation all the time, and insomnia. I haven’t had any problems with weight gain like other antidepressants."

• ano...
• August 14, 2015

"Fluvoxamine is the pill I've been searching for my whole life. I started out with 100 mg and have up'd it to 200 mg daily. When I first realized that the medicine was working, the experience was comparable to the first time I got glasses when I was in sixth grade and did not know I had bad vision. Fluvoxamine gave me back control. A negative side effect is the sexual dysfunction, though; it takes me quite a bit longer to get there, which is good for her, I guess, but frustrating for me."

• Mda...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 11, 2021

"This was the most horrid, awful medication I’ve ever taken. I had it prescribed after I had a psychotic episode on Prozac. I was depressed, panicked constantly, and very moody. Doctor originally had me on 25 mg, then bumped to 50 mg. Both awful. Do not recommend fluvoxamine at all."

• anx...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• August 4, 2019

"Fluvoxamine drug has been a godsend for my OCD. This is just one of the few meds that are actually approved and indicated in the treatment of OCD. I've been taking the maximum dose for years now. Ramping up the dose initially was rough and made my anxiety much worse, but I persevered. No other SSRIs or SNRIs or antipsychotics touched my OCD (tried over 30). This drug does nothing for my mood (unlike Prozac, which made me feel good but did nothing for OCD). This drug gave me my life back, I went from spending hours a day cleaning and ritualizing to somewhat normal. It took a while, and my OCD is definitely still there. This med also causes some sexual dysfunction, but I don't care. I'd rather be functional and leave the house. Side effects mild."

• Zek...
• September 20, 2020

"I took fluvoxamine 200 mg daily for 6 years for OCD/generalized anxiety disorder, but now that I've weaned off, I don't think it helped at all with that, or only a little. However, it gave me non-24 sleep disorder. This is apparently a very rare sleep disorder that only blind people usually get, but I'm not blind. With this sleep disorder, I was going to bed 1 hour later every day, so that I might be going to bed at 11 PM today, but 12 days later I'm going to bed at 11 AM. I would go 'around the clock' within a month. It was terrible. That lasted for the entire 6 years I was on fluvoxamine, but I had no idea what caused it. I thought I had a neurological problem, or my circadian rhythm was messed up. Maybe I needed melatonin or light therapy or expensive sleep therapists. Nope. As soon as I weaned off the Luvox a few months ago, my sleep schedule went back to almost normal, the way it was before Luvox. Apparently this is a very rare side effect of this drug... or maybe not?"

• Mik...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• May 9, 2021

"I suffer from OCD and bipolar disorder. I started off taking Anafranil when I was 18 years old. I ended up in professional school and was having a hard time remembering material. Also very depressed and anxious. My doctor switched me to Luvox when I was 24 years old (between semesters). It was hard getting on to it, nausea and constipation. Plus, I couldn't sleep as well. Otherwise, though, it made my depression almost disappear and I burned through my academic material so much faster and more efficiently than on Anafranil. For me, a huge improvement over Anafranil. Much has happened since I started Luvox, such as a manic attack and diagnosis with BPD, divorce after 12 weeks, etc. I will never have the normal life I would have if I had no mental illness. But I am still on Luvox after 24 years. Fluvoxamine/Luvox has made my life a lot easier and closer to normal."

• Anonymous
• September 3, 2009

Fluvoxamine "I'm taking this for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I've taken it for about 6 months. It has helped slightly. My pharmacy couldn't order it fast enough, so 3 days off of it, I had a headache and threw up at work. Overall, I have had help with this. I have to take it at night because it makes me very sleepy."

• End...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 22, 2017

"So far, so good! The side effects I’ve experienced are loss of appetite and extreme tiredness, which are definitely bearable. I’m upping my dosage to 100 mg today, and so I’ll repost if I get any worsening side effects. My mood seems more stable, and I’m not as angry. I’ve noticed a positive change thus far, and I’m hoping it only gets better as my dosage increases."

• Anonymous
• August 29, 2019

Fluvoxamine "I've been on antidepressants for years. Prozac helped me but then stopped being effective. So I got prescribed Luvox. The biggest problem was the side effects. I had the most painful stomach cramps and diarrhea along with horrible anxiety and palpitations. These made me give up on sticking with it. I'm not sure if it would work well if I stuck with it, but the side effects were too severe for me."

• Bel...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 6, 2018

"So it’s only my 4th day on this medication, my doctor prescribed me 25 mg to start off. I have severe anxiety and OCD. I’ve tried Lexapro, Zoloft, and Buspar but couldn’t get past the side effects. This is the only medication I’ve tried that doesn’t have major side effects. The only thing that I have noticed is I have been extremely tired. I take it every night at 9:00 PM, and I’m about to pass out 20 minutes after. It will make you tired during the day too. My doctor said that is normal and I need to push through it. I gave it a 9/10 because it’s only been about 5 days, so I haven’t noticed anything, but I will take the sleepiness side effect any day over the other medications. But I will update when I hit the 4-week mark."

• Lil...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 25, 2020

"I have OCD, depression, anxiety, and I switched to Luvox in early April 2020 and recently tapered off and started Trintellix. I’ve also been on Lexapro, Prozac, Pristiq, and Trazodone. Anyways, Luvox made every aspect of my mental health worse. I was crying all the time, very irritable, crazy mood swings, and my anxiety was worse and worse as I went up on my dosage. I stuck it out for a while because I know medications can make you worse before better, but I was miserable. All of these symptoms got worse when I had to taper off 200 mg to 50 mg and then stop. I’ve been on 5 antidepressants, and Luvox was by far my worst experience. Truly made me worse. I was told it was the “gold standard” for dermatillomania (skin picking disorder) by my doctor and saw no improvement in that. This drug is not for me. I’ve been on Trintellix for just over 3 weeks and wow... I’m feeling so much better."

• sco...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 19, 2023

"Luvox saved my life. I suffer from severe contamination OCD, and I work in healthcare, which do not mix well. After getting on Luvox (combined with therapy), I can finally do my job with little worry, pump gas without wearing needle-stick resistance gloves, etc. I went from having daily panic attacks to rarely ever having them. Of course, I still have anxiety and worry...but combined with therapy, Luvox has made my life manageable."

• Gan...
• May 2, 2020

"Before taking this fluvoxamine, I would pick at my face until I looked horrifying. I was 14. People used to ask me if I had measles. Whatever I tried, I couldn’t stop. It was an embarrassment to go to school, and taking Luvox was a last resort. I really didn’t have much choice. Luvox improves my life immensely, and my life goes badly when I go off it. I’m now 26. I’m very stable at the moment. But I’ve never had an orgasm. I’m thinking about trying to go off it after all these years. It’s frustrating because it helps me so much, I need it, but I want to enjoy sex."

• rea...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 10, 2018

"I registered this website just to remember an important thing: that is to keep taking your medicine even if you feel better. That is the mistake I made. Now I am able to control my obsessive thoughts after I have been back taking them for a month again. It completely works for obsessions but not for anxiety. It saved my life."

• Men...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 4, 2019

"I have been taking fluvoxamine for 1 week now and was hopeful that it would be helpful to ease my symptoms of OCD. I will never say that a medication does not work, and I would advise people never to say that because we are all different, but I do want to share my experience. I have been very sick, felt strongly that I was going to pass out, I have broken out into sweats, can’t sleep, major stomach pain (like gas cramps), loss of appetite because I was afraid I would throw it up. And what’s weird is that it’s not constant, it comes and goes. I thought I was pregnant because it reminded me of the same symptoms you have when you're pregnant, but I am not. Just wanted to share this because if you have these side effects-yes, it’s probably this medication. Call your doctor!"

• PRA...
• September 27, 2017

"This was very bad for me. It just stopped my thoughts and feelings. I also had a lot of side effects from these tablets, like shaking hands, and I had no feelings. I went through my day doing my daily routine but had no thoughts and felt like a zombie. This tablet made me worse than before I took it."

• Tri...
• June 28, 2015

Fluvoxamine "One week and a half, and so far, so good - takes me down several notches for anxiety, which is good! I've had OCD for over 35 years, and it's going to be very hard to break - it may be helping a smidge?"

• Too...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• August 18, 2015

"Went from too much genius to just enough. I won't describe it more specifically than that. Excessive thoughts used to cause very bad anxiety and stress. I used the fluvoxamine maleate to quell the excessive thoughts and was able to focus better on getting things done. The drug cannibalizes its effectiveness though because of the side effect of drowsiness. I am often very tired on the drug, and although I am still able to work well, it takes more effort to do so than when I am not on any medication. There are some sexual side effects to this drug as well. The most prominent sexual side effect is near inability to climax. But that is the nature of the drug: it numbs your emotions. I can't have a normal sex life on this drug."

• mih...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 26, 2018

Fluvoxamine "I switched to Luvox because Effexor was making my cholesterol go through the roof, and now the sexual side effects are back, and I'm more tired than usual. I take 450 mg Wellbutrin with it, along with various supplements. I'm going to give it a few weeks before trying something else."