Effectiveness of inositol for OCD??

[Sunflower]

Hi there,
I have had OCD for about 13 years now, since I was about 18 years old. It’s manifestations have changed over the years, and am currently terrified of contamination. I am under the guidance and care of a psychiatrist, and am taking Pregabolin, sertraline, diazipam, melatonin to help me sleep, and lanzoprazol for my stomach lining ( my ocd fear is particularly food contamination at the moment, and that I will get bugs or worms or something, so am frequently sick, which I know is irrational, but then that’s ocd’s hold isn’t it )….please forgive me if I have spelt my meds wrong!

I am writing this post as I am feeling no benefit from the meds for my symptoms, and am desperate to know of any medication or vitamins that is new or has been proven to have the best efficacy for this disorder?

I have been reading that people with ocd often have a deficiency of the b vitamin Inositol, and taking under medical guidance up to 18mg can show relief of symptoms to a great degree. Is this true, how effective is this??

I very much appreciate you taking the time Mr Jenike to read this post, and sincerely hope that you can reply with your standpoint on this, and any new drugs on the horizon. I have mentioned inositol to my psychiatrist, however his response was “Oh you really don’t want to pay attention to that alternative therapy stuff”. I therefore turn to you, and also anyone else who has heard about inositol, or tried it and how it’s worked out for them.

Thankyou for your time reading my post, I am so grateful for responses.
Mr Jenike, you are an inspiration, so thankyou in advance for any reply you may offer!

C

[Barbara Rosemberg]

Thank you C for your post.  Dr. Jenike is currently traveling so there might be a delay in his reply to you.

 

best,

Barbara

[Dr. Michael Jenike]

here is the reference for the study of inositol in OCD 

Fux M, Levine J, Aviv A, Belmaker RH:  Inositol treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder.  Am J Psychiatry  153:1219-1221, 1996

 

this is a summary from a chapter on drug treatment of OCD:

 

Inositol

            As noted above, there is now considerable evidence that pharmacologic manipulation of the serotonergic system may help with OCD symptoms. Myo-inositol is a ubiquitous carbohydrate that is present in large amounts in brain tissue and is involved in neuronal signaling and osmoregulation (Vadnal et al, 1997) and, the phosphatidylinositol cycle is the second messenger system for several neurotransmitters, including several subtypes of serotonin receptors (Hoyter et al, 1994).  In addition, desensitization of serotonin receptors is reversed by the addition of exogenous inositol (Rahman & Neuman, 1993).  There are reports that exogenous inositol was effective in controlled trials for patients with depression and panic, and recently a research group performed a double-blind, controlled crossover trial of 18 grams/day of inositol versus placebo for 6 weeks each (Fux et al, 1996).  The subjects had significantly lower scores on the YBOCS when taking inositol than when taking placebo.

 

best wishes,

 

Michael Jenike, MD

[Sunflower]

Hi there,

I want to offer my sincere thanks and gratitude Mr Jenike for your speedy reply, I appreciate how busy you must be.

I shall offer this information to my psychiatrist, though I hold out little hope that he will accept the information considering his first response to my mentioning it.

Please forgive my naivety at this point, but I was wondering that since it is a b vitamin, does that mean that one could purchase inositol independently from prescription from a psychiatrist? They would of course need consultation in respect of how inositol may interfere with my meds. I just feel that the evidence provided speaks for itself, and as I’m sure other ocd sufferers would agree, any hope of provable improvement gets you excited at the thought of some relief from this disorder.

I more than appreciate your opinion on this Mr Jenike, and want to thankyou most graciously for your time taken in replying. As you know, OCD takes opportunities, experiences, happy moments, peace, feeling of safety and certainty, belief in your own judgement, and many more things besides that I could mention, away from you, so any evidence that shows a sufferer could be offered some relief, however small, is a light at the end of the ocd tunnel. I very much look forward to your reply.

Kind Regards,

[Dr. Michael Jenike]

yes, you can buy it in health food stores.  good luck and thanks for your nice comments.

take care,

Michael Jenike, MD

[Sunflower]

Dear Mr Jenike,

I wish to thank you sincerely for taking the time to reply to my inositol query, and am so pleased that this vitamin can be seemingly effectictive in the relief of some of the ocd manifestations.

I hope you don’t mind my asking you something in relation to this post. Having approached my psychiatrist, I am met with an aparrent attitude that taking this is simply “alternative remedies”, so am therefore unsure of any contraindications in relation to my current medication. I am at the moment taking 600mg Pregabalin (300mg am and 300mg pm) and 80mg Fluoxetine (taken in the morning). He has also prescribed my up to 10mg diazepam a day (though I requested 2mg tablets to be prescribed as I do not wish to take them, so only do so when my symptoms are extremely hard to deal with). As I find it hard to sleep, they have also put me on melatonin should I require it. Thankfully though I feel, I do not wish to simply turn to medication as a substitute for getting better. For want of a better expression, although they prune the tree back a little (the symptoms) they do not get to the root. I also take natural vitamins of magnesium, salt, multi-vitamin, potassium and calcium daily. I am sorry to ask for your opinion again, as I appreciate how busy you are. Are you aware of any contraindications with regards to what I have mentioned?

Taking a natural remedy of inositol therefore gives me great hope. I would be most grateful if you could advise me on how much and what time of day is best to take inositol for the efficacy of ocd symptoms to abate, even if slightly.

In advance of your reply, I thank you once again most sincerely for your time in reading my post, and am very much looking forward to hearing back from you.

Kind Regards

[Dr. Michael Jenike]

in the study that was done in Israel, they used 18 grams which is a lot.  main side effect was gastrointestinal irritation.  also, remember that cognitive behavior therapy is the most effective treatment for OCD and you should be doing that seriously regardless of what medication you are taking.

 

all best wishes,

 

Michael Jenike, MD

[jopad]

Dear Dr Jenike                                                                                         

                    I have been following you for years and highly respect your opinions and views on ocd and bdd of which I have been suffering from for years  I have tried all the ssri meds and lots o9f therapy with little   results  the only one that helped somewhat was celexa  but I had to cut down to a very low dose as I gained 85lbs and was very lethargic I also take gabapentin I am very interested in inositol but Im confused on the dose and what kind to take  I am taking 3 teas 3 times a day (which I read in an article) and it is 500mg ( the article did not mention the mg ) the bottle also says inositol (from corn ) is this the right kind or purist form what mg and what kind should I look for  Thank You so Much

                                                           Jopad

[Dr. Michael Jenike]

hi Jopad

the article mentions 18 grams which if 1800 mg.  this would be 36 x 500mg pills per day.

hope my math is correct.  take care,

Michael

[Author]

Posts