New research on OCD

Hey everyone,

Every day is a struggle, I go through it dragging my feet and counting the days I remain to live.

I truly wonder if there is true hope for any OCD cure out there. I read on the 'ocfoundation' that there is new research for OCD that has to do with making new medication that targets different areas of the brain to regulate the level of Glutamate in the brain. That truly sounds great. All I wonder is how much longer it will take for them to implement this treatment to psychiatric institutions.

Here's the link:

http://www.ocfoundation.org/glutamate.aspx

And here's a snippet of what they're saying on the site:

Evidence from several sources suggests that abnormal levels of glutamate may contribute to OCD.  Investigators at the Ruhr University in Germany examined the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with OCD who were not on any medication.  They found that individuals with OCD had higher levels of glutamate in the CSF than psychiatrically healthy controls.  Since the CSF bathes the brain, this suggests that the brain is exposed to high levels of glutamate in patients with OCD.  A similar increase of glutamate in the brain has been seen using another technique, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), by investigators at Wayne State University, and elsewhere. 

This seems to be promising indeed. Although SSRIs really do help, (And I can tell this because I tried to go without SSRIs, and it was a disaster) I believe that there are alternate treatments still not found that may prove to be more effective than current treatments. 

All we can do is SHARE, LAUGH, AND HOPE.

With love,
Tareq