Sleep disorder/ OCD

[gj77]

Hi, I'm a guy who is a software engineer by profession. About 4 years ago I started getting symptoms of anxiety and loss of sleep. I had regrets about the past and a career choice I made and I kept regretting and thinking I made a wrong decision. This affected my self esteem and I had problems taking up jobs. I couldn't control my thoughts and couldn't concentrate and I was tired when I got up in the mornings.
I saw a psychiatrist who put me on fluoxetine and paroxetine. I had side effects like drowsiness and headaches so I stopped the medication after 2 months. Then I started enjoying work and thought the depression will go away.
But 2 years back I had bad sleeping problems so I saw my psychiatrist again. He put me on Venlafaxine (Effexor) 37.5 mg and increased to 75 mg. But this didn't help and I still woke up tired. I also got dreams in the night which didn't help.
Then I saw another doctor who tried out SSRI's but didn't work. Then I was put onto Amitriptyline (Elavil). This helped my sleep. It was wonderful. then I developed OCD symptoms. Earlier I had mild OCD but now it became pronounced. I began to check my clothes after going to the bathroom and fiddle with my hair when I was working at my PC. Then I started Clomipramine (Anafranil) 50 mg and went upto 100 mg. My sleep was wonderful but OCD was there. then I was switched to zoloft 100 mg with valium. Now the OCD is 50% ok but I'm having sleep problems again and get very tired during the day.
Please advise me on the best medication for sleep disorder. Will Lithium help with the OCD? Sorry for the long mail and hope quick response. thanks a lot.    

[Judith52]

Go to my posted note under zoloft withdrawal re OCD.  It gives info on what ocd is, how to treat (recognizing ocd thoughts, developing list ocd thoughts, level of anxiety with these thoughts and your ritual reponse to try to rleieve anxiety--defined as Courage ladder and books that were recommended by my son's ph.d doctor at ucsd to learn about this brain hiccup and how to develope techiques to get around it.  Note posted 4/7/07 or 4/8/07 under Judith 52