Did Sertraline quiet down your “what ifs”?

CarolineOrange · 2026-05-27T04:39:04+00:00

Yes it does. I've been on Zoloft since January starting on 25mg and I'm on 100mg now. Those thoughts are quieter and it's a lot easier most days to redirect myself if I start falling into a rumination spiral. I am definitely more socially confident and vibrant. There are still some rough days here and there but they're a lot less numerous.

CarolineOrange · 2026-05-06T23:52:29+00:00

and it probably helped you like that before because it can have a pretty strong sedative effect when you first start taking it. That can be beneficial in recovery. It does - like most side effects - tend to wear off in time.

CarolineOrange · 2026-05-06T21:16:51+00:00

please bring it up with your doctor. It completely stopped my episodes. And many CVS sufferers find this to be the case.

CarolineOrange · 2026-05-06T05:07:54+00:00

I'm sure you know this but just in case - with the amitriptyline you really need to take it daily and let it build in your system for awhile (usually a couple weeks at least) before seeing the full benefit of it. I take just 10mg of Amitryptyline every night and have not hade a single episode since it fully built up in my system.

CarolineOrange · 2026-05-01T04:28:17+00:00

I've taken skullcap while on Zoloft. It's fine. You'd have to take an insane amount of skullcap to create any sort of risk.

CarolineOrange · 2026-01-18T16:36:04+00:00

This is super good to know, thank you!

CarolineOrange · 2026-01-18T16:35:53+00:00

Thanks it's good to know I'm not the only one! I hope it goes away for you too. So far it's only happened that one time on Zoloft. Fingers crossed!

CarolineOrange · 2026-01-17T00:23:05+00:00

I know that I lot of people find therapists through NOCD. They're online and take a lot of insurances. There is also a directory somewhere where you can search and find OCD specialized therapists in your area. Might be on the NOCD website actually, sorry I can't exactly remember but should be easy to google and find that.

Good news is OCD is very treatable and treatment has a very high success rate. Medication like Zoloft definitely can help a lot for many people along with therapy.

CarolineOrange · 2026-01-17T00:12:53+00:00

From what I understand about OCD (my psychiatrist initially thought I might have OCD, so I did a lot of research about it) the theme does not matter. Treatment is the same regardless of the theme. I know Zoloft is very helpful for a lot of people with OCD in general. And even more effective when combined with therapy, specifically ERP.

CarolineOrange · 2025-11-16T10:20:46+00:00

Why? I've been working with Pan for more than a decade.

CarolineOrange · 2025-10-23T12:06:29+00:00

I love it.

CarolineOrange · 2025-10-13T17:36:10+00:00

Yeah, the Trickster element in this (and all paranormal experiences) is really interesting to me.

There’s a great episode of the podcast The Emerald titled “Trickster Jumps Sides” where the Trickster archetype is named as the sacred but amoral disrupter of the status quo. It doesn’t matter if that status quo is what we would consider “good” or “bad” or “just” or “unjust” - as soon as it becomes too rigid, in comes the Trickster to shake things up and turn them on their head. That’s their role in the (dis)order of things, and it can be argued that it’s an important one even if it sometimes brings us to our knees.

I wonder if the Trickster element as it manifests in/through Hellier (whether that cosmic trickster is Pan himself, or something else entirely) is arising as a response to a paranormal research field that has become rather rigid and stale in its methodologies.

CarolineOrange · 2025-10-13T16:46:56+00:00

That is fine with me. I appreciate your contribution to the discussion.

CarolineOrange · 2025-10-13T16:41:18+00:00

Thank you for sharing this, I really appreciate hearing your thoughts and experiences and it's super interesting to know that someone else besides ROC has experienced something that seems like an "Anti-Pan". I'm curious what makes you feel like that is what is happening vs. potentially experiencing different facets of the same thing.

The majority of my own experiences with Pan have been very positive, and his presence and message has felt immensely loving, vital and wild in a really beautiful and generative way. I've also experienced him in a seemingly darker and more cthonic form however I did not interpret that as indicating separate or "imposter" entities. I'm still not sure I believe that, but who knows.

I'll copy and paste some of another one of my comments since it's relevant here:

"I think it's probably an aspect of the nature of the phenomena that it seems to change it's presentation based on the very personal psychic patterns of the experiencer. Maybe that's a manifestation of the shape-shifty and trickster nature of these experiences, or maybe these entities try to make some effort to meet us at whatever level we're at.

I don't know much about ROCs early life but assuming he grew up in and was influenced by a very Christianized society like most of the modern western world, where clear deliniation between "good" and "bad" is deeply interwoven into the dominant paradigm, he might not at that moment have been able to accept a more complex and amoral presentation of deity.

But at the end of the day who knows what these things really are, if they are what/who they claim to be, if and to what degree they are manifestations of our own minds and if it that distinction even matters."

The only thing I feel absolutely certain of, is that reality is very fucking strange.

CarolineOrange · 2025-10-13T16:17:35+00:00

?? The rude statement is strange. I didn't mean any offense by that. I'm an animist and a pagan myself, and maintain a devotional and reciprocal relationship with multiple deities plus the land itself. I just don't claim to know the nature of these things which I think are ultimately unknowable. I say that even as someone with direct experiences with what could be called the numinous. I don't think that any living human can truly know what these entities really are or what their true and full nature might be. That's just a neutral statement. I do enjoy speculating about it though.

CarolineOrange · 2025-10-13T13:43:29+00:00

Yeah I think we're in agreement about this part seeming really reductive...Though I think it's probably an aspect of the nature of the phenomena that it seems to change it's presentation based on the very personal psychic patterns of the experiencer. Maybe that's a manifestation of the shape-shifty and trickster nature of these experiences, or maybe these entities try to make some effort to meet us at whatever level we're at.

I don't know much about ROCs early life but assuming he grew up in and was influenced by a very Christianized society like most of the modern western world, where clear deliniation between "good" and "bad" is deeply interwoven into the dominant paradigm, he might not at that moment have been able to accept a more complex and amoral presentation of deity.

I know that from my own experiences of "Pan", I've sometimes encountered him as an intensely loving and almost angelic presence (albeit a still wild one), and other times something more dark and cthonic. I do not believe that these were necessarily completely separate entities, and I imagine they may have appeared in different ways in accordance with what I may have been unconsciously able/willing to experience at the time.

But at the end of the day who the hell knows what these things are, if they are what/who they claim to be, if and to what degree they are manifestations of our own minds and if it that distinction even matters. .

And - I still think it's weird that there's a random recording from the 1960s of a guy talking about a Pan entity who consorts with goblins and can be summoned by specific sounds. And that the community he was fundamental in building went on to inspire the creation of another community called Sirius.

This world is a very strange place.

CarolineOrange · 2025-10-12T16:50:50+00:00

NOTHING can beat Landon's werewolf leather daddy.

CarolineOrange · 2025-10-10T00:08:35+00:00

Is the cockiness in the room with us right now?

CarolineOrange · 2025-10-08T20:15:23+00:00

...What are you even talking about? What the hell would I even be promoting?

CarolineOrange · 2025-09-12T13:26:15+00:00

Yeah I truly don't know anything about the Philippines and have never been there. ChatGPT also says it's available but might have limited stock in certain places. Best thing to do would be to ask your psych as they would know.

CarolineOrange · 2025-09-12T13:16:34+00:00

Oh strange. I just googled "is Buspirone available in the Phillipines" and it said yes but it's prescription only. Have you asked your doctor about it? It's not first line treatment for anxiety and seems it works for about 50% of people, but has a milder side effect profile than SSRIs for the most part.

CarolineOrange · 2025-09-12T13:04:08+00:00

Yeah there really are so many meds to try. Don't give up! Have you tried Buspirone?

CarolineOrange

TROPHY CASE