Major stressor and anxiety is coming back

[malina]

Hi everyone,

I've posted on this forum a bit before, but I've never really shared my story. I think I've had OCD most of my life, but 8 years ago I started having harm OCD and it spiralled. I have never harmed myself, but I was at uni and away from my family at the time, so the panic got so bad that I was hospitalised for a week. It was then that I was actually given a diagnosis and could put a name to all the strange and disturbing thoughts that I'd had most of my life. It was a hard battle but I got control of the thoughts eventually and have been happy and healthy since.

Recently, I've had a major new stressor in my life. My father was diagnosed with cancer. Not sure what stage it is at yet, but the type of cancer it is, prognosis isn't great. It's taken a while to sink it, but it's starting to. Panic is hitting me full on. I'm not sure that I can cope with the thought of losing him. I need to be strong for my family and for myself at the moment, but I'm not really sure how.

[PolarBear]

What you need to do, first and foremost, is look after yourself. It's easy in a case like this to try to be the strong one and do everything you can to help but you need to take care of you or you're going to find yourself stressed beyond words. And OCD is affected by stress. It can get much worse due to stress.

So take some time out for you. Build in some relaxation time for yourself. Allow yourself to have fun once in a while. No sense two of you being sick.

[malina]

Hi Polarbear, thanks a lot for your advice! You're right, I do need to take some time for myself. It's just so hard to stop thinking about the worst case scenario and what life would be like if that happened. My thinking is that I've already lost my father, when in fact, I don't even know very much about his condition yet. Maybe it just takes time to get your head around this...