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In need if some support!!


Guest Hannah_7

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Guest Hannah_7

Hi there. My names Hannah and I've been a sufferer for a long time. Over the years I've taken meds and had cbt which both helped. Recently I've been off the meds (purely because I've been feeling better) but in the last few weeks the OCD has crept up and since last week it's been really tricky!! I've been off work last week and this week(just because I've got time off) and it's always harder because of the lack of stimulus!!

I keep doing things, eg: touching my face in places and if I don't do it without thinking something 'correctly', I get an overwhelming feeling if anxiety and have to do it again... Arghh it's tough but at the moment it's things like putting my finger up my nostril because I did that in Friday and it just keeps repeating (sounds gross and stupid I know) but I go through bouts of anxiety through out the day if it's done incorrectly and I'm scared I'm going to hurt myself!!

Please help... Back on the meds but need some support... Should I be giving in to these anxieties or simply trying to ignore them... I feel like I could be trying to do something 'correctly' for days...

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Don't engage with the thoughts. Recognise them as OCD and try not to respond. I know it's difficult but the anxiety will go down if you don't give in to the compulsion to touch your face. It takes practice. I have a similar thing with feeling like I have to touch objects with the end of my little finger on my left hand. It was so bad last a few weeks ago I could feel it throbbing, it was very annoying. I've hardly noticed it the last few days. The feelings will pass.

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Guest Hannah_7

Thank you for your advice! I'm trying really hard today to feel the compulsions and try to let them pass! I had cbt about 4 years ago and I think my therapist said that you have to let the feelings come and work through them, measuring how the anxiety changes over time! Does this sound right? Thank you again for the advise!!

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If you're deliberately doing exposure exercises then yes, maybe you should work through the feelings and monitor the anxiety. But you should definitely NOT do this every time a bad thought or compulsion comes into your mind. That would be just feeding the OCD. The idea is not to be troubled by the thoughts or to give them any importance. If you're always checking how it makes you feel and analysing it then it just gives OCD thoughts too much significance.

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Guest Hannah_7

Thank you for your advice! I'm angry at myself because this morning I gave in to a compulsion and now it keeps rearing it's ugly head.... I'm trying to not rise to it but it's sooo tricky!!! It's worse because when I have the compulsions, when I carry them out I have to be thinking something 'correctly' otherwise I need to keep doing it again until I get the relief... The stupid thing is I can do that... I can get the relief but then a while later if I even THINK about it again... The compulsion comes back.... Grrrr!!!! At the moment there's a certain word that I've been thinking about and if I think about it in the context of a person I get the anxiety and the compulsion.... I don't know what to do!!!

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I also give in to compulsions sometimes, I'm not OCD-free, not by a long way. Every time we give in to a compulsion it stokes up the OCD 'fire' and makes it stronger. Of course, it's really hard, if it was easy then nobody would have OCD. It takes a lot of practise (and stress and anxiety) to resist the compulsions. It's worth the stress as it will mean getting your life back.

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