ecomum

Thanks Polar , good point 😊

Hi everyone I'm feeling great at the moment and my life is great. I keep dipping into my notes and self help but so far so good. For a long time I was scared to be happy but now I'm loving it. The thing is I now feel that I have more to loose and it will be harder to fall if my ocd convinces me that I have harmed someone and deserve to be miserable. Has anyone else experienced this please or know what I can do? Thank you.

I asked this question a while back and the lovely advice I received was to work up to it gradually .one step at a time .it helped me so much . 🌞

Today I am meeting a friend at tourist attraction , first time since covid. Feeling empowered. I am also going to eat the rhubarb from my garden , which is one of the things my mum drummed into me not to do . Onward and upward. I'm determined to beat this. Enjoy the sun friends 🌞

My triggers are often real events. If I make a mistake , eg forget to wash my hands (and I mean genuinely forget , like before preparing lunch or after visiting loo etc) or I accidently knock someone etc etc then ocd exaggerates the consequences . Knowing its ocd helped a lot. Meds and therapy too. Lots of self help books and constant relapse prevention and not getting complacent help too. When a trigger comes I find if I can discipline myself to get busy it passes quickly. It's like fighting the urge to ruminate . I see the urge as wolves I have to conquer and it helps me fight the

Thank you for all your replies. I had a couple of massive triggers today which made me realise maybe I aren't as ready as I thought. I'm very overworked and stressed which I think brought them on but ocd led my response. I feel I need to do a bit more work than I realised. My daughter is on same meds as me as the issues run in family. My sister takes meds successfully and my mum won't and still suffers extensively.I am definitely the person who when I come off , needs to go back on. It's more that the side effects are getting me down than the meds themselves which help me so m

Jeff Bell - 'When in doubt make believe .' Best ocd book.i have ever read Dale carnegie ' How to stop worrying and start living '.- not ocd specific but absolutely amazing advice .

Yes , sometimes I feel like this . I find it helps to let myself have what I call a bad day , once in a while and accept that I can't do much that day. It then seems to pass the next day if I've rested and not fought it. Also.i find doing a really small task it doesn't feel so overwhelming and I usually find that once I get started on that small task I actually enjoy it and want to carry on. Set very small goals ,you can always increase them gradually. Hope this helps it worked for me.

Hi everyone , I have been on fluoxotine for about a year and a half and it has helped me a lot. I feel ready to come off now , not a decision I have taken lightly, but I am coping well and the side effects are getting me down . Obviously I will only do this if the Dr agrees. What I wanted to ask though is if anyone has successfully come of meds and has any tips. I was thinking of things like relapse prevention self help.books etc . Thank you 😊

Thank you Lollipop and Optimistic , this is excellent advice. Much appreciated ❤

I'll try and paraphrase. I have suffered with responsibility and contamination ocd for many many years.lots of excellent help on here ,therapy and meds. At beginning of pandemic I was a wreck couldnt leave my bed for weeks. Worked hard on self help and also for my ptsd . I'm working full time ( ta in school) and raising my children , 3 adults 2 teens well. I am looking forward to getting out of lock down but darent make plans to visit people ,go places yet. I keep pushing myself, went to town , went to pets at home ,aldi etc, but I can't get over last hurdle of

I got kobo app. Its like a kindle on phone. I have read lots of books for escapism but also self help books to help my progress. Has really been a big help.

I know how you feel, my children 12 to 27 have been close this year and I have had a year of not worrying about them travelling etc My mum was overprotective and it has caused me a lot of anxiety as an adult so I fight this every step of the way so it doesn't happen to my children. Once they have been out it will get easier when you see them enjoying and living full lives, like a lot of things the fear of the unknown is way worse than the reality. I so know how you feel, its just another hard mum thing we have to do x

I don't have this theme but what resonates with me is when you say 'I have a great life and a amazing family' as I often write this in my posts. Ocd threatens what we value and our fear of losing something good . This is just another ocd theme and I would treat it like any other, don't analyse or ruminate on your thoughts get really busy or distracted and it will begin to fade. Hope this helps.

Hi Alex, My first husband left me, he couldn't cope with my ocd but to be fair neither of us even knew about ocd or what I had back then. My now forever husband is amazing , but it has taken us a while to get to this stage. I think the pandemic has made everything harder and especially relationships. I have so many friends and family going through bad stuff and just can't be there. I think you are in a good position in that you know what the issues are and have expressed them on here. I understand if your gf has mental health issues too, it makes it harder.my adult daughter ha