AttemptingToHeal

I'd be careful with this. Read your contract carefully. I was off my job for a long period of time with medical diagnosis, then came back. Work were fine with me at first but then after I had another bad spell for only a couple of weeks, they brought out part of their contract which says they can only support illness if it doesn't interfere too severely with business activities, i.e. makes them lose money. I think most contacts will have a similar clause so read yours carefully.

I get this weird feeling when I'm trying to quit OCD. It's like I'm ignoring it, but what happens feels like I knew it was going to happen. I'm not talking about because I live the same routine each day, it's more like as I see some event, I feel as if I know what's going to happen just before it does. Like I knew the event was going to occur. Down to just seeing a set of things in my apartment in a certain order. It's hard to explain but it's very uncomfortable. Does anyone else get this?

So today I've managed to ignore some of the compulsions. Only some, but then others creep in again. I'm feeling quite happy about this though, feels like I've made a tiny bit of progress. Does anyone else find this though, as soon as you ignore one compulsion, there's just a bunch of others which come in and make you need to do other things you don't quite feel you're able to escape.

I'm quite happy with myself today. A friend offered to go out and have a coffee and I lept at the opportunity. It was very difficult because compulsions kept creeping in and I did indulge in some of them. Mainly though I was able to sit and just remind myself that this is OCD and not a real thing. I am rather pleased that I was able to do it because I honestly thought I couldn't ever.

I suppose doing work in the morning is sort of exercise isn't it. I spend a lot of time trying to do tasks around the house too.

Although there are so many compulsions associated with leaving the house I don't feel I can do it. So I'm stuck indoors at the moment. I'm not really sure how to get out of this situation I'm in.

Yes that's true that is what I'm doing. Thank you for the advice.

The compulsions to some extent. I also thought that the anxiety would fade a little bit.

I seem to have been doing ok the past few mornings. I wake up with extreme anxiety then have to leap out of bed immediately before all sorts of compulsions creep in. When I do though, I immediately seek things to do and try to do them in a non OCD way. The truth is that I'm probably not doing them without compulsions because there are so many, they creep in everywhere. The point though is that I'm able to do some things, rather than be disabled and lie down all day doing nothing. However once I get to early afternoon the anxiety is so very high that I can't sit still, and have to constantly move about. There's no way I can possibly try to do anything because the compulsions become so strong. I thought these things were supposed to fade away and allow your anxiety to ease. The only way I'm then able to get through that portion of the day is to take a quite strong diazepam pill. Yesterday I was lying down shaking, unable to do anything. Today I experienced that possibly even more strongly. Then I broke down crying for quite a while. Does anyone else experience this? I've just started taking sertraline, so maybe that's related. I just don't understand why the anxiety gets so very high. I thought this stuff was supposed to go away?

Oh I see. Seeking the answer is the problem. Ignoring is not.

@PolarBear are you saying that realising that things are OCD and not actually real is a compulsion? I may have misunderstood you. That doesn't seem right to me though. One of the steps to getting rid of this is to understand that it's OCD and therefore to be able to ignore it I thought. That's the only way I can separate the thoughts I have from believing they're real and try to get rid of thoughts. Once again, sorry if I've misunderstood you.

Once again, thank you so much for your reply

Thank you for your reply. The problem I have is that everything seems to have compulsions attached. I like the idea you suggested though that once I take the diazepam I could then try to relax for a bit. I'm so anxious all the time that I can't sit still to do anything as then the compulsions come in worse. Maybe though if I have the pill first, then I can try it. It's good to know I'm not alone. I feel like this has erased all of the things I used to do so I can't actually remember what I like, or feel that I like anything. I also feel like I've been taught all the techniques I need, I just can't apply them because the anxiety is so high. Do you have any advice for how to switch off?

Hi, I've had periods through my life of extreme OCD affecting me. For a while I was ok, but recently I've had a massive episode. Everything turned to a compulsion, there seemed to be no theme. It was affecting literally everything I do. I could barely eat or drink. I'm in touch with the crisis team now, and I've been given diazepam by the doctor. I had made quite good progress this morning. This afternoon though, extreme anxiety crept in and I started feeling compulsions again. I know I'm supposed to ignore them and just get on with things, but how do you ignore them when they seem to be attached to literally everything? Has anyone been in a similar situation? I can barely do anything all day. I really appreciate any replies I can get. Thank you for your help this forum is great.

Excellent, well done. It gets easier each time from now on.