Dawnie

Hi loftylady I'm so sorry to hear of the distress which You both must be going through. I hope my children don’t suffer from OCD like I do. If it’s any comfort, I never wanted to take medication. I put it off for 3 yrs before I started taking an SSRI. I wish I had taken them sooner. I do feel the longer the suffering the longer the recovery. Nice guidelines state SSRI and CBT. However I had CBT without SSRI. But it didn’t work. Then I was lucky enough to have second lot of CBT while taking SSRI and the therapy started to kick in. The SSRI made the OCD tolerable. I’m not on any mood stabilisers but pretty sure they would help. I use exercise for my mood stabiliser and....... chocolate LOL. Taking medication is not something to be ashamed of and you can tell him that from me. Perhaps this is a control thing for him. OCD suffers can’t tolerate anxiety. Control is key. This is why I didn’t want to take meds for ages. I had to in the end. I was absolutely exhausted mentally and depressed and in a horrid horrid place. My entire life was OCD. I feel for him I really do. And hard for you seeing him go through it. Please be reassured it can get better. The biggest step is getting the right help and he would start to recover. I agree with Hal about getting in touch with Ashley. He seems easy going and got great advice. Best wishes xxxxxxxxxxx

Hi I have not used Facebook for this type of reason but see it being no problem. If it works for you and offers you support with people you trust then can only be a good thing. Go for it. Only a few people know about my OCD. I would be happy to discuss with anyone once I had trust in them and felt it may help their mental health. The hurtful nature of my thoughts makes it difficult for people to understands and that makes me think people would judge me for it. I’m beginning to be a bit more open about it but depends on who it is. If my kids grow up to be OCD then I would tell them everything they need to recover. But work colleagues/ friends maybe not. Only my Boss knows and my best friends/husband/mum. No one else. Xxx

I agree gbg. Anxiety gets bored and goes without you having to do anything. Trust yourself. Exspose yourself to it. And sit it out phil10. Beleive me, I’ve done this and it works. Be strong xxx

Hello hopingtorecover. I have 2 kids and they both vomit up regularly. I would use wet wipes to start then a good scrub and then leave it to dry on its own. I don’t have contamination OCD but rumination OCD. If I had an intrusion about my kids I would spend hours thinking about it. So I understand where you’re at with the amount of cleaning up you have done. It’s over with now. Maybe next time a quick clean up and tell yourself it’s good enough. Then do another helpful behaviour NOT compulsions. Hope this helps. It’s intresting to see how OCD works for different types of OCD but the techniques for dealing with it are the same. hope this helps? xxxx

Hello I find my OCD better as I am busy with stuff. I like busy but then don’t look after myself so usually crash in a few days. Mindfulness works for me as well as keeping myself as well as I can. Good diet and exercise. All this is fine if you can be consistent which I often struggle with. My GP told me to increase my SSRI in times of stress then reduce back down when calmer. (If you take them seek advice first from GP) Christmas is stressful for non OCD people I reckon. The cost/run up/ Xmas day/making sure you have everything/ Lots to do/busy time of year. Hope this helps? xxxxxxx

Hello thank you gbg/Steve m.w/daja/lost in time/taurean. This is a good technique. One of my therapists said to create a worry period during your day. Then you defer the thought till later. And then when you are at the time of your worry period if the thought is not bothering you then u can just move on. If the thought still bothers you then what I do is a thought chart using theory A - what OCD says OR theory B - what’s actually happening/alternative cognition. This technique is explained in the Break Free of OCD book. It’s good.

Yes I agree with this 100%. Bring on the triggers. The more exposure the more opportunity to practise not responding to intrusions. X

This is great news. Wish we had something like this in Exeter. Never know may catch on. Thanks Ashley xx

Hi all. I agree with Steve. Legal advice may be costly but at the end of the day it will be worth getting the right help here. It will help you to know where you stand. This is good for our type of thinking. So sorry you are being put through this. xxxxx

Hi both This is so true Paradoxer (cool name BTW) I have rumination OCD and the nature of the thoughts were initially harm to others and now its changed to harm to myself. OCD thoughts get bored and changes to something else close to your heart. It’s like that, a bully trying to grab your attention. Kick its butt into touch and keep going. You wont be starting over again. Remember how you dealt with the first thoughts. Apply the same rules. Have thought Dont pay it attention/don’t do compulsion Gently refocus on what’s going on around you Repeat. CBT helped me. I have a portfolio to chart my progress. Xx

Hi Norton Wolf Firstly are u having any help in the form of GP/mental health practitioner for the above issues? It would be handy for a diagnosis so you know what you are dealing with. I cant diagnose anything but sounds like obsessional thoughts to me. These kind of thoughts are the exact opposite of how you see yourself so they don’t seem to fit in with who you are. The fact that you are terrified of the thoughts dying/hanging yourself is not evidence of you wanting to do it. It is your mind replaying them over again to keep your attention on them. Normally with OCD there’s a pattern. Trigger =something that gives you negative automatic thought Intrusion = bad thought - going to hang myself! You can’t stop these thoughts. You can’t stop thoughts. Compulsion = what you do to make the anxiety better - thinking about it all day/ruminating. You can stop compulsion by doing a more helpful behaviour. If these are all present then could be OCD. If this is making your life hard then I would suggest GP referral so you can find out what you are dealing with. Hope this helps?

Hi Shann Sorry your having a hard time. This type of thought is exactly what my rumination OCD is about. I get very panicked if I am on my own. This is a trigger for me. Trigger leads to intrusions then to compulsion. I have, in the past, spent an entire day ruminating about being dead. This leads to negative thoughts and feelings. Depression/anxiety. So hard and utterly debilitating. I have deliberately spent time on my own to bring these thoughts on more. Over time I’ve got use to being on my own. Tell the anxiety to come on in and let it be there. Tell yourself this is anxiety/recognise it and sit it out without trying to push it away. Anxiety gets bored and then goes on its own. This however is very anxiety provoking in itself and I would suggest some help to get you on the right track. CBT/doctor etc. The sooner the better that way if it is OCD then it can be caught early to stop it getting worse and taking more of your time. Tricky when feelings of panic are intense. With help this does get better. Trust me. It does get better. To take on anxity/depression/OCD I personally found good diet and plenty of drinks are good. Exercise. Sleep/rest. Time to yourself (maybe a trigger) CBT and mindfulness help loads. I found taking care of yourself is very helpful in order to tackle this issue. Hope this helps. This quite literally sounds like me when I first realised my worries were overwhelming and anxiety so high I thought I might go insane. Starting to doubt everything. I felt I couldn’t even trust myself. I hope this helps my friend. I have been there and eventually and only just on my way up. I do not want you to suffer like I have for 7 years. Please seek help. And nip this in the bud ASAP.

No probs. I took sertraline while pregnant and breast feeding from the advice of the Pre- natel health team at the hospital. My GP told me to stop taking it. So the pre natal team wrote to the GMC and complained about the above. No probs Emsie. Good point to make. I do think info re. this is limited atm. Thank you xxxxx

Hi STEJ1986 Welcome. I only joined last week and I wish I’d known about it when I was first diagnosed. It’s great. I wish you all the best of luck in your journey to recovery. Well done for making the first step. Good for you for wanting to get your life back and getting control. I agree with humbleno1 When u see your GP hopefully they will make a referral to a mental health specialist. I asked for consultant psychiatrist. Long wait to see him though. Then there can be a considerable wait for therapy to start. It will be worth it my friend. Wishing you all the best. Always here. Xx

Great article. Thank you for sharing xx