What have you done today to challenge your OCD?

[gingerbreadgirl]

Hi OCDHaveNoBrain

Everything you've put simply *screams* OCD.  

You use the fact that it *feels* real as evidence that it isn't OCD.  You see this kind of thing a lot on the forum (and I do it too).  It's funny though because why do we imagine OCD ever doesn't feel real? If it didn't feel real it would be easy to disregard.  It feels real for everyone.   It's a disorder for a reason. 

Stopping ruminating would be easy if it didn't feel like a real problem.  The key is to stop ruminating despite how real it feels.

All your posts are just a stream of rumination.

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I was going out with my helmet on and lost my keys and got a light  touch from the door. 

You are probably right. I have one of those periods where i just get sucked in. It feels lile i an threatened to the core. And if one is treaten you should react. But thank you for your words, they really matter. I know when it all statered and i lnow where i am now but damn it is just one big black hole.

I guess OCD is really effective in what it is doing

 

[taurean]

OCD creates a threat through an erroneous false exaggerated or revulsion core belief. 

When we look for that core belief, and challenge it, see it for what it is we can then gradually build the resilience to stop believing it and stop reacting to, and carry out compulsions in response to, it. 

Edited June 13, 2018 by taurean

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

Now i have a task to limit the amount of time i involve myself with the compulsions this day and tomorrow. I will have to monitor thiss really strict.

 

No way around it

Edited June 13, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[taurean]

49 minutes ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

Now i have a task to limit the amount of time i involve myself with the compulsions this day and tomorrow. I will have to monitor thiss really strict.

 

No way around it

Go for it OCDhavenobrain. Believe you can do this. 

[gingerbreadgirl]

32 minutes ago, taurean said:

Go for it OCDhavenobrain. Believe you can do this. 

I totally agree - go for it OCD, you can do this x

[gingerbreadgirl]

well I just had the urge to confess something to my OH, so I said "I want to confess something but know I shouldn't", and she said "DON'T, just don't confess it, stop it." So I waited about a minute then started blurting it out, so she put her fingers in her ears and went "la la la!" and left the room so I chased her round the house to get my confession out!

Not a very successful moment and probably sounded v bizarre to the neighbours!

Onwards and upwards though...

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I can't search on google about concussions and i shouldn't analyze the situation in my head. I am getting increasingly dizzy and a little bit nausea, but i need to not care about it. 

Yes Ginger that is what you should and can do.

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

So today i have resisted even if i have had tension in my heads and waked up with stiff neck today. I also have procrastinated some things til tomorrow, so i will have to do some things tomorrow. 

Everything is very joyless, but maybe not panicking. But it is pretty much getting a thought - shift focus - getting new thoughts instantly- refocus. so well i guess the OCD is pretty active

[taurean]

Don't connect with or give meaning to the thoughts. Leave them be, shift focus away. 

They get stronger and more frequent when we connect with them. 

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I know. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. 
 

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I need to keep on not involve in the thoughts, and i am not panicking. tomorrow i need to train. 

I will not say too much now, but i can say so much that i hope you also are trying not to involve yourself in the thoughts

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

My feelins have changed from deep depression from a feeling of irritation. I am trying to read but i am analyzing how i remember the text, i think that i remember it worse than normally. And i feel my head and my shoulder. 

I guess i need to focus no matter what, damaged or not, need to focus, but it is pretty scarzy stuff.

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I am trying my best. I thought to myselff today that if i have whiplash well then i have it. The thing is that my neck is stiff but it can be anxiety. Got better after i thought that.

But then when i was at the library i went past a window and i saw a guy who was ******* on a wall. And my mind directly thinks about how serious it was. He stood there for a while maybe 45sec. Then my thoughts goes something like, if he was doing more, then i have been more traumatized. Does this even make sense? Why am i so obsessed with thoughts about being traumatized?

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I jjjjust want to advice everybody to stop taking caffeine. Many people do advice you to stop taking caffeine when you have anxiety but you are always special. Atleast i am... my brain is telling me...

 Yes it increases anxiety. Maybe not even the overall anxiety, caffeine makes your highs and lows greater, no matter if you have OCD or not, so when we with OCD get a low from the caffeine maybe our OCD uses that spike and we all know what happens when we have begone to do the compulsions...

 

So i am at a very low dose now and it makes things a little easier. But it is tricky because you get more anxious when you are withdrawing, so it is yet another of thise things which you need to do now to get better in rhe future. Just like the treatment of OCD.

And this should only been used as a help. You obviously need to attack      the OCD no matter what you take.

 

I hope you guys are doing decent

Edited June 24, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[gingerbreadgirl]

I have tried no coffee, moderate coffee and lots of coffee.  For me I think a moderate amount of coffee is best.  Whenever I stop having coffee altogether I am giving myself the message that "I can't deal with normal life, I have to give up something I enjoy" - for me it is almost like avoidance.  I get extremely tired without caffeine and also a bit flat, even down - I love coffee and I refuse to let OCD take it away from me.  For me a small amount of coffee works best.

Like everything I guess it is horses for courses - there is no one blanket bit of advice which suits everyone (other than stop compulsions!)

[taurean]

I don’t believe there is anything wrong with coffee in moderation. 

I like one to get me going in the morning, then I tend to drink water or no added sugar squash. 

I personally don't drink espresso, it's far too strong, too full of caffeine stimulant, for me. 

A favourite is a small latte with semi-skimmed milk. Or a flat white likewise re the milk. 

Edited June 24, 2018 by taurean

[gingerbreadgirl]

I quite like an espresso I don't think it has any more caffeine in it than other types of coffee, just less water so the taste is stronger.

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I do think that forums can be a very bad thing. It have to be a sign that we all use it more when we have anxiety than the other way around. BUT there have to be an other way. A constructive way. 

I think we are giving less reassurance here than on other forums but i still have this nagging feeling. 

Than i have another thought which i am not like proud of but i get frustrated with OCD even when i see it in others. But i also find that it is when i am in the borderline, between paniciking (then i can use the anxiety to help  others) and when i am OCD-free i guess it is much easier. But it is when the OCD is more like an annoyance, that is when i can get frustrated. 

But forums can be good, it is just that i really think we need to cut out reassurance. 

 

I am the first person here to admit that i (my ocd) get supersuper manipulative when i am panicking, i will pretty much say anything to get reassurance, change the story or even tell false stories.  I think we should be honest with that, and realize that this is how it works. Because reassurance is really bad, and we need to recognize what OCD does so we can stop the reassurance-cycle. Because that wheel never stops spinning.

Edited June 25, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

Having a hard time. I was out riding today for the first time and i have some pains in my upper arm, which make me worry like crazy. 

It makes me sad, i don't know if i should contact a doctor or someone else. And my mother is totally crazy. It is hard now. 

I guess i need to be strong and not doing compulsions around it all, but it is hard.

[gingerbreadgirl]

I'm sorry to hear you're having a difficult time, OCDhavenobrain - it is hard, but if it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be a disorder.  You know what you need to do.  Time to dig deep and do it x

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

So today i am trying not to engage. I got a flare up yesterday when i fellt my shoulder.

I was seeing this guy at the library scratching his leg very high up. So i thought what if. Then i say someone else there holdimg her hand over her mouth. I feel like this is becoming a problem for me. I mean an obsession.

Tomorrow i am going to see a psychologist. I am taking benzo with me. In case he is bad.....

Thanks everyone

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I have one HUGEMOUNGUS problem. It feels like my motivation will make me fail, i mean look here. Look. Sometimes i am less motivated and then i end up doing compulsions, then like now, when i got a burst of irritation towards this perverted condition (well no offence OCD), it seems like i can do it. Will i always fail because of this? I mean, it is the same with things i love, like training, and those things do i really love. I can't even keepj up with them. So how the heeell is it possible to resist this monster when one is weak. 

Well how do you do that? Keep up with it? I mean i am really curious!

[taurean]

Acceptance that we are OCD sufferers, belief in what we are being told.

Patience persistence and perseverance - what I call my "Three Graces". 

By really committing to these things we strengthen our resilience, and build new helpful behavioural responses and the old unhelpful ones fall into disuse. 

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I have failed so hard with those before. I always fall back, call me lazy because i do, i can't explain it but when i get better. When my OCD are less severe in a period i just think that it is gone now, i don't want to waste time on it and i guess my defence gets down.

I am pretty mad at the moment because i am not in that depressed state and when i am resisting it when i am not i ALWAYS get irritated instead of being sad and the overall feeling that now my life is over. This is it!!

Like now i am trying to read a book, well i am reading the book, no trying here! So after a while do i find that my concentration gets worse and that is normal for everyone i guess, but then i get this anger, i need to read it, i need to read it and understand it. I am useless i can't even read a book. OMG OMG 70 pages in x hours. And i am not taking a break neither, because i NEED to stop being useless, so i sit there and read and i get even more mad, and sometimes i can feel pretty useless because i am so bad at reading the god fine book. So i guess counting the pages i have read is a compulsion. And trying to understand it perectly is ANOTHER compulsion. 

But there is the real effect from me trying to read when i normally is doing compulsions, not doing compulsions makes us stressed out. It makes it harder to concentrate, no doubt about it. But well. What i am trying to say is that it is really frustrating. HOWEVER i take this state every day over that panicking state. 

 

Thanks everyone and you are not worthless. 

Edited June 28, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain