What have you done today to challenge your OCD?

[lostinme]

Well done everybody, we all seem to be pushing forward which is a positive step  we will have little slip ups along the way but that’s all part of the learning process 

Onwards and upwards all the way 

Good luck, let’s hope we all achieve a great positive day 

[gingerbreadgirl]

16 minutes ago, Avo said:

Glad everyone seems to be doing so well . I slipped a bit into confessing mode yesterday but overall I didn't do badly. I am attempting to avoid doing compulsions around health anxiety which I have had moderate success with. I am slipping into a type of rumination where by I focus on any slight twinge and catastrophizes into an impending horrible illness.

I am trying to focus my attention away to other activities - such as engaging playing with my son.  

sorry to hear you are still struggling with health anxiety - it's so hard to leave it alone.  Sounds like you have a good plan though to play with your son and take your mind off things hope you are both enjoying the weather! 

[Avo]

Thanks GBG, yes the weather is lovely today in fact its been remarkably consistent for a while now- even in my usually rainy corner of the country. Nice day for a run- I really should get myself into some form of fitness regime,  I could do with shedding a few pounds!

Glad you seem in good spirts yourself.

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I am keeping at it. Even if i for the 42525 time end a relationship with a person who just have to be dysfunctional or toxic or maybe both. It is like she just needs to destroy it. She has a diagnosis so i guess that is why, but i am struggling or was. Because this can't go on. I will just end it here and never go back, i always go back. 
And i am sick so i need to stay inside.

Hope you are all doing ok. 

Edited May 20, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[gingerbreadgirl]

I don't think you should stay inside OCDhavenobrain - you should get yourself out and busy, maybe on your bike? Hope you're OK x

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I don't know, i think i have catched something, headaches and my nose is kinda funny. It usually don't break out directly when i get the cold, it takes some days and then it break out. 

Well i guess there is nothing i can do, it is just i get so frustrated with people. She even works with mental-health but she just can't see it in herself.. I know i should have ended it a long time ago but well.. Recovery can't be an isolated thing, the ultimate test is life itself, if we can refuse it when life hits us. 

Hope you all are doing ok. 

Edited May 20, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[gingerbreadgirl]

Maybe just leave it alone for a while if emotions are running high at the moment. 

[gingerbreadgirl]

Well I have had quite a bad day in terms of compulsions.  I cleaned the bathroom and was totally fixated on whether things were contaminated, whether I was spreading it, etc.  At one point I ended up cleaning all the upstairs doorhandles with antibacterial wipes because I had touched something previously which may have brushed against the bin at some point in the past. I was in the middle of doing it and suddenly thought "WTF! what am I doing??? This is ridiculous!" I had even convinced myself it is better than confessing and was therefore a good thing OCD-wise.  This has really come out of nowhere.  I also did quite a bit of ruminating. 

BUT I have also done small amounts of exposure here and there.  I resisted the urge to do a couple of compulsions such as confessing and also something relating to a very old obsession.  So it hasn't been a totally bad day. and the sun is shining!

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by gingerbreadgirl

[taurean]

It's a marathon not a sprint. Tomorrow is another day. 

[gingerbreadgirl]

That's very true Roy

[lostinme]

1 hour ago, gingerbreadgirl said:

Well I have had quite a bad day in terms of compulsions.  I cleaned the bathroom and was totally fixated on whether things were contaminated, whether I was spreading it, etc.  At one point I ended up cleaning all the upstairs doorhandles with antibacterial wipes because I had touched something previously which may have brushed against the bin at some point in the past. I was in the middle of doing it and suddenly thought "WTF! what am I doing??? This is ridiculous!" I had even convinced myself it is better than confessing and was therefore a good thing OCD-wise.  This has really come out of nowhere.  I also did quite a bit of ruminating. 

BUT I have also done small amounts of exposure here and there.  I resisted the urge to do a couple of compulsions such as confessing and also something relating to a very old obsession.  So it hasn't been a totally bad day. and the sun is shining!

 

Don’t be hard on yourself gbg, you will have good days, bad days, but your still heading in the right direction 

I have found that working on stopping just one compulsion at a time is best and then when this one is no longer an issue, move onto the next and so fourth. Stopping doing a lot of them at once can have the adverse affects, so please go steady. As Roy as said it’s a marathon and not a sprint.

You can do this, steady wins the race 

[Avo]

Sorry to hear you have had a bad day GBG, don't be too harsh on yourself, I think being able to identify your compulsions is a positive which you have done around the cleaning. You know what to be aware of in future.

tomorrow is a new day. 

[gingerbreadgirl]

Thank you Lost and Avo Trying not to give myself too much of a hard time.  Going to try and have a nice evening with my OH and then see what tomorrow brings.

Hope you're both ok x

[Wonderer]

Not so much OCD but the remaining panic disorder I have left over from my last episode, my son is struggling with anxiety and couldn’t make it into school today, by 11am I was considering taking him out to get him out of the house but of course my own panic disorder started to niggle, I ignored it, rang a taxi and went down to a shopping mall with him, was planning on one shop but made it around 3 and stopped to play some arcade games, I have not went there without another adult in 2yrs, I feel brilliant! So happy we went and another thing I can tick off my list  x

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

9 minutes ago, Wonderer said:

Not so much OCD but the remaining panic disorder I have left over from my last episode, my son is struggling with anxiety and couldn’t make it into school today, by 11am I was considering taking him out to get him out of the house but of course my own panic disorder started to niggle, I ignored it, rang a taxi and went down to a shopping mall with him, was planning on one shop but made it around 3 and stopped to play some arcade games, I have not went there without another adult in 2yrs, I feel brilliant! So happy we went and another thing I can tick off my list  x

Panic attacks are awful. The prognosis is good if you face the anxiety. It is the same approach as to OCD. I would say 

The tricky thing with attacks are that they always comes when you leads expect it.

 

My OCD peaked when i started to get attacks.

Edited May 22, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[Wonderer]

22 minutes ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

Panic attacks are awful. The prognosis is good if you face the anxiety. It is the same approach as to OCD. I would say 

The tricky thing with attacks are that they always comes when you leads expect it.

 

My OCD peaked when i started to get attacks.

Yes the treatment is pretty much the same as OCD only I find myself having to view the physical feelings as intrusive rather than the thoughts. I’ve made peace with the fact that anxiety can’t hurt me but I hate going through the feelings so still find it hard to get out and about the same way as I used too! I was very much used to high anxiety levels but in may 2016 I had a very severe panic attack that resulted in ringing an ambulance as I had no idea what was wrong and thought my heart was giving out on me, that episode triggered panic disorder in me on top of OCD, I was so afraid of having another one that I avoided everything! Hoewever now that I no longer avoid things because of OCD I just have to tackle the fear of a random panic attack, deffo getting there though, slowly but surely!x

[LeopardM]

Right now I'm resisting the compulsion to change my hand towel, which my OCD is telling me I contaminated  earlier by touching it with part of my wrist that I hadn't washed properly. Just writing that down feels ridiculous! I gave in and changed it yesterday because I thought I'd contaminated it (a different way), so I'm not giving in this time.

[taurean]

It feels ridiculous because it IS ridiculous. OCD's intrusions are based on lies, exaggerations e.g. of actual minimum risk, or revulsion - they aren't factual. 

We get better when we accept this and are no longer prepared to believe the OCD; then make thinking and behavioural changes that render it benign. 

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I am still sick and i got a thought today that i am dying, i stopped it after a while. Would probably panic normally. It all started with google btw, because it is now the 5 day and i am getting better but hey we all know what google can make us believe. But you don't need to react wrongly just because you did before.

I am also pretty stuck at what a psychiatrist told me, he said i don't have OCD. I hate to say it but it really got to me. It is silly but i think i like kinda hate him, because he was so very unprofessional and those people should be the MOST caring. I mean i am speechless. I have been spoiled before, don't get me wrong. It took me many years to even get access to a CBT/ERP therapist against OCD. And i know that MANY people with OCD suffers from this situiaton. Ali Greymond talks about it a lot. It just makes me sad  

I am going to sleep now, i will die, the infection will kill me, but hey that is alright!

Edited May 23, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[taurean]

A psychiatrist, a long time ago, said my sister's mental problems were caused by having a difficult time during childhood! 

She only got a correct diagnosis of OCD some years later

 

[lostinme]

Did a full 24 hour kettles and drinks yesterday, slowly getting back on track 

[taurean]

 Hooray

[lostinme]

Thanks Roy  it was hard but I saw it through to the end  going to do this once a week to start and then slowly increase it to two and so on 

[gingerbreadgirl]

You've done fantastically Lost!!

[lostinme]

Thank you gbg  we have to keep fighting onwards and upwards  it’s hard at times, but I keep pushing forward.

How are you doing? Ok I hope x