The evening

[rchippex]

Hi all.

 

I hope you are doing well. I wanted to ask a question about time of day relating to ocd. Something odd with me is usually after about 8pm if I am at home my overall anxiety generally drops and as a result the thoughts that were really causing me great distress during the day dont seem to bother me half as much. It makes me worry a little that its not ocd. Could it just be that I am in my safe place at home so the anxiety is naturally lower? Does anyone else experience this? In the morning it all kicks off again big time as soon as I wake up and my mind has had a chance to realise I'm awake.

 

Thanks

[PolarBear]

OCD. The doubting disease. You are having doubts that you have OCD.

If you have obsessions that cause distress and compulsions, you have OCD. Period.

[rchippex]

25 minutes ago, PolarBear said:

OCD. The doubting disease. You are having doubts that you have OCD.

If you have obsessions that cause distress and compulsions, you have OCD. Period.

Whats odd though PB is i feel no anxiety right now. Granted I still wouldn't choose to think the thoughts but they don't seem to bother me even though they really did earlier in the day. 

[PolarBear]

You can sort of get used to ongoing obsessions. The distress caused by obsessions can be anxiety, disgust, shame, really any feeling.

 

[rchippex]

Just now, PolarBear said:

You can sort of get used to ongoing obsessions. The distress caused by obsessions can be anxiety, disgust, shame, really any feeling.

 

Yes maybe. Its something I've found from time to time that when I get home and have sat down for a while and relaxed in the evening that sometimes the anxiety just melts away and im left wondering what I was so anxious about earlier in the day. But then come morning it hits me like a ton of bricks again.

[Ocd10]

Hi rchippex,

I think most of us have places where we feel more anxious (for me that would be places like a rubbish tip, supermarket, certain towns and the estate where I live, hospital or near dog mess etc) and other places that feel safer (for me that would be my parents’ house) and therefore less anxious. 

I think that it is important to be aware of this, as if we avoid the places that trigger our anxiety and stay in ‘safe’ places then that could be a huge compulsion and make life very limiting. This would only ever make your OCD grow stronger.

When we are doing ERP exercises it’s important to remember not to create ‘safe places/things’ for use ‘just in case’ and to try to work towards including everything in ERP exercises as this will create a breeding ground for OCD to thrive.

Hope that helps,

Catherine 

 

[Ocd10]

Oh, and to add, that perhaps in the evenings you manage to focus your attention on to something you enjoy rather than on OCD and this reduces your anxiety levels. 

[rchippex]

13 hours ago, Ocd10 said:

Oh, and to add, that perhaps in the evenings you manage to focus your attention on to something you enjoy rather than on OCD and this reduces your anxiety levels. 

Thanks. Im not really sure of the cause but I did start taking fluoxetine 4 days ago and have found that it is making me feel seriously down and so the evenings feeling better could be to do with that too if there is a natural improvement in mood. The downs are so down though that I am considering asking my GP to take me off these and put me back on Clomipramine which I had a lot of success with a few years ago. I don't think I could cope with 2-4 weeks of feeling this down.