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Hi all

Lots of things going on in my life at present that have piled on the stress and are quite overwhelming. I won't go into details as in essence it isn't massively relevant I dont think.

Unfortunately this has let to a big surge in my OCD symptoms in so many different areas it is hard to keep up with. I am working with a therapist but with so much going on its hard to get a handle on things.

One of many current concerns is I noticed a change in the appearance of one of my toes recently. It almost looks like it has a dent in it. My brain immediately leapt to muscle wasting and ALS and I was having a panic attack before I even realised it had made this connection. Have since really struggled to cope with compulsions aimed at reassurance seeking including spending huge amounts of time googling and comparing my feet with others. Also looking at my feet all the time in different positions, lighting, etc. I don't think my partner realises how consumed I am with these thoughts constantly (which on the plus side means at least I'm not badgering him about it constantly i suppose).

Aside trying not to do these things does anyone have any other suggestions? I have put socks on today as I can't help myself staring at my feet otherwise. Is this a good idea or somehow avoidance and likely to make it worse? 

I'm so tired of everything going on in my brain. 

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30 minutes ago, AnxiousAnnie said:

I have put socks on today as I can't help myself staring at my feet otherwise

Sounds like an idea that will help you to stop the compulsion.  Also what might you do to divert your attention away from your repetitive thinking pattern?

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Hi Annie. :) I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Health anxiety is my focus too, ALS in particular, and I can relate all too well to what you said about staring at your foot. I don’t offer reassurance often, but I think you should know that toes do not have muscles in them (their movement is controlled by muscles in the body of the foot and the lower leg), so it is literally impossible for you to have muscle wasting in a toe. Can you tell I’ve don’t my fair share of googling in the past? 😭😂 My advice is to take this information and then try your best not to look at your foot again.

I found it helpful to wear socks when I was trying to avoid checking my foot. Ideally you would not engage in any avoidance of seeing it, but as a temporary measure to avoid more compulsions I think it’s probably fine! 

 

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I have had staring checking. And checking internet images of diseased parts of the body in comparison with my own self observations of my body.
 

You have insight but stopping the compulsions is another matter.
 

I agree with the others as a short term measure wearing socks could be a respite.

I found staring checking very disturbing I thought I was going loopy. My staring checking was for objects outside my own body to do with potential danger to try to ensure that things would not cause a fire.

Edited by Angst
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Thanks @Saffron37 and @Angst. The sock thing seemed to work well but, somewhat unsurprisingly the fixation has now moved to my hand (specifically the muscles between my index finger and thumb - that they are much bulkier on one side and there is a dimple/dent in the smaller side) which I can't avoid. 

Any advice for this??

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Perhaps this may be because one hand is stronger than the other.  My dominant arm is slightly bulkier than the other - that is because I use it more.

Again I would ask what other positive things could you think about to divert your attention away from constantly looking at your hand? 

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I massively struggle to divert myself from worries at present. Not helped by having a number of very stressful things going on in life at the moment so the only thing that diverts attention from one obsessive worry is often a different one :(

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