Physical symptoms? Last year I had terrible physical ailments: brain fog, super nauseous, felt like fainting, dizzy, fatigued, chest pain, etc. It didn’t seem to change with diet and I got alllllll the tests which found nothing. It went on for probably 6 months. Then my OCD flared up in an old theme and the physical symptoms basically went away. I was just suffering severe mental distress. Since doing ERP and breaking free from that (thank you, Monique!!) it’s been a few months and I am having some of those physical symptoms again. Can anyone relate?? Is it a subconscious OCD thing to manifest physically? I am certainly anxious about the symptoms when they’re happening because they’re intense, but I don’t feel anxious before they come on.

I am experiencing this almost exactly!!! It’s stressing me out but I’m trying to sit in the uncertainty. Not doing a good job at that as I’m hyper vigilant and obsessing over every little physical sensation right now but I’m trying to remind myself this is likely not permanent. Hang in there!

Ugh! I’m so sorry! Thank you for commenting—we can do this!

@Joyeberry Yes we can!!

I feel you! It’s really hard and I get every single symptom you talk about. It’s rough. The best way I can tackle them is just grounding techniques and to just let it pass instead of obsessing over them. Specifically for me it was hard with chest aches and I thought something was wrong with me, maybe I’m super depressed but in actuality it was just anxiety chest pain. Only way out is through, I’m sure you know and ERP is going to help. One thing I like to remind people is that ERP will sometimes worsen symptoms and you have to teach yourself how to deal with them in wise mindfulness to overcome it. I got over the physical symptoms but in an episode of OCD sneaking up on me lately they came back but I have all the confidence to tackle them again :) you got this.

Ah! Thank you so much!! This “theme” isn’t super nailed down it seems like, but I know ocd can latch onto anything and when I say it out loud it definitely makes sense that it could manifest physically. I’m so sorry you’re going through it, too, and so grateful for your encouragement! You’re right: the only way out is through and we can apply the ERP techniques to this, too. Cheering you on as well! 👏🏼