My obsessive thoughts have been relentless lately and all centered around the belief that my mind is slipping cognitively as a result of the constant stress OCD and anxiety subject my brain too. Iv read a lot about how years of chronic stress can make you a higher risk for early onset dementia and i can’t stop worrying that I’m headed in that direction. How can I break this awful thought cycle. I’m exhausted by all the worrying. Thanks
My mom passed from early onset dementia last year. I also have health concern ocd and this has been a thought that crossed my mind. I’ve had to embrace the uncertainty of all of it.
Thank you. I’m working with a therapist and just now trying the ERP using worst case scenarios. Everything you suggested is right online with what my therapist is recommending. I hope it works. I’m exhausted from all the stress this cases.
I hear you. I have the exact same type of ocd. It seems like once I get over one fear of an illness, my ocd locks onto a different illness. I get physical symptoms as well which makes it so much harder.
@Shaylene67 Has ERP helped you deal with the fear of getting the illnesses?
@Brian F Yes! Immensely! But ocd is a trickster...once I get over one fear of an illness, I tend to find another one. I do have a lot of somatic symptoms: muscle pain, nerve pain, headaches, heart palpitations, etc so whenever those symptoms change, I fear whatever disease they resemble. However, the more ERP I do and the more I go through this process, I get slightly less afraid of each new symptom. Before it was like, "omg what is this? Am I dying?" Now it's kinda like, "ugh here we go again."
@Shaylene67 Thanks for sharing. It’s very helpful. I also have a lot of somatic symptoms. It can be so difficult to not engage in the reassurance seeking when your physically feeling things along with the horrible thoughts. Can I ask how long you’ve been doing ERP, how often and how long it took to see the benefits? Sorry for all the questions. Again I really appreciate your sharing your story with me.
@Brian F I don't mind. I did ERP with a therapist over the summer and was "cured" within about 8 sessions. However, after I stopped seeing her, new symptoms came and sort of tricked me back in. I just started back up with a therapist in this app. Honestly, I'm at the point now where each week I'm scared of a new disease. So the ERP is helping and my OCD is trying so hard to grip to something. Eventually I gotta run out of diseases right? 😆 If I could offer any advice, it would be to do the things you don't do because of this mental illness. Do your exposures. If you've stopped going out, go out. If you stopped seeing friends, see friends. If you are afraid of triggering symptoms with things like exercise, exercise. Of course, start small and with the guidance of your therapist, but do it wholeheartedly.
First, you have to face the thoughts. So right now your worst fear is developing early onset dementia. Are you doing ERP therapy? I'm no therapist but I'm thinking you should maybe write a story about your worst fear coming true, how stressed you are and how dementia is setting in. Write your worst fear. Then read it a couple times a day, trigger your anxiety. Each day, once your body realizes there is no real threat, you'll get bored of the story. But it's so important that you don't research or Google about dementia. Trigger the anxiety, don't do the compulsion (research).
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What do you do to cope with those fears?
My OCD has been terrible the for the past two weeks. I have a fear that I will never be able to get out of the thought loop. I am hyper aware of my thoughts and it disturbs me. I haven’t been able to eat for 10 days. I force myself. I haven’t been able to sleep for more than a couple hours. Then I wake up and ruminate for a couple hours, until I’m exhausted. I’m also afraid I’ll never sleep well again. And I’m afraid I’ll never eat and enjoy my food again. I’m afraid I’ll never be able to stop thinking about this enough to enjoy my family ever again.
Alot is on my mind u feel like I’m going to lose my mind , not really a lot but if I think too hard I think I’m gonna lose my mind , I was trying to slp n I think I’m gonna lose my mind , I’ve always been having thoughts about going crazy it never really changed , I have other thoughts and triggers but they always somehow lead Bk to me thinking I’m going to lose my mind , guys I’m so tired , do I even have ocd
Can it? I've had it for 5 years, not just in the background, fully severe and acutely crippling. I can hardly go through life, my memory and cognition are very poor, I struggle with comprehension and have difficulty thinking clearly or having conversations to people about everyday things. Like I can only narrate my ocd thoughts in my head, regular thoughts take too much brain power to think about. I have very high anxiety and depressive feelings also. I'm just worried my brain is structurally changed from this ongoing traumatic experiencs and when I'm in my late 30s or 40s it's going to evolve into neurodegenerative diseases. I want to get a brain scan done and see if everything is alright. What kind of doctor or tests would show me that?
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