How can someone with OCD learn to trust their body's signals?

How do we listen to our body when we have OCD

I’ve struggled with medical OCD for most of my life without realizing it. I feel like as a kid I always heard stories where people listened to their gut instigating and it was correct and they saved themselves. I remember overhearing my mom talking about a boy who had hit his head at a soccer game and told his parents “I need to go to the hospital something is wrong” and it turns out he was bleeding in his brain and needed immediate surgery. My mom said “it just goes to show you need to listen to your body”. I am constantly listening or watching, particularly when I’m under stress. Of course all of the extraneous symptoms are almost always the result of my anxiety (finger tingling, chest pain you name it anxiety is probably the cause). I’ve trained myself to take this line of rationalization when such symptoms appear. It terrifies me because how will I know something is really wrong when I can’t trust my own brain. I feel like I’m fighting a battle against myself all the time. I just want to know that I’ll be able to take care of myself but I can’t know that for sure.

Health Concern OCD

Username: Amber RAmber R

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y ago

I also struggle with health anxiety/OCD themes around health, so I know how tricky this feeling is. I’m sorry you’ve dealt with it for so long + are still dealing with it. The truth is, we don’t know if we’ll know when something is wrong. Plenty of people have medical issues/diseases and have no idea because they don’t have symptoms. I know that’s a scary thing to read, but the truth is we can’t know everything, we can’t predict the future, and no amount of worrying or catastrophizing will get us closer to certainty. Refraining from compulsions (like checking bodily sensations, seeking reassurance from google/medical doctors, ruminating on whether we’re ill or not) is the only way through, via Exposure Response Prevention. I know it’s a scary and overwhelming feeling. Are you in therapy for OCD? If not, I definitely recommend giving NOCD a call. I tried to handle OCD on my own for 20+ years and got nowhere. NOCD really helped me and I know they can help you too!

Username: WilliamptrWilliamptr

Date posted: 1y ago

Listening to my body with the ocd glasses on is one of my compulsions. Worrying about the what if is an obsession or even a compulsion. I keep it really simple and that's to stick with abstaining from all my compulsions. But first you need to write out the full list; not a half list. I have compulsions like circulation checks, vital checks, color checks, vein checks, and my only goal is to not do any of them. And the longer i do that, the more the anxiety diminishes over time. The problem is that I reacted with compulsions on anxiety and thoughts in the past and so I kept the illusion alive. Good luck

Username: divyDdivyD

Date posted: 1y ago

Can I just say that in these stories you have heard… sometimes the instinct is instinct, other times a coincidence. But with health ocd (of which I suffer with too), it comes with a whoosh of fear, ruminating and also it tends to jump from thing to thing. I hope that helps you. The only thing we can do to take care of ourselves is to live healthily and happily, seeing the professionals when in needed. Yes you do need to listen to your body - if I hit my head and then felt weird, no doubt I’m going to see a dr.

Username: divyDdivyD

Date posted: 1y ago

@divyD Also with health ocd, I do find that I latch on to what people have said, taking it quite literally or interpreting it incorrectly with some type of meaning or message that ultimately fuels my ocd. Your mum might’ve said this comment casually and you have connected it too tightly to your fears.

Username: LiBe

Date posted: 2y ago

Healthy anxiety

Does anyone have actual health concerns mixed with health ocd? It’s really hard having doctors say that i need to look into more labs and tests because they aren’t sure what’s going on with me and struggling with health ocd. Like how I’m so i find that balance to know what is a valid action to take vs anxious over reaction? I’m going on years of symptoms without clear answers and it’s driving me nuts. Any advice would be appreciated because my fears feel so valid when doctors show concern with no answers.

"Pure" OCD

Username: emilytravels...

Date posted: 49w ago

In a vicious health OCD cycle 😭

I cannot seem to stop the cycle and I’m questioning how much longer I can manage like this. I keep having a symptom, or so I think. It’s not super consistent, and when I’ve gone to the doctor to explain it, I feel like a crazy person. Its sharpish, tingling pains in my stomach that do seem to be more present when I’m stressing and hyper fixating on them. But sometimes just pop up on their own. I won’t notice it for a few days, and then I’ll feel a twinge in my stomach and absolutely have a freak out over it thinking it’s some stage 4 something. I’ve stopped wearing certain clothes and working out because I’m afraid of “triggering” it. I feel like I can’t even distinguish between what’s real and what’s not anymore. How will I ever know when to actually go to the doctor for something if i don’t know that what I’m feeling is even real? Has this happened to anyone else?

Username: Unknown93

Date posted: 44w ago

Health concerns

I often convince myself I have some kinda of life threatening illness… currently colon/ rectal cancer is what I’m obsessing over… anyways I struggle on when seek medical attention because I don’t know when there’s a real medical issue or if it’s just ocd telling me there’s something wrong. Does anyone else struggle with this, and if so how to decide when so see a doctor or when to ignore it

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How can someone with OCD learn to trust their body's signals?

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