How do we accept this horrible diagnosis of OCD?? i’m struggling.. when i was 19 I was at peace and happy that it was a name for what I was dealing with.. but i’m no longer happy.. i feel like i’m in a prison.. and I can’t get out, this thing has taken so many years of my life. Y’all i’m struggling
I know how you feel. My life had shrunk to a tiny bubble around May/June this year. With ERP I can now almost do everything again. Some things are still scary but at least I can do them. We’re even tackling themes that are always kind of there but don’t usually cause me The biggest mantra that helps me to do ERP is “I want to get better.” - I’ve had exposures where I literally accepted possibly dying or getting a horrible disease (nonsense of course, but that’s OCD talking) by saying that going back to my terrified self would be worse than that. This sounds extreme but it does help. I’m on 100 mg of sertraline. I do have side effects, but being afraid of everything around me is 100x worse. After around week 5 or 6 I started noticing a change. I could do exposures more easily and the fear didn’t stick for as long a time anymore, afterwards.
@hen7 Oh, * “…don’t usually cause me that much trouble doing compulsions around.”
@hen7 Thank you so much i’m so proud of you.. and thank you for sharing your experience with me.. I think i’m going to give sertraline a try even though i’m terrified of feeling numb or depressed.. I’m sure feeling a bit numb is better than being afraid of everything!
@FunkyFred No numbness here! I’m just sweating extensively. And some other, more private, issues. But that’s something I’m willing to take. I also didn’t have the experience of my OCD getting worse a bit at the start. Because that can happen and is normal. The first one to two weeks you could experience your symptoms worsening a bit but that and some other side effects will go away after two weeks. You can take it in the morning or evenings. I take it in the morning because the first few nights I had a few sleepless nights. So taking it before bed didn’t seem like a good idea. (I slept fine again after a few days) My psychiatrist actually forbade me from reading the prescription notice, haha. Because I was also terrified to start meds. But very happy I did in the end. I do have to say though that *just* meds might help you to a certain extend. It’s definitely most effective in combination with ERP. Also: it’s your body and no one can make this decision for you. So I’m not trying to persuade you of anything. I’m just sharing my experiences since I was also very scared of starting sertraline. Also: thanks for the kind words. ❤️
Same here that's my biggest issue that this is gonna be a life long struggle but remember it doesn't have to be
sorry to jump in here, I just wanted to mention that I was terrified of taking medication when I was first diagnosed, however it has been beneficial to me in managing ocd. I guess it's weighing up the pros vs the cons, and for me, everything around me became scary, therefore it was a decision of being scared every day or take a pill and live easier. I tried therapy alone but that wasn't enough for me, but it worked great alongside my prescription. I guess it depends on how severe your ocd is and whether you have coping mechanisms that work for you without meds. It's a personal choice for sure that you have to be comfortable with going fwd
@sum1 thank you so much, i think maybe i need to give it a try, because i’m literally scared of everything.. are you on sertraline too?
Sorry to hear that! You will get through this!! I was going through OCD since I was a kid maybe around 12 years old and didn’t know what was happening to me. Went through it for years and didn’t know what was happening to me. Now I’m going through ROCD too
But I’m sure with ERP will try and get out of it
Are you on any medications?
@Anonymous No my doctor prescribed me Sertraline but i’m tooo afraid to take it, the side effects scare me, are you on any?
@FunkyFred Yeah I'm on sertraline 150mg you should definitely try it I had little to no side affects
@Anonymous well that’s hopeful, thank you so much!
@Anonymous does it help?
@FunkyFred Yeah it did help but I'm going through a rough spot in my life I might try and see if I can up the dose or switch to something else don't ever be scared to take something that can potentially make you better
I'm not trying to sway you either way, it has to be an individual decision and everyone's ocd is different. I knew when it was time for me to accept some help, as I tried for months and months to manage without meds however it became exhausting. I take 100mg sertraline daily and this works for me, 50mg didn't help me very much and 150mg had the same effect as 100mg for me, therefore I went back down to 100mg. It took about 1 month for me to feel the full affect
@sum1 Thank you so much.. i’m proud of you for getting the help you needed. I’ve been raw digging OCD since I was 18 and i’m now 26
Last night I had the worst panic attack I have ever experienced and was having some very graphic intrusive thoughts. I am new to this OCD community as my therapist has thought I have had it for a while but confirmed today that that’s what I am probably struggling with. I am on some pretty intense medication related to my misdiagnosis’s and feeling lost about where to start. I wish I didn’t suffer from these thoughts and that I could live a “normal” life. How does one start living and not surviving ?
I got diagnosed with OCD a few months ago after getting plagued with intrusive thoughts last November. It’s been present in my life since I was younger but didn’t become truly debilitating until last November. I’ve been in therapy since May, and I started an SSRI. I’m a Christian, and I’ve struggled a lot with my faith since this started. I’ve had a hard time with ERP because I fear it’s not going to help and actually make things worse. I have also had a lot of emotional turmoil from family trauma and marriage issues. I’ve become so hopeless and numb and desensitized that I don’t know how to continue forward. I don’t feel like I’m able to talk to anyone about it because it’s taboo, so I feel like a fraud and like I don’t deserve to do things I enjoy or hang out with people I love. I do want to get better but I also have a fear that I don’t actually want to. I feel like my whole life is ruined and that I’ll never enjoy living again.
How did others do after first getting diagnosed? Did the diagnosis cause you to spiral initially? It feels like all the symptoms have become so much worse since, maybe because I am noticing them and focusing on them. I have been stuck on looking back through my whole life but now through an OCD lens and it’s been incredibly overwhelming realizing how much OCD has impacted me my whole life. I had previously assumed all the symptoms were part of my having ADHD and Autism, but I am now realizing a lot of my struggling was actually OCD. I’m 45 and I was diagnosed with severe OCD a week ago. Tomorrow I start ERP and I’m quite anxious about it. I feel pretty unfixable at this point, but I’m trying to be hopeful. I have my doubts that I will be strong enough to do this.
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