- Date posted
- 1y
It’s hard again
I had a good 2weeks and it was so nice not dealing w my ocd. It’s back and I’m ruminating. Any advice..?
I had a good 2weeks and it was so nice not dealing w my ocd. It’s back and I’m ruminating. Any advice..?
Hey, sorry you're struggling. I have found in my recovery journey that we really can't control when the doubts/uncertainty of our themes are going to pop up. I have found it helpful to not be surprised, have an attitude of "Oh, OK I'm noticing I'm having intrusive thoughts. That sucks, but I'm not going to engage with them even though I feel like I'm making a terrible mistake by ignoring them." I will do my best to take some deep breaths, remind myself of my values, then I go do some behavior that leads me towards my values. I was triggered this morning, I felt the "whoosh" of anxiety. It felt terrible, but I decided I would follow my values, offer support on here, do some work, and now I'm headed to the gym. It doesn't feel great, I feel like I may be making a mistake, but I am willing to take the risk to get over OCD and get my life back. Wishing you all the best.
Let it wreak havoc. See the thoughts as thoughts, because that’s all they are. Try not to give in to a compulsion that will make that thought go away for a little bit. Let it happen.
@Charlie10 Thank you
(Long read) hello everyone. i was out of the country for about 3-4 months and traveling. my ocd was not that bad at all and I was able to handle it even if it came up. on my way back home, it immediately started. i have learned how to handle it better, but i am more sad and just “awaiting” for something bad to happen. for example, i have sexual themed ocd. pocd and family related stuff, and also my ocd targeted my pets for about a year and it manifested into compulsions that disturbed me and made me not want to be around my cats. now that i am around my cats, i feel like “what if i harm them or do something bad?” or “what if you do those weird compulsions that happened before?” , when i look back on the compulsions that happened, it doesn’t feel like me and it was clearly driven by ocd, but it makes me worry i am just a sick person. i know myself and i know im not, but i had such a weird childhood and then ocd from 15 years old and up. so when these weird compulsions had happened , whether it was for the pet ocd theme or pocd or the family ocd, it feels like some sort of proof. anyways, i feel a bit for content with myself but i know how real ocd can feel and i just remember feeling so hopeless and suici da l, i just don’t want to go through that again. i take a more spiritual route of life and healing, and i wonder if anyone has some deep spiritual warmups or practices i could do to maybe open up my mind more? maybe to realize this is all in the mind? but also to not fight it… Not fight it meaning not let it take over my life. i racked up so much debt in therapy and i truly think i can get through this alone i just need a bit of help. but i dunno. any advice would help! thanks everyone ☀️
I've been doing well the past month in cutting down on compulsions and have been feeling better however, last night I had a set back that carried on into today. I had gotten very poor sleep (4ish hours) and then something triggered my memory. I think with the sudden anxiety spike and lack of sleep I didn't have the strength to ignore my compulsions. Last night and today I've realised I've gone back into rumination and mentally reviewing the event excessively again and comparing my situation to other people's, but most of the times that I start going down these rabbit holes I don't even realise I'm doing it? Also been fixating a bit on the fear that I've ruined my progress and that I will fall back into the deep end of it all again, that I have done so much work getting myself out of, although trying my best to not be too discouraged. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with rumination more specifically?
So after going back to therapy, I’ve been doing really good. I didn’t care about the thoughts or any of my obsessions. But this past week, my mind has just been looping so many thoughts that are scary and sad. The rumination cycle feels like how I felt before even receiving therapy. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m not doing compulsions as much, but I’ve been so afraid this is never going to away, and I’m going to feel anxious and scared forever:(
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