Struggling

@Tonaki I’m trying to take deep breaths. I just cannot imagine a life without my husband. I love him more than I’ve loved anyone in my whole life

@Tonaki I am doing a bit better, thank you. Female hormones can add to the storm. Thanks for your insights. I like that you have life experience to speak from. I feel so young to be giving my life away to OCD. I also might seek out a new therapist, and psych. I’ve been curious if I have borderline personality disorder as my symptoms line up and have remained curiously stable over the last few years. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me, you do t have to and I’m grateful🩷

@Tonaki Thank you. If I’m being truthful I have noticed a theme in my life with therapists that I don’t stick around long for more than 6 months (I hop around).

@LadyLoki How old are you! I’m 27! I’m having a terriblee ocd night

@Ditto I am in my thirties

@LadyLoki Ah I see! No offense to people who are younger but it’s nice talking to adults with experience of adult life. OCD mixed with expensive and complex adult life is so hard. I’m struggling so so so bad right now

@Ditto Yeah I get that for sure! What’s up?

@LadyLoki Basically my ROCD and SOOCD are extremely bad right now. I’ve struggled for a few years and life is feeling impossible to get there right now. I have a good job with benefits, am married to an incredible husband but currently: My car needs a very expensive major repair My job could be at stake due to company restructure My period that I’m on right now is very intense My landlord might be selling our house/ we trying to figure out if we can afford to buy it from him but this market is insane I’m getting my IUD out in a few weeks

@LadyLoki All that happened within the last 4 weeks

@Ditto Oh my! I first wanna say I sympathize- I have had all those types of struggles happen around the same time- previously. So I can understand some of the roots of your anxiety. Would you mind if I suggested a coping technique my counselor gave me? I am just now learning it and incorporating into a routine practice for some of my OCD loops.

@LadyLoki Wow thank you for asking and I would love a technique. Thank you🩷

@Ditto Well, of course if you have any breathing techniques- I have a certain one that I do to slowdown and regulate my physical anxiety symptoms- so do that first to get yourself in a calmer frame of mind. Then, what I do is have a designated safe place(for me- my room) a safe place from my anxieties. Before I enter that room I write all them down and visualize the things about it I can control that I am doing to handle the situation- like actively looking for a new home or preparing my finances for a job switch, etc.- then put it in a container or throw it away and go into my room. It is a physical representation of me keeping it out. Then I go in my room. It takes time and practice but mine is getting better

@LadyLoki Screenshotting this, thank you 🩷

@Ditto I hope you find some relief! I am also reading a book called “The OCD Healing Journey” in hopes that this will be some help

@LadyLoki Oh I will have to look for that! I love books :)

@Tonaki I’ve been through therapy with NOCD before. It helped some but I haven’t gone for months. Personally I felt a little rushed by their timeline that if I wasn’t better by “x” sessions something was wrong. Which is some my perception and not entirely their faults I just think I need to go private and find someone very patient. I think I have a more complex case with some other undiagnosed conditions. Idk what they are yet but something isn’t clicking with just ERP! It definitely helps but I get stuck with intellectualizing.