Lucyel
- Date posted
- 7y
Philippians4:7Philippians4:7
- Date posted
- 7y
I'm obsessed with heart attacks. Any arm ache chest pain or stomach pain I link to something being wrong with my heart since I have high cholesterol. I google every symptom I feel.
Hl6Hl6
- Date posted
- 7y
Some of my OCD is health related. When I did residential ERP treatment they had me record every time I submitted to a compulsion so I could better resist and Some exposures I did were writing “I might have a heart attack” over and over, reading personal stories of people who had had heart attacks, reading stories about people who died from heart attacks, reading about symptoms of heart attacks, exercising without monitoring my heart rate, etc. Most of those exposures could be twisted to work for any health related fear.
David LebowitzDavid Lebowitz
- Date posted
- 7y
I keep a log and every time I check something (usually on the internet) I need to record it. Knowing that I will have to write it in my log almost always prevents me from doing the compulsion (usually internet search). I have done this with many checking obsessions/compulsions, not just health related ones, and I have been very successful using this method. New obsessions pop up, but as soon as I recognize them I create a specific checking log for them and quite quickly the obsession dies off.
LucyelLucyel
- Date posted
- 7y
Thanks for your responses wonderful people ?
Related posts
rightfulmcool
- Date posted
- 23w
Is this a compulsion or a trigger? LF: ERP advice
I've got a smart watch that tracks my sleep. It gives data like heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), respiratory rate, sleep cycles, restfullness, etc etc etc. Well, since the health OCD has gotten to its peak, I am noticing a false patterning coming from it. For context; I was sick 2 times in recent memory where sleeping heart rate and HRV became metrics that I could use to sort of track the illness. In the days leading up to it, I'd notice my heart rate going up and HRV going down (higher hrv is better.) Then when I was fully sick, my HRV would be up to 15ms less than normal. So now, when I look over my sleep data (because I like to look at data like that, it is interesting to me) and notice my HRV is lower than normal, it triggers intrusive thoughts of "am i getting sick again?" despite no other symptoms. Ruminating begins as I try to "figure out" the cause, despite knowing that stress can lower sleeping HRV. My question is; is it a compulsion to be looking at my sleep data? Should I avoid it altogether? Or is this exactly what ERP is; exposing myself to a triggering event and preventing the response? I look at the data either way and it is only alarming when I see something out of the ordinary. So, do I stop tracking my sleep, or is this a good small step for ERP?
emmawendt14
- Date posted
- 22w
ERP health ocd
Anyone know any ERP techniques or specific exposures that help with health anxiety OCD? I’ve heard such great things about ERP for other subtypes but I can’t think of any for health related OCD. I’d appreciate any advice!
EBurz
- Date posted
- 15w
Anyone have health OCD?
Anyone willing to share there health ocd story with me? I’m really struggling with mine and would like to relate to someone and maybe talk about it. Thanks in advance. I’m new here.
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