- Date posted
- 7y
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Date posted
- 7y
Thanks for your responses wonderful people ?
Related posts
- Date posted
- 16w
What would I do for ERP if my OCD says because I didn’t do something correctly or remember something I will have panic attacks that don’t end?
- Date posted
- 15w
I have, alongside my other OCD themes, an intense fear of insomnia. Although this has been improving somewhat — partly thanks to medication and The sleep school on YouTube — I still find myself ruminating about it throughout the day when I have something important the next day, I get stuck in the fear that everything will be ruined — for both myself and others — because my mind is so preoccupied with sleep. + a fear of depression coming back. It honestly feels like a form of sleep OCD. I'm not sure if that’s an official thing, but that’s how it feels to me. A form of erp is the idea of befriending wakefulness. That works great tbh. Things like sleep hygiene, meditation, etc. — tend to backfire because my OCD latches onto them and becomes too obsessive about “doing them right.” I’m genuinely wondering whether ERP — for example in the form of a worst-case-scenario audio loop (imaginal exposure) — could be helpful in this case. I’m hesitant to start unless I know it can actually help. Is there anyone who has experience with this or thoughts about it? I’m not looking for reassurance or tips to fall asleep — only for ideas on how ERP might be applied in this situation.
- Date posted
- 13w
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?
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