Curious! I’ve suffered from OCD for years and we all know drinking makes it worse. I’ve dabbled with going somewhat sober and changing my lifestyle and I’ve definitely see differences, especially with my diet. Coming off a couple weekends of bring drinks and can feel the fear seeping back in…anyone else?
It's a depressant and hangovers make you feel like crap and causes stress. Stress triggers ocd. It's OK to drink with ocd but is have stuff prepared for the next day to combat hangovers and any tendencies ocd might have in store for you
Same! I personally had to do the same, dabbleing with sobreity. It just has become no longer worth it for me. I'm 33 and drank a lot in my twenties, not more than most 20 something year Olds, but my relationship to alcohol needed to be tested. I was drinking when I had a bad day. I was often drinking to avoid feelings. I have had untreated OCD most my adult life. I'm not saying I'm done for good or I'm stone cold sober because when I'm really joyous and feel safe in my environment, away from triggers, drinking a couple beers doesnt bother me. I think it's important i stay aware of my triggers, my environment , and my relationship to alcohol. That way I don't wake up with rampant hangaxiety. That will usually trigger start my OCD. I found over the last 3 months. I can be a lot of fun without alcohol and it's made the day or two when I do have a beer way more special and less anxious.
I’ve been living with OCD for over 14 years, and I feel like I was in a period of regression where I wasn’t dealing with OCD as intense and would drink all the time but didn’t feel so good. I had one of my scariest OCD episodes back in December was was sober for two months and didn’t drink until two weeks ago. But the hangover is just not worth it for me anymore. Also, I noticed when I eat heavy foods or drink sugary stuff before bedtime my OCD gets triggered.
I gave it up. As a depressant, it wasn’t meshing well with my clinical depression and self harm OCD. It was hard to stop (physical + mental dependence) so I’d never go back.. It’s literally comparable to a slow acting poison.
Isn't alcohol literally poison? 😂
@Wolfram It is! Just a legal, profitable poison. But many get defensive at this point so I tried to soften the blow
Alcohol and OCD: A cruel mistress! Hi all. I wanted to share my thoughts and potentially start a discussion about the role of alcohol in OCD. Certainly in my case I think it is a fundamental contributor to my suffering, and I'm not surprised about the statistics related to how many OCD sufferers also suffer from problematic drinking. My current obsessive themes are Real Event/guilt OCD and are often related to situations and events where I was incredibly drunk with fuzzy and missing memories, or my drunkenness contributed to certain actions that I now obsessively regret. Whilst this was in the past, alcohol is still contributing to my suffering, and I'm starting to wonder whether I would be much happier without it. I find that after sometimes months of feeling fine, most if not all of my major relapses have occurred directly after a night of heavy drinking, and that spark has sent me spiralling for days and sometimes weeks. I then became obsessed about limiting my drinking in certain situations, I had a fear that if I was drunk I would end up committing some horrible crime or cheating on my partner. Now though I'm finding that I'm drinking moderate amounts of alcohol on a very regular basis, just to take my mind off my obsessions, which is very unhealthy. When I have a drink, even just one, it feels like my thoughts just almost vanish in importance, it's like a beautiful break from all the suffering. This feeling scares me a little and I now worry that I might be verging on some form of dependency on alcohol. I'm not looking for any reassurance here, just wanted to share my experience and chat with others who might also be struggling in this way.
Does anyone drink? I used to binge drink a lot but started realizing my anxiety would be a lot worse the next day so I’ve been trying to cut back but last night had some drinks and I’m kinda upset at myself . I think I just need to go sober but it’s hard. Has anyone dealt With this
It’s one of my friend’s 21st birthdays and she’s really excited to go out to the bars finally as it’s been something we’ve waited so long for. I’m so nervous to go out as I’ve been in the midst of a massive OCD relapse and this would be my first time drinking since going back on meds and starting therapy. I’m on the up and have had some really good months and prior to this relapse, where I would enjoy going out once a month ish and it’s something that I value and don’t want to avoid forever. I know that my fear of drinking is rooted purely in how loud my thoughts will be tomorrow, but I don’t want to let my OCD win and take away moments with my friends that I value. Feeling so conflicted, any advice on how to handle the feelings tomorrow or just navigate this in general? (Helpful things only please)
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