I realize this is an extremely rare condition, but does anyone out there have this? The ENT tells me it’s psychosomatic and sensorimotor OCD. I do feel that there is likely some somatic/sensorimotor OCD involved since people become hyper focused on their breathing. Are there any good therapists for addressing this?
I have been dealing with this issue for a while. I am glad that you posted this because I am glad that I am not alone.. I have to open up my ears all the time to..
@Rebecca p I am constantly struggling with my ears because I felt like I could not pop them after like flying or traveling. But the ENT said there was nothing there and that I should see a different doctor. Turns out it’s just apart of my OCD. but it is such a pain to live with and I have no idea how to get rid of it!
@Rebecca p Have you found anything that helps? My ENT told me it’s psychosomatic and basically dismissed me. I don’t agree with him since you can clearly see the structural changes in the nose created by the surgery. Because of the overlap in symptoms, I’ve been trying to treat it like atrophic rhinitis. So far, I’ve found that using Ayr gel and an AirMax nasal dilator keeps my nose from getting too dried out. I came up with that idea after hearing Dr Vik Veer talk about the cotton wool test. Keeping the airway wet seems to help. Xlear spray works too but it doesn’t last as long as the Ayr gel. I still can’t sleep. I wake up gasping for air every 45-60 minutes and then I have to rinse my nose with saline because it’s so dry. Breathing steam also helps. I turn the humidifier on my BiPAP all the way to max and it seems to hydrate my airway. Unfortunately, all of those things are temporary relief from the discomfort and nothing seems to stop the constant nose bleeds. I will say that I have become preoccupied and hyper focused on my breathing, but I’m not sure how much of that is OCD versus the fact that I feel like I’m being suffocated with an invisible pillow all the time.
Haven’t been diagnosed with ENS but the thought I might have it is what started my worst bout of OCD in a really long time. I can’t stop thinking about it and it’s driving me insane. I don’t feel suffocating but it’s extremely dry and the sensation of breathing is gone. It feels impossible to tell if it’s all OCD. I see an ENS specialist in May and hoping that will calm my fears and then I can focus on it being OCD and getting better. I’m sorry you’re going through something similar.
@Anonymous I’ve been disappointed with ENTs. Most of them insist to me that ENS is psychosomatic and not a result of the surgery. The few ENTs who acknowledge it recommend I have more surgery to fix it. Being that it’s caused by surgery in the first place, I’m not exactly eager to have more surgery to fix it since I’m afraid of making it worse. For the life of me, I can’t understand why ENTs 1 don’t warn you about this possibility and 2 why they remove the turbinates
Please help me
Someone reply
When did you have surgery
I have the same issue I feel Like I have empty nose syndrome I want to get better I have 2 kids please help some please help me please I had a rhinoplasty 15 years ago didn’t have any problems after the birth of my 2nd baby after pregnancy I started having dry nose or I am just to focus on it I had dry nose during pregnancy and nose bleed but that’s it please help
Has anyone ever dealt with breathing ocd?
My OCD diagnosis is still very new, but now that I know what it is, it is clearly something I’ve had for as long as I can remember. Contamination/bugs and health have been a consistent theme since childhood, but religious/existential themes emerged during adolescence. Around that same time, there was also a good deal of trauma, and during middle school I started experiencing hallucinations. Tactile (like bugs crawling on me or biting me, an eyelash being stuck in my eye, but nothing was really there); visual (like moving shadows or things that would dart past in my periphery, and then I would just have intrusive thoughts of scary things around corners or under things); and auditory (an angry male voice that grumbles or yells indistinctly, or a high pitched noise like a microphone/speaker feedback but muffled and less sharp). Because of the religious denomination I grew up in, I initially assumed these were demons and tried to address it that way, but when I was 14 or 15, it occurred to me that those voices/sounds sounded like the way I felt, and the visual/tactile experiences happened during times of stress too — and so all of those experiences could just be seen as an expression of a fragmented part of myself. That acceptance didn’t make them go away — I still experience them now and I’m in my 30s — but it made those experiences less scary and more manageable. I also see now how these all pop up specifically when OCD obsessions are super triggered and when I’m super sleep deprived. Anyway! Since this diagnosis, and talking about the hallucinations at all, are new to me, I am wondering who else has had similar experiences. I don’t really know how much of the hallucination experience is OCD versus trauma, but it seems like this might all make sense under the “quasi-hallucination” label.
I would like to raise awareness for an OCD subtype that is almost never talked about and is not included in the official OCD subtypes. This subtype includes obsessions about: 1. Thinking that something is wrong with your brain 2. Being convinced that you have forgotten how to think 3. Being convinced and paranoid that you have lost your inner voice 4. Being extremely afraid that you have lost the ability to feel 5. Being hyperaware of every thought, tracing it back to see how it occurred 6. Being convinced that something is wrong with you when something doesn’t go the way you expected it 7. Thinking that you are not thinking about it in the right way when trying to think your way out of it Compulsions include: 1. Mentally trying to figure it out 2. Trying to prove to your self that nothing is wrong with you 3. Putting your life at a stop until you figure it out 4. Excessive googling, using chat bots, reddit, researching, reading books & trying to find the missing piece of the puzzle I am sure there are other people who relate to this. This subtype isn’t mentioned anywhere and it’s really confusing for those experiencing it. Please, if you feel or think in a similar way like this post and reply in order to raise awareness.
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