I’ve learned in my MANY years of dealing with ocd and Tourette’s tics and the many way in they manifest is that caffeine is a HUGE culprit on how strong the urges are. Ocd is all about the urge. When the urge to ruminate or complete a ritual or whatever it is one does is really strong, that is when it seems almost impossible to resist. Caffeine makes that urge a lot stronger. Same with nicotine.. quite caffeine and you’ll more than likely experience less powerful urges therefore they are easier to resist and control and it makes practicing CBT a LOT easier. Diet plays a huge role as well I’ve discovered. Anyway, just thought I’d throw that out there

Have you found any studies on this? It sounds interesting! I’ve spoken to people who seem to think caffeine helps them at times.. it seems like it depends on the person

This is based on years of experimenting. Caffeine is a stimulant too so it makes perfect sense to me.. I think caffeine might feel like it’s helping at first but in the longer run, (at least for me) it makes my tics and ocd WAAAAAY worse and I can tell right off the bat. I also noticed that anything that is hard for the liver to process always seems to make my ocd and tics a lot worse. Google liver/ocd or liver/mind connection. It’s no joke. My tics and ocd were so bad at one point I could hardly leave the house or keep down a job.. since changing my diet, eliminating caffeine and taking better care of my liver, I feel like I’ve eliminated like 75% of my symptoms.. my pure O is completely gone..(actually like 98% gone because there seems to be one rumination from time to time but it used to be all day everyday). I started also boosting my glutathione levels.. google that.. it’s a godsend. Anyway, ocd sucks bad and the people who don’t have it will never know the true horror of it

I know many people who have been told to stop drinking Caffeine by their doctors because it increases their Anxiety. My one friend love coffee but treats her self only a couple times a year and has noticed a big change. I’m glad to see cutting it out has helped people. Every little thing helps!

I hate coffee and don’t drink caffeine so I guess I will never know how caffeine would affect me. Good thing I don’t want to know ??

Literally This makes so much sense. On the days I have caffeine and not much else are my days ocd is STRONG! But if I eat or don’t drink a lot of coffee it’s manageable. So sad I’ll have to give up coffee :(

It’s so worth it tho when you see how much more freedom you win back.. drink decaf maybe.. Actually even decaf has some caffeine in it. I would be very surprised if by 3 weeks w no caffeine, you don’t see a huge chance in a good way.. give it 3 Weaks no caffeine folks. This really makes a night n day difference

Huge *CHANGE

Caffeine is a giant ocd trigger and most don’t even realize this.. but think about it.. I haven’t met ONE person w OCD who doesn’t drink coffee or caffeine. Why is this? Is having that stimulant part of the ocd personality? Anyway, eliminate it completely, give it some time and watch and notice as yer major ocd triggers fade away and become “less and less” important

Yup and OCD is an anxiety disorder.. root cause is anxiety