Anyone awake to talk?

@damor Hi there! Our brains are the greatest and worst things about being human! I’m here. Been up for a while unfortunately. Just got back from abroad so my sleep is off and so is my OCD timing. Usually mornings are the hardest- 6 to 7 am, but it kicked in at 3:30/4… as I get back to our time. We’ve been through this before and we will go through it again

@Joey_867 i really appreciate that, and i totally agree! how was your time abroad?

@damor It was amazing. I went with my family for their first time. I have to go usually every year for a few weeks. My OCD theme has attached to a particular “threat” in our hometown…so, getting out of here always helps. Coming back is challenging… but we can handle hard things, right? Back to exercising and my routine. Probably start some ERP again. Had a major trigger yesterday, after we got back. Same trigger always sets me off. Each time is a new time to deal with it and practice. How have you been managing? How long have you been dealing with this?

@Ranger_867 hi, i’m so sorry for responding this late! i am so glad that you enjoyed your trip and were able to share it with your family! i love my family, and my greatest triggers often have something to do with my parents or siblings so i may understand a little of that hometown trigger. we can handle hard things!! i’m really genuinely proud of you for pushing through, you’ve got this. i’ve always had ocd symptoms (since i was a baby), but i was diagnosed around when i was a sophomore in high school. i went to therapy for about a year but my parents (usually SO SO supportive) were kind of iffy about it and didn’t really talk about it or even treat it like a real problem i was facing so i stopped therapy to (i guess?) keep them comfortable but it did really help a lot already. i actually had my first meeting since then with the same therapist on march 1st and we decided that it would be best for me to talk to a psychiatrist and start medication to help with some obsessions, but i haven’t even been able to talk to my parents about it because i’m just scared of what they’d have to say i just don’t want to disappoint them. but i’m leaving for college so i feel like i should start looking into the psychiatrists but i just don’t know. i didn’t mean to dump all of that haha but it’s nice to just write it all out. how long have you known you have ocd/been doing erp? again, i’m very proud of you!

@damor The sooner you can start some good medication and do therapy the better. I am sorry that your parents don’t understand or fully support your mental health, but so many people have no idea about it. When I was first diagnosed, my wife said it’s not a real disease and that I should keep perspective on people that have real problems. Since then, she had to take specialized training in anxiety and OCD for her job. And she changed completely on the stance. She understands it now and is very supportive. Unfortunately, people don’t understand how difficult it is. I started getting anxiety in graduate school, but my first round of OCD was after I hit 26 years old. It lasted for 3-4 years and no one diagnosed me correctly. They said it was GAD, but it was health OCD 100%. I wish NOCD had existed back then, but I did the heavy lifting essentially alone. I took Cymbalta for 10 years after trying a variety of meds. And I was in remission for a solid 10 years. It was amazing!!!! Best years of my life. Then, I thought I didn’t need my meds anymore. I thought I was cured, so I stopped them cold turkey. About 6 months later BOOM! New theme and new massive wave of uncertainty and fear. Thankfully, my therapist realized what it was this time and put me on some new medication and hooked me up with NOCD. It has helped me and I’m 50% better from where I was last summer. I’ll take it. As for you, you need help. We all do. At my worst, I felt like i was losing my mind. Have you seen Inside Out 2 yet? With Anxiety driving the brain? I think going to college will be good for you, too. You’ll have a lot of new things to focus on. Giving new things attention instead of what the OCD wants you to focus on will help you a lot. Right now, I am taking Luvox and Buspar. This has helped me but it takes a solid 4 months to see big results. Also, most of us have to take higher doses of it. Maybe you could bring your parents or one of them to meet with you and your therapist? The biggest misconception is people thing we choose this shit. Like, we have a choice. Don’t think about it. Don’t worry about it. Etc. None of us want this. In the end, you have to take care of you! I’m here for you if you need to talk. Feel free to follow me and I’ll follow you too. We got this! And we can handle f’in hard things!

@Ranger_867 i can’t even explain how much this helped, thank you so so much. your position on people thinking we CHOOSE this is so real, it can sometimes feel so demeaning if there’s not a lot of people we can talk to about this! especially like those signs that people get for desks or tables that say “i’m ocd, don’t touch my stuff” or something like that it just feels so wrong and weird that people don’t know the definition of ocd but throw it around like it’s a joke. it’s so so good that your wife can understand and sympathize with you now, that is amazing for you. also, 50% better is INCREDIBLE, you are doing really well and you’ve got this. inside out 2 was so real, it’s funny how you mentioned it because i was seriously actually thinking about how there should be an inside out version of someone with ocd to kind of educate! i’m going to start looking into psychiatrists today to hopefully work on starting medication, and i’ll talk to my parents too. we got this!! thank you SO much for your advice and support!!!! :)