OCD and anxiety at work

Hello everyone, this is my first post. I just wanted to write about how I am currently feeling, because I am having a hard time. Maybe someone has the same problem. I feel like, my OCD is the worst while working. I control everything many times and am always afraid to make the wrong decisions . Even after work I think a lot about work and very often get very bad anxiety. I am very insecure and need to know everything for sure before making a decision at work. I don’t even have a job, where something catastrophic could happen if I make the wrong decision, but it always feels like it. I already called in sick last week and during that time, I felt so much better. But I can’t call in sick every week. Does anyone feel the same and how do you manage this situation?

Amara

Date posted: 1y

Hi .welcome to cumunity. It's dealing with uncertainty that OCD doesn't like. Uncertainty at all, by practicing, accept uncertainty, even if there is a chance you make the wrong decision. Accept that you are human and it happens. When it happens, you make it right. Also, trust yourself,you are doing your best. For your anxiety, let it come up and trust your body. It will process this energy. All you have to do is focus on your breathing. By practicing, you will finally succeed.

charlyx3

Date posted: 1y

@Anonymous - Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, I somehow have to keep in mind that it’s the uncertainty for sure what is so hard for me. Sometimes, for example right now, when it’s the weekend, it is so hard for me to not know if I even did a mistake. Usually, when I actually make a little mistake at work and me or someone else notices it, I handle it quite well. But not knowing if i did a mistake or not (for example if I formulated an email right or if I mixed thinks up), gives me a lot of anxiety and I want to check. But if I check, I know the ocd will find its way and another thing will come up. I have to keep practicing.

Amara

Date posted: 1y

@charlyx3 You're welcome. I truly understand that living with uncertainty is difficult, although all of us experience it. Most of our lives are uncertain, we just assume them to be certain. When you start your journey, you will find a way for that all anxiety in your work comes from uncertainty. I wish you a good recovery and much peace of mind soon.

Amara

Date posted: 1y

@Anonymous - https://www.treatmyocd.com/what-is-ocd/info/related-symptoms-conditions/how-to-deal-with-uncertainty-advice-from-a-therapist?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=brand_how_to_deal_with_uncertainty_071724

glücklich

Date posted: 1y

I’ve struggled with this working on a farm milking goats. At times it felt like I had all these little lives in my hands, in addition to milking them for human consumption. At the end of the day, we just have to accept that what will be will be, there were plenty of times I went home sure I was killing someone and I wasn’t. It takes practice and fortitude, but I know we can all do it

charlyx3

Date posted: 1y

@glücklich I can relate to that so much, that could literally be me. I always assume the worst and think something bad will happen if I do a mistake. But I also know changing jobs might not make it any better, because then the ocd will find its way in the new job, too. I hope you are feeling better now!

glücklich

Date posted: 1y

@charlyx3 Running away from our triggers will never help us overcome them!

wiki_xo

Date posted: 24w

A nurse with OCD

I just started my new job maybe a couple months ago and I’m officially off orientation. I had a couple shifts by myself but the anxiety I feel being alone is honestly beastly. I keep getting scared that I’ll end up giving my patients someone else’s medications, keep having thoughts of “what if I give patient A medications to patient C.” My hair keeps falling out, I get such bad pre work and post work anxiety. On my days off all I think about is work. It’s taking a toll on my mental health and my relationship with my boyfriend. I am mad and stressed all the time. I’m just so tired and I honestly feel like I’m getting depressed. I want to stick it out a couple more months so I can get a job somewhere that’s not in a hospital. I just feel so stuck and scared all the time. If anyone else is a nurse with OCD what did you do to help with your anxiety and OCD?

Young adults with OCD

Anonymous

Date posted: 22w

Advice on getting by?

Hi! I’m new to the NOCD community, but I’ve been dealing with OCD since I was 12. I’m almost 29 now, and my biggest issue is health anxiety. It’s gotten to the point where getting work done is nearly impossible because i can’t stop spiraling. I’m lucky that i work remotely, but also makes it easier to be in my own head… Asking for advice - how do you all deal with the intense anxiety and are able to make it through a 9-5 work day? Any suggestions on how I can actually be productive? Thank you!

uncertain_Aly

Date posted: 21w

Does OCD impact your ability to get to work?

Often times I find myself spiraling out in the morning about all sorts of things. When I try and catch myself and figure out what I am obsessing over it’s like it goes away. I haven’t moved. I have been sitting frozen on the floor because I can’t go to work because I am behind on work and I hate being late and I hate being messy but I am frequently late and my room is cluttered and full of stuff. I want to be good and move and go to work but I don’t know what is coming today and I hate my job so I know I will get bored and when I have nothing to keep me busy and engaged I like start thinking and taking an inventory of what is going on and then I will feel a sensation and what is the sensation? How did it happen? And I know that I will pick up the bad emotions in the office and get contaminated, I was really worried about things like this as a kid too I cried because I had to touch dirt in kindergarten. I know I am this way and I have been this way for a while but at the same time I think I might just be normal and like I don’t know why I get stuck in thinking like this. Then I begin to doubt that OCD is real because everyone has a brain with wiring and everyone gets stuck in thought sometimes. I feel disabled from whatever this is because I am stuck. I literally cannot move because I don’t know what’s wrong and I know I have to go to work even though I feel like every moment I spend there is making everything worse because other people are so stressed and I get it from them. And I don’t feel ready because I just feel off and something is wrong and I just don’t know what to do because if it’s OCD or not OCD everything anyone knows about me is coming from me and I worry that I am often masking all the thinking I’m doing because thinking all the time is rude and inconsiderate and inconvenient for those around me, but I can’t stop. I just don’t feel right, right now - and I want to know WHY?? Why is everything off all the time? How do I even know that I am not making up the experience of OCD in my head to cover up something really wrong with me and now I am taking on the symptoms of OCD like an actress, because this could be something that I can latch onto as a final hope for explaining why I am stuck. So stuck so deeply and terribly stuck sitting on my floor next to my bed just scrolling to avoid thinking because any time I start thinking I am left with no answers or help or anything just this swirly feeling. I know I am trying, maybe not my best, but as much as I possibly can. I want to be a Special Education Teacher but I have so much so so so much doubt and uncertainty about every decision I make and everything I know that I can’t get there right now. I can’t do anything right now until it feels ok and then I will. It never feels ok. I know I have to be ok not feeling ok about it. I can be unsure and still be ok. I know it’s just my thinking and my body but I just can’t get past this feeling. And then I know that because I can calm myself and be ok even though I spent 2 hours of my life today already feeling stuck and spinning around and around and around in my head - I don’t feel sure about my OCD and I think it’s a bit of a scam made up by people to cultivate pathology around deep human thought because one day I might figure it out and we all think a lot.

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OCD and anxiety at work

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