Need advice on compulsions

I’m not sure if this is part of my ocd, but I work a desk job where I’m on computers all day, which causes me neck pain. The problem is that I can’t seem to stop stretching my neck and trying to get it to pop. But the non stop stretching makes my neck hurt more, which then feeds into my need to “fix” it. The reason I think it might be ocd is that it started due to my mom warning me about my posture about 9ish years ago, and has gotten progressively worse. It hardly bothers me outside of work, unless I’m in class. Most of my compulsions are mental so I’m not sure how to cope with physical compulsions. Writing reports at work usually takes me 2hrs max but it took about 4.5 today due to this issue.

Young adults with OCD

Ifiknewthen

Date posted: 39w

Its the "just righ/perfectionism" ocd type. Im 44 and had it my whole life. I know all about it and how to stop. Its funny because i also had the neck cracking compulsion. So funny how some of us have the joint cracking/popping compulsion. Thought i was the only one. I had it so bad that it caused a herniated disc in my neck and i had to have a cervical fusion. Im fine now but you dont want to have to go through that. But look, like any form of ocd, no matter what thoughts or worries or obsessions are going through your mind, you have to stop the compulsive physical behavior like the neck popping. You have to live through the anxiety youll feel from not performing the neck popping. Its the same thing i had. I would want it to pop just right. And then i could relax and focus on whatever i was doing. But its a vicious cycle. Treating ocd imo is about retraining your brain to living a life you arent used to living. Like not worrying about your posture anymore. I dont mean going to an extreme and wanting to be a hunchback lol, but just easing up a bit a letting your posture be bad here and there. I had an exercising/weightlifting compulsion for years. My therapist caught me on it. He was good at catching things. So i had to get used to not going to the gym. Getting weaker. Getting a little fatter. If youre like me it has to do with perfectionism. You have to let yourself fail a little. Let your posture be imperfect. Stop the neck stretching. And you have to let the anxiety build and build and not perform the compulsion. You have to go to bed anxious at night. And over a long period of time that anxiety will start to decrease. Youll start to realize you dont need to stretch your neck anymore to feel better.

forensicbeast

Date posted: 39w

@Ifiknewthen Thank you so much for sharing, I didn’t realize other people struggle with joint cracking too. I’ve done it with my knuckles for a while, which for the most part is manageable. But I do get worried about my neck, I’m 24 and I’ve been struggling with this since I was 15. It’s almost like my body starts doing it before I can realize. Thank you for your encouragement I am going to try to stop

Ifiknewthen

Date posted: 39w

@forensicbeast Yeah the good news for you is at 24 you have a very good therapy environment and understanding of ocd and its different subtypes. I didnt have that at 24. So take full advantage of the available therapy.

tayanominous

Date posted: 25w

Compulsions and tics

I know I just posted, but can someone please tell me how to stop compulsions and ticks? My OCD is really bad and my compulsions are getting really repetitive and I just I can’t stop them. I’m scared because I keep ticking and doing compulsions and I can’t seem to stop it and it feels like I’m having a seizure but I don’t have epilepsy so I don’t know what that feels like, but all my muscles are tensing and I can’t stop squeezing and tensing up. It’s really really not fun and it feels like I need to be putting a straight jacket or something. I’m scared anyone please.

Anonymous

Date posted: 21w

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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Need advice on compulsions

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