Flare up for recovered

@Hailey33 Not to be reassuring but it gets easier. You learn to identify the oncoming of a flare up. Many times it’s accompanied with stress in life. Holidays are a great example, even fun stress can bring on a flare up! You will cruise right on thru this. For me I have learned it typically tries to stay for 3-4 days and then let’s go. I have 2-3 a year. So be it haha I’m also semi newly diagnosed with OCD. It’s only been 18 months since I had my first bad symptoms.

@Robert734 Yes!! I can always tell when a flare up is near by and usually able to navigate right through it within a day or two, however this most recent time has been a struggle. Triggered by some EXTREME health anxiety that I had going on for the past three weeks. As soon as I got my test results and felt I was fine 👊🏻wam OCD flare up back to back. But stronger than usual!! I know I will be okay. Just may take a tad longer than what I’ve been used to.

@Hailey33 Exactly! I have had those as well, especially early on.

@Zoë_84 I personally think it has a lot to do with stress and how our brains get primed to feel that stress. The pathways OCD has carved out makes for a quick highway to hell if you will, for when this stress is higher. Basically I feel it’s all neuro chemistry, but we FEEL it going on unfortunately

@Robert734 Hm, yeah, it is a deep and huge pathway, as I suffer from OCD for about 34 years. I better work on the new pathway and drop seed bombs at the old one, so my brain doesn't try taking it anymore.

@Zoë_84 I have just heard it described that way, and it would be congruent with how most scientists believe our brains work and learn. Ultimately OCD is a preserving mechanism gone way way wrong and haywire. All of us with it suffer lol I know my OCD will never fully go away, it’s part of me, and how I think about things. I just lean on understanding and techniques to help manage symptoms and also help me differentiate between real issues, and OCD issues haha I hope you have found some peace with your symptoms over the years

@Robert734 A therapist, I had been seeing a while ago, told me about the pathway analogy and it made sense to me. Me saying, I'll drop some seed bombs on my OCD path wasn't meant sarcastically though. The old path needs to overgrow, in order to make it harder for my brain to take it. ERP has helped me very much regarding my MTOCD and Harm OCD. I never imagined after 25 years and over in total 13 years of therapy, most of it having been "German style ERP", two awesome therapist from North America would help me to succeed in ERP. Like you, I know, that I'll always suffer from OCD, but if all my themes get as managable as my MT- and Harm OCD, I'll be happy.