- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 35w
Any somatic/sensorimotor OCD recovery stories?
I specifically have breathing. It always seems like no one posts recovery stories for this.
I specifically have breathing. It always seems like no one posts recovery stories for this.
It can come and go and that’s OK because it’s a normal bodily habit and you have to be OK with it and remember that it’s normal to think about it. Focus on it sometimes and then just let it go and move onto whatever else you were doing. That’s what I tell myself that’s normal. Also, you have to practice going in and out of it throughout the day to get used to it. 🙏❤️
@Lavender Fields!! Thank you for the reply. Do you have any advice on how to let go or how to practice going in and out of it?
My therapist said you don’t do it when you’re like I don’t like laying down taking a nap or going to sleep. You would do it during the day when you’re up and doing things. . Just be intentional about it and say OK I’m gonna go to it and think about it for a little bit and maybe observe it and then let go and move onto what you were doing before. For me what helps me is that I have a relationship with God and I know that I he loves me and that gives me confidence and hope for my life. I cannot do things on my own strength, but through the strength of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me. 🙏❤️
@Lavender Fields!! Thank you for that. So I assume all of this has helped you get better from this?
Yes indeedy.
What specifically are you wanting to know?
@Nica I have been focused on my breathing for 2 months now. I have saw a bunch of posts online of people with this for a lot longer than that, but very few positive recovery stories. It makes me feel like cutting compulsions or trying to get better is pointless sometimes. For the record, my fear is that I won’t stop noticing, so I don’t quite understand how to get over that fear.
@Crook To get over it, you basically have to stop focusing and then caring on the fact you might or might not ever stop focusing on it.
@Nica Ok, I am a bit confused by this. If I am to stop focusing, how do I also stop caring that I might not ever stop focusing?
@Crook You accept the fact you might always, somehow, in some way, notice you are breathing. Okay, so what? Not the end of the world. You get over somatic OCD by 1. Living with “maybe, maybe not” as a lifestyle change and therefore 2. whenever your OCD starts trying to get you to obsess or do compulsions or focus on breathing and all that it means, you do the opposite—you don’t give in and you go do something more fun or productive. You focus on the present moment, whatever you’re doing at the time before OCD started to act up. So, if you were washing dishes and then it decided to focus on your breath, you do not stop what you’re doing and you continue to wash dishes. You are practicing mindfulness—you are not running with the thoughts and away from the present activity.
i had this theme since i was 9. transitioned from breathing to swallowing. this theme is not really talked about, as i have asked before myself. would also love to know any recoveries!
@ ♥︎︎ Has it been constant for you, or does to come and go? Have you tried ERP?
@Crook i have not tried ERP, but i would love to! it comes and goes. my breathing checking is bad if i’ve done exercises/workouts, or if my anxiety is very high
Yes
So I’m 16 years old, currently going through my sophomore year of highschool. I’ve recently quit nicotine and weed after chronic use for about 4 years (has affected my development extremely). I quit because I wanted a better life for myself because I knew that I was using nicotine and weed for short term happiness and long term made me very depressed about this life. I was also experiencing trouble concentrating on simple tasks and what I wanted to do currently in my life. Which was learning about life and having more knowledge about life in general so i could feel more comfortable and happy in the future. So I quit nicotine I thought I was going to be able to overcome it and be more comfortable with myself knowing that I’m not in a constant loop of short term happiness, long term making me less happy overall. Although I have quit nicotine and haven’t touched it in about 3 weeks I expected to have some major withdrawals because I’m still in adolescence and used nicotine about everyday for 4 years. Sorry I’m rambling about this but through those years of always suppressing my anxiety with nicotine when anything came up that triggered it. I started noticing that on vacation in very stressful moments like at the airport and there were people around me when using the bathroom I felt as though it was nearly impossible to go but after sometime I eventually went and shrugged it off. Now that I’ve quit though I’m my 4th week it’s almost like my brain really latched onto that fear of not being able to go around people publicly (paruresis shy bladder syndrome) and that’s also what addiction does to you I’ve acknowledged. But when I started coming home from school I started thinking about not being able to pee more and more to the point i haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since which now every time i feel a slight trigger of having to use the bathroom i start obsessing over it like everything I would try and do that i usually do my brain would draw me away from it and go back to the fear of not being able to go which created a lot of anxiety and thoughts like “would if im not able to stop going” which made me think about it more and more I would just wake up with that thought in my head each day to the point where i was really thinking about killing my self because I thought i would have such a better life without nicotine and weed but ultimately made me feel like i was going crazy and I really wanted to go back to vaping and weed but i knew that this was the cycle of addiction and that i may have a more underlying problem here i need to overcome somatic ocd. I haven’t been diagnosed with it yet and I know a lot of people go through a cycle of self diagnosing. But as I’ve slowly started to mentally figure out ways to get through this obsession over peeing and fight it, it’s like my brain is now trying to look for a new bodily sensation to obsess over. My breathing. I noticed this as well while using that sometimes I would think about my breathing a little bit to much for example saying to myself am I breathing right should I breath this certain way would if I can’t stop thinking about it. But as I was thinking about that I just hit my vape talked to my brother about it and just slept it off. Now that I don’t have a vape I’ve had to go through these expierences but with it feeling more real and not really having something to run to, to suppress like my vape. I’m writing this today as I feel better to myself talking about it and opening up about it as I’m trying to not respond to this fear with anxiety and go throughout my days ignoring these obsessive thoughts leading to extreme anxiety that I don’t have anything to suppress it with anymore besides my own mental. Maybe someone here will have some more knowledge about it than I do and can give me some advice to try to keep me more motivated to deal with this ocd I feel as though I’m having so I don’t end up in a dark place. Thank you.
Hey y’all just wanted to share some stuff I feel has been helping me a lot as of lately. I been thinking a lot about my mental wellness in relation to physical wellness as I tend to have chronic pain and wonder how much of my anxious panicked tension is a factor because I also have a weird hip issue that moslty comes from skateboarding when I was young. A big thing that always drew my attention is my mobility and movement that i feel like can be easily overlooked because i am a bit hypermobile. So I’ve always experimented with different ways of managing the dysfunction because there are good days of feeling a lot more physically capable and slight better range of motion/movement where im reminded that there is definitely pain/discomfort that can be alleviated. Now to also bring up that I’ve been recovering from severe OCD for the last about 2 years(undiagnosed since a child) and facing a lot of things no doubt since than, tons of improvement after being able to identify the cause(want to point out I’m self diagnosed still, I try to implement the gold standard of ERP myself as much as I can along with other therapy practices but obviously understand that professional help ultimately is the best thing I can do, no health insurance/poor). Still in recovery no doubt but yea i really can say I’ve been doing a lot better with my OCD. So now going back to the chronic pain I also want to mention the way I’ve noticed my breathing that also feels as though it can be shallow in relation to the previous mentioned dysfunction that leads for me to have chronic pain. So now getting to the things that have helped me, one is understanding the role the psoas plays into your physical sort of biomechanics and then the way it is connected to our emotional responses, as it is known as the fight flight or freeze muscle. The way we can hold so much stress in our body can really wreak havoc, and the more I learn and understand myself and OCD the more it’s like I unpack to to the extent how much it’s completely taken over so much of me. I just started to notice this year how hypervigilant I am, and having Pure O I sort of end up feelin as though even in my own mind I am hypervigilant just scared of the intrusive thoughts/doubts worries and even when they aren’t present just on edge ready to fight back against it at any given moment. It makes so much sense why I ended up with insane amount of tension in my left psoas muscle and then that causing me to also build tension in surrounding areas of that muscle. Finding some chronic pain relief thru identifying where the heavy tension is around the psoas area and massaging it, hitting the trigger points to release the muscle has had so much relief and it really is also just giving me a sense of mental well being that truly is just great. I’ve always struggled with meditation but I’m also realizing how hard it can be when muscles are constantly in fight/flight/freeze mode. Mindful breathing along with the massage/trigger point relief is the first time I actually felt the air I was breathing pass through my body in a way that just made sense. Like as if some parts of my body haven’t had air pass in ages, and really feeling in tune with my senses and the room I was in. My body really is just used to being fearful, and I’ve tried to find ways of relieving the tension but with time and just kind of listening to my body, trying to learn about different ways of rehabilitating these types of chronic pain, mindfulness, mindful breathing, along with the different therapeutic tools for ocd I actually am starting to really let go of things and not have my body in constant fear/panic mode because speaking for most people whose OCD has gotten so severe, there really is a sort of trauma from having to deal with how bad it can get which your body keeps track of. Still continuing this journey recovering, and I hope y’all are also continuing !!
Can anyone share any success stories regarding Pure/Real Event OCD? I think I just want some uplifting news more than anything, though this may read as reassurance seeking… not sure what counts and what doesn’t. So any education on that may be helpful too. Many thanks!!
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