- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 32w
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
Hi - I’m new here but I’m going through this right now and was wondering if anyone can share their harm ocd recovery stories and what your experience was like. Thank you (:
Does anyone know how to get rid of these thoughts? I have to manually breathe almost every second of everyday and it's getting tiresome and I can't stop thinking about no matter what the distractions are.
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.
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