Anyone else struggle with somatic OCD and any pain/feeling slightly different is so noticeable and you feel like you’re just going to collapse or something? Like my ocd always convinces me that any sort of pain is related to some kind of illness that can cause a bad outcome or even death. If so, please share your tips of how to improve with this type of ocd 😭
I’m fixated on my swallowing and my throat is so tired of the repetitive swallowing. I totally know what you mean. I would recommend do NOTHING with your thoughts—I know it’s hard. Tell yourself it’s just your brain acting up and trying to protect you. Sit with your anxiety and any other feelings, it’s perfectly okay to have them. Do not ruminate!! I hope you feel better soon!!
omg i had a panic attack over my swallowing the other night 😭 i also compulsively sniff which i hate
@May :) Thank you so much! 😊
@oopiedoop - I am sorry that you are going through that. I always woke up to fear too. Do you wanna talk, I haven't found anyone experiencing the same thing as I do. I am always here to talk :) We've got this.
Totally get this too. But I guess I personally think of this as more health anxiety / health ocd more than somatic for me personally. I always feel like any pain or feeling in my body that’s out of the ordinary could be some sort of deathly illness or something that could kill me right then and there. Which is so silly, which I rationally know, but in the moment it feels so real. I have spiraled into panic attacks many times from this fear seeming so real. Something I recommend is reminding yourself of other things the pain most likely is cause by; like…if it’s a headache for example. My anxiety and ocd might jump straight to something absurd as it usually would, and even if it does, I try to remind myself or think of the other possibilities that are likely. Did I eat enough and drink enough today? Usually I’ll answer no, and then I’ll be like “ohhh, no wonder my head hurts, I should go get some water and food and sit down for a minute”. I dunno if that makes any sense and obviously trying to rationalize is SO hard in the moment, but the more you practice it the easier the anxiety aspect gets. If you have panic attacks or anything of the sort too, or even if you don’t, breathing exercises can be great, or just sitting with someone for company to help distract you
@anxious_pickle Thank you! Yes I try to stop and rationalize too, but other times I consistently go and ask my mom for reassurance. 😭 I’ve been trying to do that less though, since now I know it only makes the cycle worse. But thank you for sharing your experience! I’ll try to remember those tips! 😄
This is making me think that I probably experienced somatic OCD. Which is crazy cos i would have never guessed before reading this post. Sometimes i get so anxious about the thought or possibility of fainting the moment I feel weak, or dizzy, or lethargic, or unstable. But i never actually faint and i never have before. To answer your question: I do not have any good advice to give on how to combat this
@izzy_ Yes this does sound like somatic/health ocd!
I've never been diagnosed with OCD, but have thought for a long time that I do have it. I've tried to bring it up in therapy but have been shot down as "OCD tendencies". Luckily I'm with a new therapist and am planning to bring it up again. Especially after reading a lot of your posts, I'm really resonating with them. Especially my anxieties and obsessions with my health. God forbid I feel any weird pain or ache, I instantly think I'm dying. Sometimes I get a weird pain in my head and think it's a stroke or aneurysm. Ill go as far as the perform the stroke FAST test. This happens multiple times a day. I also have HUGE anxieties about death and my mortality. If I think about it too much, I get this deep cold pit in my stomach and spiral. Even talking about it causes me sooo much distress. I'm just worried I'll be dismissed or told I'm just self diagnosing because I related to a post online. But if any of this sounds accurate, please let me know. I'd love to be reassured of my obsessions rather than just dismissed as being anxious.
It started when I became an adult, and started receiving my mental health diagnosis. I hyper fixated on each and every action I did and how it could be related to my diagnosis’s. It then lead to fixation to my physical health — making appointments and seeing every specialist I can to rule out every possibility. I currently have been suffering with obstructive sleep. I woke up the past few days with severe pain from the lack of sleep whilst believing I was oversleeping. Luckily my fit watch tracks my sleep cycle and it turns out I am not receiving any sleep. I had an extreme panic attack — bursting into tears on the phone with my mom wondering what this case might be. She told me it could be sleep apnea and that a simple sleep study could figure this out. However, knowing my family history I made appointments to every specialist I can to make sure it is nothing serious. The unknown of health can be scary to me. Watching my mother suffer with her physical health chronically since I was a child lead me to be very conscious and aware of how my body is functioning. This morning was one of the worst moments of physical pain. I should just take one step at a time with the sleep doctor instead of taking measures to see every specialist that could pertain with this issue. However, that is very hard to me. I don’t want to ever wake up in the pain I was this morning. Does anyone else suffer with health-related OCD? And if so, how do you find a sense of ease during moments like I expressed?
I started dealing with OCD when I became fixated on health issues, particularly the fear of contracting a life-threatening disease. If I experienced any kind of medical symptom, no matter how small, that even remotely hinted at something potentially fatal, it would drive me crazy, and I couldn’t stop obsessing over it. Then one day, I started having intrusive thoughts about accidentally hitting someone with my car, and I would end up driving in circles to check if I had. Eventually, I found myself overwhelmed by a flood of new obsessive thoughts and compulsions. One day, while I was at the park, a squirrel came near me, and for some reason, I felt like it attacked me. I Googled it and learned that squirrels could carry rabies, which spiraled me into a deep fear of rabies. I became consumed with the thought I received a bite from a squirrel, raccoon, or bat any time I’m in areas that trigger me. It started off only being inside then transferred to even being in my own home. This made me obsess over every physical sensation in my body, compulsively checking to make sure nothing was wrong. One compulsion that I hated the most would to be putting rubbing alcohol on me to make sure that I had no open wounds. Every day feels like I’m walking around in a fog of anxiety, constantly worrying that I won’t even make it to old age. Sometimes, it gets so overwhelming that I just want it all to end. It stresses me so bad at times to where my brain feels like I’ve been studying all day.
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