bay97
- Date posted
- 5y
FathomableFathomable
- Date posted
- 5y
I would really recommend doing small exposures. That's what I'm doing- pushing myself to leave the house every day to do something and only wash hands as much as we are supposed to and not thinking about it any more once I have washed. We can definitely teach our brains that the worst possible outcomes and consequences don't happen when we take those little risks, and that build up our confidence. Life is all about risk, even at risky times like right now. The only thing I can really tell you for sure is that obsessing and restricting your life beyond what is recommended by health authorities is not going to do anything to prevent the bad things from happening. It is only going to make you suffer and waste your time and energy in the meantime. Don't let this completely fill your life up. Take breaks from thinking about it by saying to yourself "I WILL worry about this but not right this moment" and doing something enjoyable like some artwork or reading or watching a movie. During that time when you get intrusive thoughts and urges to check that you've done everything to keep yourself safe, continue saying to the thoughts that you WILL engage with them but not right now. Every little helps. Over time this can really reduce your general anxiety and should stop you from feeling like you're really on the edge. Remember, those urges to think about it are intrusive thoughts, and ruminating about it even without doing anything physically is still a compulsion and will make the cycle continue. Allow yourself to take these periods of not thinking about it at all so that your anxiety can come down enough to do small exposures. Small exposures could be touching things and resisting the compulsion to wipe down the objects etc and saying to yourself "maybe the virus is there and maybe it's not", not trying to reassure yourself, just sitting with that anxiety until it reduces. And it will reduce. I promise. All feelings, when we allow ourselves to feel them without acting on or judging them, eventually ebb away. You have the capacity to do that with all feelings and to feel a real sense of peace and acceptance once you have let yourself digest the feelings. The best way out is through. You can do it
bay97bay97
- Date posted
- 5y
Thank you so much for the advice, that is really helpful. I honestly am letting it control my life atm but I’ve been trying to do small exposures. I’m planning on going to the grocery store w my mom in the next few days-so that will be one of my first exposures. I also have been going to therapy every week and had to touch a few things like a pen to sign something, etc. so I’ve been obsessing about that.. but trying to sit with the thoughts and let them pass.
ninagnesninagnes
- Date posted
- 5y
I am also trying to be mindful about how I react to the current virus. It's tough because it seems like the whole world around me is acting out compulsions and washing their hands constantly. I read a good article on vice about it, ocd and Corona or something. I'm also doing a lot of meditation and yoga to calm the anxiety and not try to act beyond the guidelines. It's tough, really, the fear is there but I'm trying to not give in. Stay strong. Pandemic will pass on it's on, ocd is harder to push back once it's over.
bay97bay97
- Date posted
- 5y
I really hope all of this is over quickly. Before this all went down I was doing really good with ERP. It literally feels like the world is ending or something
bay97bay97
- Date posted
- 5y
I’ve also been washing my hands way past 30sec, have had a hard time touching things in my house that are touched by family members like doorknobs, and have been afraid to wash my face with my hands or even get my hands near my face..
green bean green bean
- Date posted
- 5y
u got this!! I believe in you
FathomableFathomable
- Date posted
- 5y
One amazing book I recommend to all OCD sufferers is called "letting go" by David R Hawkins. It's a wonderful book which guides you through sitting with uncomfortable feelings, noticing and letting them be felt in your entire body without resisting them, acting on them, ruminating on them or judging them or yourself for having them. Just feeling them until they're gone. It's a beautiful experience.
bay97bay97
- Date posted
- 5y
Thank you for the recommendation. That is something my therapist has been advising me to do and it’s very helpful. It’s just been hard for me to do it recently with everything that’s going on since it feels like the worlds ending.
Related posts
bun <3
- Date posted
- 22w
everything around me feels contaminated :((
sorry this is super long i just wanna know if anyone else has been thru something similar bc i feel super alone 🩷 i have super bad contamination ocd. it was bad already but my house was like my safe space until a few months ago someone brought something into my house that i considered ‘contaminated’. and so then i felt like that part of the house was contaminated, then it spread to everything outside my room (since family is moving around touching stuff) and then somehow i got convinced everything in my room except my bed is contaminated and i need to wash my hands after touching it. in my mind its like the contamination just infinitely spreads to things after the tiniest bit of touch. idek what im afraid of anymore or even what the original thing was but i can’t let it go. when i have to wash off contamination i have to wash at least 4 times or until it feels right, or sometimes take rlly long showers and wipe down all my stuff. i even throw away food and clothes or just whole items sometimes because they feel so contaminated i don’t want them in my space. i can’t be super near people or have anyone touch me, and i also can’t bring anything new into my room since it had to go through the entry of my house which feels contaminated. i feel like all i do is lay in bed and then wash my hands and do compulsions so i can go eat or do other stuff around the house. also i never go out because i’m bc people outside make me feel dirty, and i hate thinking about how many people have touched stuff in stores or in public and stuff. so im just in my room worrying all day. i feel so trapped and the contamination/avoiding it is all i think about anymore i barely have time for anything else and im never present when i talk to people because im worrying about if i accidentally got contaminated. im starting erp next week and knowing that im going to have to expose myself to things is really freaking me out. does anyone else have this kind of ocd ? im exhaustedddd 🥲🥲💔
Medicine2021_
- Date posted
- 20w
Suicidal OCD and harm OCD
I’ve recently been struggling a lot with OCD. I have had OCD for a long time I just didn’t realize it until more recently. About seven months ago I developed panic attacks one day randomly at work. I thought I was having a heart attack and went to the hospital where they told me it was just a panic attack and I assumed I would snap out and be better within a few days. However it didn’t. Here’s where it gets scary, I was staying at my then boyfriends house while dealing with blurry vision, anxiety attacks everyday, and more (unsure of what was going on). But at some point I saw my bfs (pew pew 🔫) on his table and it sent me into an anxiety attack after sudden thoughts that I was going to hurt myself with it. I begged him to put it away when I’m not looking so I didn’t know where he put it. He did. These thoughts lasted for about four days but began to go away. (I thought that was it and I would be back to normal). Unfortunately though I ended up moving back in with my family when we couldn’t get my panic attacks under control in time for me to get back to work and pay bills. However, coming home brought up a lot of trauma from when I was kid. My anxiety got worse but I didn’t have those thoughts again. About two and half months ago though, I got sick and went to the hospital where they gave me steroid pills and a steroid shot but sent me into some kind of psychiatric event. Ever since then though, I have been suffering from harm OCD, I have had moments of intense anger that I usually have to completely walk away and go on my own because of how intense they are, and it feels like it’s getting worse. Today I felt fine until about and hour and half ago where I started to dwell on the fact that my suicidal thought was influenced by my OCD and at the moment my OCD is at the worst it’s been. This caused me to get suddenly really depressed and I started crying thinking about how I can’t handle this. I then saw a post talking about how suicide rates are high for people with this form of OCD and it made me question if I am mentally strong enough to pull through this. I fear that at times I’m getting worse. I have good days but I have a lot of bad days. Unfortunately this sent me into such a bad panic attack I went over to my nanas crying about how I can’t deal with this. I took a 0.25 mg Xanax which helped calm down the panic attack portion of it but my brain is still uncomfortably active. I guess I just need hope. I’m so saddened by this. It’s like my life took a total 360 in 10 months and got even worse since the steroid shot. Idk what to do about it. I can’t stop the spiral. I talk to two different therapist weekly and start more next week, making it 5 times a week. I feel no improvements…
SMS719
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 19w
Feeling hopeless 💔
My ocd has been at an extreme all time high the past 2 weeks and I am in dire need of some relief. I’m not sleeping right anymore. for context: I live in the south and found a springtail on my sheets about 2 weeks ago. This was like 2 days before our bug guy came and sprayed (it’s a normal maintenance thing here) so it’s a common bug down here and I’ve found them all over different areas of the house before. Finding it in my bed sent me on a bit of a spiral bc I started to doubt if it even was a springtail and that i was wrong and that it was a bed bug, not trusting my brain. It was a bad, sleepless night and carried over continuing feelings. Typical ocd stuff. Well two days later, I’m a nurse and I had a patient that actually had bed bugs. This wasn’t the first day they were here and I did not see any myself but it still freaked me out. There had one 2 founds after visitors came the day before. Of course I wore PPE in the room (coveralls shoe covers and hair net) going in and took everything off before exiting the room. When I came home I stripped in my garage and bagged everything down to my shoes. Threw everything in the wash and did multiple cycles. There were no other steps I could take but I still had a terrible night. Hours of ruminating and going back and forth about tracing my tracks, thinking of new ways I could’ve taken one home with me. Just checking everything. I was already on a spiral from the springtail. Having two such back to back triggering events for me so closely related has made me deteriorate significantly. I was already doing bad with my normal OCD and starting therapy here. I obsess over the thought of having bedbugs constantly and haven’t been able to sleep. I am constantly checking my bed while in it and can’t settle down. My bed is heavy too and I keep hurting myself lifting my mattress to check. But I need to check. I’ve become obsessed. I check everything and go down Reddit rabbit holes looking for new things. And of course, I talk myself into it every time. I can’t take it anymore, it’s bleeding off into other parts of my life like friendship and marriage because I am so high anxiety right now. I need relief so bad. I’ve never felt this unstable to be honest. I feel like even someone without ocd would be really struggling with this topic, nevermind me, with ocd to a point where I just started treatment. These aren’t even my normal intrusive thoughts and compulsive acts. It’s just taken on a life in the last week and I can’t find any sign that it’s going to slow down. when I think rationally I know I did everything right to prevent but I can’t shake it. 💔
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond