- Username
- Dil P
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Hi there! And welcome ?? I’m glad you got a diagnosis of OCD. That’s the first step and harder than most people think when dealing with mostly mental compulsions. The actual thoughts you’re having (like what they are saying, ie their content) don’t matter. The way we “know” that they are in fact OCD is by everything else you’ve written here: - they are unwanted and distressing - you respond with mental compulsions (ie ruminations, mental reviewing, checking, researching) - you’re worried these thoughts say something about who you are deep down and you’re obsessed with figuring them out This is quite typical OCD. Everything else you wrote (fear you’ll act on the thoughts, fear of judgment, anxiety, depression, numbness, loss of emotion, loss of stable sense of self) are all common complaints and symtoms. Since you got a formal diagnosis, I’m curious: are you seeing an OCD Specialist who is trained in ERP? This is the gold standard for OCD treatment and will go a long way in helping you recover. A few articles you may find interesting: https://ocdla.com/doubt-denial-ocd-5342 https://ocdla.com/harm-ocd-1-1982
OCD of Los Angeles has some of the best articles around. Good choice!
I wouldn’t know how to answer your first three questions because everyone has their individual experiences with OCD. Perhaps someone will provide some insight later, but as for your last question, yes, my doctor prescribed me Lexapro for my OCD symptoms. I discontinued it due to its side effects, but I’m considering to begin taking it again and just give a chance for the side effects to subside, which in most cases does happen. Why? What’s your experience with Lexapro?
1. OCD can include terrible intrusive thoughts. 2. I’ve seen a lot of people here question if it’s actually something more/worse than OCD as well as question if it’s even OCD. I’ve questioned it myself. 3. Numbness or feeling low often accompanies anxiety, like the ups and downs of that same negative energy coin. 4. I’ve taken Lexapro for years now. For me it really helps with intrusive, violent images.
Hii, this is my first time posting on here. I’ve been dealing with OCD since I was at least 14, and I didn’t get diagnosed til a few weeks ago, I’m 25 now. I’ve had all types of obsessions. My first big was of getting tapeworms, I became a vegetarian yo avoid em(I’m still one but I don’t fear tapeworms anymore). I thought I had schizophrenia shortly after that, that’s one that comes back here and there. I feared the end of the world, I had a big religious obsession, that lead me to being agnostic And right now I’m dealing with what I think is somatic or existential ocd. This started in early 2021, one night I was in bed watching a movie and I became very aware of myself. I looked up derealization, cause what I thought it was, and I spent the next couple months checking myself and my surroundings to see if that’s what I was experiencing. It was a very miserable time for me, but luckily it ended, I don’t remember exactly when. I was fine for most of last year, but then a toward the end of year I went driving at night with my mom and sister. I saw a tweet online about how some ppl disassociate while driving and I got scared that would happen to me. It was dark and there were lots of cars and lights, I couldn’t shake the thought. Now I’m here, still not to able to. The few times I’m able to I feel fine. But as I realize I haven’t been thinking about it it comes back. I got on lexapro shortly after cause I figured it might help but I can’t tell if it is. My anxiety is reduced but yeah. I’m so scared I won’t feel like I did before. Like I know I’m not losing my mind but it’s hard not to feel like I am sometimes. I hope someone can relate to this.
I got diagnosed with OCD a few months ago after getting plagued with intrusive thoughts last November. It’s been present in my life since I was younger but didn’t become truly debilitating until last November. I’ve been in therapy since May, and I started an SSRI. I’m a Christian, and I’ve struggled a lot with my faith since this started. I’ve had a hard time with ERP because I fear it’s not going to help and actually make things worse. I have also had a lot of emotional turmoil from family trauma and marriage issues. I’ve become so hopeless and numb and desensitized that I don’t know how to continue forward. I don’t feel like I’m able to talk to anyone about it because it’s taboo, so I feel like a fraud and like I don’t deserve to do things I enjoy or hang out with people I love. I do want to get better but I also have a fear that I don’t actually want to. I feel like my whole life is ruined and that I’ll never enjoy living again.
Hi all , please comment if you’re experiencing what I’m about to share . I am going through a very tough time with existential fears & very frightening thoughts to a point where the thought of myself sends me into a spiral. I ask myself “am I even existing right now as I’m typing this” “ how do I know that I’m not already dead or in a purgatory “how do I confirm that I even exist” what if I’ve already died and this is what death feels like “ nothing & no one around me feels real , I look at my kids & my husband & question their existence. I’ve also been suffering from severe depersonalisation/derealisation & I don’t know which one is triggering the other ! I also suffer from harm ocd where I’m forever worrying that I might lose control & harm my family whom I love to bits & I’m always battling the nightmare inside me that makes me believe that I’ve already hurt them but I just don’t know it … I’m on lexapro & have been for two years but I find that all it does is numb my emotions, I can’t cry & at times worry that if sharpens to someone I love , I may not be able to cry or show emotions . I am convinced that I’ve developed schizophrenia 🥲🥲 which has always been my worst fear! Or that I’ve gone psychotic without realising . I cannot see myself out of this hole & my brain had forgotten what being a normal person once felt like 🥲🥲. I was seeing a psychologist and he did ERP with me but sadly that did Not help so I stopped seeing him altogether & lost faith in therapy altogether ! Sorry this is a very long post but I just want to know that someone out there is experiencing the same symptoms and has gotten over it through ERP or other medication ? Because I feel like I’m the only one suffering from this debilitating illness and there’s no way out!
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