Has anyone here overcome hocd

(Sorry in advance for the long reply) ERP is going to make that stuff go away. Think of your OCD like a monster, the more you carry out your compulsions the more you feed the monster and it grows. Biologically, OCD creates everything (thoughts, sensations, etc.) with a neurological misfire. The neurons in your brain misfire and sends the electrical impulse that creates a thought down a wrong pathway, creating a thought or sensation that is foreign to you and is not (underlining not) yours, it’s intrusive. Then what happens is that the amygdala (the structure in the brain that controls the fight or flight response) overreacts and alerts the brain of a threat (an intrusive thought or feeling) when there is none. Thoughts are just thoughts, they mean nothing, especially OCD thoughts. Feelings are not facts. They don’t define you. What ERP does is create a new pathway for the neural impulse to travel, which gets rid of thoughts and anxiety. Sensations and intensity of thoughts are decreased after ERP. Everyone with OCD wants the thoughts to go away (me included) ERP is the only effective way. OCD is a parasite it wants to take over your life, so the second you consider treatment, it’s going to try to trick you into not starting. It’s not easy and it’s going to be painful, but if you want to live your life again and be normal it’s what you have to do. Concerning the thing about attraction, OCD is going to try to trick you and make you and itself into one. No joke, public confession, I went through a huge psychological crisis and during that time I referred to myself as “we” because I felt there was no separation between me and OCD. OCD is making you think that you are not attracted to women or that you will never attract a women, you are not OCD. OCD is making you not tolerate uncertainty and you have to learn to. No one is 100% certain of most things anyway. Obviously you are attracted to women, which is why OCD is latching on to this, but you can never be 100% certain that you are. When you starve OCD of what it wants (certainty) then the OCD monster gets smaller and smaller, which means less thoughts, less unwanted feelings, etc. You can do this. Show the OCD whose boss. Seek treatment. It’s hard, but the way that I did it was act against every first instinct. If I was avoiding certain friends, I reached out to them. If I was avoiding movies, I watched them. Then the monster became quieter and quieter and I can proudly say that for the most part HOCD doesn’t bother me that much anymore.

Good question I also want to know

Kind of? I think so. It doesn’t dictate my every move anymore, so I think that’s a yes. Honestly I was terrified of ERP and didn’t what to do it because I thought that all of my worst fear would come true, but, honestly it’s the way to go. The more I do things that are against OCD, the more it doesn’t rule over me. You got this, recovery is possible.

I’m scared of ERP I’m scared if I make it worse I start hyperventilating panic attacks groins tingles all of that stuff I guess that’s why I haven’t left the house much unless I have to go to work i’m telling you it’s like the worst feeling in the world I don’t like to feel like this makes me emotional just typing this down I don’t feel normal anymore

Can help with the nightmares in my dreams

OCD also appears in dreams a lot. During my psychological crisis with OCD the dreams would haunt me and become more and more real to me. Sometimes I wouldn’t be able to tell what happened in a dream and what happened in real life. Turns out, it’s a very common symptom of OCD. The only way to get rid of the dreams is to treat the OCD. It’s all a trick, it’s all an illusion. If you feel comfortable enough, you could go to a psychiatrist and get an antidepressant, that helped me a lot and was able to make me less scared of ERP and made me able to see the smoke an mirrors of OCD.

Is the medication temporary

Typically, no. I stopped my meds thinking I was cured and that was a very bad idea. It’s not that I was dependent on the meds it’s just that my OCD has me on the ropes and I could not function and that kind of extremity needs meds. It sound like you are having problems with functioning too since you barely leave your house except for necessity. Medication is not necessary but it can greatly help. You can at least ask your doctor or if you see a therapist ask them if they think medication can help.

I know that meds are scary and a lot of people are afraid of them, but from what I know about antidepressants, they help they don’t hurt. It can be frustrating finding a medication and that works for you because it depends on the person and someone can respond positively to medication while some people do not, but once you find the right one and the right dosage, it can do wonders for OCD. In the first few weeks (typically 2-3) the anxiety gets worse as your brain adjusts to the medication, then it begins to work and, for me, the frequency and intensity of the thoughts and feelings are lessened. Even my dreams started to become less and less scary. Medicine is not a cure and you need to do ERP to really get over OCD, but medicine can help with making ERP easier and help you to see just how ridiculous OCD is. You can get rid of OCD without meds if you are not comfortable, I am not at all giving any advice because I am not a doctor, I just know what has worked for me. If meds aren’t your thing, that’s fine, you can still get better. It won’t hurt to ask your doctor or see a psychiatrist just to see what could be your options (my therapist told me that meds like Xanax or any sedatives do not help with OCD and only give temporary relief so I wouldn’t go for that, because my psychiatrist gave me sedatives and they didn’t really help, the antidepressants helped a lot though). You don’t have to take the meds and you can always try a minimal starting dosage and see how you feel and if you hate it, you can get off of it, no problem. I would recommend researching SSRIs and antidepressants as well and see there success rate with OCD.