- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
I used to have it really badly and it doesn’t affect me so much anymore. I will sometimes still do manual but the difference is I don’t let thoughts about it consume me. If I notice I’m doing it I do something to distract me and I move on. It doesn’t occupy my head space like it used to and I used to think I’d never figure it out but the truth is that one day all these worries just won’t seem as big anymore
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
I'm on the upswing from it right now. It's not fully conquered but I've been fighting breathing since April and only in the last few weeks have I kinda figured it out. I did a lot of research on pramayana breathing and did some intentional exposure to manual breathing by doing it for like, 2 straight hours, and then ultimately had a moment of "I'm fucking tired of this, I'm just going to meditatively check in to my environment." These events happened sequentially, and since then I have had very little anxiety about it. When I do, I keep my mind focused on the concept that mindfully paying attention to my breath is actually exposure and that I am willing to sit with the discomfort of it. I then flit in and out of paying attention to my environment until the urge to monitor my breath has fully passed. It took a LONG time though.
- Date posted
- 4y
So you are mindful of your breathing and your awareness of it passes? I have a constant focus on salivation and swallowing that I've had for 2 years straight
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
For me it's all been about chillin with the notion that I might pay attention to a thing and it's fine if I do. It's easier said than done, but a lot of the breath anxiety for me started because I was like, oh no, not this again.
- Date posted
- 4y
I never lose awareness of it. Its such a tiring thing
Related posts
- Date posted
- 20w
Hi all, I deal with HOCD and been seeing a therapist for about 3.5 months. It has definitely got better but still affects me very much. Was wondering there is anyone out there who has dealt with HOCD as well and has recovered. I would love to message or even chat just see how your experience was and hear what was beneficial to you.
- Date posted
- 19w
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.
- Date posted
- 17w
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 😭
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