Anyone else get excited before going on vacation, then when you get to your destination your ocd/anxiety flares up? So unfair, it’s like the fun then gets sucked out of your trip and you won’t be fine again until you return home

Right, before i had my first onset last year, I was fairly confident in going out and being around others. But since then I’ve become much more introverted than I used to be and don’t feel as much enjoyment in exploring outside mt boundaries as I used to. It’s even harder since we’ve been in a pandemic so it’s difficult to “put myself to the rest” shall I say in being around a crowd of people again to feeling like myself.

@Recoverer I feel very similar. I am a very extroverted person and am happy to be around others and love exploring and going places but since the pandemic started and my OCD relapsed I have been a shell of myself. I can’t wait to feel like me again and get my personality and happiness back. ERP is not going well and I’m on a 4th medication trial. I’ve suggested lobotomy but my psychiatrist said no 😭

@NOCD4me@123 If I may ask, what kind of coping methods have you been doing? Despite everything I’ve posted on here today, overall I am still doing much better than where I was a few months to a year ago. I credit my ERP therapy so if there’s anything I can suggest or help you with, let me know.

@Recoverer To be honest I have been struggling to do my ERP because my OCD has been so severe. I also haven’t made a set plan with my psychologist yet. My struggle has been getting me on a medication that can get me well enough to even do the ERP...but I guess I’m just gonna have to suffer and do it anyway while it’s so severe!

@NOCD4me@123 Right, I feel like medication didn’t do much for me other than make me feel like a zombie, but that’s just me. Overall it’s meant to stabilize the anxiety that you simply have no control over. One of, if not, the toughest part of recovery is learning how to deal with uncertainty. It’s like having standing still with someone pointing a gun at you. I can’t guarantee what your outcome will be or give you assurance on how it will go, but I will tell you it’s meant to be challenging to most, if not, all people. So don’t feel alone or bad when you say that “you’ll just suffer” it is a tough treatment mentally for sure.

@Recoverer Thankfully my meds have never made me feel like a zombie. But I was on Zoloft from like 2011 until last summer with great results until I relapsed so now we’re cycling through Meds so *sigh* we’ll see! And yes it 100% feels like having a gun aimed at your head. And if you do ERP you’ll most certainly get shot...