My OCD is generally around my health. It is hard for me to differentiate between what is real and what is OCD. I have a skin condition (HPV) and it’s truly not bad at all although my OCD theme is very focused on it. I’m in constant fear that it will get worse, spread or ruin my life some how. Does anybody else have health anxiety OCD? Or OCD about contamination? I feel like it’s really difficult to combat my OCD at times because there is a level of rationality behind it. I do have the skin condition already that I’m worried about so my OCD has “evidence” to make me more worried about it. Does anybody else have an OCD theme that is hard to differentiate between what’s real and what’s OCD? Sorry for the long post but I’m very interested to hear more about your experiences!

I’m so glad to find people that relate to me! Health anxiety is very difficult to deal with because it’s so hard to decipher between the rational and irrational thoughts

@Anonymous I agree. I've found that some things I can rationalize and talk myself through. Unfortunately, the medical issues that are life threatening are much harder to work through. I try to tell myself this is an irrational and unhealthy obsession - I must let go of this today. Of course, some days are tougher than others.

@jopike13 Yeah, I’ve found health anxiety is an especially difficult theme to endure because many of the irrational thoughts can be seen as “rational” when in an OCD loop. I have had other themes that I was able to rationalize and overcome through ERP quickly although this health anxiety one persists because the OCD can really use anything as “evidence”

I suffer from the same exact thing.

Me too 😂😪😥 I just got my covid vaccine and thats all I've been doing is checking and looking up all the information I could about blood clots and dangerous things that could happen from the vaccines. I was literally crying right before getting my first dose, but I made myself get it because I knew it was the right thing to do. This health anxiety is no joke.

I relate to this so much! I frequently have those “validating symptoms” too. Whenever I get stuck in a health anxiety thought loop too much I have to remind myself that I have OCD and sometimes that helps me look at my thoughts in a different light. It’s tough but you’re right just have to keep fighting for those good thoughts!! We got this

Wow! I have that exact thought SO MUCH. The “everything is going great now, it wouldnt be fair to have something bad and unpredictable happen.” Do you have any tips on how to respond to a thought like that? I feel like just accepting the uncertainty is best but it’s tough to do that at times

@Anonymous I still have a lot of trouble with this myself. I have found that taking a few minutes every few hours to reassure myself out loud in a quiet space, almost like meditation or prayer, has really helped me. Just repeating "I can do this, I'm going to be alright. I need to calm down and re center. I'm strong." Etc. This has helped me wind down from extreme spiraling many times before bed or after a tough series of impulsive thoughts and rumination. Of course, it doesn't fix everything but it really helps me get control of my breathing and my panicked looping brain.

Yes. I feel this way frequently! I identified that one of my compulsions was seeing a doctor whenever I thought something was wrong. It gave me reassurance at first but it only fueled more OCD thoughts in the long run. By looking for reassurance it in a way “validated” my obsessions and told me that they were something real rather than just thoughts...which is what they actually are. I know it’s hard to deal with these types of thoughts when they are about your health but I encourage you to sit with the uncertainty of it all! You are also not alone, I have frequently thought that I would rather be diagnosed with something rather than have the “what ifs”. It all goes back to leaning into the uncertainty and trying to accept it.

@Anonymous Thank you for the encouragement to sit with the uncertainty!! I’ve been really good about managing my OCD for a while. But yesterday I realized that was the 3rd time in the last 2 weeks I was having a really hard time controlling my ocd. I started wondering if I was in denial of being in control and actually an anxious mess. But I’ve been trying to remind myself that maybe I am under some stress and that even though I’ve been having speed bumps I’m mainly okay and have to keep working through it!!