I have strong unconscious reactions to thinking about saliva, feeling saliva in my mouth, brushing my teeth and spitting out into the sink, and certain textures in my mouth. I physically start uncontrollably gagging. I have been struggling with this for a while and have gotten stuck in a loop of obsessive disgusting saliva thoughts many times, but I am working on it. I'm on a medication that has really helped me with my nail biting and nail picking compulsions, but a side effect has been dry mouth. This has been a terrible problem when combined with the saliva OCD stuff. I know there are certain over the counter mouthwashes and products for dry mouth, but the slimy mouthwashes trigger those unconscious, uncontrollable episodes of gagging. I'm trying these things called Xylimelts to help, they are like little mints, but when I start thinking too much about them my obsessive thoughts get really bad. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to improve dry mouth without slimy mouthwashes or any other comments on these issues? Thanks! 🙏

Hiii - hope everyone is having a good day! Has anyone found any type of medication or supplements helpful with thinking sooo deeply about everything and intrusive thoughts? I’m in therapy + doing erp but my brain in this relapse of ocd just thinks sooo deep into my brain and i can’t seem to not to do it pull myself out. Like I’m just paranoid. An example would be if i simply look at my arm I’ll think so deeply about it like what’s under my arm what’s it look like inside etc. but if anyone not in this cycle looks at their arm they’ll be like hmm ok cool my arm and move on w their day. Just looking to see if anyone has had a similar experience of what I’m feeling rn.

This is my first time posting - I have a fear of throw up and I’ve been told it is cause from my OCD (repetitive thoughts) which makes sense because if someone gets sick it replays over and over again and I can’t get it out of my head. It’s gotten a lot worse in the past maybe two years. I’m always on edge that someone is going to get sick around me. I’ve heard the “best or most common” way to help with this is exposure therapy and OBVIOUSLY I don’t want to do that. Anyone have any tips or anything for this (or maybe have done the exposure therapy)?

Hey there everyone, first I would like to say I am very grateful for every single one of you on this platform and it feels so much better knowing that I can be heard. I’ve been hyperaware of my swallowing for 1-2 month. I feel like I have so much saliva in my mouth and I have to swallow and swallow. I feel the urge to swallow even I don’t NOTHING in my mouth, so I just swallow air. This has been really overwhelming and I feel like I can be so easily latched to other body part of my part. For example, I was conscious about my blinking and breathing for a few days, and now I get so anxious when I heard a weird sound my ears make after each sentence I speak. Is this somatic ocd or health concern ocd? I am so helpless and having a hard time to shift my attention. Does anyone have any suggestions or just words of encouragement would really help me at this moment. I REALLY appreciate your help. 💗🙏 Thank you !