- Username
- HappyTurtle (Roxanne)
- Date posted
- 3y ago
My honest answer is that I don’t focus on being afraid of it and instead be aware of its potential, and recognize that I have the tools to help my self, and I know where to go to get help if I need more suooort. I have also recently shifted my focus from leaning into the fear, and instead am leaning into the joy , and focusing on being aware of and creating opportunities for joy in my life and ride the wave when anxiety comes during those activities and practice response prevention by being aware of the anxiety wave and doing my best not to do compulsion. That’s just me, but hope some it helps 😊
The tide comes in, the tide goes back out 🌊💙
@JoyousEffort Yup. As long ya don’t turn your back on the ocean, the undercurrent won’t knock you off your feet 🌊🌊🌊🌊
I like this approach of thinking! Because that way you don’t feel upset when the symptoms come back up you aren’t disappointed. I’m slowly getting to that mindset as well you seem like such an awesome, amazing, and knowledgeable person!!! I hope your road to managing OCD goes well!!! Have a great Saturday!!!💗☺️
The fact that I am so triggerd by compliments is a clear indication I still have some legit work to do in that area! LOL 🤪 Thank you very much for your kind words. When I first realized I was in complete relapse, it kind of broke me for a couple days, because I felt like I failed, and the what “if’s” locked me in my head for hours at a time, and the idea of returning to treatment was devastating. After a couple days of that lovely experience, I moved closer to self compassion, and recognized that identifying I need help and being willing to seak it is not weakness but a strength. At that point I was able to start re-engaging in some of the tools I had learned. That’s why establishing this mindset is important for me, because the relapse sucked, but the absolute bs I put my self thru with self judgment once I identified the relapse was not helpful or necessary.
How do you deal with fear of relapse? I went through private therapy a year ago and felt so much better for about 8 months, little to no ocd worries. Then a month ago a new fear popped up and despite all the knowledge therapy equipped me with I went into a really bad place. I’m worried I’ll spend my whole life between themes.
Your posts have really been resonating with me! Would you mind sharing some of the tools you’ve created for yourself to try and avoid relapse? I mentioned in an earlier post that I am struggling with ROCD and you were so kind with your response! My most recent issue I’m finding is being scared of become pregnant with my new husband which is something I have always wanted with him up until my intrusive thought “ruined” me and what I think I want. I don’t want to miss out on what I know in my heart I have wanted for years. My most recent thought is “how are you supposed to have and love a baby if you don’t even know if you love your husband.” This is devistating for me.
Again, I am sorry to hear you are going thru that! Like I said in my other reply, my list is super simple and mostly common sense, and includes things I know to do, but may forget to do when life just turns my world upsideside down, or when trying to accomplish or do something that is super important to me & my mind is so focused, I forget to do the basics. . My “Self Care” list to help give my body and mind what it needs to be strong in the face of the big stuff is: - Following my Sleep Rotune and starting it before 10:00 - Eat Breakfast daily - Drink lots of water first thing before anything else. (reduces cortisol levels that accumulate during sleep) - Use the Exercise tool on the NOCD app to do 1 exposure daily. (About 10 minutes) - Attend OCD community group at least once a week. - Take a 10 minute walk daily (struggling with this right now and not doing it increases the potential for a flareup with my agoraphobia) - Make time at least once a day for something that bring moments of calm or joy: * Guided Meditatiin (1 min to 10 min maximum) * Laughter * Hugs * Time in Nature * 3 minute Dance Break * 30 min of creativity: Succlent Garden Painting Building something with my power tools Wood Burning Art Everyone’s needs are different, but hopefully mine will help inspire ideas for what you could put on your list to meet your needs. Sending hugs and strength!!
If you don’t mind sharing, what were you most effective ERP exercises? I’m in the middle of a relapse and found your post so encouraging.
I think ERP exercises are so incredibly individual, so instead of sharing specific examples of my exposures, I will share what activities and approaches helped me with making them effective: 1) Self Compassion: I did a compulsion…. I have OCD…. AND…I am taking steps to get better. 2) Progrss…NOT…Perfection (so hard for me!) : These behaviors did not develope overnight and they will not go away overnight, I would use the OFF switch if I had one! Reduction of compulsions or reduction of the duration of compulsions is progress and moves me closer to my goal of Managing My OCD 3) Not every tool is useful to ME: Try things a few times, and if they don’t help me then adjust, or do something else…. Don’t try Harder, Try Different 4) Exercise Tool on NOCD app: This helped me so much with my exposures because it gives suggestions - didn’t use any of them..lol, I still found them helpful because they helped me get unstuck and come up with my own. 5) Community Groups thru NOCD: These have been so impactful for me, just participating is an exposure for my social anxiety. I have had so many light bulb moments from listening to what others share. In responding with compassion to others, it has helped me with learning self compassion in the face of the same struggles. I have left quite distressed a few times, but those moments consistantly have become the biggest learning experiences for me. 6) Planned Exposures & being Exposed to Triggers are 2 different things & I approach them differently. - Planned Exposure: Goal is to trigger the distress, lean in to it and resist doing compulsions, safety seeking, or calming behavior. These can range from 10 seconds - 5 min max for me. My anxiety will not always comedown during the exposure if I stay with the trigger, so once it peaks and if it doesn’t start coming down, I remove my self from the trigger and stay in the exposure by not doing compulsions or any calming behavior until anxiety is half. - Being Exposed to Triggers: The goal of doing all this hard work it to get back to the things I value and enjoy in life that OCD has made it difficult to do, or enjoy. I have been working on embracing the joy and doing the things I have not been able to, or have avoided and focusing on creating positive experiences and riding the wave of anxiety when it comes when I am triggered in those spaces or situations. And then focus on the moment at hand and lean into the joy. I try to catch compulsions, and if I do accidentally do them, I try to identify with out judgement and refocus on the task at hand. This leaning into the joy started with the simple choice to dance and sing in the shower, completely present in that space and moment and just having fun. Hope some of this is helpful, or sparks some ideas of what would be helpful to you. ✌️😊
@HappyTurtle Truly a wise and helpful response. I want to look into the community groups on this app for sure. Thank you for putting yourself out there for us. It’s truly a gift 💕
@emmy sue wtf…Thanks a lot… you have gone and made me cry! seriously & LOL! I appreciate and am humbled by your very kind words.
@emmy sue Also wanted to mention… the grouos are super simple to sign up for, and you can attend and check out as many as you like, and it is thru zoom and we are supposed to keep our cameras on, but if that is challenging at first, you can just use the chat and direct message the therapist, or advocate leading the group and let them know. I start on camera, and when my anxiety goes high and stays there (normally after talking) I go off camera for a few moments to allow the anxiety to come down on its own and then go back on camera… so ya, I totally use the groups as an exposure! LOL
It’s been a few months since I’ve been on here and I’m happy to say it’s because I am pretty much pure o, ocd free! This app really did help so much! I want to share the things that helped me get a grip on ocd. I don’t want to use the words “recover or control” because ocd is a part of our brains but it doesn’t mean it has to be a distressing part. I had my first ocd flare up in Nov and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was crying and panicking almost every night for weeks, looking back I can’t believe I made it through the things I needed to do in life because I was a mess. But now I look at things like atleast I know what it is and how to deal with it when it comes. So here are my tips. 1. Reading about intrusive thoughts and pure o online and in books. I consumed as much knowledge about ocd as I could. 2. Starting erp therapy on my own and with a therapist. Though I do have a therapist to guide me 100% of erp is the work I put in. I would try all the recommendations of erp from accepting the thought, to making myself have the thoughts as practice, resisting compulsions, changing the way I reacted and thought about an intrusive thought, now this isn’t easy... but I did it all the time even when I felt the panic feeling and even when the ocd was strong, even when I didn’t believe it. I faked it until I made it 3. Practice is helpful, it took days of hard work especially in the first few months but that’s what I did, I considered every day, every intrusive thought as practice 4. Once I stopped the compulsions, (luckily mine weren’t very strong and I cut them off quick) I began thinking the thoughts that bothered me, and slowly added more disturbing content into my life (my ocd was harm ocd mainly) 5. I told myself that “yes that bad thought is real” and didn’t try to comfort my intrusive thought or push it away, if ocd said I was crazy and going to be locked in a facility then I agreed, I would say it in my head and sometimes out loud “yup your right ocd I’m crazy” 6. After acceptance and exposure I began working on being kinder to myself, I didn’t think that this step was crucial but it is.... ocd wants us to suffer and in a way it’s like by giving it power I wanted to suffer too, I told myself that ocd is a liar and I don’t want to suffer, it’s ok that I have ocd I accept it but now I must be gentle with myself 7. Learning to always default to these things when an intrusive thought happens, so much so that my brain does it naturally now ...a) hi ocd that’s cool but I’d rather not think about that and I continue doing what I’m doing, this is hard in the beginning but gets easier b) sure ocd I am definitely crazy but again I think I’d rather keep watching this show c) I am okay with the possibility of that happening but now is not the time for me to figure that out d) you are a liar and separate from me but thanks for the interesting thought ...8. Remembering these things: ocd is a liar, a thought isn’t sumthing u control but what u do with it is, if you don’t want to do something you won’t because of your morals and free will, this concept took me awhile to grasp but repetition is key. Almost everyone get intrusive thoughts so you aren’t unique or alone. I’ve learned through the ups and downs of erp how to combat my intrusive thoughts, how to be kinder to myself and how to change the way I think in order to live a better life. I still get an intrusive thought occasionally when I’m sticky but the way I think about the thought is so automatic now and so relaxed because of the work I’ve put in! If you are working towards erp don’t stop, keep going! I feel you, I know it’s hard and exhausting... 11 months ago I thought I was going crazy I was in the worst place of my life flash to today and it’s like I never even had ocd! You can do this I promise xx
Hi everyone, how are you doing? It’s been a really long time since I’ve posted on here. I still remember at the beginning of this year (in January) I had gotten my ocd diagnosis. After that I did ERP and I did get better thankfully. Started doing mindfulness and being present in the moment. 11 months on I feel better than I was at the beginning. Yes there are times where it is tough, but after the rain there is always a sunshine Right now I feel like I’m relapsing, but the truth is ocd isn’t something that goes away… it’s something that will always be a part of you. You just need to learn to accept it. Sometimes when we get better we forget that ocd is still there, that’s when we get caught off guard. This is a reminder to myself first, always continue to be consistent with ERP. By the way, has anyone got any advice for when ocd themes/symptoms resurface again? Thanks!
Hey guys. So I just had a pretty big relapse in my ocd, the first one since I started going to therapy. At first it was hard to accept that I had gone back to old patterns, but I’m trying to look at it as a chance to do better for myself this time. A chance to handle it with compassion, kindness and regard for myself rather than the disgust and shame I felt during my first big ocd episode. Here are some things I’ve been doing that have helped: Epsom salt baths- what I’ve realized is that it doesn’t serve me to be anxious all the time. I need to calm my body down so I can feel hunger, and have moments of clarity. And these baths help a lot - the magnesium really helps relax and give you a moment to be comfortable in your body. Remember to eat and drink enough water. Right now, your mind is running wild and your body is responding as if it’s in fight or flight mode- make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Gratitude practice- I know that it can seem really hard to find the positive during a really intense OCD episode. But what I’ve found is that if I make the effort to recognize the good in my life, even if it’s as small as “I had the money to buy myself some epsom salts to take care of myself” or “I’m grateful for that sunset I just saw” has helped me keep my spirits more alive even if my brain wants to pull me into rumination. Crying - let yourself have a release. One thing I like to do is imagine my mom or an older version of myself coming in the room and comforting me. It helps to imagine what you would say to a loved one that just had the day you had. For example: if my head really hurts from ruminating all day - I’ll take the time to drink water and take some medicine. Then I’ll think about what I would say to someone who dealt with the stress, anxiety, and rumination that I just had that day. Well a lot of times (and we want to stay away from reassurance with this) I’ll say to myself “I can’t tell you whether or not your obsessions are true. But I can tell you that I love you and I’m here for you no matter what.” And I find this is a great way of reinforcing your relationship with self as you learn to trust your ability to navigate difficult flare ups. Holding your own hand, being the support you need, can make the world of a difference. Doing exposures in real life. I’ve found that doing exposures have made me feel empowered again, even if that only lasts for a little bit. I’ve found that not planning exposures as much and just going about my life saying “Right now, what would I do if I didn’t have ocd?” Or being spontaneous anyways even if it feels uncomfortable has helped. Look objectively at your day. Are you spending two hours laying in bed in the morning before you get up? Maybe eliminating that or paring it down intentionally will help you reduce rumination. Taking supplements - fish oil, b6 vitamin, vitamin c, vitamin d are all ones I take every day and help keep my immune system up and my brain functioning a bit better. Keep a feelings journal. Staying in touch with your emotions is really important. I’ve found it to really help me break out of ocd as I can say to it “I hear you, OCD. But my inner child is really sad right now, and I’m going to direct my attention towards her rather than engage in rumination.” At the end of the day we can’t help what our brains might want to do. They might want to ruminate, mentally review, make us afraid and anxious and have irrational doubts. But we can control the ways that we treat ourselves, and what we direct our attention towards. May we direct our attention towards the good in our lives, towards care and love and moments of peace, because that will start to being more of that in. You know what they say “What you focus on gets bigger”. And I would say that especially if you are dealing with ocd - you deserve even more love and compassion - and hopefully I’ve been able to give you some tips that might help foster that as well. Feel free to add your own methods of dealing with OCD below. And hey, to anyone struggling through their own relapse right now - I get it. It sucks. But it’s also within your control to make it better - and I believe in you. I’m so proud of anyone out there fighting ocd right now. Fighting for the big, beautiful life that you deserve. Stay strong ❤️ You can do this.
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