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Has anyone noticed improvement in symptoms after giving up caffeine? I usually have 1-2 coffees a day but I’m starting to wonder if cutting out caffeine will help manage my symptoms better.

Alright, this might be blatant reassurance seeking behavior but I think it's an important exception because I was told something by a nurse practitioner (who prescribes my meds) that would have me believe I am repressing something that disgusts me. Does arousal indicate anything? She seemed to think so, but I'm not convinced it isn't just my OCD and she is ill-informed. The reason I say this is an "exception" is, well, she is a professional.

Haven’t been on here in awhile but I’m at quite a low point. Doing compulsions, checking, etc. Haven’t done that in a long, long time. I thought I was managing pretty well but I guess I wasn’t :(

Feeling pretty weak right now. I did a great job of not doing any compulsions last night. I've already done assurance seeking with my mom and brother. It worked temporarily but the thought came back. I feel if I get assurance from my psychiatrist on Thursday I could finally move past this obsession

So, a couple of days ago I tried to explain my OCD to a friend of mine. She knows I have OCD and that it impacts me a lot, but I almost never talk about it, because its so often misunderstood and that hurts. This time I tried to explain, she said: I know exactly what you mean! Im also anxious often, I cant stop thinking about things Im anxious about either, I also ruminate and Im also obsessive I think I might have OCD aswell ("haha") and she started talking about her obsessive behaviors, smiling as if its funny. This hurt me. Because my OCD ruined me life for 14 years... it took everything away from me. My health, my joy in life, never been in a relationship, never been able to work or finish my study, never been able to think about kids or getting a home, etc. People may try to help me by saying "I know exactly what you mean", but it hurts so bad, because they dont, they dont have OCD. How can I explain that everyone had obsessive behaviors but not everyone has OCD. Like almost everyone I tell about my OCD (which is partially pure OCD), says: "I have that too! I know exactly what you mean". But they dont... they live a normal life... Nobody seems to understand that OCD is different than just ruminating about things sometimes, being perfectionistic and having some obsessive behaviors like everyone has obsessive behaviors. I feel so lonely...

can ocd lessen with time? lately i find myself having periods of time where the symptoms are much less severe and not affecting me much, then id get a random attack that does affect me pretty severely. there are some weeks where i find my intrusive thoughts to be less but experience more anxiety/give in to compulsions. and some weeks its just been somewhat calm for both. is this normal or does it make my ocd invalid?? im not very educated and would like to know

I used to think that having ocd means youre not going to do these things and this is what made me feel okay when i was so scared of the harm and selfharm thoughts. But i see people here saying they actually act on thw thoughts and you can do that and its still ocd. Ocd can make you act on these thoughts and the self harm can be a compulsion and im so afraid of developing that cause i feel like i can, cause sometimes the urge feel.so real. Its so scary to realize that harm can be a compulsion and even killing yourself can be as one too...

I don’t know what to do anymore. It feels like i am the exception. I constantly see mentally that I have sex with the same sex (always saw myself as heterosexual woman). I even think or see it mentally to check if i really want it and i really don’t know anymore. It feels so real. I am so scared that it is no ocd and that I’m in denial. I have no problem with gays etc but the anxiety is not leaving me. It feels so real and I don’t know what to do anymore. Does anybody recognise this? Compulsions to see it mentally and check if you want it or not. Other compulsions is listen on YouTube to see/hope I recognise myself with the same things. I feel so depressed. I think it began with women, but now it is like teenagers or young women. I feel so horrible and hopeless. My anxiety is 24/7. I don’t eat or sleep.

i dont know what is trigger and what is not so i will just put the warning just incase, i am new here and idk what im doing, ive had therapy before for trauma and major depression and its never really worked for me, it did help me get over the trauma i got from my parents divorce but the depression never got better. ive stopped having therapy for months now and its only gotten worst. now the reason i search for an ocd test was because recently i learned that ocd isnt the stereotype of only being like wanting things neat but it's actually more than that. when i heard it dealt wit intrusive thoughts i was shocked because i always had so many thoughts that made me sad to know i was having those thoughts for example raping someone or doing sexual deeds with a minor or killing something or hurting someone or doing something inappropriate with my younger sister and those thoughts are making me want to kill myself bc i know those thoughts are bad and im just so scared im gonna hurt someone. ive also gotten to a point to where i dont care about myself anymore. the only reason im here is because i just wanted to validate my thoughts and knowing its a disorder makes me feel a bit better. i still dont care about living tho i think that sooner or later these thoughts will just overwhelm me that i will just end my life to end stop my thoughts from playing anymore, im so tired of this i just want it to end

this sounds so stupid i bet, but this is one of the most stressful things i’ve had to deal with. the hardest thing to do is sleep. in the past when i’ve gotten sick, it’s worken me up at night. now, i cant sleep without waking up for an hour or two on and off anxious. i don’t know how to get rid of this fear. it feels like the scariest thing. it’s the nit having control over my body i think.

this is so embarrassing to talk about.. i have acrylic nails & one of the thumbs came off. i feel so on edge that it’s not the same as all of the others. i don’t have the money to get it done right now. any tips??

My nervous system is on high alert.

When things are messy or seem messy I freak out. Everything has to be perfect and the way I like it and the way I feel its supposed to be. But today my house was getting renovated and we had to move all the furniture around and clump it together and it made me all overwhelmed all weekend and I was lashing out and being difficult to anyone that interacted with me because nothing was how it was supposed to be. I cried multiple times and I just couldn't help it. Sometimes for no reason at all I wonder if I actually have OCD, like maybe I'm faking it or I have a couple problems with how I keep my room clean and I'm overreacting and turning it into something much bigger. But I know that's stupid because it's obvious that I have severe OCD. Today is the kind of day that's kind of like a wake up call. Today I didn't doubt the fact that I have OCD and I struggled a lot. And then when it was all said and done I obsessed over putting everything back in it's place and perfecting everything like I always do. And then I was fine like it never happened, except for the fact that I know how triggered I was today and how much I struggled and wanted to completely breakdown and scream. OCD is a serious mental illness and today was proof of that. Today was proof that I'm not as okay as I thought I was and that i shouldn't brush off my OCD as something that isn't important or serious. Thank you to anyone who listens

my mom and my sister keep making fun of me for my ocd. when things aren’t a certain way i get very twitchy and upset. my sister always laughs at me and tells everyone. my mom has talked to a number of my therapists about what ocd actually is , yet she yells at me and gets legit mad when i have compulsions. does anyone have any suggestions on what to say back because nothing works and i’m sick of being mad fun of.

i don't know why but nowadays i realized i am all alone. I never had a boyfriend,i don't have friends (actually i have a friend,but it seems like he don't want to talk to me anymore) i don't have a job that i like,i don't have creativity anymore for my hobby,its just me and my family,so i think my ocd theme who is to worry a lot about my family all the time is because i don't have nothing,so i have to worry about them otherwise i would have nothing to care about,because i don't have self love enough to focus or to worry about myself,even though i try so hard. And i think if i have a boyfriend now,my ocd can disappear,but i am not pretty enough for a good boyfriend and i don't wanna someone who will treat me like shit.

Okay, I’ve been struggling with hocd for the past(almost) 2 years. I haven’t really progressed and got more worst at controlling. Okay to start off, I used to be bisexual for years. I got rid of it ever since I started dating my bf. And everything was fine for 3 years, until one inappropriate video popped up(I could see videos without reacting ). And that’s what started the gronial and the hocd. My aniexty plays a part of it as well. Lately, I’ve been avoiding people in general since I always worry if I’m going to had a thought or reaction. I don’t want to go back to my old self and that’s what I fear. I can’t even see pretty woman or anything without feeling “unloyal” to my bf. I tried exposure and in one part it works, but then goes back to the same crap. I need help and if there’s any advice, I would be glad to listen !

ive been doing erp for a week after i realized this was another ocd thought and my brain still sees the thought as something scary and im just tired of it, i live on my own and i dont have alot of people to talk about ocd with, i couldnt eat well for last few days or keep my sleep schedule... i feel like a mess and im too tired to start building my self back up... anyway to make the recovery process faster? ive done this 2 times now and everytime it takes me like 1 month to get fully out of it

why do i have to worry about everyone and everything? I don't care that much about me,but i am always caring about people around me.its so draining

Does anyone ever get scared that they are just trying to convince themselves that it’s OCD. I have this fear that my intrusive thoughts about harm aren’t actually intrusive nor is it actually OCD and I’m actually some sort of crazy evil human being all of a sudden. As I’m writing this I can see how silly that is. Of course it’s OCD, but there is always that “what if” and it makes me scared of myself. I know that this could be considered “obsessing about obsessing,” but like I said, there is always that, “What if you are different? An anomaly.”

Many times I wonder about this: what is life like without OCD? How would my life be if I wasn't dealing/struggling/suffering from OCD