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i’m a little worried everytime i think like sexual about my girlfriend my thoughts feel replaced by kids and it makes me think that im the thinking on purpose am i?

I want to know if this an ocd thing because I haven't read about it when I started searching of the disorder to make sure I had it (that before my diagnosis) Does your thoughts get worsened when you are falling sleep or are half awake half sleep? I noticed mines would get intensified when I'm trying very hard to stay awake or when I'm close to falling asleep

Feel like I’ve been stuck in a spiral for a while. My OCD has come in waves over the years but this time it has been so debilitating. I’m in therapy, but I really struggle with sitting with uncertainty. My therapist will tell me to say, “Maybe, maybe not”. But so many of my fears and so much of my uncertainty feels too risky to just, “not figure out”. And if it’s not just thoughts, it’s actions or events. Whether it’s an event from years ago or 5 minutes ago, I feel like I’m ruminating and trying to perform memory recall. I analyze every action, thought, decision. I’m full of guilt and dread all the time. And then I realize how much it’s affecting my family and ability to be a fun and present parent. Most days I’m hardly functional outside of meeting my kid’s basic needs. I feel like I’m wasting so much time, but I just can’t get myself out of this constant loop. Every day brings a new event or theme or thought. I know I need to sit with the uncertainty but it’s so hard.

I Am married to my husband who i love. OCD tricks me into thinking i don’t love him and that I’m secretly gay and don’t want to come out. I have been having intrusive thoughts but the anxiousness has been low but I’m starting to freak out. These last few days 24/7 “you’re gay you need to come out” “you’re lying” I literally don’t want anything to do with a woman but it feels so real that I’m questioning if this is even ocd. I have intrusive thoughts of doing things with woman but I don’t want to do them and then my compulsions come in. Why has my anxiety been gone the last few days? It just now came back. I’m afraid to be near my spouse because of these thoughts I don’t want to lose him but I feel so detached from reality. What is going on? I keep telling myself that I’m not gay but it makes it worse.

For several years of my life, OCD made some days, months even, incredibly difficult. I wasn’t sure I would get through that time, but somehow I prevailed. Through therapy, I’m starting to learn how to handle my symptoms and move away from compulsions. That doesn’t mean every day is easy, but that I’m starting to stop avoiding the things that trigger me. I feel like I’m building more trust with myself and moving towards a brighter future that OCD doesn’t dictate. I am so grateful towards myself, my therapist, and my other supports that I have reached this point, and really proud of how much I am growing.

I needed to get out of bed. I got intrusive thoughts. Anxiety and ocd as soon as as i wake up. I scoooted out of bed. But intrusivr thought was of my friend and their kid then ocd ad sensiromotor ocd i worried about groinals and hip thrusts. As i scooted out of bed i think i felt a pause or hesitation but im not sure. I recall scooting off the bed but ocd hyperfocusing on my goos and groinals and hip thrusts thoughts. I anxiously reacted and said NO repeatedly as compulsions. Now im stuck trying tk figure lut did j slowly scoot off the bed and ocd was just hyperfocused on groinals? Did i involuntary hip thrust or was i checking as a compulsion so hip thrusted intentionally? Thrn ocd said was k intnetionally hip thrusting while scooting off and having intrusive thiughts and arousing over my friend and their kid but thats ego dystonic and causes me anxiety and discomfort and i kept saying NO. Was it just sensirimotr ocd. Was i hesitant and thats ehy i slowly scooted out of bed and OCD just fixates on groinals. Im stuck figuring out whyd my brain fixate on my hips and groins. Did i do anything intentionally to act on the intrusive thiughts? Why was i moving sloe kr did ocd interpret that way because of anxiety? Did i hip thrust or was it just natural movement of scooting out of bed and ocd just worrying false alarms and making me feel guilt and doubt to keep me ruminating. I know i wasnt arousing over my friend and their kid. As i scooted and had intrusivr thoughts and groinals i felt so uncomfortable and said NO repeatedly as a compulsion as i kept scooting out. Of course scooting causes a natural hip thrust motion tk scoot out and groinals occur and my anxious discomfort and cringe face and saying no was me trying tk endure it but ocd thougjts hyperfixate and make me confused snd doubt snd says “was i hip thrusting snd arousing iver intrusive thoughts? “ this is ego dystonic. And i already woke up in an anxiety soup mentally. And i think i was just hesistant and ocd hyperfixates with sensiromotor and i was just trying to get out of bed. I dont want thoughts if my friend and their kid. Indont want groinals. So why woukd i arouse over it thats not rational logical kr who i am. Short answer please advise

I’ve recently had my meds upped after a really bad spiral / episode and i’m doing a bit better. My mum wanted me to go to the GP, a doctor she really trusts to affirm the dosage is ok, what’s really going on etc. I went to the GP and it was an experience that honestly didn’t sit right with me. I just wanted some community to know if i’m over analysing. I feel like I cannot tell my mum because she trusts this doctor so much. My mum came with me and kind of brought up how I was thinking it could be OCD but the doctor immediately wrote me off and was like it’s definitely not it’s just anxiety and depression and then he brought up how OCD is more like I wouldn’t be able to go through the door without tapping and checking and how he knew a friend with OCD in school and he couldn’t even leave his locker for 30 minutes because he had to keep checking. I 100% know this is OCD and this is what it looks like for some people and how debilitating it is but from what I’ve learnt and researched it’s not JUST that and I don’t really like the way he turned me down without asking what symptoms I have. I also feel like he didn’t have a good grasp on what it really is at its core because yes I don’t physically check but I don’t think it’s crazy that I thought (think?) I might have it (i have obsessive intrusive thoughts, ruminate, mental compulsions and body check). Then he kind of went on to psycho analyse me and ended up asking about personal stuff and kind of blamed all my intrusive thoughts on my relationship with my dad who is estranged, which was awkward and a little insulting. I’m not saying that has no impact on my mental health but it just felt uncomfortable and weird to me. Anyways even if I don’t have OCD, I’m not sure I do, I’m no doctor but I relate to many of you and I know that OCD is not visible in that way for many so it’s sad to think many others will be ignored or brushed off. Does anyone else have any stories of GP’s treating OCD this way ? :((

Currently feeling extremely shameful for something I did in the past. Any advice? I've had periods of coming to terms with it and understanding that it was just a mistake, as no one got hurt, but now it's resurfacing again.

Okay... so im taking the NREMT-B exam next week in about 5 days... Im genuinely nervous... I want to succeed so badly but because my POCD says my worst fears have already, or will, come true, that I dont deserve this and it makes me feel guilty... I'm a horrible person... ive unintentionally hurt people... ive done genuinely horrible POCD-related things as a 13-14 year old that make me feel genuine guilt as an adult... and it should... why do i deserve to help people, when all Ive ever done is hurt people....? (Also, for context, my biggest fear is doing anything inappropriate with minors in any way... and whether or not it has already happened... thats my biggest fear...)

I’m curious if anyone else has ever had this. This is my specific theme in regards to my OCD that has been prevalent in my life since 2022. Quick back story: went to a party college for 4.5 years and had a blast, got as drunk as I wanted on weekends and never once felt bad about it. Then, hangovers got worse and I started partying too much. After graduation, I told myself that it’d be a really cool goal to get to the point where I could go out and just have 4 beers. Enough to enjoy myself, not enough to make me hungover. Well, this simple healthy goal turned into a massive obsession. Now, if I go over my limit of 4-5 beers/drinks, two things happen: 1. I give up and binge drink bc I might as well if I’m already over my limit. 2. The next day even if I’m super hungover, unless I can’t bc of work scheduling, I will perform a check where I drink 4 beers and see if I can still get drunk off of those. If I can get drunk, then I feel normal. If I am not as drunk, then this cycle continues. I worry about becoming an alcoholic all the time bc at this point in my life I am very active in my social scene, and alcohol is very much present. While I certainly do not have any family history of alcoholism nor the personality or drive to become one, I still fear that I might one day despite knowing I won’t. I also worry about raising my drinking tolerance by continuing to feed this obsession/compulsion loop. It’s slightly affected my personality and confidence. I’m aware it’s irrational and the solution is to simply cut back as anyone would and go out less frequently, or drink less frequently when I’m out. And yet, my other obsession with alcohol is experiencing the painful withdrawals that alcoholics experience when they stop drinking!! Despite never having experienced those withdrawals when I’ve not drank on a given night. So, it’s a weird one. Thinking the ERP is just going to be not performing those checks. If I’ve reached my limit and am not as drunk, okay. Alcohol absorption is affected by a lot. No need to check my tolerance nor go overboard since I’m not as drunk. We’ll see. I’m on Zoloft too which has helped a ton with other symptoms but this theme is making it less effective and I need to get control of it now.

hi everyone!! so idk if anyone will see this, but i guess i have a lot of questions. i got diagnosed with OCD about 2 years ago or so but i’ve had it for as long as i can remember. my obsessions and compulsions root from my worst fears and what i’m most afraid of losing. when i was really young, it started with doing things or else the devil was going to come and get me, because that was my worst fear at that time. i have to count, i usually do things in pairs of 3. i HATE even numbers. only odd numbers. sometimes i spend a lot of time redoing something over and over and over again just until it feels “right.” i have super bad sensory issues. i cut the tags out of everything i own, my nails have to be short or else i will dig them into my skin until i bleed because it just doesn’t feel right. at school i used to be late to class because i would be at my locker turning the combination either 3, 7, 9, 11, or 13 times. it just depended on what felt right. before i would go to bed i would have to sit up and check the door 3 , 7, 9… etc. one time i had to check 27 times before i could go to sleep. i’m actually scared of getting things i want in life because my OCD will hold it against me. “you better do this or else you’ll lose this.” the more happy i am in life, the worse my OCD gets. it prays on my worst fears. if there is even something slightly wrong with my clothes: a tiny thread hanging lose, a bad memory attached, i will never wear it again. there’s one thing im sorta embarrassed to say but it’s one of my worst ones. basically: peeing. at night, i have to continuously go to the bathroom over and over again because i feel like my bladder isn’t completely empty. i will keep telling myself “it’s full, i have to go.” even when i just peed 5 minutes ago. and due to this, it causes a lot of wiping. i have wiped myself raw to the point i bleed a lot. it’s embarrassing, but i can’t stop. it never feels clean enough. my hair is never perfect enough. my clothes are ugly. i think i mostly struggle with perfectionism OCD. but is that it? i also feel like if i don’t do certain things, it will cause something bad to happen to my family or friends. like i have magical control over events. i don’t know. can someone help please?

I’m worried it’s not because why did that happened? I was fantasizing about this marvel villain in a sexual way and then when I heard my brother breathe I got turn on more so now I feel like a p

Has anyone ever spent time in an inpatient facility? I’ve been considering that form of treatment because I feel so trapped in myself and I need some comfort and guidance. I’ve spoken with my family about it and they think I need it and have been asking me for months to go check in somewhere. Please share your experience. Thanks

I just got done with an appointment with my psychiatrist and I believe she said that I have ocd, anxiety, and depression but I keep telling myself that she didn’t say ocd. I feel like I held back on a lot of how I actually felt because I was scared she was going to say I was crazy or something so I kinda down played what goes on in my head. I’m over analyzing things I said in the meeting and thinking that I might have said things that aren’t true. I feel like she doesn’t know the severity of it so she doesn’t think I have ocd. I want to text and ask her to confirm or should I just wait until my next appointment.

I had my first serious anxiety related episode back in April and then once in May. My husband had lost his job due to health reasons and spent six weeks looking for work before he finally found something. It was up to me delivering for spark to make the bills. The stress built up and in May I had a panic attack that put me in the hospital. I started Sertraline, had some rough side effects but still noticed a positive change in the anxiety. I still felt crappy every day, but less and less crappy, if that makes sense. (Nausea, heart palpitations, weak, anxious). The month of June was great, no huge panic moments, no racing heart, etc. In one day I went out of town by myself, drove on the interstate, (that’s always scared me), went to the dentist and took my son out to lunch and dined in. It was great. The next day, I argued with my teen all day, it exhausted me and I was dreading spending an hour that evening talking to my therapist. I was just too tired, you know? About twenty minutes before the appointment my anxiety ramped up. Racing heart, trembling, feelings of dread. Normally I can get it under control with breathing techniques but I didn’t have time to before my appointment. Luckily my therapist had overbooked and called me to cancel, so I just rested for the rest of the night, but that’s been six days ago and I’ve struggled ever since. The day after that I was weak and shaky and could feel my heart beat, the day after that I was tired and really beating myself up for what felt like a failure to me, and the last couple days it’s been on and off heart palpitations (my heart rate isn’t going up high, I’m just super aware of my heart beat) and it’s very uncomfortable. My family keeps telling me it’s because I’m stuck in my head and I know that’s true because I spent hours outside in the heat doing garden work yesterday and instead of feeling even worse I felt amazing for the rest of the night and I’ve felt pretty good for most of today. So I know in my head that anxiety recovery isn’t linear and that anxiety hangovers are a real thing and that i just have to be patient for a few days after an attack, but sometimes it’s so hard to think like that when I’m in the middle of feeling so crappy and shaky and weak. Does anyone else feel discouraged like this sometimes? Is what I just described similar to anything anyone else has experienced? If so, what were some coping techniques you used?

I’m not sure what to do. I have a trip to Disney in less than a week, but my anxiety is debilitating right now. Ive barely been able to sleep or eat in 5 days, and it’s not getting any better. I don’t want to not go on this trip because that’ll just prove to the anxiety that I can’t do it, but I truly can’t go while I’m feeling like this. I won’t be able to do anything. I’ve felt like this before, but I’ve never had an obligation like this during a bad spiral. I really don’t know what to do. I’m so tired of feeling like this. I’m heavily medicated, I do breathe work, I do mindfulness exercises and nothing eases the anxiety. Every time that I think I’m fine I think about Disney and freak out again. If anyone has any advice or even just encouragement I’d really appreciate it. Thank you

I feel like legit everything I do revolves around an ocd theme. So I feel like a lost cause because I’m so obsessive. I don’t even know what it would be like to have free flowing thoughts, not have (literally), every ocd theme, not to feel anxious, not to search for worry or feel jealous or paranoid, no counting. This disorder truly sucks. I also wonder how long it would take for me to succeed with ERP therapy if I did it.

So I was talking to myself in the living room right and then I hear my brother‘s iPad that his friend talking and I was like what the hell is that and I was like oh that’s his friend and then I crotch down and I try to like put in the password so I can turn it off and it’s like I don’t know if my face made a smile because I was like oh this is the opportunity to talk to his friendyou know and I’m just like I looked at myself in the mirror and I’m just like predator because it’s like why would I feel good about that about having the opportunity to talk to a kid?

I’m thinking about starting sertraline (Zoloft) soon. What are your experiences on it? Is it worth it? I mainly wanna take it for my social anxiety and intrusive thoughts. Depression isn’t a problem I face. What dosages are you on? Are you happy with it?

Anyone experiencing loss of attraction to opposite sex (what you had before any of this)…? I get the feeling that I like what I see in the opposite sex but then hit with what feels like depression or numb with makes me feel sad.