Somatic OCD - Community

Does anyone's symptoms get worse when it's dark outside? I swear I'll be totally fine and then as soon as the sun goes down I'm a total mess for no reason.

Seems can't do anything right using the bathroom is a big problem for me

I haven't struggled with any rumination or Somatic OCD compulsions in weeks, now!! That is a lifetime record! I believe I have gotten to the bottom of it after hard work and lots of consistency. I understand the tools now. This is the best birthday present I could ever ask for. 🎁

My ocd is so horrible tonight and I’m having to stay at my parents (they aren’t here) because it was so cold at my apartment, the heater wasn’t working and I had to leave. I have been so dissociated lately that I locked my key in my apartment with all of my medicine so my safety blanket is gone. I feel weird writing on this forum but I’m having a bit of a meltdown, my ocd is very bad right now and due to this weather I can’t leave and no one is with me. I’m not sure what to do. I am not sure how to feel grounded in my body again, my mind has hijacked it. Any words are appreciated

I’m so bummed that NOCD won’t accept my insurance. I can’t get proper treatment and I’m living with severe OCD. The cost for a 1 hour session is $100 I’m currently unemployed and attending my senior year in high school. I struggle just making it through the day. Everyday I look forward to going to bed to escape the world and these thoughts. Pray for me that a way to treatment/ recovery will be made.

I just want to go back to being in the current moment when I was living and happy. I’m not happy. Some days are better than others but life feels like a rollercoaster 🎢 ride with my moods… As a child, I used to watch my grandmother cry nonstop and I couldn’t understand why she would just cry so much. I don’t want my child to continue the pattern so it’s essential that I take control over this😩

I have not been diagnosed with OCD but everyone I talk to seems to think what I deal with lines up. I am constantly uncomfortable, I have to contract my stomach muscles and stretch my stomach muscles all day long till it feels good. There are parts of my body that are overly sensitive and I can’t touch without it giving me anxiety like my collar bones. The same muscle contracting issue happens in my calves, neck and then I also experience something similar to my eyes. I have to blink hard on occasion till it feels right. The biggest thing I need help with is my stomach muscle contracting and stretching because it’s the most constant throughout the day and is very obvious to anyone near me that something is wrong. I often get asked if I have the hiccups or Tourette’s and don’t ever know how to answer them. This started about a year ago and has only gotten worse overtime.

hi, im new here, currently a college student suffering severely from somatic ocd (i focus on my breathing 24/7) and it has affected my life so much, i want to go to therapy and learn more about ERP but there is no one close than can help… (I’m currently living in mexico🙃) so i’m curious if i can have therapy sessions online or how does it work, because i really need help

So i’m new to erp i’ve only had 2 therapy sessions so far and from what i understand erp is basically exposing yourself to uncertainty and not falling into your compulsions. Tik tok is so anxiety inducing to me because i latch onto new obsessions so quickly and randomly and so i feel like it’s making my ocd worse but also tik tok is almost a compulsion for me i use it to distract myself from my thoughts. And i know ERP is to expose yourself so at the same time id be exposing myself but also going into an compulsion? should i delete the app or continue using it?

I'm completely sick. I'm going through an extremely stressful period because I have to submit my final uni assignment and I haven't overcome the previous burn out. That means I can't focus and I fall into depression. I have somatic ocd which is a remnant of a past ocd outburst and my stomach doesn't work ok if u know what o mean. My stomach hurts all day my body is stiff I'm depressed and I can't exist iny body. I can't relax until I finish with this obligation and I can't enjoy anything because of that . I'm not productive it feels like an uphill battle Like I won't ever finish

I went my entire life having OCD and it had never been a problem for me until I started my own business. Suddenly, these fears of death and leaving my son behind is scary. I’m working with my therapist now processing death but now the fears seem to want to shift towards losing my mind. I hate this and I’m ready to snap back. I’m normally such a happy 😃 free spirit who enjoys life to the fullest. Now I’m fearful, hopeless, and depressed 🥺😩😖

does anyone else’s anxiety spikes when they have the feeling of deja vu especially if you have existential ocd, it sounds so silly but for some reason every time i feel the feeling of deja vu i get so scared lol but i don’t know of what.

Who else has these and what do you do to help? My husband says he doesn’t want to be with me because of them.

do you ever have an excruciating fear of getting diabetes? i have been having so many intrusive thoughts about this lately. i feel like every time i read about it i get new symptoms and it’s driving me crazy. idk if this is common or just me, i dont know how to cope and i’m too scared of doing blood work 😩

anytime my brain does something different, i always go into a spiral of “oh i have ___ mental illness”, then do hours of research and tests. i even catch myself replicating symptoms of these disorders. is this ocd related?

Has anyone on here ever had success with a low dose of Prozac? 5mg?

Does anyone ever have phantom sensations? My current one is that it feels like someone has spit on me but when I check there’s nothing there. Is this just my brain trying to sabotage me? It’s so odd I can’t figure out why else it would be happening

I hate it having chronic migraines because every time I have an attack, my mind thinks I’m about to have a stroke or have undiagnosed brain cancer. I know I don’t have cancer nor a high chance of having strokes but I still get scared. Reading health reports for my HIV class and seeing health related news is starting to scare me so much because then my mind will think I have some random disease. I can’t help but google symptoms and I know it’s a compulsion, but I just can’t help it 😞

does anyone else’s OCD worsen when you’re tired or over tired, i think my brain confuses being anxious and being tired

I sat with my uncertainty today and returned to work. Best decision of my life. My chest no longer hurts. The tickling feeling in my head left as soon as I got to work. I realized that my fears were so focused on what could happen as I drove to work. I accepted that not only I, but all of us will have something happen to us some day. My anxiety was high but it peaked and came back down to my calm state. Now I’m just having a great day. Sitting with uncertainty trains the mind to be ok with thoughts and anxiety. Once you’re ok with it, the body sensations and emotions become something that’s not as noticeable.

REALLY anxious night. how long does it take to “sit with the discomfort” until you feel relief again?

I’m so disappointed because I felt like I was getting better on Prozac. Today would’ve been week 2 and last night I ended up calling EMS to my home because I was certain that I was having a heart attack. Vitals were all good and it was deemed a panic attack. I was at the point of fainting. Never have I experienced such a feeling. The psychiatrist says that it could be the Prozac side effect. I cannot take feeling like that again. Today, I decided not to take anything and decided to sit it out. Suddenly, everything felt extremely bright and I feel alert as if I stepped out of something. I’m so confused and in disbelief how my moods are changing. I’ve never experienced this before. Scary

why am i like this though? why does my mind think this stuff if it’s not somewhat engraved in me somewhere. i’m starting to doubt myself maybe i am some kind of monster. i mean no harm but i can’t control the thoughts my brain thinks and it messes me up. we are what we think, spiritually. we create our reality with our thoughts and when these monstrous thoughts come into my brain it scares me and i feel like some sort of terrible person and really guilty. these thoughts are definitely the worst subtype like this shit makes me feel absolutely terrible. i cant even bring myself to name the situations that made it arise but i don’t know how to stop it. i know in my mind that they’re not me they’re intrusive, but it makes me feel them harder after that idk how or why like every time i try to get rid of it my mind focuses on it and makes it worse. does anyone have any advice i rlly need help

I get anxiety about eye contact and make sure I don’t give people a weird look. It causes me to be hyper aware and become dissociated.

I was driving around all day making deliveries and I was proud of myself for working through my anxiety, however I noticed I was performing compulsions and I kept feeling worse and worse. I finally decided to start talking to myself and using some “maybe, maybe not” messages with myself. I felt so much better for the rest of the night after I did that for a few minutes. It was so simple, I’m shocked it worked so well.

I have gotten to the point where my OCD is consuming me. I always try to notice how I have no symptoms of my health concerns when I’m distracted, but then it comes right back. I used to feel okay at work but it’s starting to consume me there so it makes me think maybe there really is something wrong with me. I always think about that what if, and it doesn’t stop. Does anyone have any tips. I feel like it’s winning.

Has anyone ever felt like they were high because of derealization and the lack of care of what you were saying out loud?

I am constantly convinced there’s something wrong with my health. I can never differentiate if it’s real or not

Today marks 1 week of me being on Prozac. It has reduced my anxiety significantly. I had been having moments of depression which is likely fueled by recent loss of loved ones but I added in Hello Happy gummies by Olly which has helped my moods. My first session for NOCD is on tomorrow morning. I’m already seeing a therapist utilizing CBT. Anyway, I just wanted to give hope to others today because I felt hopeless since November. However, today I feel great. Thoughts and feelings are temporary and you will come out of the bad days♥️ Don’t be afraid to try something new like ERP, the meds that your doctor prescribed, or sitting with uncertainty even when it’s uncomfortable♥️

Hello all- sort of freaking out right now because I told a friend about my POCD. They were really understanding but now I'm afraid they'll tell our other friends. Someone misunderstanding my ocd and thinking I'm actually a pedophile is probably my worst fear (fear of rejection/isolation). I know it's pretty unlikely they'll tell anyone because they told me they won't, but I'm still really nervous. I could use some support/advice. How do you cope with telling people about your ocd?

Today is day 5 of Prozac. I woke up feeling normal until the thoughts of my deceased partner arrived. I’ve been crying since the thoughts arrived. I think my OCD is latching on to the several deaths that I’ve experienced since COVID started. It makes me worry about my own health and my child’s health despite reports that everything is fine from doctors. I’m behind with my work and household chores which makes me even more overwhelmed when I think about all of the things that I need to do.

Today was day 3 of Prozac and I feel hopeless at coming out of my health obsessions. I had probably 20 different body sensations that were scary to me. I’m exhausted and depressed😔 Luckily, my mom came to stay with me tonight and that made me feel better but I know I’m going to have to find a way to sit with these symptoms. How do you sit through something when it makes you feel as if you’re literally dying?

I sometimes get into a state convincing myself that I am making this all up to avoid having to make a big decision. And my mind will go straight to some major life decision like quit everything I do or break up a really great relationship I’m in or losing weight and changing my whole appearance. My mind will go over this over and over again as if floodgates have opened. I know it’s my ocd but it can also feel so real as well. thinking like that can be so tiringconstantly going in circles and clinging on to those times when I feel it has subsided for a bit and it’s quiet.

I usually get sweet tart ropes when I feel like I deserved a little treat. Well today I got some and they tasted more stale and plain than they should be. i’m not a picky person but now my ocd brain is overthinking that some freak accident happened and the batch that I got was poisoned or something which I know is not true but there’s this little conscious in my head that’s telling me to stop eating it. This usually happens with everything I eat that tastes a little off… it’s exhausting :/

the past couple days i am like hyper aware of my chest and my heartbeat and i don’t know why. i don’t think anything specific triggered it. but i keep making myself think my heart isn’t beating right when i’m almost positive it’s fine and it’s just my anxiety. can something have triggered it without me even realizing it? like something i saw on social media or a tv show? does this happen to anyone else?

I have severe health and social anxiety and it makes me want to stay home all day. Well I can’t do that… due to having to drive myself over half an hour to school, stay in class for prolonged hours, and have severe panic attacks every 5 seconds. is there a way I could not have a panic attack every time I breathe when i’m not at home?

Talking to others about my unusual compulsions and seeing that others have similar struggles and embarrassment, has been helping me see that we are not alone. We all fear the same things... No matter how dark it seems, we can all remember this truth when we feel like we're all alone in our thoughts or compulsions and fearing rejection from others. You are loved. You are valuable. You are worth fighting for. 🧡

I finally took my Prozac medication on today for the first time. Hoping for the best. I’m headed off to work like I normally would be doing and attempting to put the fear behind me.

Anyone taking Lexapro? How was it starting out?

Does anyone else have a hard time talking to their crushes or someone you like because of your anxiety and intrusive thoughts? I get so anxious around my crush because I’m scared of having a panic attack in front of him. Idk what to do to make it better

Does anyone else have a hard time talking to their crushes or someone you like because of your anxiety and intrusive thoughts? I get so anxious around my crush because I’m scared of having a panic attack in front of him. Idk what to do to make it better

when you’re in the midst of rumination, do you find it hard to just stop even though you really to? You almost feel bad for fleeing your pain?

My doctor prescribed me 10mg of Prozac and told me that I could break the capsule in half to pour half of it into a beverage to start out. I’ve had the medication for a week terrified to take it. In the past 6 weeks, I’ve tried both Celexa and Lexapro but could not tolerate my worsened anxiety symptoms. Any help is appreciated🥺

Personally my OCD has strengthened my values and morals. It has led me to become more grounded in my faith and ultimately taught me to LOVE. How about you?

Recently I’ve been struggling with my anxiety/OCD, and I haven’t wanted to admit it to myself. I’ve had anxiety when it comes to my health for a few years with the intensity varying. Recently, it’s been a lot - I’m 21 years old, a student with a double major, and I own a gym, so stress has been super high which hasn’t helped things at all. I’m a super healthy guy, but I tell myself that it would make so much sense for this “healthy guy” to actually have a brain tumor or some undiagnosed heart problem or some other disease I don’t know about. Today, it felt overwhelming. I’m visiting my brother and sister-in-law, so I should be happy, but all I could think about was how I felt super anxious and honestly a little depressed. On my way over here I felt the same way - hopeless. I feel like I’m constantly worried about having some disease I don’t know about or in the future being diagnosed with something. As I showered tonight, it felt as if I’d not make it through the night because everything is just so overwhelming. I wanted to be open with my brother and sister-in-law and let them know how I was feeling. Even though they haven’t dealt with this, they let me know I’m not alone, and it’s okay to have days like this. My sister-in-law told me she’s felt this overwhelming hopelessness, and she thought it would never end, but it did. It got better, and this is what I needed to hear. I haven’t actually started my therapy with NOCD, but I have my first session Monday. I know it’s not always gonna be easy, but I can’t wait to start ERP and learn how to deal with my OCD. It’s so hard to see past our struggles sometimes, but I’m so thankful we have ways and methods that help us!!

has anyone ever been hyper focused on your bladder to the point u feel like you have to urinate frequently even if you don’t have to? once i distract myself i’m fine but then i remember it and get anxious again.

Does anyone have any resources that have worked for them on how to work through OCD that is latched onto trauma (or childhood trauma)? Such as how to tell the difference between validation and moving through the trauma without reassurance seeking? It's really, really difficult. Thank you.

I’m kinda concerned that repeating my fears over and over again is just validating them in my head. I don’t understand how this is helpful :( please help me understand.

sometimes i see things on here and they accidentally trigger my ocd thoughts/images. i’m not sure if anyone else has any tips or things that they do?

Sometimes not paying attention to them makes them better, but I'm getting so exhausted with my overthinking and intrusive thoughts. mentally I'm drained, physically I'm drained, I know that they are just intrusive thoughts and that I'm over-thinking but it still upsets me and I'm always so tired.

My grandma has a stomach bug and I am freaking out. I don't want to get sick and it's really stressing me out. I just felt like expressing this out into a community that will understand.

> It's okay, everyone breathes ❤ > See, you are normal 😊 > *checks my lungs* 😮‍💨 > Yes, you are breathing right now 👀 > *Internet research on breathing*📱 > See, your body isn't weird! 😊 > *checks my breathing again* 👀 > Every person does it the same way ❤️ > Is something wrong with my breathing?💀 > Why am I so weird 😭 > *holds in breaths to try and be present* 😤 > You're not weird, you've gone through alot 🤔 > I guess I can't be sure if I'm normal 😭 Every. Single. Day. It's exhausting. The fight against OCD is real! 💪 (I use breathing OCD as an example though it is not my real theme).

I tend to spend a lot of time in my head playing out scenarios because they are comforting; not out of fear or avoidance. Daydreams about life, relationships, love, what compassion looks like. It can sometimes get obsessive when it revolves around my OCD theme. Can I still get better if I'm daydreaming about it?

Can't eat today. Feeling nervous and I have so much stress at the back of my head and neck. Feels like I'm anxious and dizzy. I have a lb upset stomach and I'm tired. I hold alit of nervous energy in my neck and always have an urge to Crank it. Now I'm worried and I'm about to panic or vomit yo get the sensation out. Can anyone relate to these urges?

ive been having a very hard time. im trying to get into a program but it takes time. im in school and i have panic attacks daily and i see my therapist all the time. i have somatic and contamination/health ocd and it feels so real. i get memories and images in my head of my fear. im scared of how im going to react to anything. i feel like idk what going to happen. i cant sleep well. eating is difficult. i cant focus i have no motivation. im depressed and feel helpless. im just terrified and tired. ive been in so many programs amd therapies since i was 8 yrs old and ive never not struggled. im very frustrated and so tired of it all. please tell someone else has been here too. i feel very alone

so i made the horrible mistake of thinking that i didn’t need my meds anymore so i slowly tapered off of them. i was totally fine at first but then 3..2..1 my ocd came back strong as ever. i now have started my meds again and am now in that weird middle area where i’m on the meds but they haven’t kicked in yet. i am really having a hard time as i constantly feel like i am in a state of panic. my chest feels tight and my arms are so tense?? and of course i have that feeling where my brain feels like it’s going to explode from being so overactive. i almost feel like i am dissociating a bit, which is scary. i think the physical symptoms are somehow triggering my brain to ruminate more. ugh i hate hate hate hate this..desperately waiting for my meds to kick in again.

Hi I just downloaded the app and am wondering if anyone else experiences an obsession with how their joints move and the range of motion. I obsess over whether my joints move the same on each side of my body, for example my hips, shoulders, knees, ankles. Please reply if you experience something similar to this and what you have have done to make it less of an issue. Thanks.

Does this happen for anyone else? The fact that it doesn’t go down makes me even more nervous haha

Hi everyone. I’m new here and just wanted to share a bit about myself and my journey so far. I am 21 and have struggled with OCD for as long as I can remember. It started when I was very little with irrational fears and agoraphobia and has evolved over the years in many different ways. In some ways, my OCD has become a lot subtler and sneakier and is often able to convince me it isn’t OCD at all as masquerades itself as genuine concern or problems. I also struggle with depression, panic attacks, and dissociation. I have come so far and am currently a college student, am in a long-term relationship, and have many plans and goals for the future. I am very proud of myself and think my greatest achievement yet has been working through years of anxiety and trauma to get where I am today. It has not been easy getting here, and I have found lately that new obsessions are beginning to cause me a good deal of distress. So, I’ve decided to reach out to this community to meet people like me. Hello (:

I’m wanting to find a good balance between not giving my thoughts attention, but at the same time not pushing them away. Even though I don’t think I’m actively doing any ruminating, I often feel like I’m in a fog of just my obsessive thoughts, and it can make it hard to focus on other things. Sometimes when I feel this way I try really hard to focus on other things, which seems to take a lot of energy. In doing this do you think it’s difficult because it’s a compulsion (pushing the thought away), or is it difficult because I’m refraining from doing a compulsion by forcing myself to focus on something else? I’m happy to not do compulsions, but with mental ones it’s difficult to know what the compulsions even are. TIA!

So in 1 1/2 weeks I’ll be going on a big date where I’ll be spending the evening with my boyfriend’s two teen girls and his ex-wife. I have this horrid type of OCD where I fear that I am going to look at girl’s and women’s chests…and then I do look at their chests…and then it’s a spiral of anxiety and not being able to control my eyeballs. Sometimes this pops up, sometimes it doesn’t. If things get bad I am worried that the ladies will notice and feel uncomfortable…and then I can kiss my relationship with my boyfriend of a year goodbye. I’m in therapy and have some good exposures that I am doing everyday. Still, I’d love some thoughts about how you all handle a big event where your ocd is likely to get triggered. Thanks for your thoughts!

I realize that my OCD compulsions brought me a lot of emotional comfort from a childhood trauma I went through. Since I've been starving them, my sadness feels way deeper. These compulsions have been with me since childhood, too. The compulsions were the only way I could talk about it, explore my body to feel better, and cry for help. So giving up the compulsion feels like giving up an old friend that kept me safe. I feel really sad. Looking for any support, or resources, on this while I practice ERP.

Does anyone constantly think about the fact that we unconsciously breathe and then start focusing on it and then feel like you’re consciously doing it

Does anybody have tips for overcoming fear of flying on airplanes? Note - I am not afraid of plane crashes. It's more of a claustrophobia thing. My somatic/health OCD convinces me I'll have a health emergency in a place that I can't escape from (pretty unlikely). Traveling on Saturday and very nervous!!

I woke up this morning with a flood of OCD thoughts, mixed with anxiety, mental fog, and a sadness. But I remembered that we have to face the fear and the thoughts and move forward anyway. I got out of bed and moved myself mentally on with my day, and I felt better over time. 😌 Throughout the day, there were MANY very unusual triggers that came up, though. As if the devil had a target on my back, haha. 🎯 The idea of doing compulsions felt good, but I ignored all of them! Just gonna keep getting stronger and staying focused! I pray that you will, too!! ❤️

I feel so alone

I’m on a holiday and I’m having fun it’s just ocd ruins everything for me like I just want a peaceful holiday I’m really struggling. Please I need someone to talk to.

I’m feeling extremely depressed. I’m just so tired of feeling good and then bad again

Anyone else scared that they might accidentally make themselves stop breathing and faint

Here is a very helpful video on Somatic OCD. In it, he shares his full story, how he managed it and brought it down and can live his life fully now! There are also other videos on this channel that are helping me to overcome it as well: https://youtu.be/c7PAQdUnA1U God bless you in your recovery! ❤️

This is one of my biggest issues. I’m so scared of choking. It used to be I was scared of my daughter choking, but now I’m scared of myself choking. I think about it a lot, every day, every time I eat something. Sometimes I even manage to convince myself I AM choking and then in turn feel like I’m unable to swallow for a second. I even go as far as to ready myself to stand up so I’m ready to alert whoever is with me incase I need help. I’ve never actually been close to choking (I think) but it seems really real in the moment. Sometimes I eat really slowly and over chew just to prevent it. Does this happen to anyone else?

So I think I ramped up too hard with my health OCD exposures and what started put as just sitting with discomfort has turned into hard rumination and a panic attack 😑 I havent given into doing any compulsions but like any advice for getting out of this hole a bit?

- I woke up with OCD thoughts, but I faced them head on rather than running from them! I unpacked the fears and they went away! I got out of bed to start my day so I wouldn't mentally laying there. - I took care of my body immediately when I noticed the OCD trying to hyperfocus on my body. - I also noticed myself trying to do "verbal reassurance" when I was alone by repeating the compulsion out loud, but I stopped that immediately. 💙

How do know its hyperawernass and not shortness of breath?

My psychiatrist has suggested trying biofeedback as a way to deal with the physical symptoms of anxiety. I deal with somatic OCD and it has been very hard to calm down. I wake up dizzy and tense and I am aware of the physical symptoms of stress off and on throughout the day. The more i focus on them the worde they get. I can't just sit with these feelings because I end up beating myself up verbally. They are so uncomfortable. Has anyone here has good experiences with biofeedback. I have tried so many relaxation techniques from meditation to hypnotherapy and they seem to make my anxiety flare up worse. Is it worth a try?

Ho do i fall asleep with this?

Has anyone built an exposure hierarchy to caffeine or stimulants. With panic disorder it is tough to do exposures that will evoke close to the same experience that I have in stressful situations. Its hard to recreate a spike. If I use caffeine it gets me to those effects felt during challenging anxiety, but then I'm on a full blown exposure for 6 hours till it wears off. Any suggestions or tips?

Anyone have any experience with this? Im only 32 but i woke up yesterday with a sore back and it has gotten worse throughout the day. I couldnt sleep and can barely move without pain. I have take ibuprofen and used a heating pad but nothing really seems to be helping.

Do any of you understand what Somatic OCD is? It's mostly been happening and I'm very alone and confused. I just would love a decent definition from someone who is also struggling or understands it. My bodily function urges and body urges are super intense these days. It's hard to stop until it 'feels right' or my urge is settled. It's also related to obsessions and worries of other health conditions. (Life threatening ones) its hard to tell if I have symptoms too. Any thoughts?

Hi!! I have hyper awareness ocd, mainly of my own consciousness/thinking/being alive, But I’ve noticed it’s extremely similar to those who have sensorimotor ocd with their blinking, swallowing and things like that. Those who also struggle with this, do you practice erp still? Are things like scripting good for this as well? It seems like complete acceptance is the way through I just get confused. How am I supposed to accept that I’ll be focused on this forever :(

Has anyone out there had an obsession with vomiting until it feels good or until you get enough out.. and then get concerned of being sick, bulimic, having cancer etc. But having this urge to vomiting? This is new to me within last 4 months.

I’m struggling so much with somatic OCD at the moment and I’m not finding enough information out there to help me understand my thoughts and feelings on this, or how to recover. What does a regular heartbeat feel like when resting and how do I just let it do it’s thing? I can’t sleep. Some help would be incredibly appreciated(more than you know) right now.

I had a couple of really good days and now I'm having a couple of really bad days and it's just super frustrating! I know it's gonna pass but when I'm going through it it feels like it's gonna last forever. I can't stop focusing on my breathing and heart beat after months and months of no somatic ocd and I kinda forgot how terrible it is lol! Sorry to complain I just needed to vent!

I feel so lost, a year ago I would have never thought I’d be posting on ocd forums and going to support groups but I guess that’s how life goes sometimes. I’m just so lost. I’ve been doing erp therapy for months and I don’t feel any better. I’m so confused what am I doing wrong. I’m going through a breakup after 4 years and my hormones are really intense at the moment. Ocd is just the worst monster and my life has never been so hard. When you guys have mental breakdowns, what do you do? I want to nurture and calm myself but it’s like my ocd is so loud. I just want to get better. It’s been so long

Does anyone else have the problem of not necessarily trying to control your breathing but being so aware of it

I've been in treatment for about 3.5 months and I have definitely improved. However, I feel like I'm always relapsing... I do exposures for specific thoughts and it definitely helps. Usually my anxiety will go way down and that specific thought will improve. Then I may have a period of a week or so where my intrusive thoughts aren't so bothersome. But they ALWAYS come back. My ocd will latch on to anything at all and Im constantly having new intrusive thoughts. I seem to be stuck in a cycle of improvement and relapse. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Will the intrusive thoughts ever subside??

Hey, so I've been having sensomotric obsessions (Like noticing blinking of breathing for those who don't know what it means) and I also quite unique ones - Noticing the faces and shape of people, and specifically now noticing lines of people and hairlines. I just keep noticing it for about three and a half weeks, and it freaks me out. Has anyone ever experienced anything like it?

My theme’s normally last between 5 days to a few months. My longest obsession was 7 months.

Has anyone got to the place where they are more comfortable with thier anxiety to a stimuli, and now due to anxiety not being there loudest voice is the room you can notice a tense or automatic muscle tension in your temples or body while In such environment which triggered anxiety? I feel I often have to recognize I'm tensing up and relax into the anxiety, not to be confused as a compulsion but actually relaxing the muscle group in which causes discomfort in it self as it's your minds way of putting defense shield down per say instead of standing guard. Just curious if anyone else has noticed this. Thanks

Ugh! I’m so frustrated with myself. I was having such a lovely Christmas Eve and was feeling a little bit of peace for once and I feel like I’m self sabotaging myself. I have a headache that came out of nowhere and now I’m spiraling thinking something is wrong. My most recent “health anxiety phase” is thinking I’m going to have a seizure. I don’t have epilepsy. I’ve never had a seizure before. I don’t know why I’m spiraling over something that’s never happened before. I was super close to falling asleep before this headache came on and my episode started. My mind is spinning. Pray for me.

Finding this app has given me do much comfort. Being 32 i have spent most of my life struggling with OCD (only realizing what it was 3 years ago). It has been wonderful to read posts and to hear people’s story. I always felt broken and defective and frustrated by my brain. But reading everyone’s stories reminds me that i am not in this alone and there are people out there struggling and dealing with the same things i am. Much love and comfort to all! Merry Christmas to those that celebrate. Don’t let OCD steal your happiness!!!

Why does my health OCD have to flare up right on Christmas Eve? It’s my favorite day of the year 😭. I hate this

I constantly worry so much and it's really affecting my daily life. I find it hard to focus on really anything or do anything without worrying. I just want some peace but when i can't stop worrying because I always feel like I have to be worrying about something and if I worry that if I don't worry then I'll forgot my worry and the cycle never ends. It's kind of consuming my life

I was worrying and obsessing over my thoughts and I got distracted from the worries and found myself saying “what was I worrying about again?” To try to get back to the negative thoughts. Does anyone else struggle with this? It’s like I was forcing myself to start worrying again when I subconsciously stopped.

I’m not really paying attention to my breathing anymore but something just feels wrong. Like I don’t feel right. And I keep wondering why I don’t freak out about my breathing anymore and just go back to “normal”

Those who have recovered, do you still experience the same amount of intrusive thoughts? They just don’t bother you? I can’t imagine that being a fun life :( I’m like I just want to live normally like I did before, I feel like if I’m constantly trying to disregard ocd thoughts my whole life, that’s just so discouraging to try to even do treatment. Is there really peace after ocd? Sorry sad post haha just feeling discouraged.

Need some advice about learning how to block attacks with my left arm and hand any advice

Having any OCD can be incredibly stressful. Somatic OCD is something I have recently come in to familiar terms with and is not leaving my vocabulary. It is constantly being aware of your bodily functions to the extent you get shortness of breath because you forgot how to breathe. Getting sore eyes because you started becoming aware of blinking and suddenly people are asking if you’re okay or “why are you crying???”. But the breathing OCD is what I am especially here to talk about today so here are my best pieces of knowledge that have helped me: When in distress, focus only on your outer breaths. Your body naturally breathes out for longer than it does in. Just notice how on your in breaths your body does it naturally and it will feel right. Your breathing also naturally has a pause after each full rise and descent so let it do that too. When you hyperventilate it is often not your oxygen that is the issue but instead tour carbon dioxide levels which can be thrown off and both can feel the same. So even if it feels uncomfortable at first just allow yourself to breathe normally. And if you need to take a deep breath focus it in to your stomach to counteract what your body normally does in stress. Sitting down and leaning forwards can help too. Otherwise, and this goes for any somatic OCD, just try and build more trust with your bodily functions because your body has been doing it all its life and remember that forgetting can genuinely be the best option despite all of this. Your body can and will do it naturally, you cannot ‘forget to breathe’. My guidance is merely to stop panicking going too far. I hope this helps :-)

I keep paying attention to my breathing and it’s so frustrating. I just want to be able to relax

I feel like I can’t breathe. Being able to breathe in and out makes me feel like I have control of my breathing and then I start worrying I’m going to do it too fast and then start hyperventilating and faint