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So I've been loosing waight and my strategy was skipping breakfast and lunch. Recently ive been having an ocd flare up. Should i start eating again just healthy? Anyone else?

this will most likely be a long winded post, but i just need to rant. thank u if u read it all. so i just recently learned that what i would describe as hypochondria, or just overall health anxiety, is actually a form of OCD. i’ve discussed it with my therapist but i only see her every other week and there’s a lot of other problems i have that makes this one kinda just get pushed to the side. for me, i’ve always been like this. i have one weird feeling, or pain, and instantly think i’m dying. in turn, i google the symptoms and read every single thing that matches and think i have it. most of the time i end up in the ER and they never find anything wrong with me even though i really feel like something is wrong. i’ve read stories about people experiencing the same thing and doctors not taking them seriously and it didn’t end well, and those stories stuck with me. i e went for everything you can think of. stomach cramps? hospital. chest pain? hospital. lump in my breast? hospital. migraine? hospital. i’ve had extensive testing done. MRI’s, CT scans, blood word, ultrasounds, everything. nothing has come back abnormal. my problem currently is about 5 months ago i was eating a waffle cone, i didn’t chew it good enough before swallowing it and it scratched my esophagus on the way down. ever since then i’ve had a feeling of a lump in my throat every time i swallow and it’s made me intensely afraid of eating solid food. i haven’t been able to eat at all. every time i’ve tried, it feels like bits of food get stuck. the problem is i’ve had 2 endoscopys (a procedure where they put a camera down your throat and look at your esophagus and stomach), a swallow test that looks at my throat muscles and if they’re working properly, a different swallow test that looks at how i swallow different consistencies of foods (thick and thin) and ct’s to rule out anything. the only abnormal thing that came back was that they found some cells in my stomach that contain something that, essentially, is a “precursor to cancer”. the way they described it to me is that i don’t have cancer, it wont turn into cancer in the near future, and it’s basically just “a slight increase” of chances of developing stomach cancer (which to be honest, this is something i’m not worried about because i already knew this. my grandma died of stomach cancer so i knew i had an elevated risk already) they’re going to do endoscopy’s every 3 years just to make sure everything’s good. the “lump” i’m feeing is nonexistent. there is no physical lump in my throat. NOW, because i’m not eating i can feel my heart constantly and i’ve convinced myself i have a heart problem and that if i fall asleep i’ll have a heart attack. i don’t sleep most nights and usually just nap when my fiancé gets home from work so that if something does happen, at least he’s there. also, a doctor i’ve seen mentioned i should get tested for MS because this throat problem i’m having mixed with other symptoms i’m having points to this condition. so on top of heart problems that i think i have, now i also convinced myself i have MS. i have an appointment on march 11th to test for it, but i’m still worried. there isn’t a minute in the day that i don’t think i’m dying. i would be in the hospital right now if i didn’t have a child to care for while her dad is at work. i can’t sleep because i think i will die if i fall asleep, i can’t eat because i think i will choke if i do, and i can’t go 10 minutes without thinking i can’t breathe too. i’m just exhausted. i want to not constantly think about my health. my fiancé is always calling me a hypochondriac and telling me i’m dramatic and it’s all in my head. even if that’s true, what i’m feeling is very real and it doesn’t make it easier to tell myself “it’s all in my head” i know my family and friends are getting tired of hearing about it, but idk what else to do. i just wanna go to the hospital and have them run every single test in the book to rule out EVERY health issue ever. but they don’t run unnecessary tests so i know they won’t. this just sucks.

[F20] As early as sixth grade, I've displayed symptoms of health anxiety/OCD. Every holiday breaks, when my mind isn't constantly stimulated and I'm stuck in the house, I find myself constantly fixated on a health issue. From heart failure, brain tumor, ALS, leukemia, everything. However, when school resumes and I'm once again occupied with academics, I don't fixate anymore (or at least very little only). But this year was different. We're barely eight weeks in 2024 but I've had multiple themes from schizophrenia trigerred by a Reddit post, cryptic pregnancy (btw im a virgin) trigerred by a delayed period, tetanus trigerred by doing my nails and once again, schizophrenia. During these times, I literally experience physical symptoms such as nausea & puking related to pregnancy, and jaw pain related to tetanus. But then, right now, I'm fixating on the thought that I may be developing schizophrenia. Two weeks ago, I was laying in bed when I think I saw a rat climbing on my bed side. I got spooked and when I was about to shoo it away, it's nowhere to be found. Less than 5 seconds in, my first thought was that was a hallucination. Decided to not dwell again on it until a similar thing happened days later. I was lying down in same position, when I thought I saw an ant in my bedside again. Memories of what happened prior flash back, and when I was about to look for it, it was genuinely gone. I was on the verge of a panic attack. I told my boyfriend about this but he said that it might really be difficult to look for that ant as my room was dark with only my night light on. Days later, it turned out there was a rat that my mom was trying to catch around the house and dead ants outside my room as my mom just sprayed on them. But I was still scared. Genuinely scared. Weeks have passed and I cant seem to shake the thought that I may be developing schizophrenia. In fact, it manifested to more visual pseudohallucinations. For example, I kept on mistaking things on my peripheral as bugs (as I read they're a common hallucination among people w schz). I've got intense eye floaters. Tiny movement from my peripheral, and my brain will try to perceive what is it and think that I'm hallucinating. I thought of my clothes hung at my door as a person. Tiny speck of dirt, I'd immediately think of as ants. In fact, I thought I saw a human shadow on our television turned out that it was the details of our door. For weeks, I've also been reading about this disorder and I think I've been manifesting their symptoms, policing my thought process, and reviewing my behavior. I've read that schz diagnozed are paranoid about stuff like being followed and watched, and all of a sudden, I'm thinking "What if I get those delusions?", "What if I'm being watched?" — and there goes that tiring cycle of overthinking. I've also noticed that most of them report of audio hallucination, and I just legit manifested it! I thought I heard my mom calling me from the living room! Oh my God. I've also been trying to contradict some symptoms. For example, I try to be expressive on my facial expressions as I read those diagnosed struggle with it. I've been tidying my space a lot lately as most schz patients often oversee them. I also been meticulous with my hygiene. I try to stay positive, and go out of the house, go to the gym, as diagnosed ppl often struggle with them. I continued doing some academic works since I'm on break, to see if I still have the same mental capacity. For the record, I'm an active student in our uni org, a dean's lister, and serves in my church. I'm in my final year of uni and the leader of my thesis group. To be honest, I'm scared. We're poor. We can barely afford treatment. I don't want this life. I'm only 20 — the prime years of my life. I've so much dreams. I want to have a job, move to an apartment in the city, hike mountains, ride a roller coaster, see my nieces and nephew grow up, surprise my parents with a trip to Italy, watch my friends succeed, see the world. I've only just experienced falling in love and to love. I hope to grow old, to love and be loved. And as I ponder on my current state, this is not the life that I want to lead. I don't to be my mind's own prisoner. I'm scared. And tired.

hello all im a male 26 kinda new to dealing with this. for as long as i can remember i used to really stress out about my health and if i was ever sick i would assume the worst ang google symptoms of everything multiple times a day. i was extremely afraid of throwing up as a kid which i think plays a roll in ocd recently i watched a tv show that affected my overthinking and cause me to spiral out. thats when the SOOCD started to happen, growing up i always was with women and dated women and still dating women i never had these thoughts until 6 months ago i now feel uncomfortable around other men, i dont like to make eye contact and im always checking for a groinal response or sensation in my body when i watch tv or out in public. its affecting my daily life and i dont know where it all came from. i get intrusive thought daily could be a made up situation or a image of something i saw on the internet.

My main thought is that something really terrible is going to come out of this (can’t even type it but you can take an educated guess). Throughout the day i’m really good, but when these thoughts happen, I begin to cry, as if something terrible has been confirmed. I know acceptance is the best thing for OCD (has helped me tremendously in my recovery for multiple themes), but I feel as though I can’t accept something so tragic. Thinking about how my mum would feel if something had happened to me or leaving her, and so soon arguably (i’m 21). This is also affecting me going to the doctors. Ignorance is bliss for me right now. Before I had a habit of seeing doctors quite frequently as a compulsion, but now it’s quite the opposite. It’s reaching up to a year since i’ve had my last appointment and would love another checkup as most of my checkups are regular annual ones. I’m deficient in low folates and lead to my hair thinning tremendously and have read on the official NHS website that same deficiency could lead to something serious if left for too long over time, thus I have a regular prescription from doctors. This isn’t affecting me badly in my day to day really but the thoughts are constant, so much so I believe they are real, and honestly scared for those few moments per day, idk what to do for acceptance a opposed to other themes :(

I feel like throughout my life my ocd has taken on different forms and I feel like every time I have issues it’s actually my ocd just getting bad again. Like someone reveals the scooby doo villain and surprise it’s just friggin ocd again . My main “flavor” that I have struggled with ever since the end of 2019 has been severe health ocd . So badly that I have had countless dr visits , hospital visits ranging from panic attacks to lingering anxiety that builds up after weeks of obsessing and loosing sleep . Is there anyone here with some tips to get through this kinda of thing? I’m in therapy and that has helped a lot but I still feel like I pops up and wrecks my life every 4 months or so

Hey NOCD friends. I could really use your help. I just started a transition from Sertraline to Fluvoxamine. I think I have taken 4 or 5 doses of Fluvoxamine so far. My concern right now is that it is making ms really tired. Have you had this experience? How long does it last? How long should I wait to see if this side effect goes away? It's quite an oppressive, terrible feeling g of sedation at times. Thanks.

When I talk with mother she always says things make me angry ans I get anger attacks and I’ve told her many times to not do that but she doesn’t stop, so I limited my contact with her even though we are at the same house because I can’t handle her anymore it’s maki my mental health and OCD worse. Today she told “why don’t you sit with me and talk with anymore? If you kept behaving that way I won’t pay attention to what I eat and I’ll get diabetes, screw it” Because the Doctor told her she’s so close to get diabetes and she knows I’m so scared about her health and safety so she suddenly used this against me

Does anybody else’s intrusive thoughts come in the form of “delusional thoughts”? I’ve been in a terrible episode of hypochondria or ocd for the past 6 months where I have FULLY convinced myself I am developing schizophrenia, it started with becoming really easily overstimulated and not being able to concentrate and now it has spiraled out of control to where I am constantly getting intrusive thoughts center around demonic stuff, which i have never ever believed before, I have always been a skeptic. But now i get these thoughts all the time like “what if this song has hidden demonic meanings?” “What if your wife is a demon” “what if nobody is real and your just in hell” “what if this political figure is being controlled by the devil”, the typical kind of delusional thoughts you would expect from a schizophrenic. Keep in mind I am a literal atheist and all about facts, science and evidence, I am a skeptic. Not only does the fact that I’m even having these thoughts in the first place scare the life out of me, but I have to constantly battle with these thoughts in my head if I believe them or not. I feel like I have to constantly hold myself back from fully going off the deep end, I feel like I have to constantly disprove these thoughts and stop myself from believing them, but they feel so real and it’s scaring me so much. One part of me is like “why can’t we just stop worrying about this, this is delusional” and another part of me is like “what if I actually do need to worry about if these things are true or not, they FEEL true” and I’m just like “wtffff I shouldn’t have to worry about if things like this are true at all in the first Place!” I feel like I have fully lost my mind, and in no time I’m going to lose this little bit of insight I have. I hate these thoughts so much, I don’t want to think about them, but now that they are here, I feel like I can’t forget them. My dpdr is already making everything feel so off and weird and unreal and I feel like it’s only giving these thoughts more credibility and realness. I feel like this could also be partly a terrible form of existential ocd that’s being thrown into the mix with all these “what if thoughts”. Ugh I just want to be normal again ): but I don’t even know what normal feels like anymore because I’m constantly on the lookout for symptoms that I can’t even be normal anymore. Btw: yes I am seeing 2 therapists and a psychiatrist and all of them do not believe I am developing schizophrenia.

Has anyone experienced fear of not falling asleep? I have never had sleep issues before but after a bout of jet lag 3 months ago, my sleep has been terrible. This last week, I’ve only managed to sleep 3-5 hours a night because I’m just so SCARED of not sleeping. I’m unable to function because I’m obsessing about not sleeping and the terrifying effects it has on the mind and body. I’m afraid I’m going to end up losing my mind from not sleeping. Last night I was able to get 4 hours of deep sleep, but I was in bed for a total of 14 hours and just tossed and turned. Can anyone relate to this? I’m so scared I’ve been vomiting and nonstop crying 💔😭

Does anybody else’s intrusive thoughts come in the form of “delusional thoughts”? I’ve been in a terrible episode of hypochondria or ocd for the past 6 months where I have FULLY convinced myself I am developing schizophrenia, it started with becoming really easily overstimulated and not being able to concentrate and now it has spiraled out of control to where I am constantly getting intrusive thoughts center around demonic stuff, which i have never ever believed before, I have always been a skeptic. But now i get these thoughts all the time like “what if this song has hidden demonic meanings?” “What if your wife is a demon” “what if nobody is real and your just in hell” “what if this political figure is being controlled by the devil”, the typical kind of delusional thoughts you would expect from a schizophrenic. Keep in mind I am a literal atheist and all about facts, science and evidence, I am a skeptic. Not only does the fact that I’m even having these thoughts in the first place scare the life out of me, but I have to constantly battle with these thoughts in my head if I believe them or not. I feel like I have to constantly hold myself back from fully going off the deep end, I feel like I have to constantly disprove these thoughts and stop myself from believing them, but they feel so real and it’s scaring me so much. One part of me is like “why can’t we just stop worrying about this, this is delusional” and another part of me is like “what if I actually do need to worry about if these things are true or not, they FEEL true” and I’m just like “wtffff I shouldn’t have to worry about if things like this are true at all in the first Place!” I feel like I have fully lost my mind, and in no time I’m going to lose this little bit of insight I have. I hate these thoughts so much, I don’t want to think about them, but now that they are here, I feel like I can’t forget them. My dpdr is already making everything feel so off and weird and unreal and I feel like it’s only giving these thoughts more credibility and realness. I feel like this could also be partly a terrible form of existential ocd that’s being thrown into the mix with all these “what if thoughts”. Ugh I just want to be normal again ): but I don’t even know what normal feels like anymore because I’m constantly on the lookout for symptoms that I can’t even be normal anymore. Btw: yes I am seeing 2 therapists and a psychiatrist and all of them do not believe I am developing schizophrenia.

I'm having a hard time with these thoughts and was wondering if anyone could provide insight. Thank you. One of my intrusive thoughts is "What if you intentionally go and get soap, oil, toothpaste and smear it on your TV," and my compulsion is to check to see if I've smeared anything on my TV. The next intrusive thought is triggered by wearing my CPAP mask, which actually leaks a tiny bit of air. The intrusive thoughts is "Oh no, there is a tiny bit of air leaking and it's going to hurt your eyes," and my compulsion is to readjust my mask. The next thought is a bit tricky, and really tripping me up. The thought is saying "Since your CPAP mask is actually leaking a tiny bit of air, you need to put a tiny bit of soap, oil, toothpaste on your TV. Since your CPAP seal is imperfect, you need to make other things imperfect intentionally. If you don't, you're doing therapy wrong by not making things equally imperfect." This has been really hard to deal with, and it's really making me confused and tired. I'd like to add that I know a tiny bit of air escaping from my CPAP mask isn't a big deal. Would I prefer no leak at all, well yeah. And I know that smearing some soap/toothpaste/oil on my TV wouldn't be the end of the world, but at the same time, I don't want to do that. I don't want to risk damaging my TV.

I have a Big fear of pregnancy/childbirth/newborns. My partner wants kids of his own and adopt but I’d rather just adopt. I feel like I like the idea of it sometimes and now it’s terrible fear. I’m also on my cycle so I know that affects OCD too. I feel like I get some validation from knowing my partner wants kids with me like I’m of value and wanted but then when faced with the reality of having kids in the near future it haunts me. My reasons seem more irrational though. From body dysmorphia in pregnancy to the pain and complications of birth, I also hate hospitals. I also deal with people pleasing a lot so that works it’s way in too. The way it’s portrayed on social media doesn’t help either. My own past with mental health, fear, the way my own family was dysfunctional, trauma and ptsd has definitely put my mind in a one track thinking of fear. I know fear just needs reframing most of the time and I feel better about things once it clicks. I know this is probably related to OCD bc it seems irrational and I have a skewed perspective on most things in life bc of it. For me, I feel really sad and grievous even about having a newborn, it feels like the end of my life and my own survival and the start of bondage. But for some reason I want to adopt or foster and raise kids anyways so I don’t know why I fear my own kids. Weird to say but I always felt like these things were out of reach for me and my own life would end with me like not beyond anyone else like kids. Even calling myself a mom feels weird bc to me there is only one mom my mom. I guess it sounds like I just need to warm up to a new reality possibly? I never grew up wanting to be a mom or get married like other girls. Not that I was against it I was just too busy being a kid myself or fending for myself. I also feel in ways I’m unprepared, immature, and like how can I abandon my own need of survival which is how I felt my whole life and cater to someone else’s survival? I can’t function on my own a lot so how could I possibly be a mom? I know i cant trust myself due to OCD and the skewed beliefs and perspectives my brain adopts bc of it. Even the messiness of birth and the sensuality of motherhood makes me very uncomfortable, I’ve kinda always felt uncomfortable in my own skin and body. The idea of someone else using my body feels violating almost and like I grieve my old self in the future. I’m also a terrible perfectionist so that is a part in these fears too. So I’m just going to be journeying on my own with God to help me dismantle these fears. I can’t afford therapy anymore. I also have a terrible Interoception and gauge of my feelings so the lack of desire for kids has me concerned but I know I develop feelings and desires slower than others. I also lived life in extremes so anything in the middle feels off or numb. So right now just trying to get to the bottom of the fears and see the truth in them. These fears make me very sad and broken like something is wrong with me. I wish I didn’t feel this way or deal with this stuff and I wish I was different. I’m not content with the way I fear this and not wanting my own kids. Any advice would be very helpful. #pregnancy #birth #healthocd #rocd #newborns

I’ve been suffering from non stop 24/7 dpdr for a year and a half now. I never really had OCD in a big way before I suffered some major panic attacks. Since then I’ve been a completely different person. I used to live a carefree life of traveling. Socializing. Experiencing life. After my panic attacks I became agoraphobic, couldn’t leave the house or work. My thoughts were like a washing machine over and over. I’ve done a lot of work to help overcome the fear of panic, but I’m still stuck in a 24/7 DPDR state- my thoughts never stop, I’m always searching for answers about my mental health, I have music stuck in my head from the time I wake up to the time I got to sleep, my mind is racing, attacking what I value, saying hopeless thoughts, anxiously worried about everything, I don’t do physical compulsions but I’m mentally checking myself all the time to see if I’m in DPDR still, or if things feel “weird” - I have a huge fear of going crazy and death. Although I’m not having panic attacks anymore, I’m still mentally anxious all the time. I feel like I cannot escape my thoughts, they torture me. I can’t feel any emotions, I’ve lost my sense of self, I can’t make new memories or be present - I’m constantly in my head. A lot of what kicked this off was years of trauma that was stored in my nervous system, once unleashed, I haven’t been able to recover. I want my life back. I’m tired of living in fear and exhaustion to the point where nothing brings me joy. Anxiety and ocd have taken my freedom from me, I feel like the thoughts rule every decision I make instead of being able to live freely, sometimes I don’t think it’s anxiety because I can’t feel anything physically, but these thoughts torture me- no one should have to live this way. What do I do? I’m taking medication but all it’s done is stop the physical symptoms, the thinking has not gotten better

What OCD medication(s) do you take & what are your thoughts on it? I’ve taken Zoloft and Fluvoxamine in the past and think it’s time to get back on something. My only concern is that I am a female in her mid 20s and I would like to have children of my own within the next 10 years & I’m not sure how medications would affect that.

I want to beat this because my OCD is so bad right now, that it causes alot of impending doom & my emetophobia feeds off my OCD as well. Those mixed with my POTS and other digestive issues, I often feel like I'm going insane. I'm having a very hard time eating & can barely leave my house. I just want to get to the point where I'm not constantly scared something bads going to happen & be able to go out and enjoy doing things with my hubby & my family. I just want to overcome it!

I know the way to overcome avoidance is in action but gosh. I just can't do anything. I'll try to collect in my wins and make at least one phone call today. It's important - dentist first? I'm incredibly fearful of the dentist and intensely don't wish to go. I also need to establish a new relationship with a doctor. Maybe I'll f* around and make 2 phone calls today. Not asking for reassurance but please wish me luck

Does anyone know if I might find it easier to treat my OCD now that I'm about to go on sick leave? I'm really exhausted and need a break, but I'm also worried because I've been working for a very long time and I don't know if I'll be able to go back. I'd love to hear from anyone who has found that a slower pace and less stress has helped them overcome their OCD.

Hello friends, I’m going through another set back. Mornings are rough. Period. I go to bed and sleep fine, but first thing in the morning my anxiety is through the roof. Does anyone have helpful tips to deal with this? Should I do ERP? Go for a run? Eat certain foods? I’m sure there is a correlation with morning cortisol levels. Thank you! We got this!

Am I lesbian or it’s just hocd and libido issues? I (F29) don’t feel desire to have sex with my boyfriend (M32) and I am scared it’s because I am lesbian. We are together 3 years and we are also living together. I think I am more aroused by lesbian porn and lesbian fantasies than straight stuff and sex with men. I always dated men and I felt drawn to them, I also never wanted to be with a woman in real life and I was never attracted to a woman in real life, but I am scared I am just in denial and didn’t know about it or I always knew but didn’t want to accept the truth :-(. It’s not that I never wanted to have sex with men, but when the relationship starts to be serious the desire decreases. I really don’t know what to do. I love my boyfriend and don’t want to break up with him. It’s not a new topic for me. I deal with it already 4 years. I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder 5 years ago, because I had panic attacks and some health ocd. After one year I started to be scared that I am a lesbian. I had a therapy and I talked about it with my therapists and they said it’s ocd, but I didn’t tell them the whole true about the porn and fantasies. In my country (Poland/Germany) the therapists are mainly familiar with health or harm ocd, so I don’t know if my therapists were familiar with these kind of thoughts. Also sometimes I think that even if it’s ocd it doesn’t mean it’s not truth. The only difference is that I am just more worried, scared and obsessed about it than other people who are questioning their sexuality. Also I even don’t know if it’s still ocd. It feels more like denial right now. Like I know the truth, but I just don’t want to accept it or I try to convince myself that for example it’s normal in long term relationship to not desire sex but the truth is it’s not normal if it happens all the time. I don’t really have ocd symptoms right now. At the beginning I was very scared and had to google all the time etc., but right now I just have pretty normal life. I am just still worried about it and ruminate though right now I try to avoid the whole thoughts and feelings all the time. And this is exactly what the people call denial. Knowing the truth but avoiding it… I don’t know if i have still doubts. It’s more like I know deep down what is the truth but I still hope it’s not the truth and try to convince myself that it’s everything ok but it doesn’t work because I am just a lesbian :-( TL;DR - I have sex issues in my relationship. I don’t feel desire to have sex and I am looking for a solution how to change it. Hopefully it’s because ocd and I am not attracted to women.