Help OCD

[Deleted member 13227]

How is ocd for you and how do you guys cope?

( I have been doing mindfulness exercises and exercising almost every day but I still struggle alot.)

 

[1DayItWillBover]

i do things that could be considered OCD like but it hasnt affected me in a bad way.

 

[disabledandhopeless]

I think somehow I developed ocd during these few years. I want to know how to cope with it too.

 

[LivideLamb]

My OCD started some years ago, and to be honest it wasn't as bad as it is now. I'd say it affect me everyday. I don't cope when it happen at nighttime because it's too exhausting, complicated and I'm just tired. But ! In the daytime, I cope by practicing mindfulness, and by telling myself to "shut up" and I try to not feed my compulsions. Not the best way to cope, but I'm stuck at this point.

 

[strand]

I try to think about other people. I try to rationalize my way out of my compulsions basically by thinking about others who don't have my compulsions and obviously don't find a need to adopt my routines. It's kind of working, but it's a partial solution, I can't rationalize my way out of all my compulsions.

 

[Epsilon0]

I try to think about other people. I try to rationalize my way out of my compulsions basically by thinking about others who don't have my compulsions and obviously don't find a need to adopt my routines. It's kind of working, but it's a partial solution, I can't rationalize my way out of all my compulsions.

Excuse me for hijacking the thread, but your avatar is rather unusual. What does it symbolize?

 

[strand]

Excuse me for hijacking the thread, but your avatar is rather unusual. What does it symbolize?

I cropped it from this. I think he's an Eastern Orthodox priest (I'm not sure). I don't know what's the context behind it either. To be honest, I used it ironically at first, I have contempt for Eastern Orthodoxy and I'm jealous that Orthodox monks get to live collectively in some countries but I'm kind of growing sympathetic towards him at least. (I'm sorry for posting this in Recovery! I don't want to bum anyone out.)

 

[GravityUtilizer]

I've got it bad. Drink was my way of coping but I became alcoholic and eventually stopped. Now it's just waiting for those days the metaphorical sun comes out which do happen maybe because of my SSRI. Exercise with music also seems to help.

It affects my life in every single way possible, that it is hard to know where 'it' ends and 'I' begin. It is very hard to explain to people. They often think it's almost like a joke.

 

[Epsilon0]

I cropped it from this. I think he's an Eastern Orthodox priest (I'm not sure). I don't know what's the context behind it either. To be honest, I used it ironically at first, I have contempt for Eastern Orthodoxy and I'm jealous that Orthodox monks get to live collectively in some countries but I'm kind of growing sympathetic towards him at least. (I'm sorry for posting this in Recovery! I don't want to bum anyone out.)
View attachment 35951

Really cool screen shot! My kind of humour.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Had OCD all my life. Hid it from everyone and never been diagnosed. TBH the doctors can fuck off on this one. I tried a higher dosage of Prozac once for depression but it disassociated me.
Booze used to help, but that's destroyed my health and brought me here.
Being utterly suicidal last year made the ocd vanish. I mean, who cares about extra dread and forbidding when you are like that anyway?
But now, trying harder, the OCD is back and it's bad. I manage, but it does piss me off and make me feel utterly insane.
Having to tie the left boot lace just right or the world is really going to end, and no matter how many times I tie it, it's never right, so I leave the house expecting bad shit to happen and if it does, well it's because of not completing some stupid random shit exactly right.
It's an utter disconnect between logic and emotion and I've never found a way to combat it, except Prozac which stopped working or booze which destroyed my life.

 

[Epsilon0]

Had OCD all my life. Hid it from everyone and never been diagnosed. TBH the doctors can fuck off on this one. I tried a higher dosage of Prozac once for depression but it disassociated me.
Booze used to help, but that's destroyed my health and brought me here.
Being utterly suicidal last year made the ocd vanish. I mean, who cares about extra dread and forbidding when you are like that anyway?
But now, trying harder, the OCD is back and it's bad. I manage, but it does piss me off and make me feel utterly insane.
Having to tie the left boot lace just right or the world is really going to end, and no matter how many times I tie it, it's never right, so I leave the house expecting bad shit to happen and if it does, well it's because of not completing some stupid random shit exactly right.
It's an utter disconnect between logic and emotion and I've never found a way to combat it, except Prozac which stopped working or booze which destroyed my life.

Goddamn it, @Underscore
Your post touched me deeply.
It sounds like shit. I am so sorry you live with this.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Goddamn it, @Underscore
Your post touched me deeply.
It sounds like shit. I am so sorry you live with this.

Thanks. I'm okay, I'm used to it now. Least of my issues tbh.
I just remembered a characteristic OCD story that speaks to me of madness...
I was using a roll of Gorilla tape. Every time I cut off a strip and put the end back down, I felt it wasn't down properly. I knew it was ofc, but I felt that it wasn't and the normal feelings of dread ensued.
I can't remember how long I spent cutting off new strips just to try and get that end stuck down.
I the end I got so angry, I used the whole tape and threw the lot away!
I still felt that unresolved awfulness.
Stupid lack of neurotransmitters.

 

[muffin222]

I have OCD. The symptoms come in waves of varying severity and intensity depending on what stressors are in my life. At the peak of it, I was stricken with such overwhelming fear of germs (contamination OCD) that I REFUSED to leave the house without gloves on. Refused. I couldn't touch anything in public with my bare hands. I would sometimes even wear two sets of gloves at once. Yes, strangers stared.
I was petrified of germs, and whenever I was out in public, all I could think about was how dirty and germ-ridden everything was. During this time period, I also compulsively washed my hands throughout the day. I washed until the skin on my hands was dry and cracking. I couldn't stop. I also had to sing the "Happy Birthday" song in my head 2-3 times every time I washed. I couldn't stop.

This went on for months and months until one day someone close to me staged an impromptu "intervention" in a bar. They gently confronted me about my incessant glove usage, and I broke down into tears. I hadn't realized how bad the OCD has gotten. That's the tragic part of OCD; the sufferer becomes so immersed in the compulsions that they gradually lose their sense of reality and what's "normal".

Now, my OCD isn't nearly as severe as it was back then because I manage my stress more effectively, but traces of it still linger in my day-to-day life. Nonetheless, I know that at any time, some disaster or highly stressful situation can strike and revive the severe symptoms all over again.

It's a balancing act :\

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I have OCD. The symptoms come in waves of varying severity and intensity depending on what stressors are in my life. At the peak of it, I was stricken with such overwhelming fear of germs (contamination OCD) that I REFUSED to leave the house without gloves on. Refused. I couldn't touch anything in public with my bare hands. I would sometimes even wear two sets of gloves at once. Yes, strangers stared.
I was petrified of germs, and whenever I was out in public, all I could think about was how dirty and germ-ridden everything was. During this time period, I also compulsively washed my hands throughout the day. I washed until the skin on my hands was dry and cracking. I couldn't stop. I also had to sing the "Happy Birthday" song in my head 2-3 times every time I washed. I couldn't stop.

This went on for months and months until one day someone close to me staged an impromptu "intervention" in a bar. They gently confronted me about my incessant glove usage, and I broke down into tears. I hadn't realized how bad the OCD has gotten. That's the tragic part of OCD; the sufferer becomes so immersed in the compulsions that they gradually lose their sense of reality and what's "normal".

Now, my OCD isn't nearly as severe as it was back then because I manage my stress more effectively, but traces of it still linger in my day-to-day life. Nonetheless, I know that at any time, some disaster or highly stressful situation can strike and revive the severe symptoms all over again.

It's a balancing act :\

A balancing act indeed. Glad you have it more under control. Interesting that yours is influenced by stress. Mine doesn't work like that for some reason, unless it's a way my unconscious anxiety plays out maybe. Mine is just there all the time but focuses on certain things. I've done the singing and repeating phrases thing too!
I've always hidden this from everyone. What pisses me off is that if anyone sees this behaviour it actually makes me feel like a nutter.

 

[laiduponit]

I've had OCD for as long as I can remember e.g repeating actions, cleaning to a rigorous amounts and elements of germaphobia etc. The only way I was able to stop it was to do go against my OCD - I know how easy said that is compared to doing it but It basically made my OCD less of a life affecting issue.

The only one I can't really seem to get rid of is obsessive thoughts, though instead of getting rid of them I just learn to live by them - acknowledge that they occur but not really think past that.

 

[Close_to_freedom]

It's hell. If it was my only problem, i'd still be suicidal. The only "cure" is Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy. The treatment is worse than the illness, but it's the only way.

 

[Lost.]

I have had OCD from the age of 6. Last 3 years i coped well, it didn't distrube me too much, although i had often complusive actions! This winter it became worse, it seems worse than ever, and since then i has distrubed me a lot. :( Idk how to recude that. I would like to reduce that.

 

[mathieu]

I have had some obsessive symptoms (intrusive thoughts). High doses of SSRIs helped.

 

[sufferingalways]

It's hell. If it was my only problem, i'd still be suicidal. The only "cure" is Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy. The treatment is worse than the illness, but it's the only way.

Hi sorry to hear of your pains with it. What is that treatment?


Not sure if i have OCD, i have an unusual habit, if i take a beaker cup into the kitchen through one door i have to go back the same way with it, (my kitchen has a door at each end) - if im still drinking as i go. Same with a puzzle game device handed to me. Not through that door please, through the living room door (into my room when im in there). I know its odd but any other routine makes me angry for a long time, for some reason.

 

[rhiino]

You should fight the OCD all the time, just a little bit is enough to make it better over time, but the more you fight it the faster it gets better.
If you have to check the door 5 times to be sure it is locked, only do it 4 times if you are in the mood to fight it.
If you have to shower 30 minutes, only do it 28.
If you have to eat in a specific order, screw that order up a little bit.


I know from experience, but my OCD just exchanged with worse problems.

 

[Close_to_freedom]

Hi sorry to hear of your pains with it. What is that treatment?


Not sure if i have OCD, i have an unusual habit, if i take a beaker cup into the kitchen through one door i have to go back the same way with it, (my kitchen has a door at each end) - if im still drinking as i go. Same with a puzzle game device handed to me. Not through that door please, through the living room door (into my room when im in there). I know its odd but any other routine makes me angry for a long time, for some reason.

The therapy is doing the opposite of the compulsion basically. I had to touch the rim of a public toilet seat and a public trash can and then eat food without washing my hands. It was a nightmare.

 

[GoBack]

The therapy is doing the opposite of the compulsion basically. I had to touch the rim of a public toilet seat and a public trash can and then eat food without washing my hands. It was a nightmare.

What, why would anyone make you do that, did it even help? I mean I understand the logic but still

 

[Close_to_freedom]

What, why would anyone make you do that, did it even help? I mean I understand the logic but still

No it didn't help at all. She also wanted me to rub my dirty hands over my clothes, food, etc. Psychopath

 

[GoBack]

No it didn't help at all. She also wanted me to rub my dirty hands over my clothes, food, etc. Psychopath

F sake. That's just stupid. Why are we at the mercy of these nut jobs.

 

[Fedrea]

How is ocd for you and how do you guys cope?

( I have been doing mindfulness exercises and exercising almost every day but I still struggle alot.)

I only realised I had this recently, but a type they refer to as "pure O" where you're overtaken by obsessive thoughts 99% of the time without any of the compulsions. I was always quite obsessive about whatever my latest interest was, but never more than 60% of the time and mostly they were not too distressing. I then read that OCD is much more common in people with PTSD i.e. trauma in their past, with 4-22% with PTSD having OCD compared to 1% of the general population having OCD. This makes sense.

 

[Bsbsb12]

Hey. First of all sry for my bad English.
I used to have OCD for a year. It's was really bad and very annoying. There was days when I was doing rituals for 4ish hour a day. But now, I'm happy to say I almost defeat OCD. I realized that if I do rituals I will never overcome it. I've read post on Reddit where someone said he had bad things happening in his life even if he do rituals. That encourage me not to do compulsions. When you gave up and did ritual OCD will be like an avalanche, became more and more strong. Universe just don't work that way. You can't make it rain if you think about rain.
Best regards.

 

[sufferingalways]

The therapy is doing the opposite of the compulsion basically. I had to touch the rim of a public toilet seat and a public trash can and then eat food without washing my hands. It was a nightmare.

That sounds horrible! For anyone.

No it didn't help at all. She also wanted me to rub my dirty hands over my clothes, food, etc. Psychopath

That's nasty. Its okay to quit a therapy (if thats what they claim it to be.. :-/) if its as nasty as this sounds. Ewww.

 

[Irrelevant biologist]

I have OCD amongst other things, and yes that alone makes me suicidal. I want to just rip my brain out. My therapist has told me I am too effed up to help.

 

[woxihuanni]

Though I don't have OCD, from what I know of it, things like meditation sound like a perfect way to feed OCD. Scientists and artists channel what would've otherwise become OCD into their work. You mind needs to chew on stuff, actual data, real work. It's chewing on itself, and you're sitting there forcing it to chew on nothing.

In other words, peace is not something you work towards. It comes to you when you do actual work.