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    Default dealing with severe OCD

    i've always had OCD among other things but its gotten really bad lately. its not just wanting my house clean or cute little quirks , its having to do these elaborate stressful rituals every single time i put sunscreen on or wash my face or set my alarm or eat certain foods or clean certain things and its SO time-consuming and i feel this dread when i know i have to do these things. its just gotten exhausting with no hint of letting up.
    so to anybody else who has this, what has made you beat this or dealt with it better? i really dont want to go on more medication because the meds I'm on right now have pretty severely altered my metabolism and made me gain like 40 or 50 pounds and I'm trying to get off them because of that..but if its the only way then i'll talk to my dr about it. i can't really afford therapy right now on top of my regular dr :/

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    I've never had it quite as severe, especially not the physical activities... I have the repetitive thoughts thing (the same multiple phrases, half of which are complete nonsense), and some weird thing with blinking in certain directions and counting it (bizarre, I know). I also have trich :/ I totally feel you, it sucks ass and it's so hard to break the loop sometimes.

    I try to make my mind go as blank as possible, if that makes sense. I don't know what's going on in your head, but I'm always picturing the words of whatever thought it is, and instead I just kind of let my eyes go unfocused and 'wipe the slate' on my thoughts. It's hard to explain :/ Also, just sitting down and completely relaxing your body, all at once, seems to help re-set the switch. My issues have largely gone away when I'm not stressed out or over-caffeinated/wound up; are you under any extra stress? Subconsciously worrying about anything? That sort of thing should be dealt with.

    CBT is probably the best way to deal with anxiety/OCD issues though. I know it's hard and it'll bother the shit out of you until you do it, but dealing with it and just trying to switch activities and distract from the not-having-done-the-ritual has been the most helpful to me. What happens if you try to not do the rituals?
    "People jack off with the left hand and point with the right."

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    studies you could participate in and get free treatment in exchange. Or asking if the therapist would consider a lower fee given your circumstances?
    Last edited by amberlly; 09-02-2015 at 12:07 AM.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    I had moderate ocd when I was suffering from depression. I've always had mild ocd - I think it runs in my family plus I learned a lot of bad habits from them.

    When I started anti depressants, which also can be used to decrease anxiety, I noticed my ocd improved in addition to my depressed mood.

    If you want relief you must choose. Cognitive therapy / systematic desensitization and or medication. Especially if your symptoms are moderate to severe and interfering with your daily activities.

    http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx25t.htm

    Definitely talk to your doctor about this and see what he suggests as options.

    Like amberlly mentioned for low cost therapy go to your local graduate school and connect with therapists there.
    Last edited by miss.a.p1600; 06-22-2015 at 08:19 PM.
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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    I had severe harm ocd. Now it's mild to moderate and I've noticed anxiety makes it worse. What helped me a lot was simple Kundalini yoga breathing exercises and CBT therapy. I know it doesn't work for everyone but the kundalini exercises personally helped me a lot.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    My anxiety, depression, and minor OCD get worse when I'm bored. It's like my brain needs to create its own entertainment when I don't have much going on - in the form of mental illness!

    Do you have quite a bit going on in your life right now (overstimulated)? Or is your schedule fairly blank (understimulated)?

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Definitely get onto CBT if you haven't. I used to have rather bad OCD both with rituals as well as repetitive disturbing/catastrophising thoughts. OCD usually comes back when I am stressed or ill/run down. Practice mindfullness too, when you realise that your doing or thinking it try to do 5 big deep breaths in and out and stay in the present with no thoughts of future happenings, and maybe it will help a little (though sometimes not). Combine that with CBT though and you may be able to curb 80% of your OCD.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    oh wow thank you guys so much.
    selina- i had trich too! and if i dont read the label the right way after putting my moisturizer on ( just giving an example of one of them) i'll get panicky and wipe it off and have to reapply it this time reading the label that specific way..wow i sound really crazy right now.

    thanks i never thought about going to the medical schools i have around me , good idea.

    charlie, its mostly under stimulation i think. i haven't been back to work in 7 months and maybe I'm feeling like i dont have much control of my life and i'm stressed so i take it out on my OCD obsessions? I'm not sure

    i will also look into CBT. tonight i forced myself to just kind of do things and not do my rituals as much, maybe i just need to completely do what i fear the most ( like only checking my alarm once) and force myself

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    Veteran Member MiraMichele's Avatar
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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    I've had OCD forever and I've been through times where I almost needed to be put in a mental hospital to it being moderate and back to severe. I'm terrified of it flaring up to the point of it be I g that severe again but that was an extremely difficult part of my life from 15 years ago since it was that bad. Its come and gone moderately since then but for the last 7 years or so I've been able to keep it pretty much under control with a little trick I found that works for me. I can't promise this will work for you and it won't work overnight but if you can try this and continue with it consistently I'm sure it can help. My OCD isn't complete gone by any means, I still deal with it everyday and still use this trick to keep it under control and I'm going to try my best to explain it to you. I kind of turn the OCD around on itself if that makes sense. I have a fear of choking on my food when I'm eating and of course my OCD likes to try to make it worse but I don't let it. An example is I'll be eating a bag of cashews or something and I'll get a thought pop up that if I eat one more then that last one will kill me so I can't eat anymore. I decided that hey I still want more cashews and one more won't really kill me so I say to myself this one won't but if I eat 1,000 then that 1000th one might. I make it unrealistic so it still satisfies the compulsion in a way but also relieves my anxiety if you get what I mean. My OCD plays a lot on my fears of dying so another example is if I get in a car my OCD might tell me to stay home cause the car will crash and I'll die that day. It does it all the time so I say to .myself that yes maybe I will die in a car crash, but how about in 100 years. I think what this does is some kind of psychology method where it gives the compulsions a relief in a way where your anxiety isn't going g through the roof to try to find d a way to relieve it while doing rituals.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    If you would like I can try giving g you some examples that might work to help you with your rituals since yours seem like they are probably a bit different from mine. I would just need to know a little more on the rituals to give you some examples to combat it. If you aren't comfortable posting more details you can PM me if you are comfortable with it.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Quote Originally Posted by simone87 View Post
    i've always had OCD among other things but its gotten really bad lately. its not just wanting my house clean or cute little quirks , its having to do these elaborate stressful rituals every single time i put sunscreen on or wash my face or set my alarm or eat certain foods or clean certain things and its SO time-consuming and i feel this dread when i know i have to do these things. its just gotten exhausting with no hint of letting up.
    so to anybody else who has this, what has made you beat this or dealt with it better? i really dont want to go on more medication because the meds I'm on right now have pretty severely altered my metabolism and made me gain like 40 or 50 pounds and I'm trying to get off them because of that..but if its the only way then i'll talk to my dr about it. i can't really afford therapy right now on top of my regular dr :/
    I was going to post about this the other day. I get pissed when i see people comparing not liking to be looked at in public to what we go through. I've had it since a teen. It progressed after my daughter and the only time I can remember being ritual free is when on meds. Though my recent bout with lexapro has made it unbearable. I do like you. My rituals leave me in the house most days because of fear to move off the couch. I have to turn lights on and off in a series of 3. I can't stop until my brain says move on. sometimes it takes 5 min sometimes 20. Stepping is a big one. If i get up to do anything I have to go back anf forth and sometimes miss whole programs because I have to step just right. I've started walking on my tip toes. it seems to help a bit. Touching things is a big thing too. It may take 5 min to move on sometimes 30 or more. it's why I never clean and I'm so messy because I have enough with the rituals daily. I've found if my anxiety is high my rituals are worse. I'm sorry I can;t be of much help but know someone else is struggling too.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    ^ Oh and I do it in public too. When I go out to get my mail it's a nightmare. I'm out there trying to look normal ( in front of neighbors) while closing the mailbox umpteen times until it feels normal and stepping right. So embarrasing.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Also. It's very hard to treat with talk therapy. it never helped me. I've watched several documentaries. Doctors say our brains don't have the signal that tells us to stop doing something. Like we do things over and over because our brain doesn't send the signal to move on. My things too. I'm a hoarder and i keep things because well I did well when I had that. or my last trip I brought that, so now I have to every trip. One documentary I saw the girl was so bad she couldn't go near her mother and father. she thought they were contaminated. I cried when i watched. She hadn't hugged her parents in years and was only likr 16.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Quote Originally Posted by MiraMichele View Post
    If you would like I can try giving g you some examples that might work to help you with your rituals since yours seem like they are probably a bit different from mine. I would just need to know a little more on the rituals to give you some examples to combat it. If you aren't comfortable posting more details you can PM me if you are comfortable with it.
    thanks! well, when i was a kid i would compulsively get up every night to check and see if the stove was off since we had a gas stove and i was terrified somebody left it on and we would blow up..but nowadays, just to give you one example of many, i'll have to read every single word on my sunscreen bottle before putting it on (i'll also be anal about reapplying every 2 hours, and i put it on every single day no matter the weather)..i'll do the same with my face creams and it has to be a certain order that i read the label in. or my alarm, it will take like 30 minutes for me to set my alarm because i have to check and re-check to make sure i set it for the right time. and anything that you think would help would be appreciated, thank you so much!

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Quote Originally Posted by michele11 View Post
    Also. It's very hard to treat with talk therapy. it never helped me. I've watched several documentaries. Doctors say our brains don't have the signal that tells us to stop doing something. Like we do things over and over because our brain doesn't send the signal to move on. My things too. I'm a hoarder and i keep things because well I did well when I had that. or my last trip I brought that, so now I have to every trip. One documentary I saw the girl was so bad she couldn't go near her mother and father. she thought they were contaminated. I cried when i watched. She hadn't hugged her parents in years and was only likr 16.
    that's so sad, it really can be debilitating and exhausting do you remember what documentary it was? that would be very interesting to watch!

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    ^ I can't remember. I do remember I wanted my mom to watch to see their's different realms of OCD ( because she claims I don't have it because I'm messy) thanks to TV and hollywood movies showing people who have to have things lined up and in order. That I've never seen. I wish mine manifested in a clean manner. lol. I think it was on 20/20 or 48 hours. I also saw one where a guy wouldn;t leave the bathroom. He lived in there and his family had to bring him things. I hope mine never gets that bad. But I never drank out of anyones cups and I won't kiss family on the lips. Even my daughter.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Quote Originally Posted by simone87 View Post
    thanks! well, when i was a kid i would compulsively get up every night to check and see if the stove was off since we had a gas stove and i was terrified somebody left it on and we would blow up..but nowadays, just to give you one example of many, i'll have to read every single word on my sunscreen bottle before putting it on (i'll also be anal about reapplying every 2 hours, and i put it on every single day no matter the weather)..i'll do the same with my face creams and it has to be a certain order that i read the label in. or my alarm, it will take like 30 minutes for me to set my alarm because i have to check and re-check to make sure i set it for the right time. and anything that you think would help would be appreciated, thank you so much!
    I've had very similar rituals I have had to do so I think I can help some hopefully. When you have to read the bottle of sunscreen completely before putting it on is it because your obsession is that the sunscreen may not work and something bad will happen if you do not do this ritual or is it something different? If it is that or something similar then you can always try it like what I do with my obsession over choking. Prolong it to relieve your anxiety. I feel like typing it out it kind of sounds silly like how could that really help but after trying it it really did work wonders with relieving my anxiety from not doing the rituals. Just try telling yourself it will work today, I feel like this may come across a little silly with typing it out as well lol but try negotiating with your OCD in a way. Say I'm not reading this entire bottle before putting it on, how about I can choose a time to let the OCD win but make it unrealistic, only make yourself believe it by saying OK this time this many years down the road I will put on this sunscreen and it will not work and bad things can happen 80 years from now but today I need a break so just let me get it done and you OCD can have your way on this date this many years from now.

    I want to add more to this but I'm on my phone that has decided to start acting up so when I get back to my laptop I'll continue this post. Hopefully what I have been able to put here will be able to help at least a little

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Double post
    Last edited by MiraMichele; 06-30-2015 at 02:38 PM.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    thank you so much! yeah today I'm just going to force myself to read the first part. i guess my weird ocd fear is that if i dont read it all, maybe it won't actually be sunscreen that i put on my face..? idk, you know how crazy it can make you haha. but thanks again, i'll try that today

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    I have it and it's getting worse due to stress. I've become a neat freak, and doing certain things a specific way. Usually what I do is exercise or yoga and it helps a bit.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Quote Originally Posted by simone87 View Post
    thank you so much! yeah today I'm just going to force myself to read the first part. i guess my weird ocd fear is that if i dont read it all, maybe it won't actually be sunscreen that i put on my face..? idk, you know how crazy it can make you haha. but thanks again, i'll try that today
    You're very welcome Please do keep updated on if it is helping any. Like I said before don't expect this to cure these obsessions immediately but it should at least start to help some from the get go and after so long of doing it it has became a normal thought process with me to combat anything my OCD tries with me and hopefully soon this can be as successful for you.

    I remember a whole bout I had with mine years ago where it was all about checking everything g including my alarm clock too. I haven't had the checking part of my OCD really come back since then, recently its all been mental obsessions but I would just try to continue using the same technique of not today and just keep repeating.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Hey there, I caught your thread about dealing with severe OCD. Have you ever thought about hypnotherapy? I've treated a couple people with pretty bad OCD for everyday things. The success rate is pretty high with only just a couple of sessions. I can give you more information if you are interested.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    ^On that note, perhaps look into EMDR as well.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Do they prescribe xanax for ocd? How are so many of you getting prescribed xanax? Im not having any luck, getting it from my doctor.

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    Default Re: dealing with severe OCD

    Quote Originally Posted by Tilo View Post
    Do they prescribe xanax for ocd? How are so many of you getting prescribed xanax? Im not having any luck, getting it from my doctor.
    I highly advise you not to get into Xanax. It's very *very* addictive and the withdrawal is terrible, worst experience ever.

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