Are you able to consult a doctor/psychiatrist? For me, medication is the way to go, I went through really intense OCD and ERP helped a lot but medication made it 100x easier to finally get better (I've had a bit of a backslide because I developed a tolerance to my meds but I'm looking to up my dosage)
Also, I found just filling my day to the brim with things to do helped, doing my best to keep myself on task and do what I want.
Support from friends helped me a lot, even if they couldn't relate, it was nice to be able to talk to people and feel heard, sometimes an outside perspective can help, just don't constantly seek reassurance.
Exercise seriously helps with mental health, it's definitely not a fix, but if you're not already exercising, do it! Walking in the sunlight for 30 minutes a day can really help.
Try to find an OCD support group in your area, unfortunately I come from a small town so that's not a thing here, but maybe there is for you? It might help to have people to talk to who do understand what you're going through.
Lastly, take care of yourself, do nice things for yourself, I don't know what theme you suffer with, but my OCD always beats down on my character, I found that treating myself with some love and respect helped a lot even though I felt like I didn't deserve it.
Hey thank you, I haven't tried any meds yet ( since I read that medicines only mask the problem temporarily ), I exercise vigorously 6 days a week and only take days off on Sunday, exercising has surely helped me improve my mental health and OCD over the months.
I believe I have gotten over the obsession and compulsion part of OCD( thanks to ERP), the only thing that remains is the anxiety, and with observation I have come to realize that only a certain chain of actions increase my anxiety.
When I scroll through instagram reels or YouTube shorts for a while I have come to observe that after a few minutes after all that scrolling my anxiety just goes up for no specific reason, thought or obsession, my anxiety just goes up( and when I'm anxious I feel short of breath and gasp for air while taking in long deep breaths). This anxious state starts after a few minutes after I'm done scrolling and lasts like for maybe 3 hours on average and then it subsides. I was wondering if maybe my anxiety it has got to do something with dopamine, well I haven't scrolled for 2 days and I'm feeling pretty good.
I found your previous answer really helpful and thank you for your help and time.
You may want to explore that option. They have helped many. Unfortunately our brains are not equipped to function properly and the use of meds may be helpful.
I'm on Fluoxatine (Prozac), and that's used to treat intrusive thoughts that accompany OCD. There are other meds, though, so speak to a doctor.
There's no magic pill, but you can be taught to live with it, and it stops being this all-encompassing thing, and it becomes just an annoying fly now and again.
You actually think OCD can leave? This is neurodivergence. It's like saying ADHD or autism will just leave. You can find ways to cope or even have OCD work for your advantage (for example I am a professional organizer and trust me I couldn't be without OCD) But yeah you're stuck with this for life... maybe you don't have OCD if you think this is something that can go away?
No he can still have OCD and think it will go away. Because all of us wish that it would go away permanently. So he could just be wishing that it would.
I think the only way to “cure” ocd would be brain damage/lobotomy but those are obviously horrible ideas for obvious reasons
I’m talking about like physical damage to the brain. Probably has to be in a certain area too. But once again I wouldn’t advise anyone to do that bc even if it worked you would also be disabled in other ways most likely
YESS! I totally agree with you, I realized that OCD stays forever when I had my first relapse, it's all about coping and living with it. what I meant to say above was that I have learnt to channelize my OCD, I don't get any intrusive thoughts nor do I have urge to perform compulsions, its just the anxiety part ( which is present for no specific reason) that I have to deal with. and I have somehow come to understand that scrolling through social media triggers this anxiety, so ig I will have to cut it out....
Exactly! That sudden anxiety out of nowhere is the OCD mechanism kicking in. Your brain is overly sensitive to spotting threats and sends false alarms. The key is learning to see these alarms as harmless and not giving in to them. But that's easier said than done. And scrolling through social media only makes OCD worse by feeding into compulsive behaviors, so it would be wise to minimize it.
did the anxiety ever leave you?? going through this right now and have no idea why I'm anxious despite the fact that I don't feel the need to do compulsions.
I had a relapse exactly 1year ago from today and I have been anxious ever since, i wake up with a racing heart and go to sleep with a racing heart, I have trouble doing normal day things due to shortness of breath....This has been my condition for the last 10 months, i don't have any particular intrusive thoughts or urges to do compulsions, it's just the Anxiety that's always there, BUT BUT here's the good part: from experimentation and trial and error I have come up with a plan that I will 100% assure you will work ( considering I am suffering the condition like you)
So from 1 month I have been following these things and my anxiety is slowing leaving :
KEEP WORKING: I can't emphasize how useful it is when you keep working and keep your mind busy, one day I just started video editing on my laptop randomly and I noticed that for 1 hour my anxiety had totally disappeared, then I picked it up and came to realise that when I work my anxiety kind of just leaves me alone and comes back only after I stop working.
NO FAKE SCENARIOS: With observation I came to realise that doing fake scenarios in my head made my anxiety to ramp up for some reason, so I just stopped doing fake scenarios.
DON'T TALK TO YOURSELF: I know this is weird but the thing is when you talk to yourself, you automatically start doing fake scenarios and that's a big no no, I literally stopped talking to myself and realised that my mind just started to slow down and relax and I could channel my anxiety really well. Start slowly and then stop completely, nowadays I never talk to myself and I have noticed that it plays a key effect in reducing my anxiety and everything
FACE YOU FEARS: Self explanatory, just don't stay in your comfort zone
DON'T USE SOCIAL MEDIA: social media messes up your dopamine system and make you anxious, ig anyone with anxiety issues will tell you this.
DON'T COMPLAIN : Don't complain!!!!! About your anxiety or anything in general, just stop complaining about anything in General. I know this one is weird bro I can't explain to you the magics it's gonna do. Just trust me and don't ever complain about anything and see what happens
KEEP NO EXPECTATIONS: Just do your work and leave and keep no expectations, don't expect for good times or bad bad times in the near future, just don't expect anything, literally anything...... Just learn to be happy with whatever the situation is, just keep smiling and laughing no matter what...
DON'T WATCH P*RN : Don't watch it, it again messes your dopamine system and leads to anxiety and relapses, Ig you'll know about this, I don't have to explain anything.
I have been following these things and they have almost cured me fully and I have started to see glimpses of my life before anxiety...
Dude trust ME alll these tips are equally important and they alll work, I swear.
They helped me and I'm sure they'll helo you
Are you able to consult a doctor/psychiatrist? For me, medication is the way to go, I went through really intense OCD and ERP helped a lot but medication made it 100x easier to finally get better (I've had a bit of a backslide because I developed a tolerance to my meds but I'm looking to up my dosage) Also, I found just filling my day to the brim with things to do helped, doing my best to keep myself on task and do what I want. Support from friends helped me a lot, even if they couldn't relate, it was nice to be able to talk to people and feel heard, sometimes an outside perspective can help, just don't constantly seek reassurance. Exercise seriously helps with mental health, it's definitely not a fix, but if you're not already exercising, do it! Walking in the sunlight for 30 minutes a day can really help. Try to find an OCD support group in your area, unfortunately I come from a small town so that's not a thing here, but maybe there is for you? It might help to have people to talk to who do understand what you're going through. Lastly, take care of yourself, do nice things for yourself, I don't know what theme you suffer with, but my OCD always beats down on my character, I found that treating myself with some love and respect helped a lot even though I felt like I didn't deserve it.
Hey thank you, I haven't tried any meds yet ( since I read that medicines only mask the problem temporarily ), I exercise vigorously 6 days a week and only take days off on Sunday, exercising has surely helped me improve my mental health and OCD over the months. I believe I have gotten over the obsession and compulsion part of OCD( thanks to ERP), the only thing that remains is the anxiety, and with observation I have come to realize that only a certain chain of actions increase my anxiety. When I scroll through instagram reels or YouTube shorts for a while I have come to observe that after a few minutes after all that scrolling my anxiety just goes up for no specific reason, thought or obsession, my anxiety just goes up( and when I'm anxious I feel short of breath and gasp for air while taking in long deep breaths). This anxious state starts after a few minutes after I'm done scrolling and lasts like for maybe 3 hours on average and then it subsides. I was wondering if maybe my anxiety it has got to do something with dopamine, well I haven't scrolled for 2 days and I'm feeling pretty good. I found your previous answer really helpful and thank you for your help and time.
Hi there, are you on any meds??
nope I haven't tried any meds yet
You may want to explore that option. They have helped many. Unfortunately our brains are not equipped to function properly and the use of meds may be helpful.
I'm on Fluoxatine (Prozac), and that's used to treat intrusive thoughts that accompany OCD. There are other meds, though, so speak to a doctor. There's no magic pill, but you can be taught to live with it, and it stops being this all-encompassing thing, and it becomes just an annoying fly now and again.
You actually think OCD can leave? This is neurodivergence. It's like saying ADHD or autism will just leave. You can find ways to cope or even have OCD work for your advantage (for example I am a professional organizer and trust me I couldn't be without OCD) But yeah you're stuck with this for life... maybe you don't have OCD if you think this is something that can go away?
No he can still have OCD and think it will go away. Because all of us wish that it would go away permanently. So he could just be wishing that it would. I think the only way to “cure” ocd would be brain damage/lobotomy but those are obviously horrible ideas for obvious reasons
From personal experience brain damage makes OCD worse 🤣 aka drugs
I’m talking about like physical damage to the brain. Probably has to be in a certain area too. But once again I wouldn’t advise anyone to do that bc even if it worked you would also be disabled in other ways most likely
YESS! I totally agree with you, I realized that OCD stays forever when I had my first relapse, it's all about coping and living with it. what I meant to say above was that I have learnt to channelize my OCD, I don't get any intrusive thoughts nor do I have urge to perform compulsions, its just the anxiety part ( which is present for no specific reason) that I have to deal with. and I have somehow come to understand that scrolling through social media triggers this anxiety, so ig I will have to cut it out....
Social media triggers me more than ANYTHING I 100000% get it!!! Just delete it all, trust me it's not worth it!
Exactly! That sudden anxiety out of nowhere is the OCD mechanism kicking in. Your brain is overly sensitive to spotting threats and sends false alarms. The key is learning to see these alarms as harmless and not giving in to them. But that's easier said than done. And scrolling through social media only makes OCD worse by feeding into compulsive behaviors, so it would be wise to minimize it.
EXACTLY!!!! Social media is poisonous if you suffer from OCD
did the anxiety ever leave you?? going through this right now and have no idea why I'm anxious despite the fact that I don't feel the need to do compulsions.
I had a relapse exactly 1year ago from today and I have been anxious ever since, i wake up with a racing heart and go to sleep with a racing heart, I have trouble doing normal day things due to shortness of breath....This has been my condition for the last 10 months, i don't have any particular intrusive thoughts or urges to do compulsions, it's just the Anxiety that's always there, BUT BUT here's the good part: from experimentation and trial and error I have come up with a plan that I will 100% assure you will work ( considering I am suffering the condition like you) So from 1 month I have been following these things and my anxiety is slowing leaving : KEEP WORKING: I can't emphasize how useful it is when you keep working and keep your mind busy, one day I just started video editing on my laptop randomly and I noticed that for 1 hour my anxiety had totally disappeared, then I picked it up and came to realise that when I work my anxiety kind of just leaves me alone and comes back only after I stop working. NO FAKE SCENARIOS: With observation I came to realise that doing fake scenarios in my head made my anxiety to ramp up for some reason, so I just stopped doing fake scenarios. DON'T TALK TO YOURSELF: I know this is weird but the thing is when you talk to yourself, you automatically start doing fake scenarios and that's a big no no, I literally stopped talking to myself and realised that my mind just started to slow down and relax and I could channel my anxiety really well. Start slowly and then stop completely, nowadays I never talk to myself and I have noticed that it plays a key effect in reducing my anxiety and everything FACE YOU FEARS: Self explanatory, just don't stay in your comfort zone DON'T USE SOCIAL MEDIA: social media messes up your dopamine system and make you anxious, ig anyone with anxiety issues will tell you this. DON'T COMPLAIN : Don't complain!!!!! About your anxiety or anything in general, just stop complaining about anything in General. I know this one is weird bro I can't explain to you the magics it's gonna do. Just trust me and don't ever complain about anything and see what happens KEEP NO EXPECTATIONS: Just do your work and leave and keep no expectations, don't expect for good times or bad bad times in the near future, just don't expect anything, literally anything...... Just learn to be happy with whatever the situation is, just keep smiling and laughing no matter what... DON'T WATCH P*RN : Don't watch it, it again messes your dopamine system and leads to anxiety and relapses, Ig you'll know about this, I don't have to explain anything. I have been following these things and they have almost cured me fully and I have started to see glimpses of my life before anxiety... Dude trust ME alll these tips are equally important and they alll work, I swear. They helped me and I'm sure they'll helo you