help with anxiety/OCD?

Question

i recently went to the dr. and got medication for OCD, while she said it will help (and it does) it will not take away all the symptoms.
i notice my symptoms pick up when i am stressed and/or tired.

does anyone have suggestions on how to deal with the thoughts and reactions in OCD? and the anxiety that comes with it?

if you have personal experience with an anxiety or OCD disorder, your opinion will be highly appreciated.

please, no mean or degrading comments. thank you!

Answer 1

You have to pace yourself. Get plenty of rest and eat healthy. Don't allow yourself to get to hungry or to tired. When you start getting stressed out, take a break. I used to work as an exterminator. After being stressed by a particularly difficult client, I would make a detour on the way to the next client and blast the radio for a few minutes, and calm down. Find a technique that helps you settle down and refocus on the task at hand.

Answer 2

It is a horrible thing to have, i suffer from both. I am 24 now and it is only in the last year that the OCD is at such a low level that it does not really effect me. The thing that helped me most was cognitive therapy - you basically write a list from the things that worry you the least to what worries you the most and slowly work your way through the list from the thing that worries you least. It is hard but you will start to minimise the OCD that you have. If you leave it you will add more rituals and things and it will build up till it takes over your life. OCD will always pop up and become worse through times of change when your anxiety is higher and your only way to deal with it is trying to control things through your behaviour, I know it is hard - and people will just say to you to stop doing it and not to be silly but the urge is so great that you do it and as soon as you do it makes you feel better, but you must realise that yes by giving in will make you feel better in the short term but will be worse for you in the long run. So my advice is to FIGHT it, fight it like you hate it and it is you against it and don't feed your fears.

Answer 3

What you need here is called exposure and response-prevention treatment.

OCD is characterized by obsessions, and the compulsions are your brain and body's way of reducing the anxiety that the obsessions create. These otherwise adaptive behaviors become very maladaptive and time-consuming in people with OCD.

What needs to be done is to gradually eliminate the compulsions and be forced to sit with the anxiety that results from not engaging in those compulsions. For example, if you check locks on doors and windows constantly, you must stop doing that. If you wash your hands excessively, you have to stop doing that.

Eventually, after a whole ton of treatments, there are what are called "overexposure" tasks that people can (and should) do to really kick the anxiety. If you check locks on doors repeatedly, overexposure is to leave your house unlocked all night. If you wash excessively, an overexposure would be to use ranch dressing as hand-lotion or rub your hands all over a toilet seat and then lick your hands. Sounds disgusting, and it is, but it's well worth getting over this debilitating disorder (so long as you're reasonably safe about it).

To just say "stop doing it" is much easier said than done though. If it was that easy, you probably wouldn't still have OCD. You may need a therapist who knows about exposure and response-prevention treatments to help you with this regimen of exposure to anxiety and reduction of compulsions. Over time, stopping your compulsions will acclimate you to the anxiety resulting from the obsessions and then the obsessions will decrease.

Answer 4

To deal with OCD it is important to relax and do not get stressed over minor details. What some doctors do not tell you is that only you can end OCD. The medication only works temporally and in some cases, depending on how serious the condition is, the medication is not needed. Just take everything one step at a time. Do not wait to last minute.

Answer 5

Maybe you're just afraid of commitment or of being happy. We usually obsess to keep ourselves from relaxing and just letting our thoughts drift. This stems from the brain repressing things that may be difficult to handle. Some people become workaholics for the same reason. Lots of people don't want to deal with certain things in life and it fills the doctors' offices, but they can only take us half way. We have to go the rest of the way on our own. Try counseling along with the doctor and meds. If you really want to know why ths is happening, try developing a better relationship with your inner self. Eventually you will tell yourself whatever it is that you want to know.

Answer 6

sometimes its really feels terrible to do some things which you know you already did... (been there!)
mine was checking all the door locks everynight before sleeping, so i have to get out of bed go downstairs.......sometimes i do that 5 times at 5-10 minute intervals....really it feels terrible!!
so i try to remind myself that i already did it 3 times and it should be enough, now i only do it only 2 times..
pray hard!!