Anxiety and OCD

Hi @Kiera80

It's great you're educating yourself - I think that's one of the biggest steps to managing mental health difficulties.

I noticed you asked whether your level of anxiety is correlated with the severity of the OCD symptoms. I'm not sure of that answer exactly - (others may have their own experiences to share) but is it something you have noticed - those days you are feeling less anxious, you've noticed less OCD symptoms?

It might be worth keeping a day by day record/journal. It doesn't have to be too detailed - for example

Date:

On a scale of 1-10 how anxious did I feel today?

On a scale of 1-10 how servere was the OCD symptoms today?

Hopefully after a few weeks you would have some data to help you out.

One member who springs to mind, who might have some insights about managing OCD is @Denv12 who shared his story here

Another discussion you might find interesting is one started by @Tim_H about finding it difficult to explain OCD to friends and family. @kristin @kenny66 and @Shan offer some great insights in this discussion too.

Does anyone have any similar experiences they wish to share too?

Hi @NikNik

Thank you for your post. I have read the post by @Denv12 and found it insightful, especially the progress made against the battle with OCD. The other posts were helpful too.

I am finding it hard what to address first. The anxiety I seem to have a handle on, mostly and am also on anti anxiety medication which I think is helping me.

The other thing related to OCD is the fear of what the outcome may be if you don't keep ritualising over things.

If I could find a way to conquer the fear then the OCD symptoms may lessen but I'm not sure if that's the right way to go about things.

I would love to hear from others who have had or now have OCD and what sort of things they are finding helpful in dealing with their symptoms.

I am currently reading a book about beating OCD and it has a whole list of things that an OCD sufferer may be experiencing. The list is quite extensive. I was quite shocked to see how many things someone with OCD may be dealing with. I consider myself lucky that I'm just checking stuff and don't have worse thoughts running through my head.

It's a very scary condition.

The day to day journaling is a great idea and I think I may try that. Sometimes I find when I'm getting anxious about something I tend to forget to breathe. When I stop and do some deep breathing then I can move on again. I just need to remember to keep myself in check when I'm obsessing.

Good morning @GothMum

I'm so sorry that your son is affected by OCD. Honestly, I think it's one of the worst silent mental illnesses to have. So much is misunderstood regarding OCD and someone that doesn't have it can't possibly know what it's like. I have been to see various counsellors and a psych to seek treatment and everyone seems to have different ideas on how to tackle it. It's just nuts.

Why is your son not taking his meds every day? He does understand that he needs them, yes?

Lately I have noticed that other members in my family have some form of OCD, nothing that stops their lives but it's still there. I wish I was that lucky.

I think rituals aren't in themselves a bad thing if they don't interfere with what you normally would do on a day to day basis. For instance, if someone was to count things or repeat things in their mind that to me would be okay. It's not causing any major issues. If these things help from having a meltdown then I think it's way okay to just do what you need to to stay a bit sane.

I am trying to research a bit more on the physical side of things with the OCD. Interestingly I found out the other day that as well as having serotonin in the brain, your stomach also carries a big amount of serotonin. The stomach and digestive track in the human body is referred to as the second brain. Sounds strange huh? Anyway, it's a good reason to make sure you stick to a reasonably good diet so things keep ticking along they way they should. This is also a reason that when you take a high level SRI to increase the serotonin levels in the body, you can get an upset stomach and even IBS because the stomach and digestive tract can't handle that much increase in serotonin. All very interesting.

From what I understand about OCD, there are parts of the brain where the serotonin is lacking, even though you can be on SRI medication to increase the levels. I would like to find out if there is a way to get the serotonin into those areas again, whether that's with drugs or some other way. I'm still delving into this but I'll keep searching for answers till I have exhausted all possibilities.

One thing I am finding helpful in the rituals I have is to be still and completely focus on what it is that my OCD is causing me to do. I find that when I'm more mindful, I can move beyond the problem a bit faster than if I'm just letting my mind wander and letting the OCD carry me away which is what usually happens.

I very much hope your son can get the help he needs to try to overcome the OCD. We all need to hang in there and keep fighting.

Hi @Kiera80, thanks for your comments. He knows that his meds help, he admits that they make him feel better, but he's built up so many levels of ritual into taking the meds that he gets caught up in the rituals, and then just can't do it. And when he hasn't had the meds, it's like I have a totally different kid. He has 'clinical anorexia' due to his ocd. And major sensory troubles. His most difficult sensory problem is oral textures... So there are practically no foods that he will accept. He regularly goes to school having eaten no breakfast, without lunch, because one (usually new) ritual cannot be met.

currently he will eat Aldi sausage rolls (one stick of 3, as long as I follow intensive cooking and serving protocols.) he will accept peppermint tic tacs. He will eat one brand of bread toasted with nut telex and vegemite, so long as present them on a specific plastic plate, in a pile of 8, cut diagonally; he might eat 7 corners (no crusts). And an occasional strawberry flavoured milk drink. And he will not even look at anything else. He will go hungry rather than eat something different, and he won't eat (or toilet) anywhere but home.

he has thrown food at me because it's been cooked slightly too long, it touched something else, I used the wrong plate, I talked as I was preparing his food..... Yes, @Kiera80, I agree ocd is one of the most difficult of the MIs.