Help with intrusive thoughts caused by ocd

[Azza]

Hi All,

I have been on anti depressant meds for around 8 weeks now and need some advice or med suggestions that can help with obsessive intrusive thoughts.

I do meditation and some mindfulness every day but I am still struggling, had quite a bad morning yesterday morning, tears and sobbing, I realise the thoughts are just that " thoughts " but they are very distressing for me.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Aaron

[geoff]

dear Azza, I truly know what you talking about with this awful illness, and sorry I will reply back to in the morning, but my medication and my 'routine' make me to have to go to bed as the medication makes me tired, and then I have to 'follow the habits and/or rituals it does cause me to have to do'.

I truly hate this but I am up at 12.01am, but I do hope that other people can reply back to you today. Geoff. x

[Makeithappen]

Hi there, I know your pain. My intrusive thoughts relate to an obsessive fear of losing control and hurting someone else. My worst fear is hurting someone else so unfortunately my anxiety has culminated as such. Every day I live my life I do so aiming to always make others happy and i'm a vegetarian - just some points of how harmless I am. I was working as a nanny for a baby overseas for 5 months and unfortunately the thoughts started there. I was so worried about hurting the baby it became an obsession and snowballed into worrying about hurting others too even though in all these months I never did and never would. The hardest part of this for me is that I never in my life would act on these thoughts but the anxiety makes me feel like they are who I am. I don't know how to get out of the circle of vicious thoughts that I experience. I am such a kind and loving person and the thoughts tear me apart.These thoughts make it hard to function on a day to day level and make decisions as I always worry that whatever decision I make I could end up hurting someone or doing something wrong. It is debilitating. I have started to write an essay about how thoughts are only thoughts and it's really helped. But i'm still struggling. Any advice is really appreciated.

My advice to you is to also write an essay about how thoughts are only thoughts. Think about your REAL actions. They do not reflect your thoughts. You have more control than you think

[Meg_modified]

Azza, reading your comment brought me to teirs. I've suffered from severe anxiety and obsessive thoughts very similar to yours for most of my 27 years of life. The first 16 years of life I was raised in a cult and was constantly told I was a horrible person who is going to hell. It's because of this upbringing I too have been obsessed with the thought I could possibly hurt someone (even though I would never ever do it) and convinced myself I'm some sort of monster (I am in actuality, a very gentle soul who wouldn't hurt a fly) but these panic attacks leave me absolutely terrified to the point I become suicidal. It's a daily struggle between reality and my perception, that I've lived with forever, I hope you find comfort in knowing you're not alone, as you've brought me comfort knowing I'm not the only one who has anxiety like this. Hopefully we can both overcome this and become stronger people for it.

beyondblue's clinically-trained moderators often work offline (invisible to you) on issues relating to suicide or self-harm. At the same time, general supportive comments from the community are encouraged. If you have concerns around suicide or self-harm, please phone our support service on 1300 22 4636.

[Pontius]

Hello Aaron,

I really hope you are feeling better than you were on 27 April. 

I am not going to pretend that I have any sort of expertise that will lead me to give you awesome advice, but for what it's worth, it helps me to cry for a little while when I am really distressed about things (mostly food and stuff landing in the kitchen sink, which I hate, hate, hate!). That is pretty much all I do, but it can help. I go almost hysterical for a while (probably not the best thing, I know), but after that I do feel slightly better.

I understand that your situation is probably different to mine, and that this may not help, but I hope it does.

Stay well,

Pontius​

[geoff]

dear Aaron, sorry it's been too long since I should have replied.

When people who suffer from OCD are not be able to control this illness unless they are trained and counselled on a continual basis and perhaps with medication will help, this will vary from person to person.

I am on medication and have done an online course, as I've had this illness for 55 years, but with this course it was all right while doing it, but couldn't stop me from my doing my major habits, but when the course stopped, it was time consuming and basically hard work, so I succumbed to it, and whether medication works I don't know, because I still do the habits or rituals.

The doctors and medical companies say that it's good for people with OCD!!!!

Other people who don't have it can't understand why we have to do these rituals/thinking/habits, and find it impossible that we can't stop doing them, it just seems to be nonsensical to them, that we can't stop checking door locks etc.

Once again intrusive thoughts are so powerful, and I'm not sure whether or not they happen to everyone with OCD, but I would imagine that the % would be high.

For many years I always wanted to punch my dear Mum, who I loved so much, and would never ever do, but the thought was there.

After many years when Mum went into a nursing home, these thoughts stopped, and thankfully I haven't had any more to try and cope with.

If you search for OCD in the bar at the top there will be many different posts on OCD, and unfortunately our manager Chris is off as it is Saturday, otherwise he would be able to post them on this site, but I'm sure he will on Monday. Geoff.