Can You overcome OCD on your own?

Otter wrote:

LL96 wrote:Otter, are there any side effects with the meds?

Yes, but it is different for each person. You should talk about it with your doctor. For me, there was a decrease in sexual desire. But this went away after a while. The effectiveness of anxiety meds is also different for everyone.

For me it was a life saver. I had severe OCD issues. In a matter of weeks it cut down my symptoms by 70%. It was like living in a new world.

I can concur on the medication factor. It took me a very long time to find the right med/combo, but once I did, it gave me so much more hope in combating this condition. I have SEVERE Harm OCD, enough to keep my locked up in my home for weeks on end. When I finally found the right medication, and I had some respite from the OCD spikes, it was like the most beautiful moment in my life, because up to that point, I thought it was hopeless and either it was going to kill me, or I was going to kill myself. Again, and it bares repeating, talking to a therapist is ALWAYS a good option. You can combat OCD on your own, but why do that when you can have help. The shame and guilt and stigma associated with OCD has caused a lot of people to suffer needlessly. Talking to a professional is definitely going to help you not only mentally combat the affliction, but also help you find medication that can ease you into your battle with it.

BornWarrantyVoid wrote:

LL96 wrote:
Interesting, so are you free from OCD now from doing this? Obviously I know the thoughts will always come, but so that they're not ruining your life now?

Not entirely I suppose, but my OCD habits don't control me anymore; I control them. I became more mindful of my compulsions & do have to put myself in check on occasion, but one thing that helped was conditioning myself to use my obsessiveness in more healthy productive manners like finishing a project.

A big thing that helped when I recognized I was being OC; I accepted it & instead of getting angry at myself, I light heartily laugh at myself in a way.

So what happened when you laughed it off in your head? Did you try and forget and push it out?
Or is it more about letting the thoughts just be there?

If the latter, what happened when you did this? Did you experience severe anxiety because of it?

-- Fri Nov 20, 2015 8:30 pm --

snaga2.0 wrote:Idk. Just got tired of worrying I was going to kill my partner I guess. Hadn't killed nobody yet so I made the decision to stop letting the thoughts scare me. They mostly don't scare me, now, and I keep the anxiety tightly controlled. It's about the only anxiety I have control over. But I do. The frequency and intensity of intentional harm thoughts are much decreased as a result. Still get the thoughts but I've accepted I'll always have them. The fact I can post on here about it is quite something. Used to be I could never acknowledge I had harm ocd.

Accidental harm is another thing. I'm working on that, now, but it's very hard to not drive back to check on invisible pedestrians.

It's interesting to hear someone do it that way.
I never heard of anyone kind of getting over in almost by accident.
It's almost like you'd experienced so much of it that in the end, it left.

-- Fri Nov 20, 2015 8:32 pm --

Otter wrote:

LL96 wrote:Otter, are there any side effects with the meds?

Yes, but it is different for each person. You should talk about it with your doctor. For me, there was a decrease in sexual desire. But this went away after a while. The effectiveness of anxiety meds is also different for everyone.

For me it was a life saver. I had severe OCD issues. In a matter of weeks it cut down my symptoms by 70%. It was like living in a new world.

I'll go see my doctor, yeah.

The problem is, my OCD then makes me worry excessively about side effects of medication, haha!

hexrune wrote:

Otter wrote:

LL96 wrote:Otter, are there any side effects with the meds?

Yes, but it is different for each person. You should talk about it with your doctor. For me, there was a decrease in sexual desire. But this went away after a while. The effectiveness of anxiety meds is also different for everyone.

For me it was a life saver. I had severe OCD issues. In a matter of weeks it cut down my symptoms by 70%. It was like living in a new world.

I can concur on the medication factor. It took me a very long time to find the right med/combo, but once I did, it gave me so much more hope in combating this condition. I have SEVERE Harm OCD, enough to keep my locked up in my home for weeks on end. When I finally found the right medication, and I had some respite from the OCD spikes, it was like the most beautiful moment in my life, because up to that point, I thought it was hopeless and either it was going to kill me, or I was going to kill myself. Again, and it bares repeating, talking to a therapist is ALWAYS a good option. You can combat OCD on your own, but why do that when you can have help. The shame and guilt and stigma associated with OCD has caused a lot of people to suffer needlessly. Talking to a professional is definitely going to help you not only mentally combat the affliction, but also help you find medication that can ease you into your battle with it.

Thanks for the insight. It's making more sense now.

-- Fri Nov 20, 2015 8:35 pm --

Thanks for all the replies, everyone.

Well, re: My harm OCD, it gets old laying down to bed at night and like Old Faithful, the thought popping up I'm going to kill Snagina. That $#%^ got old. I decided I'd had enough of it. It's outrageous on the face of it. I shot a lizard with a BB gun once for the hell of it and felt insanely guilty. Accidental harm, faucets, power points, heaters, locks, diseases, etc etc etc a dozen things I'll let my anxiety run wild over, but I've just ######6 had enough with I'm going to intentionally kill someone without moral and legal just cause. So I made the conscious decision after 30-odd years that those thoughts were bull crap. I still get them, but ###$ it. I'll worry about it the day it happens.

snaga2.0 wrote:Well, re: My harm OCD, it gets old laying down to bed at night and like Old Faithful, the thought popping up I'm going to kill Snagina. That $#%^ got old. I decided I'd had enough of it. It's outrageous on the face of it. I shot a lizard with a BB gun once for the hell of it and felt insanely guilty. Accidental harm, faucets, power points, heaters, locks, diseases, etc etc etc a dozen things I'll let my anxiety run wild over, but I've just ######6 had enough with I'm going to intentionally kill someone without moral and legal just cause. So I made the conscious decision after 30-odd years that those thoughts were bull crap. I still get them, but ###$ it. I'll worry about it the day it happens.

When you said enough was enough and accepted the thoughts as rediculous, did it cause a high anxiety spike at first to do that?
I guess you'd be fighting with your mind telling you one thing, and yourself saying another.

I suffered from OCD as a kid and teenager on and off. When I was about 20 I started suffering from pure o and it was terrible. There were a lot of days I wanted to kill myself. I stayed strong and my pure o went for 3 years. Unfortunately it has come back this year in 2015.

It is a very weird thing, you can get good and bad days. But I managed to destroy my pure o for three years. I just want people to know that it is possible to have good moments. It absolutely sucks that it has come back worse than ever this year, but I cherish those years where I was free.

I have been alone for years and nobody has ever helped me, I think it is possible to overcome ocd on your own. It is not an easy ride but you have to be extremely strong to do this.