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MrsStobe13
13-07-13, 16:16
Hi folks,
Following the guidance of many on here I purchased Brain Lock on my Ipod last night. It was a stingy near £7 but I have to say it's been a beneficial purchase and helped me grasp coping with these thoughts.

However, my problem now is that I don't think I have intrusive thoughts, having read up to the point at which the book mentions Jeffrey Dahmer being obsessive I've started to panic myself. My thoughts are occasionally "video clips" in my mind, but occasionally my "inner voice". What frightens me is that it feels like it's me saying them. Some samples might include:

"(name person) better do (named requested task) or I will kill them for it"

or

"I can't cope with him losing his temper at the Xbox. I'm going to lose it in a minute and kill him", after which I get the visualisations of me stomping into the kitchen, grabbing a knife and fatally stabbing my husband.

Everytime I get these thoughts I feel my heart rate increase dramatically. I went for a walk to get electricity on Thursday and I was sure I was going to kill my friend when I got back. All I could think was "this is it, today is the day, somebody is going to die when I get home". In the shop I thought I was going to randomly swing at the shop assistant and I felt like I was going to lost control and punch the guy who dared to walk around me at the crossing. Some idiot was squirting a water pistol out of a car window and caught me across the arm and face. At first that sent me into a mood, then I was sure the water pistol contained acid and I was sure that it was causing my skin to sting (I have had acid spilt on me in a bullying incident before).

I should point out that past week has been particularly horrific for me. I've been on Noriday for 2 months and I've been increasingly angry in that time. This week I've also had the sweltering temperatures and PMS to add to the concuction. The intrusive thoughts before were more of a "what if" I did this. In the past two months they've been more of a feeling of losing control. I also got married back in May and the last few weeks were very stressful. With my harm thoughts I'm having a tough time accepting that I love my husband (even though I do, and know I do, that was all to clear on our wedding day!). I've Googled my thoughts and feelings countless times and read into signs of serial killers. I got to the point I was convincing myself I should be institutionalised because I was a risk to other people. Since starting to read Brain Lock, I have been able to say "No, this is not me, this is not something I want to do, I am not going to listen to it" but the doubt still remains. Am I treating my mind simply as having OCD when this inner voice is acting angry at people? How long before I lose my cool and act in a violent way?

I guess I am classically OCD. Everything you read says that there is no guarantee you will not act, and there's me sitting here going "yes, maybe Ill be that one who does act, does kill someone and does go to prison for it" and yet, when I get the thoughts I sit there and think "Nuh uh! No! I don't want to do that!". My biggest problem is that for so long the way I've coped is to avoid knives (my worst obsession is the thought of stabbing loved ones) and to chew Rescue Remedy pastilles A LOT. Today, I'm trying to resist the urge to chew the pastilles as I associate them with calm feelings, even for a short while. I'm also trying to stay busy with housework, though everytime I go into the kitchen I glare at the knife block, for some reason believing that I might somehow be magnetised to it. I can't stand things like the news or soaps as there's too much negativity, too much murder and war and it feeds my obsessions. I also used to know somebody who went to prison for an armed robbery so I started to think I might lose my cool and act like him.

I've been off of hormones for 4 days now and I think it's made an improvement. I am already not obsessing as much but still worry about the way in which these thoughts plague my mind, ie the "inner voice". I have noticed that Brain Lock refers a lot to some of the more "classic" OCDs (contamination, hoarding etc) and flits very lightly over the recovery of a sufferer with violent obsessions. I have also got an obsession with rifling through my hair for nits, having contracted them from a neighbour as a child. Even things like bits of dirt/grit from unknown sources feel like lice eggs to me and I go to lengths to fish it out. I remember when my Nan noticed me doing it one day and she told me off for it, pointing out that it "wasn't nice".

My family, friends and husband are now aware of the living torture I face with my thoughts. Though my husband means well he keeps telling me that I won't do it, unfortunately this does add to my frustration. My Mum is persistent that I am autistic and have been all my life. She thinks that my thoughts are a sign of Asperger's Syndrome and that I should get a diagnosis before it's too late. I have been diagnosed as anxious, but nobody will diagnose autism. My best friend keeps making comments like "You could always kill him", "If you do kill him I'll be your alibi" or "If you do kill him you could always blame it on a lack of sleep". It might seem funny, but during the "what if" phases of a panic attack these thoughts are counter-productive. I'm sure all these people close to me mean well, but these comments only exaggerate my anxiety.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who's intrusive thoughts are like these and how you're coping with dealing with them. Frankly, I'm finding NMP, Brain Lock and St John's Wort very helpful already. I think the rest from here is waiting for this heat to subside and waiting for the synthetic hormones to remove themselves from my system. Hopefully soon I'll be a calmer, happier person :-)

Thanks all and sorry for the long post (again!)

MrsS x

StarryBlueGal
15-07-13, 01:45
Autistic people don't think like that - they are in their own world, and they like doing repetitive behaviour over and over. They like to be alone and be in their own company. Autism is very complicated. I never heard of anyone with autism killing anyone, this is very rare. I don't think you have autism, and you just have intrusive thoughts, this is common with anxiety, I had similar thoughts before but I overcome them. I never want to do bad things.

Why do you think you have Aspergers Syndrome? I know some people with it and they are very quiet and rigid in their behaviour and routines. Why do your Mum think you are autistic? I am interested to know why?

Starry x

MrsStobe13
15-07-13, 07:09
Hi Starry,
It goes back to when I was about 5 years old. A dinner lady (I believe) told my Mum that I was somehow different. It was then my Mum took me to the GP, who put her down as being neurotic and put her on antidepressants. After years I was diagnosed with arrested non shunted mild/borderline hydrocephalus, mild spina bifida, low tone hearing loss and ataxia. As a child, I rarely played with other children, preffering to play on my own. I use to play with water/sand and became 'fixated' in my play, but functioned like a mini-adult when I wasn't playing. I was referred to a child psychologist who met me and tried to engage me in some pretend cooking. Having been met by a strange man swirling plastic food around on no heat whatsoever, I marched over to my Mum and said "that man's silly, Mummy. He doesn't know that food's not real". I was always an excelled learner, almost lacking the ability to play and preferring the real world. Barbie or biology? I'd choose a ten-minute chat about leaf structure. The only playground game I would play was cops & robbers, but I would have to initiate that in my own time at my own pace, if I didn't want to play, I wouldn't. When I did, I arrested half of the playground, making a mental note of who was still in 'jail'.

Part of me can't help wondering whether this was social anxiety or Generalized Anxiety (which I have had diagnosed). I'm pretty sure I was also diagnosed with Body Dysmorphic Disorder though once I left school I held my head up proud and accepted what I am. I'm not wholly comfortable in my own flesh and hate dressing up in anything other than my little black number or jeans and a black vest. I'm not gothic, I just stand by the fact that black is slimming. I do have a diagnosis of endogenous depression also, though I would currently say I feel extremely anxious, not depressed.

MrsS x

StarryBlueGal
15-07-13, 14:04
Ah, sounds like you have autistic tendencies. I think you should find a psychologist who knows about autism. But the thoughts - autistic people don't have these thoughts, I don't know how their minds work as they work differently to 'normal' brains. They are just intrusive thoughts - do something about them before it gets worse.

Starry x

MrsStobe13
15-07-13, 14:13
Hi Starry, I've been doing some homework into the autistic side of things and I found an article about Pervasive Developmental Disorder (Not Otherwise Specified) Or PDD-NOS for short. A lot of the characteristics are me, but not strictly Asperger's. I've agreed to persue a diagnosis but I don't think there's much anyone can do about it now. I've grown into my own person and I'm reasonably independent.

As for the intrusive thoughts, I saw a Dr today on a 'can't wait' appointment basis. I broke down about 5 times and told the doctor even without the minipill I was still getting these thoughts. He's now made a diagnosis of "anxiety with obsessive-compulsive traits" (I shut the kitchen door and purposely stare at the knife block to avoid it being a danger to me, something I had never thought of before). He's put me on propranolol 40mg twice daily and referred me for CBT. I can also take St John's Wort with it, though I need to source some more from somewhere as ASDA delivered me 3 tubs of multi-vitamins not the SJW I ordered. I've had to give in and hide the knives for now, it's been a long day for me today.

MrsS x

daisydaisy
15-07-13, 22:15
Hey Mrs Strobe,

I replied on one of you other threads too. Just wanted to say hello and sorry that things have been so rough recently.

Having worked with children and young adults with autism it's quite hard to get an adult diagnosis but not impossible-it can just be expensive and that's why you may get no joy the NHS route. You can either keep pushing your GP or I had a colleague who's son was diagnosed around age 24 through a private psychiatrist. It was slightly inconclusive and hinted towards a strong possibility but it just helped him feel he was more able to face life knowing that he just dealt with and processed things in a slightly different way. I know he had anxiety and depression and some thoughts too as I believe anxiety at its peak can cause distressing thoughts but I am not a doctor and of course everyone is different but if you could afford it maybe a private assessment could be useful or could you ask your GP for a psych referral? I guess this may help as reading your posts I feel you want to know or have a diagnosis perhaps to help you or if no diagnosis at least then you can move forward in other ways.

I'm glad you have reached out to your GP as nobody should suffer alone. My GP told me that my thoughts were an indication of depression and 'normal' which at my worst a while back now was no comfort but that's another story on another thread. I know lots of people talk about it but for me it's been a bit of a journey of acceptance and keeping saying no matter how bad things get I know I can cope as I've been here before and I'm alright as the song goes "I'm still standing" and I'm sure you will be fine too it's just getting the right help in place to help you process and deal with it all. Keep in touch with your GP and keep posting.

Xx Daisy

Stormsky
15-07-13, 22:51
I read brain lock. Good book.

MrsStobe13
15-07-13, 22:56
Hi Daisy,
Many thanks for your insight. I've been doing a lot of reading into the thoughts I've had today and the autism side of things (a lot for one day!) and I can't honestlt say a lot of the Asperger's characteristics are visible in me. However, I did come across PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified) which is a lot more like me. Fixating with certain toys from playsets and running while swinging my hands like some sort of "wind-up toy". Obviously, I was too young to remember these things.

I very much doubt I can get a diagnosis now and it will just be one of those things. I for one can definitely not afford a private psychiatrist and I doubt my Mum can either. Not only that, but aside social skills and some lack of planning capabilities I don't really lack any skills per se. I've become independent on my own. In fact, up until the intrusive thoughts I was doing surprisingly well.

In relation to the anxiety, it's been two years of hell and I do regret not reaching out sooner. It completely ruined my wedding day and my honeymoon for me as I was constantly worrying about things. I'm on propranolol 40mg twice daily now but to be honest and took my first dose this afternoon. The difference in my character already is unbelievable! I've hardly thought about the intrusive thoughts and I've been laughing and joking with my husband all evening. That's not to say the thoughts weren't there, I just couldn't really put the urges to the thought. The thought was just...there. I'm glad you've been able to combat these thoughts and keep a more positive outlook. I'm sure if I could stop worrying and relax a bit more often I'd cope better. Hopefully after some CBT I'll be better equipped to deal with my inner demons.

MrsS x

---------- Post added at 22:56 ---------- Previous post was at 22:54 ----------

Stormsky, I found Imp of the Mind more useful but I guess a lot of it varies with how your OCD effects you. Brain lock seems useful for physical compulsions, Imp of the Mind seems more ideal if you're plagued by intrusive thoughts.

MrsS x

ShaunKGrande
27-07-13, 08:28
Is there any book which is totally based on slimming?Can you tell me?