OCD or GAD?

[Bexharvey]

Hi there,

I'm a 24 year old female suffering with a form of anxiety. Problem is, is that Im not sure what sub category it falls under. It's for some reason really important for me to find out exactly what is going on, seeing as coming to a conclusion eases my anxiety if that makes sense? I guess also I want to find out because I want to get the right treatment and the right medication.

I often get a load of intrusive thoughts.. Mostly I suffered with these when I came back from Australia(I'd been living there for a year) and have left my partner for a while. I know change can trigger ocd and maybe I'm not as accustomed to change as I thought. I also got diagnosed with OCD when I was a child but have lived free from it(bar the small compulsions that didn't bother me) but recently it's all come back, since I've been back in the UK(about 7 weeks now) Mostly intrusive obsessive thoughts. But the thing is- my most recent spike is that of repeating phrases/words in my head but I don't do this to relieve anxiety or think anything bad is going to happen if I dont..and I guess I dont actually do it very much as I try to distract myself but I worry that I'm going to develop that way of thinking, that it's gonna get worse or that I'm never going to be able to shut my head up..to focus on anything and not get where I want in life.

I have anxiety over mental health I guess..worrying I'm going to get worse or develop something. I just can't work out whether my obsessive thoughts are caused by my OCD or just my anxiety spiralling out if control and making me think I have OCD. Any suggestions?

I was put on fluoxetine for the OCD but that didn't agree with me. I was wondering whether something else would help, something that is based on just treating a general anxiety disorder. I also have worries over sleep, knowing that if I can't sleep, my anxiety is awful when I'm tired. I tried amytriptline before and that worked a treat for sleep but I can't say for anxiety because I wasn't suffering from that then.

I don't know, I'm just rather confused. If I know what's going on, I guess it makes me less anxious to know that I can then treat it accordingly. Any advice would be appreciated so so much!

Thankyou
Becca

[viking111]

Anxiety is generaly similar in all cases but this looks like OCD. You just need to recognize that those are just useless thoughts and ignore them.

[Jebdog]

I have similar concerns and desires to label my anxiety. Im a worrier but also have OCD tendencies from time to time, particularly obsessing about getting better. Try not to worry about a label too much. Speak to your Doctor and let them advise you. The treatment paths for OCD / GAD whilst different are not a million miles apart.

[MyNameIsTerry]

According to WHO, this is GAD:

F41.1 Generalized anxiety disorder
Anxiety that is generalized and persistent but not restricted to, or even strongly predominating in, any particular environmental circumstances (i.e. it is "free-floating"). The dominant symptoms are variable but include complaints of persistent nervousness, trembling, muscular tensions, sweating, lightheadedness, palpitations, dizziness, and epigastric discomfort. Fears that the patient or a relative will shortly become ill or have an accident are often expressed.
Anxiety:
neurosis
reaction
state
Excl.:
neurasthenia (F48.0)

AND this is OCD (several types):

F42 Obsessive-compulsive disorder
The essential feature is recurrent obsessional thoughts or compulsive acts. Obsessional thoughts are ideas, images, or impulses that enter the patient's mind again and again in a stereotyped form. They are almost invariably distressing and the patient often tries, unsuccessfully, to resist them. They are, however, recognized as his or her own thoughts, even though they are involuntary and often repugnant. Compulsive acts or rituals are stereotyped behaviours that are repeated again and again. They are not inherently enjoyable, nor do they result in the completion of inherently useful tasks. Their function is to prevent some objectively unlikely event, often involving harm to or caused by the patient, which he or she fears might otherwise occur. Usually, this behaviour is recognized by the patient as pointless or ineffectual and repeated attempts are made to resist. Anxiety is almost invariably present. If compulsive acts are resisted the anxiety gets worse.
Incl.:
anankastic neurosis
obsessive-compulsive neurosis
Excl.:
obsessive-compulsive personality (disorder) (F60.5)

F42.0 Predominantly obsessional thoughts or ruminations
These may take the form of ideas, mental images, or impulses to act, which are nearly always distressing to the subject. Sometimes the ideas are an indecisive, endless consideration of alternatives, associated with an inability to make trivial but necessary decisions in day-to-day living. The relationship between obsessional ruminations and depression is particularly close and a diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder should be preferred only if ruminations arise or persist in the absence of a depressive episode.

F42.1 Predominantly compulsive acts [obsessional rituals]
The majority of compulsive acts are concerned with cleaning (particularly handwashing), repeated checking to ensure that a potentially dangerous situation has not been allowed to develop, or orderliness and tidiness. Underlying the overt behaviour is a fear, usually of danger either to or caused by the patient, and the ritual is an ineffectual or symbolic attempt to avert that danger.

F42.2 Mixed obsessional thoughts and acts

F42.8 Other obsessive-compulsive disorders

F42.9 Obsessive-compulsive disorder, unspecified

[Bexharvey]

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for getting back to me, I havent checked this site in a while!
But yeah things have sort of improved since I've come off the Prozac. Although I feel like theres something that I've sort of 'unlocked' in my brain.. like once I've thought these thoughts.. theres no going back you know?

I still can't shake this feeling of being hyper aware of my brain and how it works.. like thinking too much about thinking. I've become a little bit hateful towards my brain.. like my brain and me are separate entities, but something I can't escape from. I don't want to feel like this but I'm worried that I'll end up thinking nothing else matters as much as my anxiety and I won't be able to enjoy life.. Almost a phobia of my own brain. It's so ridiculous but that's the way it is at the moment.

Thanks so much for commenting though guys, this is the first and only site I've signed up to to voice my problems and it does help to have people who are kinda in the same boat.

[LiveAboveIt]

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for getting back to me, I havent checked this site in a while!
But yeah things have sort of improved since I've come off the Prozac. Although I feel like theres something that I've sort of 'unlocked' in my brain.. like once I've thought these thoughts.. theres no going back you know?

I still can't shake this feeling of being hyper aware of my brain and how it works.. like thinking too much about thinking. I've become a little bit hateful towards my brain.. like my brain and me are separate entities, but something I can't escape from. I don't want to feel like this but I'm worried that I'll end up thinking nothing else matters as much as my anxiety and I won't be able to enjoy life.. Almost a phobia of my own brain. It's so ridiculous but that's the way it is at the moment.

Thanks so much for commenting though guys, this is the first and only site I've signed up to to voice my problems and it does help to have people who are kinda in the same boat.

I can very much relate to you, my friend. I can't seem to stop fixating/obsessing on the way that I feel and my thoughts.. Although this doesn't appear to happen when I am focused at work, it mainly only hits me hard when I'm idle at home. The thoughts just enter my head that I will never be able to focus on anything else and I catastrophize in my head about what is causing my brain to react this way or why I can't seem to shake the thoughts. I have been struggling with having conversations in my head, things that I would like to say to a therapist, almost as if I am trying to analyze and convince myself that I am alright.. But just this action alone causes me great anxiety because I'd rather not analyze on it or obsess. I'd rather just forget about these thoughts entirely and not have them, which I imagine fuels them even more.

I'm aware of how incredibly irrational this is and that thoughts are just thoughts, but I can't shake the way they make me feel and the terror of being stuck this way. I also notice that after about an hour after this hits me and the thoughts don't stop, I begin to struggle with what I believe to be DP/DR. I get so stuck in my head that I begin to feel as though I am trapped in a dream or that nothing is real.