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09-03-17, 15:08
Hi everyone,
Well I find this site by accident and thought it would be a great forum to sign up to. I am 40 and have suffered from agoraphobia and a huge range of OCD's for many years. I suffer from tinnitus also which causes further anxiety.
It all started when I lost my job though redundancy 17 years ago, I will not bore you with all the info but since then I have been trapped in a minefield of OCD whereby I can be stuck in a particular counting phase for hours at a time. This obviously stopped my normal life and by 2014 I had over 40 different counting rituals throughout the house that could keep me locked in place for up to 5 - 6 hours a day. I had counselling etc but nothing seemed to work. Since then I have battled through some terrible times including thoughts of ending it all. I have had a very eventful life up until this time so I have a strong character and glad I didn't give in to those thoughts.
Fast forward to now and I only have a few counting rituals left which take a mere few minutes out of my day, I have gradually weaned myself away from them through determination and trying different coping strategies. I have attended college as a mature student which I never thought I could do and just passed my exams and on my way to a new life. I still have some bad days but on the whole things are starting to get easier.
I wanted to sign up here and hopefully share my thoughts and journey with others and provide a listening ear where I can to other people going through similar problems, and perhaps even pick up some extra help that I have not tried myself. Thanks.
Well I find this site by accident and thought it would be a great forum to sign up to. I am 40 and have suffered from agoraphobia and a huge range of OCD's for many years. I suffer from tinnitus also which causes further anxiety.
It all started when I lost my job though redundancy 17 years ago, I will not bore you with all the info but since then I have been trapped in a minefield of OCD whereby I can be stuck in a particular counting phase for hours at a time. This obviously stopped my normal life and by 2014 I had over 40 different counting rituals throughout the house that could keep me locked in place for up to 5 - 6 hours a day. I had counselling etc but nothing seemed to work. Since then I have battled through some terrible times including thoughts of ending it all. I have had a very eventful life up until this time so I have a strong character and glad I didn't give in to those thoughts.
Fast forward to now and I only have a few counting rituals left which take a mere few minutes out of my day, I have gradually weaned myself away from them through determination and trying different coping strategies. I have attended college as a mature student which I never thought I could do and just passed my exams and on my way to a new life. I still have some bad days but on the whole things are starting to get easier.
I wanted to sign up here and hopefully share my thoughts and journey with others and provide a listening ear where I can to other people going through similar problems, and perhaps even pick up some extra help that I have not tried myself. Thanks.