This is really annoying me!!!

[ConfusedByLife]

dunno if this is OCD. it sounds like it to me. Last week all of a sudden, out of nowhere I just became very concious about the amount of saliva in my mouth and swallowing. since then almost every waking minute I seem to now be obsessed with it. I can't seem to carry on a conversation as I hav to keep swallowing and have images that i look awkward and uncomfortable. It just seems so odd, so stupid and so random, but now im just totally depressed and fed up of it cuz its all i can think about. I don't really wanna be round ppl now and especially talk to them cuz im just so concious of it and can always feel like im about to choke if i dont swallow. Im fairly sure it's all in my head becasue it started almost imediately after a sort of panic attack to do with braces for my teeth. Maybe it will sort itself out in time, but it's making my life a misery at the moment! :weep: :mad:

[erialc]

Awww Con, sorry to hear you are having a bad time at the mo!

:hugs:

Claire x

[margaret911]

It will pass Con and you will feel good again. Sending you hugs :hugs: :hugs: :hugs:
love Mags xxxxx

[xBettyBoopx]

Hi Confused

I had the same thing about 6-9 months ago. I think I put a post on here, although I'm not sure (they say the memory's the 2nd thing to go, lol:ohmy: ).

My saliva sometimes was kinda bubbly, I was told it was acid, and although I really felt strange for a while, I soon forgot about it. I still get it sometimes but because I know what it is, I don't get scared anymore or feel strange about it.

Hope this has helped. Btw, the acid is caused by anxiety.

Take care

Elspeth

[nikita]

I experienced this a few times and i found sucking strong mints helped. its just another one of the many symptoms, and its all just "Thoughts" if you are engrossed in a task I bet you wont think about it as much. THe mints helped me.

[Phill2]

Hi Simon
The more you think about it the more it will be there.
It's like if I said don't think of an elephant what's the first thing you think of?
Try a bit of distraction by doing or thinking about something else.
Phill :shades:

[ConfusedByLife]

Thanks guys. It sounds really stupid but its amazing how much this is getting me down. I try not to think about it but for some reason i can't. i took something to calm me down and it seemed to make it go away to a large extent, but this aint a long term solution. I think it will just take time to get it out of my head. I like the mint idea by the way. I can see that working! cheers peeps xx

[mwf]

You hit the nail on the head regarding my exact same problem. 2 weeks ago I became very aware off how much saliva was in my mouth and I began to constantly swallow it or spit it out. It's not the actual act of doing this that frustrates me but the fact that I don't have the mental power to stop doing it that plunges me into unhappiness. I'm worried about the negative affect this is goin to have on my life and career.

I havn't yet been to the doctor and discussed the problem, but i'm sure that's what it is. It's odd how something so small can have such an affect on me and im angry at myself for letting it do so.

how to defeat it? I'm really unsure, people may say 'doon't think about it' but all that does is make me think about it. I'm hoping as time passes my mind becomes bored of the thought and it gradually passes. But as one thing passes my mind generates another obsessive habbit to wreck my life :weep:

My opalagies for becoming emotial but I havn't experienced this before and i'm in a state of shock riight now. Can anybody suggest a reason as to why I've become obsessed with such a problem? thank you.

Good luck Confused.

[ConfusedByLife]

well, about a month down the line from this originally starting and im happy to say it has subsided to a large extent so i guess it can be done. Although it's a lot better than what it was when im distracted, when something causes me to remember my swallowing it starts again, but not as bad. I think once i realised that my life was not going to fall apart because of it and at worst it was just going to be annoying, i relaxed a bit. My big deal was other ppl noticing it when i spoke (feeding into my social anxiety fears) but as time has gone on ive realised they dont, and when i forget about it it tends to go away for long periods. still i dont chew chewing gum (which i used to do alot) and im still concious of it, but it only seems half as big a problem now, and more just an occaisional irritation than a big problem. Hope this gives others a bit of hope.