health Ocd?????

[Audi]

I am a smoker and i smoke about 1 pack a day for 13years. Recently i started to have this instrusive thought telling me to quit smoking if i were wan to live longer. As smokers... i understand that its common to have shortness of breath and chest pain... whenever i encounter this symtoms my instrusive thought coming in to tell me to quit....

Smoking has already being part of my life...there are a few reason which i dont wish to quit. First i am afriad that it may wosen my ocd if i quit... secondly i find smoking sometimes and keep my mind occupied. Third . I am not a heavy smoker and almost all my friend smoke . Fourth . I somehow fee that we all will die on be it we smoke or not. And fifth.. like its help me think better

Whenever i have this thougjt i will start to panic and start googling online to read up some benefit of smoking and convince myself not to quit smoking. I dont mind cutting down te amount of cig i smoke everyday but not to the extent of quiting smoking but the thought feel so real telling me to quit... i cant make up my mind!!!!!!!!! I knew it maybe or must be ocd actting up again but it really feel so real i only feel relieve only when i m able to convince myself to not quiting smoking

Whenever i have a new istruvise thought ....my old thought goes aways

Can anyone please advise me over here

[Audi]

Anyone has the same encounter as mine

[MyNameIsTerry]

Well thats a good intrusive thought then really, you have a physical symptom and it triggers a thought to quit. How you react to that thought is important though and this is where you are having problems.

The first thing is - there are no benefits to smoking. It will keep weight down and it is a depressant but thats not worth the trade off of potentially developing lung cancer and even worse for you - what that would do to your wife & child. Perhaps they could be your motivation? They could be your counter evidence in challenging the thought?

This one is not what you would expect in an intrusive thought, it's actually one aimed at protecting you but you do have fear of quiting so I guess it could be that is why this is happening because your OCD knows it will provoke a fear reaction? That would then make it a pretty conventional intrusive thought.

We typically fear change and the unknown in all anxiety disorders. It's part of the fight or flight mechanism to protect us from potential risks. In this case, there will be some drawbacks to quiting because it can increase anxiety (remember smoking is supplying a depressant right now) and you may gave some weight as the depressant keeps that in check right now BUT the advantages you will gain in quiting by far outweigh the more short term problems you can encounter.

Some of your worries are experienced by smokers thinking of quiting like how it keeps you occupied. Those giving up can find their hands neec something to do.

And yes we will all die of something, thats just life BUT smoking brings a good chance that you will cut your life short AND you have motivation to stop because it could secure you more years with your wife & child and that really has to be worth it above anything else.

[Fishmanpa]

While I'm not versed on OCD, I can tell you without a doubt that quitting smoking would be beneficial for your health. A pack a day IS considered a heavy smoker and doing so for 13 years has caused physical damage. I was a smoker and I've suffered heart issues and cancer in large part due to the habit.

The damage can be reversed by quitting. You can eliminate the risk of smoking related illnesses to that of a non smoker within 15 years of quitting. While I've read how awful OCD and intrusive thoughts are, if ever there was a positive intrusive thought, this would be considered one IMO.

Positive thoughts

[Audi]

Thanks for the advise... but i fear of quiting is because i enjoy smoking although i knew its harmful to health... but now my ocd is so strong that i can actually relax and think carefully. I willpower is too low to quit smoking plus my currect ocd condition.... i myself seriously feeling like continue smoking probably i may cut down my sticks but not to the extent of quiting...but ocd kept remain in my mind telling me to quit doesnt it seems that its acting against my will????

---------- Post added at 14:58 ---------- Previous post was at 14:44 ----------

I quit taking drug recently willingly due to i knew it was bad for health... and it was not a instruvise thought but this time round i knew its was not my own accord and qutting smoking is acting against my will...because i do not have the determination or moltivation like last time when i decided to quit take drugs.... i have thought of cutting down my cig but not qutting it completely...my mind was totally occupied by this issue and i can focus on my work and daily life....i somehow enjoy smoking as i felt it was part of my life... and i m ok to cut down due to health concern but not completely....whenever i smoke i think of this issue and it really feel terrible i cant enjoy my life like last time

---------- Post added at 15:03 ---------- Previous post was at 14:58 ----------

I used to be a drug addict and i do not have any instrusive thought if quitting....but i still quit taking drug on my own accord.... i somehow felt that this time round is abit different as i do not have any plans to quit smoking at this moment ...cutting down on the stick i m ok....i feel that its ocd that stuck in and telling me to act against my own accord.

[MyNameIsTerry]

If you choose to continue smoking because you enjoy it, thats up to you entirely and many people do so for that reason but you just have accept the health risks it brings. My dad thought like this until he had a cancer scare for something unrelated that was caused by his working environment (long time sun exposure) and it shook him up and he quit. Sometimes we experience such wake up calls where we accept the risks outweigh the benefits.

If you can quit a drug addiction, you can quit smoking.

Intrusive thoughts tend to pick targets that will mean a lot of fear. You enjoy smoking and wish to continue but if you fear that giving up could intensify your anxiety disorder, you build fear around that exposure and the subconscious makes associations to use in the future. Intrusive thoughts can then choose to pick such things as their targets.

The real issue is still the fear itself and how you react to it.

You've had fears around harming yourself and the worries about not being there for your family. Smoking has well established links to cancer, which FMP can explain far better than I ever could, and this could link back into a fear of not being around for your family hence the intrusive thought, whilst a positive actioon could come of it, may be associating to all that?