OCD and health anxiety

[anxious]

hiya,

when i was in my teens/earlytwenties i suffered with what i think was classic ocd. I obsessed about dirt, germs, handwashing etc repeating things in threes. If someone came in the house in shoes i would go over the carpet with disinfectant from the doorway to where they sat It was very time consuming. It seemed to calm down when i had my daugthers as i simply didnt have time to carry out my rituals.
Since then it has turned to what i think is health anxiety and i constantly 'check' for lumps, bumps etc.
I'm waiting for CBT for the ha but am starting to wonder if its still more on ocd problem. I still check in numbers, look at things a certain number of times and get distressed if someone disturbs me - i'm not sure if the is the norm with health anxiety.
Any thoughts on this?

thanks anx x

[skylight2007]

Hiya anxious, hope your not feeling too bad, theres a possibility that the health and ocd anxiety could be connected as you mentioned that your checking for lumps and bumps, I know that when I stopped checking doors, I moved onto windows, but it seems when I stopped one checking habit, I always went onto something else, their were periods in my life when I did the door ,taps and cooker, phew imagine how exhausting that use to be and it would take me hours to stop, and being disturbed or interrupted is the worst kinda of feeling, as we spend so much time concentrating on getting right and just perfect to ease the anxiety.
I now only check my cooker but not every day only when I feel anxious about something, often this is to do with general anxiety, but I do think that now its become more like a bad habit something I had been doing for years!!!!
I know that ocd can drain us emotionally and hope your therapy works for you as I know a few people who have said they are making great progress.
hope this helps, take care of you!!!

skylight

[mrs sunshine]

Hi Anxious

I suffer from HA with some OCD tendencies as when I am not worried about my health I find time to worry about whether I have turned my straightening irons off having to go back continually to see whether they are off before I leave the house or whether I sent an email to the correct person again checking and rechecking when I know I have. I also use tests like if I see a W on a number plate in the next 30 secs I will be ok - sounds silly when I write it down.

I think and I'm sure I've read somewhere that there is a definite connection between the two disorders in the way the brain works with all that checking and rechecking and need for reassurance. I hope the cbt goes well for you.

Take Care

S

[GILL8]

Hi Anxious

Just found your post regarding checking for lumps and bumps. I've had
anxiety for a long long time but this one is the one that I've had most
problems with. I thought it wasn't very common and was pleased I
found someone else that suffered like that. Mine is always present but
gets worse with stressful and sad events. Unfortunately my life has
been full of them for some time but hopefully yours isn't.

Just to say you're not alone with this and hope it makes you feel
a bit better.

Gill

[Bill]

I know LOTS of people suffer from these so we're by no means alone with this.

I lost a good friend at school to illness and it really upset me and my anxiety. I can remember asking my mother where you catch things from and she said it was in dirt so I presumed you caught everything from dirt so my germs worry started.

I used to be sick if a programme about illness came on tv. I'd turn over before the programme started. I remember seeing a doctor about freckles etc and he laughed because he was covered in them so wondered why I was worrying! I used to be terrified of catching illnesses and people who had them.

The thoughts would make my OCD much worse. Every time I got a thought about an illness I'd be re-doing things.

As I've got older I've had to face illness with both my mother and sister who both overcame life threatening conditions. When my father became ill I had to support my mother caring for him. I won't go into details but it was extremely upsetting watching him deteriorate knowing there was nothing I could do to save him. He was not only my father but my closest friend. We were so much alike he'd know how I was feeling without me saying anything. I miss him very deeply. Life feels so much more empty and alone without him.

Anyway. it's ironic really but I started working in a hospital dealing with records, x-rays and working on a ward which turned out to be the ward where I lost my father so I found it extremely difficult to work on that ward again but I did until that job was done.

My previous job was working in life assurance dealing with people with high risk of illness or very rich people. Often I'd read terrible stories.

These days I mix a lot with elderly people as I do work helping them. I'm always encountering their illnesses.

I know exposure to our fears helps so I'm wondering if that's why I cope with it these days. Also I try to put my care towards people before my own anxieties.

One thing I do know is the more anxious we are feeling or the more pressure we are under, the more OCD and health anxiety are a problem. The thing that helps me most when I'm low is to find something I really enjoy doing so my mind stops dwelling on sad things.

[strawberrie]

hi anxious, i definitely think the two conditions are very closely related. The thing that i've noticed with health anxiety for me is that no matter how much i check lumps etc. i just can't seem to get it straight in my mind what they actually feel like, and then i do have a (pretty overwhelming) urge to check again, sometimes only seconds later. I can look at a 'symptom' over and over again and still not be convinced about it, same thing i guess as checking that the cooker is off or something like that. Although i have never been diagnosed with ocd, i definitely have a pretty obsessive personality, and even as a child i did lots of the counting, checking etc.

I'm not sure if it really matters if you don't know how much of it is health anxiety or ocd, when i had my cbt a lot of the techniques we looked at would apply to both.

good luck
mag

[anxious]

Thanks for your replies, i thought this thread had got lost in the darkest depths of nmp lol.
Mags thats exactly like me, its spooky to actually see it written. I get into such a tizzy i don't know what i'm looking at or feeling for, but the urge to continue is so strong. I can eventually reassure myself, but then the next moring it can start all over again.
I have just started CBT and as you say treatment is the same for both,

love anx xx

[luc]

To all of the above, Thankyou as this makes me feel better. some of the processes and responces are so like my 'goings on ' that as anxious says it is spooky. But then, is it spooky. We all have the same 'illness' and are therefore presenting the same symptoms. Just because the illness is not as mainstream. I have met people with health anxiety who have avoidance/coping stratergies exactly the same as mine. There i was thinking i was unique with these mad rituals and find somebody doing exactly the same!!!! and believe me in my head i thought that i had invented them. One day at a conference on OCD?health anxiety, me and a friend were having a laugh about our rituals. The downside was that she had had it a lot longer than me and learnt me a few new tricks.
I think people at the maudsley and the mental health trusts would do good to look at these sites do pathomn things out.

[Bill]

That reminds me of something......."me and a friend were having a laugh about our rituals."

Simple but very effective....LAUGHTER!

When we laugh we release endorphines which make us feel good. We relax and pressures ease relieving symptoms.

Laughter is a great remedy to take our mind away from our worries which are creating our symptoms and so breaks the cycle making us feel better!

I can't remember the film but Robin Williams played a real life character who believed in laughter as a therapy. I think he had a point!

[anxious]

Bill, do you like my new signature


anx xx