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Hello, Yesterday I’ve suddenly had problems with swallowing and my anxiety. like im scared of choking and would have a panic attack every-time i try to swallow food or water. Is there anyway to treat this?

content warning: MRI results I got prescribed MRIs done on my lumbar and cervical spine over the weekend, and several things came back abnormal in the report. I started to google when I saw a word ending in -oma, got a basic definition of this particular kind of t*mor (probably benign/non-cancerous), realized that googling in this case was for sure a compulsion, caught myself and put my phone away. I told myself, "I have an appointment with my specialist in 2 days. I trust this doctor, so I will delay/not do my own reading until after I talk to her, and only if she recommends further self-education." I stuck to it and I was proud of myself. Cut to the appointmet today. I got lost in the building where her office is and arrived 14 mins late. The receptionist said there's a 15 minute grace period, so I would have to reschedule. No availability for 2 MONTHS, even for telehealth. First of all, I am so ashamed of being late (that's another trigger for me), and so hurt and rejected that they wouldn't talk to me, even very briefly. Now the urge to google is so extreme. There are objectively concerning things in my report, based on what she said ahead of time that we were looking for, and what would affect treatment. I also have a LOT of c*ncer in my family history; 3/4 grandparents, an aunt on each side, and 1.5 bio parents (1 was skin c*ncer, 1 was prec*ncerous polyps removed but considered high future risk to be monitored), so "-oma" and "t*mor" are big red flags in my minds. So while normally I am actually pretty good about living and making peace with my chronic conditions, and health ocd is really only like 5 on my hierarchy, I know that I actually do have to be vigilant about c*ncer in some ways. My balanced solution is sticking to recommended observation scheduling, and then entrusting the research and checking to my trusted providers, so that I am not being negligent nor being compulsive. But now what? I hate waiting. Idk if/when I'll hear from her. Chronic pain in those regions due to curvature and degenerative discs are the reasons I have to get MRIs every couple of years, and now I am so somatically, obsessively aware of that pain and wondering what's going on. This post is a vent, and is my choice to express the anxiety without giving into the desire to google. I'm not seeking reassurance on whether I/my test results are going to be ok. Still, I think just some understanding and/or advice on holding myself accountable for not compulsing would be deeply appreciated. Thanks.

I recently went through complete burnout I had panic attacks for over a month…brutal…then they manifested into the body. I’ve been constantly looping on symptoms and the tension in my neck and throat is pretty bad. It’s been scary. I’ve been in a chronic state of high stress for some time and also have ptsd and cptsd. I’ve considered residential since I left the job. Plus my son passed away recently. I’m down in San Diego right now staying with a friend but from NorCal. I don’t know why to do. Guidance would be appreciated.

So today I've been having issues with walking (my legs shake and my right leg is at an odd angle), and my brain goes "Stop faking this. You're being dramatic." So I decided to try it. Told myself that I was going to truly stop "faking it" and take a step. Same thing happened with the shaking, so then I started freaking out. Now I make jokes and yes, I am going on the stairs as a compulsion to the "stop faking" thoughts. I almost fell a couple times, but I'm not very good at not engaging in them. TwT There is no medical reason that has been found yet, so that's where this stems from.

I’ve had this issue for a veryyyyy long time, but I never really put it in the same world as ocd. I flex my stomach, and can’t stop. To explain that a bit better, I feel like my skin is in the wrong position and I squeeze my stomach tight to try and “ fix it”. It never gets fixed really and I keep flexing my stomach until I A, fall asleep or B, forget about it. I keep think loosing weight is the answer, because where I feel uncomfortable has a little more fat than other places in my body. I want this to stop because it’s painful and really exhausting but when I try to leave the feeling alone I end up squeezing harder. Does this sound like an ocd thing? Please have an overweight raccoon for your troubles today.

Hello, my name is Brittany, and I have been living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) for as long as I can remember. However, since experiencing a stroke that I believe was a result of chiropractic care, my struggles have intensified and become overwhelmingly exhausting. I have always been acutely aware of my body and its signals, which has led to a heightened sense of worry about potential health complications. Though I’ve always had a tendency to worry, the anxiety that has surged since my stroke feels insurmountable. I’m reaching out in hopes of connecting with others who understand this journey, sharing stories and experiences in the hope that, one day, I might find a way to overcome these challenges or at least discover some relief from the relentless grip of anxiety.

I felt really overwhelmed with my thoughts and just so over it. I had my breathing controlled normally. It’s just so fucking annoying and frustrating that a normal thing like breathing is a hassle and something that I’m scared to do on a day to day basis recently. I had it controlled. I just wanna know if there’s people out there with a similar problem or something. I have this thing, this problem with a feeling of my thoughts coming out of my breath when I breathe I can’t breathe normally. It’s annoying and it takes me a couple days to finally catch my breath. I was doing good but then I ran out of my meds and the problem came back I was off my meds for 2 days. I had a breakdown about it today bc the thoughts are so perverse and I just wannabe in a normal situation again and be happy and normal it’s so hard to maintain. I don’t know what’s going on.

I think it's just anxiety, but I've been experiencing random bouts of anxiety around the evenings, usually around 8pm is when it kicks in. Is there an explanation for this? My head will feel cold and I'll start to feel dizzy and sick. Sometimes I worry it could be my eating habits.

i just wanted to give a little shout out to my somatic ocd folks —- i have it too! some people might call it “hypochondria” but i have a fixation with my heart. im young and healthy, but convinced i’m going to have a cardiac despite seeing a cardiologist and having a full evaluation. he tells me my heart is fine. with my ocd, my biggest fear is — what if i get so scared i have a heart attack? what if _____ happens, and then it causes me to have a heart attack from fear? i just want to remind you all that OCD cannot hurt you. what’s in your mind and thoughts cannot harm your body. it can make you experience symptoms or panic, adrenaline and things like that, but OCD is not going to hurt you. and you’re not crazy! much love to this community — y’all are so strong!

i just wanted to give a little shout out to my somatic ocd folks —- i have it too! some people might call it “hypochondria” but i have a fixation with my heart. im young and healthy, but convinced i’m going to have a cardiac despite seeing a cardiologist and having a full evaluation. he tells me my heart is fine. with my ocd, my biggest fear is — what if i get so scared i have a heart attack? what if _____ happens, and then it causes me to have a heart attack from fear? i just want to remind you all that OCD cannot hurt you. what’s in your mind and thoughts cannot harm your body. it can make you experience symptoms or panic, adrenaline and things like that, but OCD is not going to hurt you. and you’re not crazy! much love to this community — y’all are so strong!

When im around family everything feels under control and normal and i believe that I am not struggling with anything. Almost as if im living in a bubble…But the moment i am alone i start questioning myself, my experiences, my thoughts, my emotions. I start worrying over small things or become focused on my body sensations when i think that food will not sit well with me, feel sad and emotional….idk i feel like this sounds crazy and stupid coming from a 28 year old….

Oh my god, where do I start? Trauma related OCD is the worst crap I've ever experienced in my life, hands down. It develops in some people after a traumatic experience. You can have both trauma related OCD and PTSD together or develop it after PTSD. Mine was like a transitionary phase and developed it after PTSD. I had every symptom of PTSD prior to this from witnessing a traumatic event which I will not go into detail about. But I will tell you how I went from PTSD to OCD and what I've experienced with all of this as some guy in their late 20s.  So, right after the traumatic event I developed poor concentration, reoccuring nightmares, fear, insomnia, restlessness, irritation, reoccurring thoughts about the event, forgetfulness and a faulty fight or flight response triggered by the thoughts. The freaking insomnia killed me for a year straight. Imagine going to sleep at 3 am and getting up at 7 am with a faulty fight or flight response kicking in right away for that whole entire day now. It felt like my body was boiling and radiating with the hottest energy you can imagine from my legs all the way up to my head. And I also felt weak, drunk and terribly lightheaded every single day. Rinse and repeat all of that for 1 year straight. Thank god that's over now. It was a damn nightmare of nightmares.  Most of those PTSD symptoms eventually disappeared but not all of them. I just found the will and mental strength in myself to let most of that PTSD crap go. But you know what happened pretty damn soon after that? It was all eventually replaced with trauma related OCD. It's like the PTSD evolved and didn't want me getting away so easily. For me, it's a mix of handwashing OCD and really bad somatic or sensorimotor OCD but that's not all. I also have distorted senses, bad forgetfulness, terrible concentration abilities, tension headaches and irritation every single day.  Here are some examples of what I go through; I'll turn the lights off, but my brain imagines the lights are on still. I'll stand there trying to process that the lights are off while fighting the distorted sense perception from my brain. So, I keep 'checking' to make sure the lights are indeed off. Not a good situation to be in. I have pretty much every somatic OCD symptom of breathing, swallowing, blinking, eye movements and most bodily functions. My brain's like telling me if you don't do it the 'right way' then I have to keep doing it until I feel like I did it the 'right way.' It's a 'feeling' issue, a really bad one I should say. All of this crap causes my fight or flight response to kick in, gives me some loss of sleep, irritation and mental agony. Also, if I 'feel' like I forgot to do something even though deep down I already know I did said thing, I feel compelled to do it again until that feeling subsides. It's like this, "I know I just did that but my brain wants me to feel like I didn't do it. Therefore, let's do it again." The handwashing is bad too. But I normally do it to 'feel good' about something in my head. Hence, the obsessive handwashing. The dfference between this OCD stuff and PTSD is that PTSD has you focused solely on the traumatic event while this OCD has me focused on many, many different compulsions which is much worse. One thing vs many compulsions? The latter is by far worse, trust me. Focusing on the compulsions screws up my ability to focus and think about what I'm doing at hand. If I ignore them, just imagine a tension headache with a really irritated hot spot forming in your head somewhere and coming in hard and fast. Now, I've successfully ignored many urges but... new ones just keep coming and forming. It's a constant battle. Every freaking day is a terrible battle with this stuff. If I slip up and let something become a compulsion and get out of hand, I fight it like fighting to the death and it then takes a while for me to climb back up out the hole I fell into. Once I'm out of the hole, the incessant battle of resisting continues. ​Here's some more weird things I do for example; basically, if I'm desperate to keep a compulsion away, I have to do other unrelated things a certain way or else I get the urge to go right back to doing said compulsion. And sometimes weird sensations, strain or pain I might feel while doing something throughout the day will alone trigger me to do an earlier compulsion. I also have to get a good night sleep after a battle with a compulsion. If I don't, that compulsion comes right back and I have to fight it the next day. It's a vicious cycle. I know, it's very screwed up. You don't have to tell me. I sometimes repeat myself over and over again out loud to make my brain "click" with what I'm saying. Now, this one started with the PTSD and I'm not sure if it's a cognitive and concentration issue or an OCD issue but it did actually get better over time thankfully. I hated that anyway. ​This is a glimpse of what I go through on a daily basis. And yeah, I do ERT all the time and it's not like a magic wand you can wave in the air and then everything's gone and back to normal. In my experience, it has worked for some things but other things, not so much. I've taken saffron, NAC, valerian root, passion flower, other supplements and other stuff to see if it would all help in some way. Saffron is touted as an SSRI equivalent but it did nothing for my OCD surprisingly except make me tired. I took it for a couple months and just hated the tired and drowsy feeling I got from it. The thing that actually worked somewhat for me is NAC. I took it for several months straight at a high dose and it actually altered my OCD behavior a little bit. I did 2600 MG of it everyday for several months. I stopped after a while because it really got my libido going. Yeah, won't go into that part. ​Anyway, I felt like I should share my story. As someone who's had the unfortunate pleasure of experiencing both PTSD and trauma related OCD, people truly do underestimate the terrible suffering that OCD can inflict on its victims. I don't believe an SSRI or any cognitive supplement will "fix" your OCD but I believe one can be liberated from it if they do resist the compulsions long enough to where their brain sort of very slowly recalibrates itself to be less OCD about things in the future. But it will take a lot of mental strength, will power and most of all, time. Distracting yourself and focusing on what makes you happy is very beneficial too and is honestly what helped me the most out of anything. Everyone's OCD is unique to themselves. What works for me might not work for you. What you are experiencing may not necessarily be the same as what I'm experiencing. For example, some people have terrible harm OCD where they are afraid of acting out on their thoughts. I cannot relate to that. But if any of you can relate to some degree with what I have, feel free to share. I'll give you some tips that I learned from my experience with all of this that helped me. But just remember, what works for me might not necessarily work for you. - Try to adopt an 'I don't care mentality' for your ocd rituals: Try to treat it as something that you refuse to have define you as a person and as if it's just nonsense that means nothing in the end. - Stop it in the initial stages: If you feel a compulsion coming on, I've found that ignoring it right then and there works the best. Even if you act on the compulsion once when it just starts, you have enough time to stop it right then and there still by ignoring it. My brain thinks that the compulsion was therefore not a compulsion and moves on to find sonething else to focus in on. Just rinse and repeat at that point then. - Distract yourself immediately: This is probably one of the best things I ever did to get control of my OCD. If your brain starts up right then and there about something OCD related, just immediately focus on something you like to do. - My 'leave it behind' method: Move away from the area where the compulsions are occurring and go to a different room. It helped me sort of refresh my mind and brain by going to a different area and I found that a lot of my compulsions no longer 'follow me' to that different room. I can then later return to the same room where it started and be fine again. - Go work out: Another great thing to boost your mental health and possibly rid your mind of OCD is working out whether that be hiking, the gym, jogging or simply taking a walk. It's really great for overall mental well being. It helped me a lot. I never was one to give up. I've been through hell for a while now. My conscience use to be stuck in this blackest of blackness, sort of like nothingness. But eventually it started becoming more clear and I was able to start seeing through and beyond this blackness. It's like pulling a large black curtain away which was obstructing your field of vision completely and seeing something on the other side. That's where I'm at right now. I see something but it's faint. I'm just glad that it's something though. I'm thankful for that. Peace.

What kind of provider evaluates and treats tic or movement disorders tied in some way (not necessarily causal, but correlated) to OCD, trauma, or other mental/emotional distress? Some specific kind of psychiatrist? A neurologist? I tagged somatic and health themes for this post, but I'm not sure if either actually applies, or if this is an empirically separate set of symptoms for me--that's a question I would save for this kind of specialist, lol

I have a genuine fear of playing video games due to my magical thinking OCD. It’s driving me crazy. I get this overwhelming sense of anxiety when I play them. I have a correlation between video games and a health thing that started around the time I was playing video games a lot. Now I feel like every time I play a game it’s gonna cause that problem to come back. Any suggestions on how to conquer this?

Hi all, I’m brand new to this app. I’ve never had any mental disorders. I’ve never been diagnosed or even suspected that I had some kind of issue going on. But recently my partner gently pointed out to me that I’ve developed some weird tendencies that are progressively getting worse. I’m getting overly anxious about the smallest of things. Every time he leaves for work, I stare at the tracker on my phone until he gets through his 25 minute commute because I’m convinced there will be a wreck. I’m terrified that someone is constantly taking pictures of me through my windows and even feel like people can see through my (solid) blinds at night. Every time I hear someone in the hallway of my apartment complex I stare out the peephole because I’m convinced they’re going to break in, even if it’s a neighbor that I recognize. I check myself for lumps in my body every morning and every night, and my partner too, even though neither of us have any scary medical history. I unplug everything with a cord every night before I go to bed because I’m terrified that something is faulty and my apartment will catch on fire. I am constantly afraid of being sued by people I don’t know even though the worst thing I’ve ever done is gotten a speeding ticket. I have dreams that people are sending me threatening mail and it stops me from opening my actual mail. There are so many more, I could go on forever. Writing it all down, I know it’s stupid. I just don’t know if feeling this way is normal. There are people out there that have actual stressors and here I am working myself up a million times a day over nothing. Do normal people feel like this? I thought it was normal.

- can’t go to sleep without lipgloss on (my body will not let me physically gts until my lips are moisturized ) - can’t drink coke or eat too much junk food without my head telling me im going to get liver failure or stomach cancer from the unhealthy food - feeling like i’m going to have a heart attack (this one i developed from a physical form because they asked me if i had heart problems and i remembered my grandma died from a heart attack) - my head will eat with alive if i don’t scrub my skin hard enough when u shower because i cannot have dead skin - feeling forced to drink water (i quite literally feel like i’m dying off the slightest feeling of thirst) - diagnosing every single body sensation ( im convinced i have over 30+ diagnoses) - having a bad grade ( it hurts my chest literally) - being mean (i swear the energy comes back to me and haunts me for life) - finding a solution to literally everything (it hurts not to know the real) - fear of smoking (this is probably the stupidest thing ever but i’m afraid of catching an obsession from smoking then dying from it..) - having kids (just what if my body isn’t good enough and i end up risking me n the child’s life ? yk ?) - caramel frappes (i feel like the shittest person ever after drinking one and i feel like IM no longer healthy) - GREASE ( i cannot feel grease in any way while im eating because i will no longer eat the food) - any discomfort in my shoe (i will take it off from the tightness and walk barefoot if i have to) - bra (so since im convinced that there’s something wrong with me , wearing a bra that feels just a tiny bit tight, makes me forget how to breath and suddenly im dying) - my bed/room (my bed must be made and my room must be clean otherwise i cannot focus) - praying (although i don’t pray every night i feel like god thinks i’m a bad person or not worshiping him enough whenever i don’t pray or remember i didn’t) - the bible (i got trauma from it and i feel bad that i got trauma for it so im scared to read it but im scared more of the trauma it caused me) - the doctors (i don’t want any test done to me cus im afraid of something bad but i need reassurance for the sake of my sanity) - the united states of fcking america (i seriously hate living in this country because everything is a lie so i don’t feel safe here) - the food in the united states of fcking america (well mostly everything is processed and even healthy food are being pre waxed so they look “good” and it scares me so i think everything is not healthy) - tik tok (bro i cant with the diagnosis videos anymore) - what ever i do to one thing that has another thing must be done to the other thing or i cant live with myself - my nails ( im not mentally okay if my toe nails are long ..) - everyone except my bf/not bf yet (as a pre psychology student, i study and analyze everyone so i can see everyone’s red flag) - the kids at my school (the drama that has no end but no reason is my 13th reason…) - smells ( you don’t know how fast i can light a candle until you know me) - medication (it gives me more anxiety than my actual anxiety)

I deal with this everyday scared to go places because of it and having to take anxiety medicine before I go somewhere....some days are better then others and thought I was getting better over the past few months and now it's hit me again having panic attacks before work because I'm scared I'm going to faint or having them at home because I'm scared if I faint I won't wake up on my own and I live by myself. Don't really know what to do about this they say to challenge my thoughts and fears and I do and sometimes it helps so.eti.es it doesn't really wondering if I need OCD medicine for this? What to do or try without medicine?

Is it common for children with OCD to have intense fears of certain things? For example, I was extremely afraid of tsunamis – I was constantly dreaming about them. Then, I became afraid of ghosts, robbers, war, the possibility that someone close to me might get sick or die, that I might develop a tumor, that our house could catch fire, or that I would grow up to be a drug addict. I even thought about getting a tongue piercing when I was older and was scared of doing that without having control, which now seems kind of funny. There were periods when I had different fears, but I always needed to ask my parents if these things would happen, and they would always reassure me. Although I don’t remember everything clearly, I know that throughout my childhood, I constantly had such fears. I remember ehen something was wrong with me (for example: i had headache) I immediately thought of the worst case scenario and I was extremely anxious. And another thing is that I couldn’t let go of a past as a child (still actually) Now I’m wondering, is this something every child experiences (even those without OCD), or is it more intense for children with OCD?

I know that I have OCD and I was told that the medication I take for my ADHD would help but I don't believe that it does, I now find myself picking and making the scabs on my head and I'm worried that the hair will not grow back but I cannot stop doing it. I don't know what to do. I was told I need therapy.

TRIGGER WARNING Made on Sunday: So, my brother just came home today from a 4 month stay because he had gone manic and made some major threats. He had attacked someone too…. So, I was super anxious. He seems to be alright, but I’m still worried that he’ll hurt my parents or pets, and that I’ll snap if he does. Maybe I’m overthinking it?? I just don’t wanna go into a rage episode and hurt him, because he is my baby brother. *sigh* Since I was anxious earlier, I kept passing out repeatedly and started seizing afterwards. I’m just exhausted and sad and feel bad because I get scared and frustrated and tell my fiancé to break up with me. I know he won’t I’m just scared I’ll hurt everyone around me unintentionally. I’m tired of being in constant pain, I’m tired of the constant emotional rollercoasters, I’m tired of not being able to do or help with pretty much anything; I’m just tired. I don’t mean to bring anyone down, I just needed to vent. And I’m sorry I’m not on here all the time, I have a very strict schedule. And that’s another thing!! I feel so helpless because I can’t do anything. Mom gets frustrated because I refuse to do things or have to do them later and I wish she could just understand. I am doing my damndest to even stand up. I have so much vertigo (dizziness) from the pain I’m in and it really takes a toll. I want to help, to do extra like I used to. But I keep falling and the pain becomes unbearable. The pain meds aren’t working and so that’s gone out the window. I guess it just hurts because she gives me that look like I’m supposed to know what’s going on. I know she’s stressed with having to do everything, taking care of my brother, and her insane workload, so I’m giving her some slack, but it’s still hard. I wish she new how bad I work just to live my life.