Death, medications and OCD ??

[gister]

Hi everyone

Do you think about death or dying a lot ? I do....and sometimes I just cant stop thinking about this and it hinders me for having a normal day/life. I get stuck in this thoughts and can't get out. Sometimes it's scary sometimes not. Please..anyone ?

OCD ? My psychologist says I have OCD and told me to contact my psychiatrist for some medications. I tried to tell her that all medications are bad for me. I always get all the side effects from the meds and I always get very sick and end up quitting the medications. How can I handle this OCD ??? Please, help....no meds

 

[Judge]

I have OCD and frequently think about my own demise. However I try not to let that or my manifestations of OCD interfere with my life to any great degree. Combined with chronic clinical depression, I have learned to live life on a regular basis just one day at a time. For me it helps...without meds which I stopped taking several years ago.

Sometimes it pays not to look too far on the horizon. Live for the day.

 

[Archer36]

Hi,

I'm not sure there is much I can do for you, but hopefully this will be food for thoughts ... Thinking about death isn't necessarily a bad thing. But being obsessed about it will indeed create some anxiety. It is good to realize that everyone will die one day. But it is also good to realize that you have a loooong life to live before it happens and its where your main focus should be. The thing with the human brain, is that it only thinks about one thing at the time ... You can trick it by forcing yourself to think about something else or do something exciting. Like a sport that require a lot of focus, a strategy video game, or something like that ... keep your mind busy.

Meds are not the answer to everything anyway, even if you get med, there are tons of little things you can try to see if it makes a difference. I have no OCD ... i think ... but I have/had severe anxiety issues. Personally, those are the things that physically calmed my mind successfully ... I'm not a doctor, its just my own recipe:
- I swtiched to a high fat diet (i try to follow the Primal Blueprint, but its a very personal choice) ... My anxiety dropped by 90% just with that. Can't explain why really but I believe I had intolerance to wheat. Been on that for a year and still love it.
- I started a sport (archery of course) and spend 10 hours a week shooting arrows ... While I'm doing that, I never think about my problems.
- Self-Hypnosis ... I almost do this every day. I love it ... It really makes me relax deeply. To me its a hobby, I like experiencing hypnosis ... i like the feelings it gives me. It takes practice ... but now, I can trigger deep and instant relaxation wherever I am ... Its a great tool and its fun to have that control over your own mind.

Hope this help

 

[kmom2014]

I deal with OCD and depression and anxiety. My OCD is obsession based not compulsion based so I understand the intruding thoughts and while I do think about my own death and old age a lot it's more my family I think of.

I don't know of any tips to get rid of the thoughts other than what my therapist calls the Midas Touch. He says when you start to have an obsessive thought to freeze it and cover it in gold until it calmly goes away. Or to find something distracting that isn't repetitive like washing dishes because that is kind of a brainless activity that can have you thinking and thinking.

As for meds I have to say that I have had a rough experience too. I didn't deal well with Paxil or Zoloft, and Xanax was the worst. I've tried so many different meds but Valium is my go to calmer and I take a mood stabilizer, antipsychotics and yes and SSRI however...this SSRI is for OCD not depression and it's the only SSRI that hasn't made me worse. It's called Fluvoxamine in case you want to know. I have side effects as well like weight gain and constipation, and I break out a lot but idk if that's med related or sugar, but I haven't tried changing my diet but I am sure that could help. I'm sure exercise helps too. Sorry to bring up a med when you said no meds but I think a lot of people haven't heard of that one and I didn't until I needed something for horrible obsessive thoughts I was having...like bad. I still have some sicko thoughts but I'd be 100% crazier if I hadn't been given it. So that's a last resort of course.

 

[gister]

I have OCD and frequently think about my own demise. However I try not to let that or my manifestations of OCD interfere with my life to any great degree. Combined with chronic clinical depression, I have learned to live life on a regular basis just one day at a time. For me it helps...without meds which I stopped taking several years ago.

Sometimes it pays not to look too far on the horizon. Live for the day.

Thank you. I've been on gluten-free diet since november last year and it has helped me alot, but the anxiety is still there and the OCD. I exercise also and try to eat healthy and I stopped smoking 6 weeks ago. I'm trying to stop eating so much sugar but it's difficult, specially after I quit smoking.

I'm singing in a choir and paint/draw alot. Maybe I have to find more hobbies

 

[Judge]

I'm trying to stop eating so much sugar but it's difficult, specially after I quit smoking.

Oh yes...I struggle with sugar myself as a non-smoker. Trying very hard now to cut way back on it to ease some of my depression.

 

[gister]

I deal with OCD and depression and anxiety. My OCD is obsession based not compulsion based so I understand the intruding thoughts and while I do think about my own death and old age a lot it's more my family I think of.

I don't know of any tips to get rid of the thoughts other than what my therapist calls the Midas Touch. He says when you start to have an obsessive thought to freeze it and cover it in gold until it calmly goes away. Or to find something distracting that isn't repetitive like washing dishes because that is kind of a brainless activity that can have you thinking and thinking.

As for meds I have to say that I have had a rough experience too. I didn't deal well with Paxil or Zoloft, and Xanax was the worst. I've tried so many different meds but Valium is my go to calmer and I take a mood stabilizer, antipsychotics and yes and SSRI however...this SSRI is for OCD not depression and it's the only SSRI that hasn't made me worse. It's called Fluvoxamine in case you want to know. I have side effects as well like weight gain and constipation, and I break out a lot but idk if that's med related or sugar, but I haven't tried changing my diet but I am sure that could help. I'm sure exercise helps too. Sorry to bring up a med when you said no meds but I think a lot of people haven't heard of that one and I didn't until I needed something for horrible obsessive thoughts I was having...like bad. I still have some sicko thoughts but I'd be 100% crazier if I hadn't been given it. So that's a last resort of course.

Thank you. I haven't heard about this medication before and maybe worth trying it if nothing else work. I'm so glad I'm not the only one with instruding thoughts. But can I ask you...do you also have difficulties related to food, eating, touching things, unfamiliar places, insects, electricity, fire or something else. I'm dealing with this strange things....sometimes I can't eat curtain food because I don't "know" the product or that I'm afraid to get some disease or something. I always have to check all the lights and the electricity plugs before I go to sleep and I can't drink from my own bottles/glasses unless it's 150 % clean. I always wash my glass like 5 times before I can drink from it. Not because of germs or bacteria....

I also have eye blinking, nose twitching and other twitches when I'm nervous or anxious.

 

[kmom2014]

Thank you. I haven't heard about this medication before and maybe worth trying it if nothing else work. I'm so glad I'm not the only one with instruding thoughts. But can I ask you...do you also have difficulties related to food, eating, touching things, unfamiliar places, insects, electricity, fire or something else. I'm dealing with this strange things....sometimes I can't eat curtain food because I don't "know" the product or that I'm afraid to get some disease or something. I always have to check all the lights and the electricity plugs before I go to sleep and I can't drink from my own bottles/glasses unless it's 150 % clean. I always wash my glass like 5 times before I can drink from it. Not because of germs or bacteria....

I also have eye blinking, nose twitching and other twitches when I'm nervous or anxious.

As far as I know I don't have any tics. I stim, and when I am kinda nervous I pinch and pull the middle of my neck skin. And I'm a picker. I play with my feet a lot too. But no blinking or twitching.

I am very uneasy in unfamiliar places although I try to act like I am not. Especially if it's busy. So while I might have fun, it's not FUN fun because I am so focused on my surroundings I can't just let loose. As for food I am a very picky eater, I don't eat food from leftovers unless it's only from the day before and even that's rare, don't eat food past the expiration even unopened food, I don't eat spicy or weird textures and I don't try new and exotic things. No way. I HATE insects. Hate them. Even butterflies and lady bugs freak me out because they are bugs but not as much as others because at least they are pretty. I am a HUGE arachnophobe. Not being dramatic here. And as for touching things I can get uneasy about that too. I either really like the feeling of it so I mindlessly play with it or pet it or I might get a little anxious about it but that's usually like animals other than dogs and cats. I basically won't touch them. There's a game where you blindfold each other and you have to guess what your partner is putting in your hand, let's just say you couldn't pay me to play that or stick my hand in a dark box. Electricity; no issues there, I'm afraid of fire though. Like moving or putting logs on a fire, I am like an awkward child and always have to have someone step in.

I don't like swimming with fish, like in a lake or Hawaii. I am super paranoid which is another reason I'm on the antipsychotic I am on. And I hate stickiness. Lol I'm sure there is more too.

 

[gister]

As far as I know I don't have any tics. I stim, and when I am kinda nervous I pinch and pull the middle of my neck skin. And I'm a picker. I play with my feet a lot too. But no blinking or twitching.

I am very uneasy in unfamiliar places although I try to act like I am not. Especially if it's busy. So while I might have fun, it's not FUN fun because I am so focused on my surroundings I can't just let loose. As for food I am a very picky eater, I don't eat food from leftovers unless it's only from the day before and even that's rare, don't eat food past the expiration even unopened food, I don't eat spicy or weird textures and I don't try new and exotic things. No way. I HATE insects. Hate them. Even butterflies and lady bugs freak me out because they are bugs but not as much as others because at least they are pretty. I am a HUGE arachnophobe. Not being dramatic here. And as for touching things I can get uneasy about that too. I either really like the feeling of it so I mindlessly play with it or pet it or I might get a little anxious about it but that's usually like animals other than dogs and cats. I basically won't touch them. There's a game where you blindfold each other and you have to guess what your partner is putting in your hand, let's just say you couldn't pay me to play that or stick my hand in a dark box. Electricity; no issues there, I'm afraid of fire though. Like moving or putting logs on a fire, I am like an awkward child and always have to have someone step in.

I don't like swimming with fish, like in a lake or Hawaii. I am super paranoid which is another reason I'm on the antipsychotic I am on. And I hate stickiness. Lol I'm sure there is more too.

Yes...I HATE spiders really really hate them and would never stick my hands, feet or any part of my body into something creepy that I don't know or i don't see like water or dark holes.

 

[kmom2014]

Yes...I HATE spiders really really hate them and would never stick my hands, feet or any part of my body into something creepy that I don't know or i don't see like water or dark holes.

I hate dark water too!!! Once as a teen I jumped into a dark lake at night with my friends and had a mini panic attack when trying to swim back to the dock. That was very dumb of me. Lol