Discussion Is anyone here struggling with harm ocd? Tips?

[traingirl]

I've been tapering off Seroquel. I jumped from 50mg to 37.5mg and was really stable. But the jump to 25mg has been harsh. First few days fine but a week in and I'm having horrible intrusive thoughts. For example, I was talking with my friend at the store today and while trying to focus on what she was saying, my brain was imagining stabbing her. Or the other day when I opened my soup can and my brain said, "what if you cut yourself with it?". It's horrible things that I can't get out of my brain and I have had anxiety compulsions before like checking to see if I locked the door but never violent things like this. I feel like psych meds have fucked up my brain chemistry so much and just made the problem into an ugly nasty beast when it was manageable before. I start ketamine treatment tomorrow and I'm hoping for rapid relief but I've never experienced anything like this. Is there anything you do to help with your ocd/intrusive thoughts that works? I'm feeling so discouraged and damaged again. I almost want my gun back. Fuck.

 

[timf]

Sometimes religious people fight back against intrusive thoughts with a sort of reflex prayer. You might be able to come up with something similar that you can use as a sort of mental "fire extinguisher". If you can find a way to maintain control and push back when these thoughts arise, each time you may find that you manage these instead of them managing you.

 

[underairpressure]

Sometimes religious people fight back against intrusive thoughts with a sort of reflex prayer. You might be able to come up with something similar that you can use as a sort of mental "fire extinguisher". If you can find a way to maintain control and push back when these thoughts arise, each time you may find that you manage these instead of them managing you.

That only reinforces the intrusive thoughts though, having a "reflexive" reaction to them (like praying) is another form of compulsion, and compulsions can also get really out of control/make the situation worse.

I hope your ketamine treatment helped, OP. Dissociatives (the class of drugs ketamine is in) are one of the only things that ever helped my OCD. But, the benefits can fade if you don't have other support/ways of coping........ and, there's also a risk of dependance/addiction, if you get hooked.

Sounds like you're getting proper treatments, rather than just taking ket willy nilly, so you'll probably be fine and have support. Just wanted to warn, since I used dissos outside of a clinical context, fell deepely in love with them, and then had the most extreme, CRIPPLING OCD I've ever experience when I eventually had to come off. Don't recommend getting too deep. Best of luck and I hope your OCD improves