Yknow how in exposure therapy they have you do absolutely unhinged tasks with the idea being that if you can handle this, you can handle anything? My OCD really likes taking my religion’s rules to an absolutely absurd degree. Drinking is prohibited, so I started being unable to handle dish soap/clean laundry/hand sanitizer because all of those things use alcohol as sterilizers.

I was in OCD therapy two years ago. For this specific obsession, we started with “washing a dish, cleaning hands, eating a snack” and eventually worked our way up to dipping my hands in straight vodka, wiping them dry, and eating cookies. I was miserable. It was crazy. I remember feeling like it was overkill.

Well today I donated blood and immediately got super nauseous and started to pass out. They gave me an alcohol wipe to hold to my nose to stop the nausea. Then, while I was holding that, they handed me a bag of pretzels and told me to eat it. I was like “but I have alcohol on my hands…. well it’s an emergency, I guess I’ll just wipe my hands dry….. wait, this feels familiar”. And it worked. I didn’t get into the compulsion loop. I barely even thought about it.

Mine came on VERY suddenly and severely this year at age 37. Literally 0 to 24/7 in days. I went to a functional medicine doctor for thorough bloodwork, got an EEG brain scan, you name it. But my tests all came back normal. I wasn't even stressed at the time of my onset! It is super frustrating because I feel this is not normal for a brain to do.

I am wondering if anyone else has tried to find the root cause of their OCD? Such as testing for vitamin deficiencies or inflammation. Or did you just accept it?

Edit: Based on these replies, it appears that I am the only one insane enough to spend $6K on bloodwork to find the root cause 🥲

You have a worry or a disturbing thought that youre afraid means youre a bad person

on an emotional subconscious level you begin desperately searching for reassurance and certainty that youre not a bad person

then ruminations and compulsions emerge as a way to satisfy that search which is what OCD is

if you can get through that initial discomfort and not care about it it goes away faster

A 2023 double-blind clinical trial investigated the effects of L-theanine on patients with moderate to severe OCD. It significantly reduced obsessive thoughts, quieting the intrusive, anxiety-inducing, and repetitive thought spirals associated with the condition. OCD is driven by excessive electrical and chemical activity in the brain, caused by elevated levels of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. L-theanine modulates glutamate receptors (blocking excessive neurotransmission) while simultaneously increasing levels of the calming neurotransmitter GABA and boosting alpha brain waves—associated with relaxation—much like meditation. It is no coincidence that practitioners in the East drink green tea before meditating. This dual action helps "interrupt" obsessive thought loops. Since research has shown that even a daily dose of 200 mg (two 100 mg doses) yields measurable improvements in obsessive thoughts, a regimen of 3 x 200 mg (600 mg total) distributed evenly throughout the day could theoretically provide stable, continuous support for balancing brain glutamate levels.

The effects of L-theanine appear 30–60 minutes after ingestion. It peaks in the brain within minutes and can actively block the negative effects of adrenaline and noradrenaline for approximately five hours; therefore, maintaining a steady level is key, rather than taking a single large dose:

for example: 1st capsule at 7:00 AM, preferably on an empty stomach; 2nd capsule at 12:00 PM (5 hours after the first); 3rd capsule at 5:00 PM (5 hours after the second).

The effect of the third capsule wears off around midnight, which is optimal for the body's biological rhythm, as the body naturally begins preparing for sleep at this time, and blood pressure and adrenaline levels start to drop on their own. Adrenaline and noradrenaline levels drop drastically at night even if we do not sleep.

Animal studies have shown that sustained administration of L-theanine can suppress chronic sympathetic hyperactivity and measurably reduce plasma noradrenaline levels.

With long-term use, L-theanine improves the function of the inner lining of blood vessels (endothelium) and reduces arterial stiffness, which is essential for the sustained normalization of blood pressure.

It directly dampens the effects of noradrenaline and adrenaline on the nervous system. It is particularly effective at mitigating stress-induced spikes in blood pressure and elevated heart rates. It is capable of blocking glutamate receptors in the brain while boosting levels of the calming neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). Research has shown that L-theanine can reduce stress and calm the body without causing sedation. A study in which participants regularly consumed a drink containing 200 mg of L-theanine found a significant reduction in levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which had been released in response to stressful tasks. It has no effect on established compulsive behaviors. I started taking it for my persistent 190/130 blood pressure, but unfortunately, it has no effect on that in my case.

I get a huge pang of guilt whenever I think about joining a fandom, or perhaps enjoying watching movies and the desert I’m eating. I get reminded of my real event and start to feel sad and guilty, like I don’t deserve any of these things. I decline gifts, try to avoid talking to people (like ending MANY friendships) and stay in doors, because I fear so many things (and I would say my real event is bad/complex). How would people think of me if they knew about all these things or know about my real event? I feel like I’m hiding who I am.

(And I do actively try to fight against this too! Just some days are harder than others)

This js for mental contamination and disgust ocd mostly. Certain people bother me like if someone looks unclean or I see somebody similar to someone I’ve had negative experiences with in the past I’ll feel contaminated. Or even just driving past a building. I’ll feel like I need to shower and clean everything on me- my phone my glasses. Even the car seat and then everything I touched like the wheel the shifter the handle the turn signal.

And I’m not afraid of getting germs and dying or getting sick, I’m bothered by getting any like part of them on me and disgusted by it and feel ‘ruined forever’. Like perceived air or germs, the thought of contaminated anything by them getting on me makes me feel extremely disgusted and ruined.

So is the cure for this to in a sense ‘let yourself feel ruined’. And then move on.

Because I know that’s not how germs work, and by this logic every bite of food I had in school was contaminated by every person I ever sat next to or walked by. By this logic my life has been ruined because some girl stole my pencil in 1st grade and I kept it and her germs have contaminated everything in my room since. And I know germs die and stuff.

To move on with my life do I truly just need to live in a world where it feels like everything is constantly contaminated and try not to think about it. Like I’ll think about someone who disgusts me, and how they probably go to that store I do, and how they drove down the same road and now all those feel contaminated.

It’s so dumb and makes living impossible. I’m borderline agoraphobic because I don’t feel comfortable or clean anywhere in a public area, and I have a borderline eating disorder because I’ll get paranoid the food was contaminated.

TW!!

Okay so I am currently unable to fall asleep after what just happened and my OCD is definitely going to run with this. Basically i’ve always had this on going ocd fear of my family members hurting me or doing something to me while I am asleep and I have no way of knowing. I’ve had this fear for years and it’s progressed into more in depth fears but that’s the overall theme.

Just now I woke up to hearing noises in my room and I saw my brother leaving my bedroom (he’s 14). I immediately got up and started asking him why he was in my room in which he would not tell me. He started lying and saying “it was um for school” and he started cussing me out calling me a bitch and to leave him alone. It was really weird and of course my mind went to the absolute worst, which I am now extremely scared that my OCD fear is true. I am unable to fall back asleep and I need to talk to someone or just hear some advice because my mom didn’t wanna wake up when I tried to talk to her and all my friends are asleep. I’m definitely going to have a bad OCD flare cause of this and I want to know why he was in my room at 2 am.

To remind my self I can’t feel joy and be happy it’s so wierd I feel the need to do this even wnat to Remeger a good conversion idk why it’s liek I want to remind myself I can’t be confident and happy I’m also my scared to be happy

inb4 I get comments telling me to seek help - I plan to! because I recognize this isn't normal. The purpose of this post is to vent and ask if anybody else has experienced this, and what helped them. I've googled this query for months and nothing has shown up.

My obsessions are getting to the point where I'm having trouble discerning them from reality. For example, I might get into my car in the parking lot and think - "This isn't my car, I've stolen somebody's car. I'm hallucinating all my personal belongings that I can see in this car. This isn't my car," the entire ride. I'll spend entire workdays thinking my house is on fire, to the point I'm sick. I'll think loved ones are impersonators.

I do have lucid moments where I'm not spiraling but the what-ifs don't go away. There are no compulsions or reassurances that comfort me. I no longer trust my eyes. Taking pictures of outlets has been the only thing to provide comfort. I do plan to seek help.

I can’t stop doing this thing with my facial hair where the hair pulls my collar and keep doing it over and over and it’s annoying.

I’m in a LDR and later this year I have to take a long haul flight to be with my partner to end distance. We’ve done the flight many times together (and I’ve done it once alone) but this time my fear of flying feels insanely intense… when I fly with my partner I feel safe, the one time I flew alone I was a little nervous, but this time I’m feeling intensely scared, I haven’t even booked my flight yet and I’m not set to fly until 3+ months away and it’s taking up time in my day researching flight safety, aircraft safety, and I’ve even been researching best dates to fly on according to numerology and astrologically. I also feel like my intense fear this time around is “a sign” not to go… I don’t know what to do, my fear of a catastrophe on the flight there is unbearable and I can’t get it out of my head even though it’s months away.

recently i haven’t been able to sleep because my ocd has been keeping me up. what do i do?

I was spiralling and got chatgpt to help me create a visual of what it feels like inside my brain when this happens. I’m honestly so happy with how it turned out. I feel like it depicts the chaos and endless loops so well. It’s always tricky to explain ocd because it feels like no one understands how hard it can be to live with.

I made a post on one of the autism forums about the feeling of touch lingering and avoiding objects touched by people. After i posted it i got a suggestion to crosspost to a sub called contamination ocd. I've already been diagnosed with adhd and aspergers, and now im sitting here reading things i relate to so much.

The original reason i made the post was because someone layed on my bed. I immediately changed sheets after they left. Its been four days since that happened and im still sleeping on the half that i think wasn't touched.

This sort of persistant and unavoidable feeling also occurs with physical contact. The feeling of touch lingers for hours or days after contact occurs. I have so many other things that have clicked into place in the past hour so forgive me if this post is a little convoluted.

I don't know what to think anymore. I feel like im collecting these neurodevelopmental conditions at this point. I don't know how to mark this so i put it up as a question. People with ocd, please tell me things. I want to know.

So my new roommate/friend also has ocd and when I first found this out I was like omg someone who understands me. But over the past almost two months I’ve realized me have very different types of ocd. Type is the wrong word I feel but idk what else to use. So now this person who I thought could understand me I still feel like an absolute freak around. I’m not saying I’ve got it worse or anything I’m just saying it’s different and I have more compulsions that people would think are insane. Like she was just talking about how she’ll ocd spiral because she thinks everyone hates her so she’ll self isolate. And yeah that really sucks and I understand her struggle but at the same time it just makes me painfully aware of how insane I would sound if I ever said what I’m struggling with right now. Ocd sucks ass no matter what but I genuinely don’t think I could look someone in the eyes and admit to some of my compulsions out of fear that they’ll see me as a freak. So I still feel so alone.

I've been trying my best to stop giving in to compulsions, I do a lot of reassurance seeking and I decided to get a grip and stop doing that, as I've been struggling for years already. I can't go to a therapist, as I don't have a job And my parents don't believe I need it, so I'm all on my own.

I'm trying to hard to let intrusive thoughts and memories settle in my mind, accept that they are here, I tell myself to stop spiraling if I catch myself making up future catastrophic outcomes, and so far I managed but I feel like I'm going insane.

It has been a week of my brain CONSTANLY giving me things to worry about, telling me that I'm a disgusting human being, that I'm irredeemable despite being only 19 years old and that I'll lose everyone I love because of this.

Literally every day is something new, I'm so scared and I don't know what to do anymore.

After how much time it gets better, does someone have any tips? I just need a heads up because I feel like my heart is falling to my feet like at least 4 times a day since I started... am I doing something wrong?

it feels like i can’t fall asleep without forcing myself to think about them, despite not wanting to. idk if that makes sense but im just worried