I’ve been in therapy for a while - fortunately CBT and learning to deal with anxiety has been useful for me. The security stuff has been eased with minor enhancements to my apartment - cameras and smart smoke detectors that allow me to check in on things when I’m away from home.
The food contamination stuff is pretty easy to avoid by just preparing my food at home and rarely eating out.
And the biggest trick, which is detrimental to my life in a much worse way is being an alcoholic in active addiction. Turns out alcohol is amazing for severe anxiety. I also have complex PTSD. But it’s really bad for the body… so who knows man lol.
Oh, I was going to suggest smart home stuff to help with the security, but it sounds like you already have that covered. I have a smart lock that I can check the status of when I’m away from home, so I can easily check if I locked the door. It’s pretty neat.
I feel you on the alcohol. I don’t drink alcohol too much, but when I do, it’s incredible how my OCD just disappears. Alcohol can obviously be extremely dangerous if used in excess, but I think it proves that there exists a way to medicate OCD.
Good for you on seeing therapy. That was the thing that helped me the most. And I think I got mine early enough that it was somewhat easy to treat with therapy. I think therapy should always be the first thing people should try. I always recommend it.
Yeah my therapist is awesome and has helped me so much in the few years I’ve been seeing her now. Unfortunately I let myself get deep in the bottle before I sought help for the first time since college over a decade ago.
Addiction is a motherfucker, especially when you can’t trust yourself to take the actually effective anxiety meds without doing down the same well. So every time I do detox through a program I end up making it about 2 months max before my anxiety gets to me and I end up drinking to relieve it.
Advice for anyone struggling with alcohol or benzos: detox and withdrawal can actually kill you from only these two drug types. Go to a hospital or program if your symptoms are even moderate.
Food contamination is still one of my big ones today. I’m happy I don’t have security as one.
How are you doing now, by the way? Has it gotten easier to manage? What steps have you taken to try to improve your quality of life?
I’ve been in therapy for a while - fortunately CBT and learning to deal with anxiety has been useful for me. The security stuff has been eased with minor enhancements to my apartment - cameras and smart smoke detectors that allow me to check in on things when I’m away from home.
The food contamination stuff is pretty easy to avoid by just preparing my food at home and rarely eating out.
And the biggest trick, which is detrimental to my life in a much worse way is being an alcoholic in active addiction. Turns out alcohol is amazing for severe anxiety. I also have complex PTSD. But it’s really bad for the body… so who knows man lol.
Oh, I was going to suggest smart home stuff to help with the security, but it sounds like you already have that covered. I have a smart lock that I can check the status of when I’m away from home, so I can easily check if I locked the door. It’s pretty neat.
I feel you on the alcohol. I don’t drink alcohol too much, but when I do, it’s incredible how my OCD just disappears. Alcohol can obviously be extremely dangerous if used in excess, but I think it proves that there exists a way to medicate OCD.
Good for you on seeing therapy. That was the thing that helped me the most. And I think I got mine early enough that it was somewhat easy to treat with therapy. I think therapy should always be the first thing people should try. I always recommend it.
Yeah my therapist is awesome and has helped me so much in the few years I’ve been seeing her now. Unfortunately I let myself get deep in the bottle before I sought help for the first time since college over a decade ago.
Addiction is a motherfucker, especially when you can’t trust yourself to take the actually effective anxiety meds without doing down the same well. So every time I do detox through a program I end up making it about 2 months max before my anxiety gets to me and I end up drinking to relieve it.
Advice for anyone struggling with alcohol or benzos: detox and withdrawal can actually kill you from only these two drug types. Go to a hospital or program if your symptoms are even moderate.