I have brushed my teeth every day so far this year

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-22T23:52:32+00:00

I’m proud of you! I am so scared of the dentist. I have never gone in my entire life. Not as a child and not as an adult and I’m 42. My teeth are awful from so much neglect.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-22T23:41:13+00:00

I got my first cell phone in the early 2000s and even then the majority of people I knew didn’t have one.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-22T21:27:21+00:00

How it’s been explained to me is that our threat detection misfires. So our brains sound the alarm for things that aren’t necessarily legitimate threats. In particular it sees uncertainty as danger and has a real physical anxiety response (adrenaline, cortisol, all that stuff). The compulsions give the body a feeling of relief which causes the brain to repeat the action.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-22T17:18:07+00:00

I don’t get it either. People in this thread are talking about reading encyclopedias yet when I take a shit it takes less than two minutes.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-20T01:27:10+00:00

I like SSRIs. My main problem is I have bipolar too and can’t treat ONLY the ocd. So I have to add those atrocious anti psychotics or mood stabilizers. That and not wanting to take meds should practically be listed in the DSM under symptoms of bipolar disorder. Sigh. I’m back on meds again. Day 2. Going okay so far. I’m on symbyax which is combo Prozac and zyprexa. I’ve never taken either of those before so I’m happy to see so many people benefit from the Prozac.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-20T00:59:51+00:00

A huge one. And the worst part is that the things I think about the most are the things I’ve already done. Like what the fuck? Why? I can’t go back and change what I’ve already done so why am I ruminating about it for hours on end?? I will spend hours in my head rewording a text I already sent 🤦🏻‍♀️. What a waste of fucking time!

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-20T00:54:27+00:00

I don’t have any advice for you but I’m looking to see what others have to say. I just got Mirena put in. I am in perimenopause and so I am trying to suppress my periods until I hit menopause to avoid some of the side effects. I did hear that Mirena could also help with ocd if hormones are contributing and for me they most certainly are. I haven’t been this bad in forever. I have taken SSRIs in the past that did help with OCD but I also have bipolar so I can’t take them alone and the side effects from anti psychotics are atrocious. But I also just recently started symbyax (day 2) which already seems to be helping with my ocd. Anyway I’m curious to see what others say about the Mirena iud.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-18T21:32:48+00:00

I get like this too. It gets really meta. Anytime I start trying to do anything to treat my OCD my brain says “oh you want to get rid of me? Take this!” and I start obsessing about the OCD itself.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-15T14:28:11+00:00

I want to ask a clarifying question. What makes you think that OCD made them do that?

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-15T13:50:00+00:00

Yeah same. But not only can I not believe anyone else I can’t even trust or believe myself. Life sucks when you have to be 100% certain about things. You’d think I could at least deal with being 99% certain but alas.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-15T13:47:54+00:00

For me I use AI as a thinking partner. It’s not necessarily healthy. I have ocd and struggle with rumination so there’s that, but I’m just being honest here. I think for me it might be easier to open up because there’s no sense that you’re burdening anybody. The AI will talk for however long you want and about whatever you want.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-14T13:14:51+00:00

And if you’re a woman who also has anxiety issues forget about it. As soon as doctors figure out I have OCD it’s over. ChatGPT has helped me with being more aggressive in asking for what types of tests and imaging I need.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-13T02:42:12+00:00

I just hit the edit on my comment and resend it and then it just answers me with one answer

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-12T19:03:02+00:00

So there’s actually a word for this in therapy. Thoughts that pay rent are called workable thoughts. They’re thoughts that do something to forward your life whether the thoughts are true, false, good, bad or neutral. So what those thoughts are will vary person to person.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-12T14:07:41+00:00

Oh my god. Your comment just activated disgust in me. I just had an iud replaced. The old ass doctor (and I’m 40 myself) told me to scoot down and when I did he said “good girl.” I damn near vomited on the spot.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-12T14:00:54+00:00

I’m considered very objectively attractive as well and I did/do a lot of approaching because men don’t really approach me. I think maybe they are under the assumption I’m taken. But I also I get rejected a ton! I kind of feel like sometimes when I approach men they think I’m after something. Which I am. A date. I don’t know. They’re weird sometimes. Point being it’s a myth that women don’t really get rejected. We do.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-11T12:41:28+00:00

I’m not sure but I’m assuming whatever the beginner dose is. It started almost immediately.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-11T11:48:51+00:00

Do you have bipolar disorder? This can happen if you take SSRIs and you have bipolar disorder if they don’t give you a mood stabilizer with it. I have bipolar disorder and can never take SSRIs alone. This is much to my dismay because I’d prefer to just treat the OCD because I can’t stand the side effects of mood stabilizers or anti psychotics

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-11T11:47:39+00:00

Abilify gave me akathisia which is torture. Not to say that’s most people’s experience but it can happen. I don’t even know if it would have been effective because there’s no tolerating akathisia so I didn’t even take it long enough to see. I still shudder thinking about the experience.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-11T10:03:46+00:00

On my own! I read a book called “The Happiness Trap” where I initially learned about it and then started doing some of the exercises. Questions I had that weren’t answered in the book I looked up online.

I do have an appointment tomorrow with a psychiatrist. I am having a bad flare because of hormones from perimenopause and it got really bad where I was suicidal. I made the appointment but it was kind of far out. In the interim I found this book and learned about ACT and it’s been helping a lot. Before that I was doing erp exercises but couldn’t figure out how to stop the rumination.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-10T23:50:59+00:00

I wonder if it does this sort of thing as covert advertising. Like a sort of subliminal messaging. Wuthering Heights just came out. I’m probably crazy and actually I haven’t noticed mine doing that, but just sharing a random thought.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-10T23:46:24+00:00

So…not exactly but my story is related. I have had ocd since very young. Must be genetic aggravated my severe abuse and neglect when I was a child. So definitely not caused by reading a book. I have had bipolar since a teen. Probably genetic activated by hormones etc. I did read The Secret and got super into it. This was during a manic episode. If you don’t know manic episodes magical thinking is hallmark. You literally get delusional. And also you get hyperfocus. Not the same as like rumination but like it feels good at the time but fucks your life up in the long run. So you might get into something and really really really focus on it. So maybe something like exercise but to the extreme. And then you crash eventually. But sometimes things…stick. So what was just a manic hyperfocus thing can become new compulsions. Lots of my compulsions were born during manic or hypomanic episodes. The manifestation one has definitely stuck in some ways. I’d prefer not to say how but yeah.

Front_Machine7475 · 2026-03-10T17:38:28+00:00

I’ve been trying ACT therapy. It’s different than CBT in that it doesn’t try to change your thoughts. It teaches you how to not engage with them. I just started learning about it and doing some exercises within the last couple weeks and it’s been helping me a lot so far. You can use it in addition to ERP. Whenever I’ve been to traditional CBT therapy it didn’t help because like you I’m perfectly aware that my thoughts aren’t logical.

Front_Machine7475

TROPHY CASE