OCD, anxiety, health anxiety, medication problems

[piregreenat]

Hi everybody.

I am just wondering if any of you who have experience suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder, panic attacks, health anxiety, have any tips for how you deal with it ? overcome it ?

I see a psychiatrist every couple of months for a review of the medication i am on . And i met one yesterday and he was very nice, hes trying to set up some cbt therapy for me. I had some cbt therapy before but not enough of it for it to be effective. I read lots on psychology, and have bits and pieces of knowledge, but find it difficult at times to apply what i learn, and i told the few psychiatrists ive met this. What they say is the mind develops habits, some of them say the ocd is a chemical imbalance in the brain, some of them say the imbalance thing is a theory and not something they are sure of.

Ive recieved some good advice from a doctor GP who examined me around xmas time, and his was to change the obsessions and habits. Do different things and make the positive changes a habit. But its very hard, when you have been anxious for quite some time.

The medication i am on, is .25 mg xanax. i find it useful only after about 2 or 3 pills. the first one doesnt really do much.
The only medication is Lexapro, 15mg. i stuck with it for a while. but started taking myself of it, because i felt it was making me think way too much, and thinking too much is part of my problem.

Some of my obsessions are bizarre, i visualize illnesses and start believing i can create illnesses in my body like for eg Cancer ( whch the psychiatrists say is not possible ) but still i get sometimes overwhelmed with these visuals thoughts , and feel i have to perform certain rituals , actions to stop the illness going into my body . Or il get a thought of if something physical is already wrong with me, i could make it worse with my mind by focusing on certain areas, and this of course creates more anxiety, more fear, catastrophizing, frustration and soemtimes more recently getting very moody and angry. This type of health obsession only started over a year and a half ago, but ive had anxiety issues for the last 6 years, since i got my first panic attack in 2006.  It was just anxiety and panic attacks for a few years, and i was drinking every day to numb the anxiety and get through the day ( which ive not done in 11 months )  since going on medications and talking with psychiatrists, psych nurses etc.
My other issue is social anxiety, im afraid of going outside too much in case i get a panic attack or fell down and died in public, or fell down needed an ambulanace etc. so mostly i stay indoors, and dont go out . Yesterday i walked to the clinic for meeting with pychiatrist which was first time out of house in 2 weeks ! my family support me a lot, and have to do my shopping for me most of the time, this sometimes makes me feel like a bit of a loser.... but its just im so anxious at times, and feel if im outside people will be looking at me etc, despite what nurses etc told me about this, i feel i need to hear some tips from others who have anxiety issues, or have had and know what its like to experience the problems ( im not saying all medical professionals dont have personal experience with medication or symptoms of anxiety, i know some do ) but many are trained in it, experts, but dont know what its like to go through it ? if that makes sense ?  i found the guy i met yesterday very helpful and he assured me things like i cant create illnesses in my body with thoughts... this relieved me, but still hours later i started to obsess about it ...and i actually visualized seeing inside my body seeing my brain etc... even though i know i cant.. and this led me to have an almost full blown panic attack ...   what triggered these type of thoughts was reading about new age bliefs like from the likes of Louise Hay, where she says every disease people have is caused by the mind, that they caused it themselves... and theres a few others in the " new thought " world that have these kind of beliefs.... scary to me !! but im told not fact or true ... still though i seem to get scared of such things ....
the dr psychiatrists other tips were distraction, watch a movie, music, go for a walk etc. and less thinking. i love music and movies and these are things i do anyway, but will do moer often ... just wondering if you have any tips though, things you do ??

also has anyone heard of the Linden Method ? ive heard its a useful anxiety method used by people to recover ?

sorry for such the long post.. i ramble on a bit ...

thanks for reading

[liquidbluev]

Hi piregreenat,

I am so sorry that you are going through all this.  Based on your post it seems you are very much obsessing about all the things that could really go wrong.  

I agree with the last poster- CBT may be a very successful thing for you.  It also sounds like your medications might not be what you need.  There are so many medications out there, and sometimes you have to try different ones to get the results you need.  I went through this when I was younger as I was severely Bipolar.  But I went through therapy and tried a number of different medications and was able to feel a lot better.

I wish you very well!

[remar]

I think it will be a good idea to see your Dr alot more often. And you do have to use the skills you've learned with CBT. It really helps. You might want to think about another antidepressant. It sounds like Lexapro did'nt work for you. It's true that we can develop habit thinking.