Looking for advice

[Mharris7179]

Good morning all, hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Does anyone have any advice on how to get rid of checking behaviors? What I mean by this is stopping checking to make sure that nothing is abnormal. For example, lifting arms up to make sure you can feel them, feeling heartbeat to make sure it’s still beating, touching top of head to check for tumors or swelling and checking pupil size to make sure they’re both normal. I keep doing these checking behaviors and it’s making me feel worse, and I’ve tried to stop them but it isn’t working. Do you guys have any tips for me?

 

[FlipperK]

Here are a few:
- Checking every hour isn’t going to solve anything. If it’s there it’s there. If it’s not, then it’s not. Constantly checking won’t cure it. So why do it?

- Go do something you enjoy for a few hours. Go watch a movie, go on a drive, play a game. Do something to get mind occupied for a few hours.

- Go see a therapist. This really does help. It’s great to talk with someone and they give you insight to your issues, they give you tips on how to handle it. It’s a great thing to do.

- Try medication. This doesn’t cure the anxiety but it helps keep bumps in the road from turning into mountains.

I like to go ride my bike, play with the kids, hang out with friends.

if I am dying today, then I might as well make it a great day. If I worry about something for months or weeks, and IF it turned out to be true, then I just wasted all of that time. I could have just ignored it, had fun, and still ended up in the same spot. Either way, the end result is the same. It’s how the journey is to the end that you can control.

EDIT:

To add, it’s never going to be one thing that keeps your anxiety and OCD under control. It will be a combination of things. For me, I do therapy, medication, exercise, and hanging out with people. I find that being alone is my worst enemy if I am not doing something to occupy my mind. That’s why if I am alone I go do something, I love to go driving. It keeps my mind occupied. It’s relaxing.

 

[Ms.Honey]

Honestly I had to force myself to just not check. Like cold turkey. Now of course I do check, the things you listed plus others, but it’s not quite as obsessive. Keeping my mind busy with other things helps.. but It’s so hard, I completely relate to your post. it makes me feel better to know I’m not the only one.

 

[bin_tenn]

It definitely helps to be aware of the fact that you're doing it at all. It also helps to know of any triggers. Do certain bodily sensations cause you to check? You can't really say no if you haven't really tried to identify triggers like that. For me, I didn't realize that a lot of things used to trigger my anxiety and compulsive behaviors, until my therapist helped me find those triggers.

Once you're aware of triggers, and the fact that you do check (you obviously do know that), then you can start fixing it. When you have a bodily sensation (e.g. a palpitation) and want to check your pulse, just don't do it. Resist the urge to do so, and distract yourself. Do something you enjoy, or strike up a conversation with someone around you. Talk about something different.