OCD sufferer seeks fellow sufferers

[Beencouraged1000]

Dear Friends,

 

Before I realized that I suffered from OCD I felt so alone and confused. Now I realize that there's so many sufferers I'm somewhat comforted because I know I'm not the only one. I've always wished I could meet someone who shared my struggle and who could perhaps be a friend. Wouldn't it be good to support each other instead of being all alone? Please reply to this forum if you're interested. I'm a bit nervous about putting my e-mail address on the forum in case I get abusive e-mails....I've never done this before. Anyway, I sure hope there's someone out there!!!

 

I have suffered with OCD for many years. My first memories of it are when I was only around 9 years old. My OCD has manifested itself in so many ways, from thinking that if I didn't do things like turn the light on and off 3 times my whole family would die, worrying that I ran someone over when driving and having to go back and check many times, to worrying that I had cursed God etc.

 

Now, as a Christian, most of my thoughts are religious in nature and are tormenting me no end. Anyone who is a Christian might be able to imagine what my thoughts consist of....think of the opposite of what a Christian wants to think and there you have it. It is hard to type this but I have thoughts of asking the devil for things.....which I don't want to do, but they are so intrusive they get through. It's absolute torment and I'm so confused and upset.

 

I am happily married with kids and have everything to live for, but my thoughts are so horrible and intrusive I'm at breaking point at the moment.

 

I wish so much that I could be free of this terrible affliction. It is so awful. Medication has helped me tremendously, but no cure yet. I am so low at the moment that I've considered suicide, but couldn't leave my wife and children, I love them too much. I wish with all my heart that God would strike me dead, give me cancer so that I can escape. If only there was a way out.

 

I keep trying to tell myself it's only the OCD talking, but it just wears me down. Does anyone know if suicide is a sin?

 

I'd love to hear from anyone who has OCD and suffers like I do.

[AJW]

You are not alone. I have had OCD my entire life, and lately it has been killing me inside. The intrusive thoughts have gotten to the point where I feel I do not have much control over my own mind, even though there is always the voice of reason and consciousness present to help me through it. However, the obsessions are so strong I feel nearly helpless against them, and start wondering if I actually want to commit the things going on in my head. The worst thing is, I am going to an excellent university in the fall and I am terrified of falling apart when or before I get there. I don't want my life to be ruined by this; I don't want to go crazy. But take my word for it: if you are aware of what you are going through, then you have the power to overcome it with your "impartial spectator," or, to put it spiritually, your soul. You will get through this, as will I. It sounds as though you have a strong faith in God--the strongest ally you can have, besides yourself. Feel free to e-mail me any time at cornflake_girl_45@yahoo.com. We can reassure each other by talking through this.

[CarolynN]

First I want to apologize. I truly feel bad that I did not see our post earlier. I just saw that you posted back on April 24th. In recent weeks, I have not been recently following the OCD portion of the forum. But I wanted to encourage you now from one OCD sufferer to another. I too am Christian, have been since 1993, and I UNDERSTAND EXACTLY what you are talking about with the intrusive thoughts about God.

 

I struggled and struggled with this until God opened my eyes up to a huge reality that I had not consider prior. What do you think is most important to God....the ugly thoughts you are trying to control not coming in your head, which they are never ending, or do you think it is what God sees in your heart for the love you have for Him? Of course the answer is what is in your heart that matters to God. Prior to me understanding this, I would try to fight back thoughts of Him so badly to the point where I just felt like exploding. But God so clearly told me it is not those thoughts that matter it is the fact that I have accepted Christ as my Savior, I trust He rose from the dead, and I know He is my Lord. HE LOVES YOU IN SPITE OF WHAT HORRIBLE THOUGHTS YOU CAN COME UP WITH ABOUT HIM. You cannot hide your true heart from Him. That's what I love so much because our yucky ugly thoughts, we can come up with in our imagination, do not change our heart for Him and He knows this. He loves us in spite of ourselves.

 

I can absolutely guarantee that the more you try not to think these thoughts the more you will think these thoughts. It is completely the nature of how our brains work. I am going to give you a really dumb example to illustrate what I mean. If I told you that thinking of a dog holding an umbrella would absolutely offend God, even though in your heart love Him, what do you think is going to happen. How can you not think of a dog holding an umbrella. It is impossible and it is by the very way God designed us. So don't you think that God understands, since He created you, that it is impossible for you with the fear level you have to not think about these things. How do you think you can get around His design of you? You cannot. You have to accept that you can only change these thoughts with the truth of who you are to Him.

 

The truth is HE LOVES you and I believe in my heart that you think because you are having these thoughts He has turned from you. This is sooooooooooo far from the truth. The truth is once you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior you are His and nothing can change this. Christ's sacrifice was not partial it was complete. That means for us, as Christians, we can rejoice that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5). Notice that scripture does NOT say if you have unpleasant thoughts you are having a hard time controlling, then I will forsake you. NO it says nothing of the sort is says NEVER WILL HE. It is His righteousness that holds on to us. It has nothing to do with us other then the first step of faith in Him as being the Savior of the World and the Lord.

 

This scripture is very key too Ephesians 2:verses 4-9 "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, though faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." So what is this scripture saying. It says very plainly it is by GRACE you have been saved. Grace by definition is being given something that we do not deserve in the first place. It also says it is NOT by works. Your trying to fight back thoughts is WORKS. You are trying to do something that God is saying has already been taken care of for you. You are forgiven because of Christ's blood not because you can control those unpleasant thoughts you hate.

 

Also let me ask you another question, why did Christ die for us? It is because we are all fallen people. All of us have sinned. We are all in need of Christ's sacrifice for us. The book of Romans Chapter 3 verses 23-26 says so clearly "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in his forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." What is this passage saying NONE of us are PERFECT. You are expecting of yourself to be perfect when the very reason that Christ HAD to come is because we far from perfect.

 

Please trust me when I say God knows your true heart on this matter. He knows the very reason you are struggling with this is because of your reverence for Him. Don't think anything less then that. Once I accepted the fact God knew my true heart and it was not a matter of battling these thoughts back, low and behold the thoughts just did not matter anymore and they went away. Not because of any other reason other then God showing me that they simply don't matter to Him other then Him saddened for you that you are not living in the freedom for which He died and rose for you.

 

So the very nature of you battling these thoughts tells me, just as it does God, that you understand this very concept of His Righteousness and Holiness. You have such reverence for Him that you bear not think these thoughts. If you didn't have this reverence you would not even be considering these thoughts as problems. So in and of itself these thoughts show your true heart for Him. Don't you think this actually shows God how much you truly love Him. I do. Because I know this is exactly why I hated these thoughts so much because I truly love Him and it hurt so bad to think such horrible things.

 

Let me finish with this. One VERY important thing that I don't think many Christians truly wrap their heads around is the fact we are under a different covenant then what was in "The Old Testament". When you read the Bible in the Old Testament and even some parts of the new, prior to Christ death and resurrection bringing in the New Covenant, you have to keep in mind that these people were still under the sacrificial system that God originally had set up. Christ's death on the cross and resurrection took that Old Covenant away Colossians chapter 2 verses 13-15 "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ, He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross". So when you read the Bible you have to think "ok is this talking to people prior to the New Covenant of Christ's sacrifice or is it talking about people who are still under the old sacrificial system." This is absolute key in discerning the Word of God. The whole point of the Old Covenant was to show our need for Christ's sacrifice. To show we could not do it on our own. But by God's grace He gave us Christ To die for the whole world's sins and all we have to do is accept this fact. Read John chapter 3 verse 16.

 

A while back I did a post to a woman who was desperate to get rid of OCD thoughts. If you scroll down in the post, I talk to her about what God has shown me in how to handle this whole world of OCD http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=2623 . In post #6 I specifically address my battle with fear of thinking yucky thoughts about God.

 

As a side note, did you know that the great reformer Martin Luther battled this EXACT SAME thing you and I have. You should read his story. He very MUCH anguished over battling yucky thoughts of God and concerned that if he died without asking forgiveness he would go to ######. So his life was consumed of battling back the thoughts asking for forgiveness and doing this over and over. God showed him though it was by Grace he had been saved not from the battling of the thoughts. It was through this experience that Martin Luther started sharing with the world the Grace of God and world of Christianity was moved forward in one great big step. Look at how God used this for His glory and to share Christ's love literally with millions through one man who battled these same type of thoughts.. He can do the same with YOU!

 

May I recommend one other thing to you and that is a CD series by a wonderful man named Bob George. Please do not let the name of the series scare you because it is such an amazing learning tool. It is called "Victory over Depression". I have listened to it several times and was not depressed at the time just. I was just in a cycle of horrible OCD thoughts. But it is soooo uplifting in sharing how we can get out of bad thinking patterns with God's truths. The first of the CD's is a little long but the rest are just great. Here is where you can get them from http://store.silaspartners.com/merchant.mv? .

 

I know this is long but please hang in there. You are worth the fight and God will fight for you!

 

Carolyn

[Beencouraged1000]

First I want to apologize. I truly feel bad that I did not see our post earlier. I just saw that you posted back on April 24th. In recent weeks, I have not been recently following the OCD portion of the forum. But I wanted to encourage you now from one OCD sufferer to another. I too am Christian, have been since 1993, and I UNDERSTAND EXACTLY what you are talking about with the intrusive thoughts about God.

 

I struggled and struggled with this until God opened my eyes up to a huge reality that I had not consider prior. What do you think is most important to God....the ugly thoughts you are trying to control not coming in your head, which they are never ending, or do you think it is what God sees in your heart for the love you have for Him? Of course the answer is what is in your heart that matters to God. Prior to me understanding this, I would try to fight back thoughts of Him so badly to the point where I just felt like exploding. But God so clearly told me it is not those thoughts that matter it is the fact that I have accepted Christ as my Savior, I trust He rose from the dead, and I know He is my Lord. HE LOVES YOU IN SPITE OF WHAT HORRIBLE THOUGHTS YOU CAN COME UP WITH ABOUT HIM. You cannot hide your true heart from Him. That's what I love so much because our yucky ugly thoughts, we can come up with in our imagination, do not change our heart for Him and He knows this. He loves us in spite of ourselves.

 

I can absolutely guarantee that the more you try not to think these thoughts the more you will think these thoughts. It is completely the nature of how our brains work. I am going to give you a really dumb example to illustrate what I mean. If I told you that thinking of a dog holding an umbrella would absolutely offend God, even though in your heart love Him, what do you think is going to happen. How can you not think of a dog holding an umbrella. It is impossible and it is by the very way God designed us. So don't you think that God understands, since He created you, that it is impossible for you with the fear level you have to not think about these things. How do you think you can get around His design of you? You cannot. You have to accept that you can only change these thoughts with the truth of who you are to Him.

 

The truth is HE LOVES you and I believe in my heart that you think because you are having these thoughts He has turned from you. This is sooooooooooo far from the truth. The truth is once you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior you are His and nothing can change this. Christ's sacrifice was not partial it was complete. That means for us, as Christians, we can rejoice that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5). Notice that scripture does NOT say if you have unpleasant thoughts you are having a hard time controlling, then I will forsake you. NO it says nothing of the sort is says NEVER WILL HE. It is His righteousness that holds on to us. It has nothing to do with us other then the first step of faith in Him as being the Savior of the World and the Lord.

 

This scripture is very key too Ephesians 2:verses 4-9 "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, though faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." So what is this scripture saying. It says very plainly it is by GRACE you have been saved. Grace by definition is being given something that we do not deserve in the first place. It also says it is NOT by works. Your trying to fight back thoughts is WORKS. You are trying to do something that God is saying has already been taken care of for you. You are forgiven because of Christ's blood not because you can control those unpleasant thoughts you hate.

 

Also let me ask you another question, why did Christ die for us? It is because we are all fallen people. All of us have sinned. We are all in need of Christ's sacrifice for us. The book of Romans Chapter 3 verses 23-26 says so clearly "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in his forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." What is this passage saying NONE of us are PERFECT. You are expecting of yourself to be perfect when the very reason that Christ HAD to come is because we far from perfect.

 

Please trust me when I say God knows your true heart on this matter. He knows the very reason you are struggling with this is because of your reverence for Him. Don't think anything less then that. Once I accepted the fact God knew my true heart and it was not a matter of battling these thoughts back, low and behold the thoughts just did not matter anymore and they went away. Not because of any other reason other then God showing me that they simply don't matter to Him other then Him saddened for you that you are not living in the freedom for which He died and rose for you.

 

So the very nature of you battling these thoughts tells me, just as it does God, that you understand this very concept of His Righteousness and Holiness. You have such reverence for Him that you bear not think these thoughts. If you didn't have this reverence you would not even be considering these thoughts as problems. So in and of itself these thoughts show your true heart for Him. Don't you think this actually shows God how much you truly love Him. I do. Because I know this is exactly why I hated these thoughts so much because I truly love Him and it hurt so bad to think such horrible things.

 

Let me finish with this. One VERY important thing that I don't think many Christians truly wrap their heads around is the fact we are under a different covenant then what was in "The Old Testament". When you read the Bible in the Old Testament and even some parts of the new, prior to Christ death and resurrection bringing in the New Covenant, you have to keep in mind that these people were still under the sacrificial system that God originally had set up. Christ's death on the cross and and resurrection took that Old Covenant away Colossians chapter 2 verses 13-15 "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ, He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross". So when you read the Bible you have to think "ok is this talking to people prior to the New Covenant of Christ's sacrifice or is it talking about people who are still under the old sacrificial system." This is absolute key in discerning the Word of God. The whole point of the Old Covenant was to show our need for Christ's sacrifice. To show we could not do it on our own. But by God's grace He gave us Christ To die for the whole world's sins and all we have to do is accept this fact. Read John chapter 3 verse 16.

 

A while back I did a post to a woman who was desperate to get rid of OCD thoughts. If you scroll down in the post, I talk to her about what God has shown me in how to handle this whole world of OCD http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=2623 . In post #6 I specifically address my battle with fear of thinking yucky thoughts about God.

 

As a side note, did you know that the great reformer Martin Luther battled this EXACT SAME thing you and I have. You should read his story. He very MUCH anguished over battling yucky thoughts of God and concerned that if he died without asking forgiveness he would go to ######. So his life was consumed of battling back the thoughts asking for forgiveness and doing this over and over. God showed him though it was by Grace he had been saved not from the battling of the thoughts. It was through this experience that Martin Luther started sharing with the world the Grace of God and world of Christianity was moved forward in one great big step. Look at how God used this for His glory and to share Christ's love literally with millions through one man who battled these same type of thoughts.. He can do the same with YOU!

 

May I recommend one other thing to you and that is a CD series by a wonderful man named Bob George. Please do not let the name of the series scare you because it is such an amazing learning tool. It is called "Victory over Depression". I have listened to it several times and was not depressed at the time just. I was just in a cycle of horrible OCD thoughts. But it is soooo uplifting in sharing how we can get out of bad thinking patterns with God's truths. The first of the CD's is a little long but the rest are just great. Here is where you can get them from http://store.silaspartners.com/merchant.mv? .

 

I know this is long but please hang in there. You are worth the fight and God will fight for you!

 

Carolyn

 

Dear Carolyn,

 

I have just read your post and I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I had almost given up checking to see if anyone had replied and it's been probably a good week and a half since I last checked. So many people had read my post but no replies. So imagine my delight to receive your message saying you had posted a reply.

 

Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement and godly wisdom. I have printed off your post so I can read it over and over. Thank you so much for your prayers!!! I am so grateful! I am also humbled and encouraged by your long reply. It must have taken you ages to write but I just want you to know that it means so much to me.

 

It's really late as I write this and I need to go to bed because I've got work tomorrow, but I have so much more to say to you so I will write again soon. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 

Not alone anymore!!!

[Beencouraged1000]

You are not alone. I have had OCD my entire life, and lately it has been killing me inside. The intrusive thoughts have gotten to the point where I feel I do not have much control over my own mind, even though there is always the voice of reason and consciousness present to help me through it. However, the obsessions are so strong I feel nearly helpless against them, and start wondering if I actually want to commit the things going on in my head. The worst thing is, I am going to an excellent university in the fall and I am terrified of falling apart when or before I get there. I don't want my life to be ruined by this; I don't want to go crazy. But take my word for it: if you are aware of what you are going through, then you have the power to overcome it with your "impartial spectator," or, to put it spiritually, your soul. You will get through this, as will I. It sounds as though you have a strong faith in God--the strongest ally you can have, besides yourself. Feel free to e-mail me any time at cornflake_girl_45@yahoo.com. We can reassure each other by talking through this.

 

Dear AJW,

 

Thank you for your encouraging e-mail. Your words of encouragement mean a lot to me. I'm sorry that you suffer from this condition too. Isn't it terrible! I will definitely e-mail you. It's late as I write this and I have to go to bed because I have work tomorrow so I will write you another day.

 

Kind regards,

 

Not alone now

[CarolynN]

Beencouraged,

 

Thank you so much for your kind words. It truly does humble me to know how God uses us in each other's lives. It is so awesome and exactly what He calls us to do.

 

I was thinking of a few more things that may help you. Have you heard of something called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)? For those that suffer with OCD, it can be extremely helpful from what I understand. It basically teaches you how to challenge your fears with truth. Well where I am going with this is there are Christian Counselors that teach this. I found quite a few in my area by going on my insurances website and then I went under the counseling section. Then I was able to narrow down my search by selecting Christian Counselor and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. I was searching this out for my son Daniel. My son Daniel is doing real well right now so I am not pursuing this for him anymore at this time. But certainly will keep it in mind for down the road if necessary.

 

I don't know if you have read any of Chemar's posts but her son has had really bad OCD. She said this CBT training has taken him a real far distance in healing. I completely know this type training of putting truth over your fears is exactly God has taught me. Not to let my fears run wild but start challenging them with His truths. Very quickly these fears become exposed for what they truly are. They are falsehoods and nothing less. I can promise you with all the amazing amount of fear that has run through my head over the years not one of them have come to pass. So what does this tell you of the track record of OCD thoughts? They are not at all accurate in determining truth. They are the exact opposite. This is why it is so important to understand God's truth's because He is the truth so you know you are in the right spot.

 

I would say for me one of the biggest things that helped me is to start a journal. I would write down those things that God showed me to challenge my fears and then I could go back to reference. I would also write down scriptures that helped me. Otherwise, I found myself falling in the same trap over and over. That trap was a thought would be "defeated" in my mind and I would be riding sky high that it was gone. Then something would happen where I would be reminded of that emotional feeling of that fear and all of a sudden I would find myself trying to get back out of the fear. So by writing it down I could go back and reference what it was that helped me defeat the fear in the first place. It would help me get my emotions back in order.

 

The other thing to keep in mind is making sure you are getting the right nutrition. Staying away from artificial food dyes and MSG is really important. My son has tourettes and anxiety, I have posted quite a bit on the forum regarding what we have found that helps him. There is no doubt when he has artificial foods going in him his anxiety goes up. I have found especially yellow dye number 5 and 6, caramel color and the MSG are bad offenders. Also high fructose corn syrup and red dye 40 is really bad. It took me about a 6 month journey to figure out what to feed him. I did a post regarding the hidden names for MSG a while back on the forum. Food companies are very tricky in hiding it under various labels http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?...aded&start= . So eating a nice healthy diet and getting adequate exercise is really important. Here is the list of foods that he eats that is MSG, dye, and high fructose free http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=2976. It is hard to figure out what to eat but I tell you the difference in changing my son's diet around has been absolutely key in helping keep his body in order.

 

Another thing to consider with OCD is candida. Candida is an overgrowth of yeast in the intestinal track. What happens is the candida releases toxins that literally go to brain and can cause problems. I know many people with tourettes and OCD have found out they have candida. If you go to the search engine of this forum and type in candida, you will see all kinds of postings about what people have done to treat it. I know Chemar, who knows soooo much about OCD and tourettes, used something called Candida Clear by Now to help clear up her son's candida. I have used it too for my candida and it really works well in getting rid of it. The thing to keep in mind when getting candida out of your system is, as it dies, it will give off toxins in the body from the dying yeast. So you want to do it slow and easy.

 

One of the biggest suspects to having candida, although by no means the only, is someone who has been on anti-biotics in their life. The anti-biotics are VERY candida friendly. They set the intestinal track up because they kill off the good flora in your intestinal system that allows the candida to start taking over.

 

Another thing to think about is magnesium deficiency. This is a VERY common problem. The best kind of magnesium to go on is one that ends in "ate" and not "ide". I have my son on two products that have magnesium taurate in them. One is called TS-Plus which is a multi vitamin that a woman named Bonnie Grimaldi produced for people with tourettes and the other conditions like OCD. The other is just additional magnesium taurate on top of what is in Bonnie's products that I get at the store Vitamin Shoppe. Bonnie Grimaldi also sells just the magnesium taurate by itself. On the forum you will read so many people who have used magnesium with a lot of success. Here is Bonnie Grimaldi's story about how this was all developed http://www.bonniegr.com/Interview%20with%20Bonnie.htm . She has quite the story to read with her son and what she has done for him Most people in America are magnesium deficient because of our diets.

 

There are also some really good natural products to take to help with OCD. The best thing to do, especially if you are on a prescription medicine, is to find a really good naturapathic doctor to help with balancing vitamins and medicine. One of the products a lot of OCD sufferers have found helpful is Inositol. My son Daniel is on GABA for anxiety. This has really helped him. Chemar's found a really good balance for her son and her regimen is listed in this post http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=687.

 

Another thing that is very important is getting some good Omega's in your diet. We use a product through Nordic Naturals for my son Daniel. You want to make sure you don't just buy any Omega's because you want to make sure they are safe fish from cold water and tested for mercury levels. Nordic Naturals is a really good brand and also Bonnie Grimaldi carries her own line of Omega's you can read on her website. By the way I have e-mailed her personally with questions and she has gotten back to me. Her personal e-mail is under the order information section I believe on her web page.

 

I hope I did not overwhelm you too much with all of the nutrition information. I just thought I would throw it out there for you to start looking at if you are interested. It is A LOT to take in and you cannot expect to understand it all right away. It has taken me a long time to get to the point of understanding it but a journey again that has really helped my son. So if you want to start making those changes don't be too hard on yourself trying to do it all right away. Little steps at a time will make great big progess in the long run.

 

The main thing is to realize there are answers. Absolutely the most important thing is understanding God's truths in the Bible and who we are in Him. I can not even begin to put into words what this has done in my life. There is no vitamin or drug that could ever replace His truths. But of course making sure your body is healthy and getting what it needs is also key. We live in a much different world with the foods we eat that God never intended. For example the MSG and artificial food dyes. These things just spur the nervous system to a level, in some people, that cause there bodies to react very negatively.

 

So be hopeful in Him and continue to ask Him to set your fears straight. He ALWAYS has for me and I know for any other person, genuinely seeking His truth, He will certainly do the same.

 

Do you have a good Pastor that might be able to help you on this journey of healing or do you belong to a Bible study with people who can support you along the way?

 

My husband has been very helpful in my OCD journey. A lot of times I will tell him what is "weighing me down" and just sharing with him, even though I know he does not truly understand what is going on, helps me release the thoughts.

 

My favorite Psalm is 139 because it speaks so clearly as to how He knows every thought and every anxiety. I have read this over so many times and it has brought me much comfort so I thought I would pass this along to you too.

 

Have a blessed day and know that He is with you every step of the way in this journey of life. Even in the times when He "feels" distant He is there. What an amazing thought, that for us as Christians, we have His awesome wisdom to guide us our entire lives !!!

 

 

Carolyn

[tl7]

Hi,

 

I just read your post and want to say I can empathize. I have been through alot of similar types of thoughts with my OCD which happens to be severe religious OCD; before I was a Christian it manifested itself more in the form of counting and checking things. I suffer with this daily, and at times (particularly when the OCD is raging) have thought about suicide myself as an escape. I understand. However, I have been researching like crazy because there has to be something to if not cure this (yet), at least greatly alleviate it. That hope keeps me going. One thing I have taken away from my research is that OCD (even though labeled a psychiatric condition), has heavy heavy roots in biochemical abnormalties (which can be addressed), and thereby be effective. I have read that inositol powder at about 18 grams a day has proven to be signifigantly successful on many people with OCD. People who have undergone studies have shown improvement after 4 - 6 weeks with the inositol powder. At 3 weeks and under little to no effect is observed. Important to know that OCD symptoms have been reported to return after inositol is stopped. Swanson's brand is least expensive (about $11 for a jar with 227 grams in it). Inositol is reported to cause gastric upset in people at higher doses like the 18 grams a day. I find what helps me to avoid this is splitting up the dose (taking half the dose in the morning and the other half at night, or splitting the dose to be taken 6 grams in the morning, 6 grams in the afternoon and the other 6 grams at night). Also, I find that gastric upset is avoided by taking the dose in a small amount of water (about 1/3 or 1/2 of a cup), and by eating right after I take the dose. I find that if I drink a lot of water around the time of the dose, or I don't eat right after taking it my stomach can become upset. I hear also GABA may be effective (picamilon GABA - this kind penetrates the blood-brain barrier, the other kind of GABA reportedly does not). A link to that here: http://www.cognitivenutrition.com/en/picamilon-25-grams.html

I'm not sure what the dosage is for GABA for treating people with OCD. I understand that OCD may have certain pointed causes and could also have a variety of intricate causes. I believe someone who replied mentioned detoxing, diet, and watching out for MSG. All of those I certainly advocate. I know for myself, I have food triggers which will increase the frequency of OCD thoughts and I just have to stay away from certain food. Ideally, I would love to detox, and treat the root of what I believe may be the causative factor(s) to my OCD and other symptoms. That is something held dearly on my wish list of things to do. However, money and time is a factor and well, I'm just not in the place to do that yet. However, I can afford a monthly bottle of inositol powder and possibly something else to treat the OCD until I get where I can do detox and all the other things that may really help me. If these things like inositol powder, GABA, & L-Theanine etc have had great results on people suffering with OCD, why not try it now because I can afford that at this point. For me, I feel it's better to try and treat the symptoms and possibly have decent success, than wait and wait until I get in the right life circumstance to be able to detox, afford expensive supplements and radically alter my diet into something like the GAPS or Food combining diet which could really help. **Just want to note: you mentioned you are currently taking a medication. If you are on an SSRI, it may be dangerous to take some of the things I mentioned while you are on the SSRI. I am not sure which supplements I listed should not be taken with an SSRI, so you would have to do research on that. Maybe you could take the ones that are approved to be okay to take with an SSRI now (if you are taking an SSRI). Or maybe if you ever stopped taking an SSRI you could try the supplements, though I don't know how long you would need to wait between coming off the SSRI and starting the supplement. So far it is week one with inositol powder for me; still having OCD thoughts, feel slightly calmer though (however, it's not expected to work on OCD until about 4-6 weeks, so I have a ways to go). My decision and determination is to dilligently try anything and everything natural stated to help OCD suffers, in order to alleviate my symptoms. I have determined not to give up. I love God and I am sure you do too. I don't want to take a gamble with my eternal fate over this; if I do OCD will win. I am encouraging you to also not take a gamble on your fate either; I'm sure you love your family dearly too, don't let OCD slay you and take you from them. I am encouraging you to go on a quest like mine until you find something safe and natural that absolutely works for you. I am praying for you to be alleviated of this, and I pray for myself and everyone else on here who is dealing with this.

Edited September 17, 2010 by tl7