OCD Action

aishah
Member

Hi,

I have had so much fun over the last few days at the forum xmas party despite my OCD getting worse over the last week in particular. I havn't slept through the night for over a month now due to my thoughts not shutting down at night so I know that doesn't help matters.

I feel depressed and a failure as my cleaning and ordering rituals have worsened over the last few weeks and I have felt overwhelmed by everything and therefore been unable to implement the coping mechanisms and techniques that I have been taught.

I have been re-referred back to CADATS on January 17th for an assesment so hopefully they can help me again but I just wish I could cope but sometimes I just can't.

Sorry to be a killjoy but I think the party's over for me for a while again

Tue Dec 28 2010 17:48:53 #
swan
Member

Hi,
I have problems with my thoughts but have been taken extra med over the Christmas, however have been awake at 5-6am each day. i find that the moment I wake I talk my thoughts out loud sometimes can't get back to sleep becasue of this but if a work day I daren't in case I don't wake up. Hope you get the treatment you require
Take care

Tue Dec 28 2010 18:07:28 #
Truddles
Member

Hi Bridget,

Sorry to hear that things are bad again for you.

You're not a failure because your cleaning and ordering rituals have worsened it's just a set back that so many of us unfortunately experience. Hold on to the thought that you're being reassessed by CADAT in January

Tue Dec 28 2010 19:17:32 #
playthoseblues
Member

Hello!

Sorry to hear that OCD's getting worse again. I get the thoughts, and I found that listening to a relaxiation tape works. Or my personal favourite I like is Erik Satie's Gymnopedie. Play it at a moderate volume, and then slowly turn the volume down until you can just hear it. Always concentrate on the sound, and that always helps me to sleep.

I also go through up n' downs with mine, and have found over the holiday, mine has got worse.

Jon!

Tue Dec 28 2010 23:56:24 #
jen67
Member

Hi Aishah.
Sorry to hear that things are tough for you atm.
Please can I ask you what is CADAT?
I am a carer to my adult son who has ocd. Just wondering what this is incase it's a sort of therpay my son might benefit from?
Is it like behaviour therapy?
I'm always awake in the wee small hrs too, but my nocturalness isnt down to unwanted thoughts, but as it's the only time I get once my son is finally asleep! He is 24yrs old, but has severe ocd, so the wee small hrs is my only time to myself.
Take care
Jenny

Wed Dec 29 2010 2:17:28 #
aishah
Member

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replies, it always helps to know that you are not alone in this.

Jenny, CADATS is The Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma, based at the Maudsley Hospital. It specialises in the treatment of OCD and other anxiety disorders, I had 18mths of weekly treatment there and just finished in July of this year, but have been re-referred as my OCD is bad again.

Being kept awake is quite a new thing for me as I have always been a good sleeper despite everything but is leaving me so tired during the day which doesn't help matters.

I'm sorry to hear that your son is suffering too and yes I had CBT at CADATS and maybe your son could benefit from this, he would need to be referred by his G.P. or Mental Health Team.

Bridget

Wed Dec 29 2010 2:27:57 #
Tess
Member

Hi Bridget
Really sorry to hear you have had a backwards step. Lack of sleep may well be behind it. I guard my own sleep with total selfishness because I know that lack of sleep is the quickest way to push me into suicidal depression and psychiatric hospital and my GP allows me to always have a small supply of valium and trusts me to take it only when I need it. I know it's far from ideal but when the going gets tough sometimes tough measures are needed.
It's been great 'partying' with you but I'm just sorry you're having problems coping, take care, Tess

Wed Dec 29 2010 11:05:03 #
David
Member

I too wondered what CADATS meant and glad that Bridget indicated what it stood for. I think it is the unit that I have been referred to by my GP and the psychological therapy team in my borough. . As the unit is based in Denmark Hill the site of the Maudsley.Any feedback about the unit would be gratefully received. Also I was interested to hear from Tess about getting valium from her GP - I too have had disrupted sleep for about a month and a half with me only sleeping intermittently in the night but was refused any medicine to help me sleep by my GP who gave me relaxation exercises to perform. Does anybody know some really good relaxation exercises and also interested to know if valium etc helps with good sleep.

Wed Dec 29 2010 12:42:21 #
Tess
Member

Hi David
I've had OCD since 1969 soon after my son was born. Back in those days there was no treatment for OCD, in fact it was thought of by the medical profession as a rare and very specialist illness and those who got really ill to the point that their lives were at risk, as I did, were put into huge asylums - and it didn't work. So I got better when the stresses and responsibilities of life were taken away in hospital and then relapsed when I came out and a few months later I was back in hospital again. So my medical history is enough to scare any GP which is probably why I am allowed valium. 40 years on things are very different, OCD is recognised and increasingly understood and there are effective treatments and the addictive properties of valium have also been realised. Valium is also dangerous in overdose if combined with other easily obtainable substances so GPs are very reluctant to prescribe what was actually a common medication for mental health disorders 40 years ago.
If the relaxation exercises aren't helping you could try some of the over-the counter remedies and then if it still doesn't work you can go back to the GP and, knowing you have tried to help yourself, he may reconsider and give you some temporary meds just to get you back into a regular sleep pattern. The ideal is to be able to sleep without any meds because drug induced sleep is not as refreshing as natural sleep. The more you worry about sleeping the more it will elude you. There's a lot you can do to help yourself - no food or alcohol binges before bed, do something to wind down before you settle down, a warm drink may or may not help. I find loud noise and violence on the TV just before bed can result in a disturbed night. Try some different routines and see if anything works, if it does stick to it, once you get back into a pattern of sleeping it will be easier to maintain it.

Wed Dec 29 2010 13:47:41 #