Hi everyone so my ocd is with showers and it’s not good I take a 2-3 hour shower and I do have a therapist. Since im not with therapist at moment so the 2-3 hour shower im still in the shower when the water gets cold and the hot water runs out. I was doing so good with my showers recently doing 35-45 mins and now it went back to 2-3 hours again. I wish I never had ocd I waste the day away with my showers. I wish I could be a person who goes in for 5-10 mins I have done the get out and deal with the anxiety and not go back in that part worked and it feels great. I have liquid soap not bar I don’t like the bar of soap. So the liquid I was using it for a week then I have to get a new bottle which using the liquid for a week is good for someone with old that’s a start but I need to use it a lot longer then a week . I sometimes do a certain body part that makes it longer not the whole body I don’t soap up a lot its only one body part but I keep pumping like 6 pumps maybe 4 pumps to Staart I do one body part at a time so it easies the ocd and I don’t panic on new body part .So my therapist gave me a timer that u put in shower it hangs on wall with succon cups so im gunna try that and see how it works my time limit is 1 hour as I spoke in my session and it can’t be any longer because if its longer and I add more time after time goes off like 5 more mins then im hiding from the ocd. this is very fusstrating.i know ocd never goes away but I have to manage it. I am getting a loofa and in my session I was told 10 pumps on the loofa no more and then rinse under water to get it soapy. I hope this works has anyone reading this used a loofa and it worked and made shower shorter and less using the liquid that way it last longer then a week the bottle and did the loofa last the whole shower with out having to re soap the loofa. what have you done with this type of ocd. Please be honest but im hoping that im asking for what you do whoever is reading it won’t mess up new ways to mange like im trying to do. I once used a podcast and I knew the podcast was an hour it helped because I knew when it was going to end but now podcast isn’t working my therapist said to me that if I didn’t finish washing a body parts to just get out and deal with anxiety and then she said later on finish the body parts like two hours later if I didn’t get to all the body parts because you need to deal with the anxiety in order to start managing the ocd I know I won’t be able to do this. ok ok I should not be saying I won’t be able to do this because it won’t help the ocd. I have no reason why I started getting ocd in my late teens like 16 or 17 early 20s I was doing so good showering be for that and had no other issues. anyone reading this please don’t judge or make fun. im getting frustrated writing this. more support would be great . I wish there was an app for this site. OCD PLEASE STOP WITH THE COMPULSIONS AND BE EASY ON ME.
Welcome back. There is a ocd group here you can sign up. This is the app you download for support. Im sure others will chime in and give you support. Maybe you could consider looking into behavioral health services. Hugs
That would be insanely frustrating, I feel like maybe the “why” needs to be explored maybe. I think that figure out why you feel your need to clean or shower that long maybe, perhaps that perfectionism is what needs to be addressed. The place I connect to this, is the shame society instills of having a body that isn’t perfect or clean, and somehow cleanliness being associated with various aspects of the natural ways our bodies are. Like apparently, our hair and scalp cleans itself, but the natural oils are stripped away by how often we shampoo, causing things like easily breaking hair. The more you love yourself and focus on veing gentle with your body, perhaps it could decrease and go away slowly or lessen. Because you cant love your body while scrubbing away all the “dirty” parts, which is just your natural skin. And the rougher you are, that roughbess is imprinted in your skin receptors which have thwir own memory.