From Bed Bound to Stronger: A Gentle 12-Week Recovery Journey

 

Always consult your healthcare team before starting a new exercise programme. Stop immediately if you experience dizziness, chest pain, severe breathlessness, or worsening symptoms.

From Bed Bound to Stronger: A Gentle 12-Week Recovery Journey

Always consult your healthcare team before starting a new exercise programme. Stop immediately if you experience dizziness, chest pain, severe breathlessness, or worsening symptoms.

OCD and Personality Disorders

As promised in a previous post, I will go into a bit more detail about the whole therapy situation. 

A little while ago, the psychiatric team figured out why my OCD improves for a while and then comes back, so they did some tests, and I met the criteria for a personality disorder. Unfortunately, my OCD is taking up too much space right now for a psychologist to determine which personality disorder I have. The plan was for my OCD to get better, so a specialist would be able to determine which one it is, but since then, my physical health has massively declined - I struggle to walk at this point. So, a new plan, as I mentioned earlier. My physical health needs to improve, and then when I'm better, I will return to therapy. 

So how does a personality disorder actually affect OCD? 

OCD isn't just about the intrusive thoughts and compulsions themselves. Recovery also depends on how a person manages emotions, relationships, stress, self-image, and uncertainty. Personality Disorders can affect many of those areas, which means they can sometimes make OCD much harder to treat. For example, if someone struggles with emotional regulation, they may experience stress and anxiety much more intensely. Since anxiety often fuels OCD, this can make obsessions feel stronger and compulsions harder to resist.

Looking back, it makes a lot of sense why my OCD would improve for a while and then suddenly become much worse again. We were treating the OCD symptoms, but there may have been a deeper issue underneath that wasn't being addressed yet.

That doesn't mean recovery is impossible. If anything, it means there is finally another piece of the puzzle. Understanding what is really going on gives me a better chance of finding the right treatment and making lasting progress in the future.

From Bed Bound to Stronger: A Gentle 12-Week Recovery Journey

 Always consult your healthcare team before starting a new exercise programme. Stop immediately if you experience dizziness, chest pain, severe breathlessness, or worsening symptoms.

 The Psychiatric Team is letting me go - For now 

I have been seeing my psychologist since June 2024 for my OCD, which has been good. During this time, the team at the psychiatric hospital has tested me and come to the conclusion that I also have a Personality Disorder - but they don't know which one yet. The plan was to start therapy to figure that part out, as it interferes with my OCD recovery. Basically, the Personality Disorder that has gone undiagnosed for years has kept my OCD very active, making it difficult to recover properly. I will try explaining that in a different post. 

Unfortunately, my physical health at this point is so poorly that I cannot continue with therapy, so now the focus is to keep taking my SSRIs and getting better in terms of physical health. I've created a 12-week exercise plan, and I'll also be receiving professional support to help me start getting outside and going for walks again. There's also some talk about physical therapy. Being bed-bound has made my physical health so much worse, and it will be tough rebuilding strength, but it will be worth it. Once my physical health is better, I will start seeing my therapist again and start group therapy for Personality Disorder, and a specialist will give me a proper, more specific diagnosis. 

Ha! The universe really said April Fool's. I ordered a notebook from Bog & Ide, and instead I got this book. Safe to say I wasn't expecting this. I talked to them, and they will send my notebook, but it will take a while because of the holidays, so I will wait again! They said to just keep this book, and when the lady I talked to laughed at the situation. She said I could keep the book or give it to a good cause. I am intrigued, so I might give it a read. 

 

A little self-care box ♡