Side Effects of OCD: Understanding What It’s Like to Live with This Disorder

"OCD, for me, it's an ever-present nagging feeling that something is just 'not right.' I can never really, truly 'make it right.' I have to learn to live with the all-consuming feeling of mental discomfort."

- Laura McCarthy

In 2020, 37,282 people with anxiety in Kentucky, with many of them managing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) at the same time. Your loved one doesn’t have to live with this condition. They are worthy of treatment and recovery, which can help make the side effects of OCD more manageable and improve their quality of life.

At SUN Behavioral Health Kentucky, we want to help you understand what your loved one with this condition is experiencing and the challenges they might have. Today, we are going to discuss the side effects of OCD.

Understanding OCD: What Are Obsessions and Compulsions?

OCD is a type of anxiety disorder that includes obsessive thoughts and rituals, also known as compulsions. People with this disorder are not able to control or stop it, and it can significantly interfere with their life. 

Obsessions include repeated thoughts, mental images, and urges that are unwanted and intrusive. These thoughts make someone feel highly anxious. Someone who is experiencing an obsession may have a fear of germs, forgetting something, or losing control. It also includes thoughts that are aggressive and unwanted towards themselves or others.

Compulsions are often a response to obsessions. These are repetitive behaviors that someone feels they need to do. They might think their obsessions will come true if they do not complete these behaviors. Examples of compulsions include excessive hand washing to eliminate germs or repeatedly checking that doors are locked and the oven is off.

Not all obsessive thoughts and rituals indicate that someone has OCD. There are ways to know if these symptoms could be associated with this condition. The main indication is if someone can't control their obsessions or compulsions even if they want to. Someone with this disorder will spend more than 1 hour daily on their symptoms, and they don't often receive pleasure from them even if it does temporarily lower their anxiety.

Common Challenges: How OCD Impacts Your Life

OCD has a severe impact on several areas of a person’s life. People with this condition often find it challenging to accomplish things because their symptoms take up most of their time. Areas impacted by OCD include a person's education, employment, and relationships.

People with OCD in school cannot complete assignments or concentrate on lessons. They experience overwhelming obsessions and compulsions that disrupt the classroom. If they resist their compulsion, they experience overwhelming anxiety and intensifying urges that become a distraction to the student with OCD. In turn, they fall behind and experience dropped grades. Someone with OCD in school could have an obsession with excessive doubt. This results in them constantly feeling intense urges to check that everything is in their backpack or to ask to leave the classroom to check their locker consistently.

It also is challenging at work, as obsessions create fatigue and make it difficult to focus, plan, or complete tasks. Obsessions and compulsions even create distractions and unwanted distress while one is trying to work. Suppose someone has an obsession with perfectionism or timelines. They might find themselves constantly checking their calendar or the quality of their work, believing it's not "good enough," which leads to them falling behind or spending too much time on one project.

Socially, OCD plays a significant role in a person's life. OCD often impacts a person's self-esteem, and they feel shame when it comes to their symptoms. Suppose their family, friends, and significant others don't understand what they are going through. It creates a strain with feelings of embarrassment or helplessness. For example, suppose one partner is compulsively cleaning the counters every hour to eliminate germs. In that case, their loved one might not understand why they are doing it and say, "You've already cleaned them. I'm sure they are clean enough." While the loved one may have good intentions to calm their anxieties, this doesn't always help and can worsen obsessions with feelings of frustration and resentment.

It also disrupts a person's ability to leave their house or keep up with their day-to-day responsibilities to the point that it becomes disabling. OCD comes with a ton of distress and time that leads to exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed by everything. Some try to complete their compulsions secretly to avoid potential judgment from others. This makes them feel isolated or create excuses for not spending time with someone they care about.

OCD's Effects on the Body

OCD also has significant physical effects. Not only can OCD be mentally exhausting on its own, but it also disrupts people's relationship with sleep. Completing time-consuming compulsions keeps some up at night as they repeat the behavior until it feels "right." Others will lay awake at night and be consumed by their obsessions for hours until they complete their compulsions or become exhausted enough to fall asleep.

Some people experience dreams about their obsessions, which makes them fear or try to avoid sleep out of dread and panic because they don't want to see how their fears play out in their sleep. This lack of sleep results in additional physical fatigue besides psychological exhaustion.

Tension headaches are also common among people who have OCD. This is because of the excessive time they spend experiencing their obsessions. These persistent thoughts lead to pressure in the head, resulting in a headache.

Physical injuries are possible for people with OCD, as obsessions cause a distracted mindset. These distractions make someone unaware of what is happening around them, resulting in falls or car accidents. If someone has an obsession with germs, their hands can become dry, cracked, or start bleeding from the constant exposure to compulsive sanitizing. For others, their compulsions involve skin picking. If not correctly cared for, skin infections could develop.

As mentioned above, OCD is an anxiety disorder. Because of that, anxiety symptoms such as gastrointestinal concerns are also possible with this condition. This results in people with OCD experiencing nausea, diarrhea, decreased appetite, stomach cramps, and ingestion due to the increased levels of anxiety they are experiencing.

Other Complications of OCD

OCD can coexist with other mental health conditions, such as depression or other anxiety disorders. When left untreated, someone with OCD may experience worsening symptoms of additional disorders, which may lead to suicidal thoughts or behaviors. A recent study showed that the average lifetime rate of suicide attempts in people with OCD is 14.2%. This is significantly higher than the rate for the general population, which is around 0.3%. The best way to prevent this is to receive treatment for OCD.

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts currently, it is essential to go to a 24/7 crisis care facility immediately. You do not need to call beforehand and will be greeted by professionals willing to help provide the stabilization you need. It will save your life.

Getting Treatment for OCD in Erlanger, KY

OCD significantly reduces your quality of life. You might find getting up in the morning challenging or fear the extent of your symptoms. However, thousands of people find healing and management for OCD every day through treatment. While attending therapy, you will learn techniques and tools to make managing the side effects you are experiencing more accessible. Your team will work with you to figure out what will best help you find healing from this disorder. Recovery from OCD doesn't happen overnight, but with time and practice, you will take back control of your life from this condition.

SUN Behavioral Health Kentucky solves unmet needs in Erlanger. Our no-cost care assessments enable us to work with potential patients as we design the best treatment plan that will help them recover from OCD. If you want to learn more about OCD treatment or our care assessments, please call us today at 859-429-5188.