Is this why we suffer from anxiety?

[Cobra]

People with OCD generally:

Have repeated thoughts or images about many different things, such as fear of germs, dirt, or intruders; acts of violence; hurting loved ones; sexual acts; conflicts with religious beliefs; or being overly tidy
Do the same rituals over and over such as washing hands, locking and unlocking doors, counting, keeping unneeded items, or repeating the same steps again and again
Can't control the unwanted thoughts and behaviors
Don't get pleasure when performing the behaviors or rituals, but get brief relief from the anxiety the thoughts cause
Spend at least 1 hour a day on the thoughts and rituals, which cause distress and get in the way of daily life.

I have been wondering why I can't beat this anxiety completely, and I have begun to think it is because anxiety is not the problem. Rather, the problem is I am OCD, and I have ritualized monitoring my bodily functions, which causes distress when I believe they are abnormal.

When researching OCD, I realized that, yes, I do obsess about germs, I do fear I will commit some violent act, I do have religious conflicts and can't control unwanted thoughts and behaviors. What makes me different is that rather than lock and unlock doors, count spoons and comb carpet fibers, I monitor my body for strange sensations, check and recheck my B.p. and count my heart beats.

I am OCD and didn't know it!

Maybe I'm just splitting hairs here, but perhaps if I approach this with a mind toward the root cause of my anxiety attacks, OCD rather than just health anxiety, I can rid myself of these unwanted thoughts and body checking rituals. Knowing it is just a type of OCD does help because it gives me a reason to understand why I keep torturing myself with these fear thoughts and repetitive rituals. I am not just being nutty or self indulgent.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to research OCD treatments...

[Blessed]

People with OCD generally:

Have repeated thoughts or images about many different things, such as fear of germs, dirt, or intruders; acts of violence; hurting loved ones; sexual acts; conflicts with religious beliefs; or being overly tidy
Do the same rituals over and over such as washing hands, locking and unlocking doors, counting, keeping unneeded items, or repeating the same steps again and again
Can't control the unwanted thoughts and behaviors
Don't get pleasure when performing the behaviors or rituals, but get brief relief from the anxiety the thoughts cause
Spend at least 1 hour a day on the thoughts and rituals, which cause distress and get in the way of daily life.

I have been wondering why I can't beat this anxiety completely, and I have begun to think it is because anxiety is not the problem. Rather, the problem is I am OCD, and I have ritualized monitoring my bodily functions, which causes distress when I believe they are abnormal.

When researching OCD, I realized that, yes, I do obsess about germs, I do fear I will commit some violent act, I do have religious conflicts and can't control unwanted thoughts and behaviors. What makes me different is that rather than lock and unlock doors, count spoons and comb carpet fibers, I monitor my body for strange sensations, check and recheck my B.p. and count my heart beats.

I am OCD and didn't know it!

Maybe I'm just splitting hairs here, but perhaps if I approach this with a mind toward the root cause of my anxiety attacks, OCD rather than just health anxiety, I can rid myself of these unwanted thoughts and body checking rituals. Knowing it is just a type of OCD does help because it gives me a reason to understand why I keep torturing myself with these fear thoughts and repetitive rituals. I am not just being nutty or self indulgent.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to research OCD treatments...

I completely do this 24/7. It's like I must check my bp I must check my heart rate I must worry about the anxiety and chest pain and heart palps . It's a ritual if you will and it has taken over my life. I have suffered from OCD since a child. It started out..... I would have to blurt out certain sayings or things to people who I may or may not have been comfortable with or they would die or something bad would happen. Now I'm just like your post above word for word.

[Cobra]

http://www.ocdla.com/cognitivebehavioraltherapy.html

Well, the treatment is cbt, cognitive behavior therapy. It is the most effective and long term solution to OCD. I'm just thinking, if we address this panic disorder for what it is, OCD rituals that involve the checking of body functions, we might be able to more effectively treat ourselves. You know. Get at the root cause.

[togepi567]

Yeah, panic disorder develops because people are constantly checking their bodily sensations of anxiety. That's what panic disorder is. The idea is to accept panic attacks as a part of life instead of trying to control for them. All anxiety pretty much runs together I think, even though the disorders are certainly unique. So it makes sense that panic disorder is related to OCD-type checking behaviors.

I would suggest some kind of Mindfulness-based CBT honestly. (Like ACT). Mainly because it's quite difficult to just "accept" panic attacks as a part of life. It takes a special kind of mindset to be able to do that. But that's the solution. Yeah.

[Cobra]

I never really considered that it was an OCD thing, just thought that I had been traumatized by a health scare. Like I said, maybe it's splitting hairs, but I'm just now seeing it for what it really is, just a new leaf on a disorder I probably had for a long time.