OCD and Bad Dreams

Last week I had one of those nights. I was drifting in and out  of a restless sleep and then had a nightmare. In case you want to know, I dreamed that I woke up in a bed in the middle the sidewalk in New York City with crowds of people watching me sleep. Startled, I jumped out of bed, and In my pajamas, I ran into a store. first thing I noticed was that there was something on the floor. I picked it up, and was horrified to see I was holding a dead bird. I felt bad for it and repulsed by it, and began running around with it, looking for a place to bury it. I woke up covered in sweat, heat pounding. Needless to say, I was not in the best of moods upon awakening. Do you blame me?

I immediately became obsessed about the meaning of my dream, and my initial anxiety quickly grew. I began frantically trying to find out why  I dreamed this, searching the Internet for dream meanings. Also, I wondered if this was a psychic dream, which also scared me. I once read that a psychic dream takes place in real time and in color, and a psychological dream jumps in time and is disjointed. I was wasting way too much time dissecting all of this and my day was not getting off to a good start, as I was running late.  I realized that left unchecked, this anxiety might even have cause me to ritualize, and reactivate my OCD, and I really did not want that to happen!

I began looking around the Internet for solutions, and came upon this article which made a lot of sense. My brain chemicals could have been be slightly off...

http://voices.yahoo.com/natural-remedies-bad-dreams-336697.html?cat=68

"Bad dreams plague everyone from time to time. To know how to treat them, it helps to know the physiological causes of your nightmares. There are prescription medicines to ease sleep but they often come with unwanted side effects and treat only the symptoms of sleep disturbance. If you treat the problem that causes the nightmares with herbs and vitamins, you treat the symptom, the bad dreams themselves.

Low dopamine levels could be the culprit. Dopamine provides pleasant feelings in order to entice people to perform the behaviors again which caused the rise in dopamine. It rewards activities such as eating and sex. Low dopamine levels in the brain cause people with a REM sleep behavior disorder, in which they act out their dreams, to have the most violent dreams. So it follows that if you're dreaming that someone is going to hurt you, or you are hurting someone else, it could be that your brain is producing too little dopamine.

If you are having violent types of bad dreams, dopamine levels can be increased by upping your intake of B vitamins. Common herb remedies such as drinking chamomile tea, putting lavender essential oils in the bath or drinking peppermint tea also may help. Powdered lavender can also be burned like incense. Peppermint is most often eaten in cookies or candy but can also be used in a crockpot roast. Chamomile can be put into a bath, infused into baby shampoo, used in water to rinse hair, or put into a foot soak. In extreme cases of nightmares try Kava Kava or Valerian root, both of which can be found online or at your health food store, but take them at bedtime because they can make you sleepy.

Medical studies also show that bad dreams involving pain, fear or anxiety can be caused by stomach problems. This may be why eating right before bed seems to cause bad dreams, because you experience poor digestion when you fall asleep on a full stomach. These stomach problems can be caused by fear in waking life and in your dreams, which creates a vicious cycle of gastric upset and bad dreams.

Increase the intake of both fiber and water when you are having fearful or painful nightmares. Decrease sugar intake. Other natural remedies include vitamin C, E and B supplements and taking herbs such a echinacea, anise and caraway seed. Echinacea is found in pill form at the drugstore or health food store. Anise can be found at the grocery store and is used in baked goods to produce a licorice flavor. You can also eat anise by using it in recipes for German foods, in Indian soups and stews, and in pepperoni or sausage. Caraway seed, also in the spice aisle, is found in rye breads and sauerkraut, can be put in turkey pot pie to complement the flavor of the turkey, goes great when cooked into a reuben sandwich, and is a savory herb to use as part of lentil soup.

Herbs, used for medicine since the beginning of recorded history, have only recently been eclipsed by modern artificial medicines. Don't let relatively new prejudices against natural healing keep you from trying these safe and inexpensive ways to calm your bad dreams."

This made sense to me, and I have been using several of these therapies, and so far, have slept much better since that restless night. I hope that people with OCD and related disorders realize that brain chemicals may have to be tweaked once in awhile, and that it can be done with natural remedies. I hope your sleep deep and peaceful, and all you dreams are happy ones!

Happy 2013- Are You Afraid?

Happy New Year 2013! This is perhaps the most feared year this century because it contains the number 13, which is making millions of people around the world very nervous. They even changed the law in Ireland because of fear of 13- when a new car is sold, the last 2 digits of the year are required on the license plate, but because of superstition, the plates will now read 131 for the first half of the year, and 132 for the second half in an attempt to encourage people to purchase cars. Some may think this is ridiculous, but the facts are that on every Friday the 13th, the economy loses a fortune because people don't buy, get married, close on homes, etc. Heck, the Navy will not even launch a ship on that date! Now, we have an entire year of 13's which will no doubt stop people in some form.

Here is excerpt from an article I found...

2013 | Are you superstitious?

It’s 2013: Good luck with that

How will we survive an entire year of ‘13’?

BY JAMES A. FUSSELL

The Kansas City Star

We managed to make it through the Mayan apocalypse. Now let’s see if we can survive — bum bum bummm! — the unluckiest year of the century.

Time to hide in the basement, all you Superstitious Sallys and Bad Luck Barneys. Its 2013.Big deal?It could be. National Geographic once estimated that on each Friday the 13th the economy loses more than $800 million from consumers avoiding travel, moves, movies, dinner, weddings and more. You have to wonder: How much more will be lost in a whole year branded with the number 13?

Ignore triskaidekaphobia — fear of the number 13 — at your own risk. Sure, Missouri and Kansas made you put a 2013 sticker on your license plate when you renewed your registration last year. But the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles doesn’t want any part of that bad juju. The office is offering an option. Instead of renewing for one year, drivers can renew for either two or three years so their stickers read 2014 or 2015..."

“Am thinking of a 2013 wedding,” posted one bride 

to be, “Jennifervola.” “Does anyone consider it bad luck to get marriwhen 13 is involved, or am I just being crazy?”

The answers were all the same:

“Crazy.”

“Deff being crazy.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!”

“Jordyana” had more to say: “I’m graduating (from) college in 2013 (and) getting married in 2013. Wanna know something extra scary? I’m getting married on July 13, 2013! No, neither (my fiance) nor I believe in superstitions. We do poke fun, though, and say we won’t be cursed for getting married then since we’ll have been together for seven years. Hopefully the seven will outweigh all the 13s.”...

Still, some people really do worry about 2013, said Donald Dossey, founder of the Stress Management Center/Phobia Institute in Asheville, N.C. Dossey has been studying phobias for 18 years, including triskaidekaphobia and paraskevidekaphobia, the morbid fear of Friday the 13th. He estimates that up to 19 million people around the world fear the number 13.

“It will be problematic for some,” Dossey said of 2013. “They might think something ominous will happen, that they might have a wreck, get ill or even have marital problems. It’s just a nagging sense of impending doom.”

But the biggest problems, he says, will come in September and December, months harboring the year’s most ominous dates — Friday the 13th, 2013!

“On Friday the 13th some people won’t even get out of bed,” said Dossey.

“Here we go again,” said Joe Nickell, an investigative writer for Skeptical Inquirer science magazine.“No matter how often it doesn’t come true when people gather and wait for doom, (some) people always take the bait the next time. You would think eventually they would learn.”

They don’t. What about the hundreds of hotels and office buildings that choose not to have a 13th floor? Or the hundreds of airports, including Kansas City International, that don’t have a Gate 13? Or developers who bypass 13 when numbering new homes? Or the auto industry group in Ireland that predicted sales of 2013 models would plummet by one third in that country (where they know a thing or two about luck)?

No, this has been going on a while: Long enough for somebody to figure out that Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and Jack the Ripper all have 13 letters in their names.

Long enough to stretch back to early Christianity (where Jesus was betrayed by Judas, the 13th guest at the Last Supper), and Norse mythology (where Loki, the 13th guest at a dinner party, had Balder the Beautiful shot with a mistletoe-tipped arrow, plunging Earth into darkness).

Long enough, even, for one researcher to discover that ancient Babylon’s Code of Hammurabi, dating to about 1772 B.C., omitted the number 13 in its list of laws.

Cesar Camarillo, a machinist from Kansas City, Kan., doesn’t put much stock in “curse of 13” as his grandfather called it. Just the same he’ll be wearing his gold cross every day, carrying a lucky amulet in his pocket and getting two tattoos on his chest this year — one of praying hands, the other of the Virgin Mary.

“I don’t really believe in this stuff,” he said, smiling and turning quickly to glance behind his back. “Then again, why tempt fate? You know?”

Oh, we know. That’s why we’re looking out for you — just in case.

The Irish auto industry notwithstanding, local car dealers say they aren’t worried. Jesse Egarta, sales manager at O’Neill Honda in Overland Park, hasn’t seen any superstition-fueled slowdown.

“Our sales of 2013 models have actually sped up faster than we anticipated,” he said. “I don’t even think about the hype that everybody’s talking about.”

So will anything bad happen in 2013?

As they say, the best predictor of the future is the past. So if 2013 really is going to be this scary year of bad luck, as some people fear, it just makes sense that something really horrible must have happened 100 years ago in the last year that ended in 13.

OK, how’s this? On Feb. 3, 1913, the states ratified the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving the government the power to impose and collect … income tax.

Uh-oh...."

Looking around, there are many sites and articles relating to this. I feel sorry for the Queen of England, who will not even sit at a table with 13 people. What is she going to do for the rest of the year? Seriously, this could be very bad for some people with OCD, as it might make their ritualizing even worse. Unlike a building with no 13th floor, we can't get away from this one. And two super 13 days are approaching -Friday the 13th in September and one in December.

So, if you're feeling a little anxious, you're certainly not alone. However, year may bring benefits, as it can be one huge lesson in behavioral therapy, as we have to face the number 13 every single day. Eventually, some people may become free of their fear. I really hope so and I wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year!

12/21/12 -END OF THE WORLD?

Tomorrow stands to be a very interesting day in several ways. In the forefront, this is the day that Mayan calendar ends, and some people predict that means the end of the world. Looking around, I came across many websites completely dedicated to this. One of them is  http://www.december212012.com/  Here I found a treasure trove of articles about the Mayan and Hopi prophecies, galactic alignment and consequential polar shift, the I Ching, Edgar Cayce- even Einstein, and it all points to a global disaster of epic proportions occurring on or near December 21, 2012. There is also something entitled The 11:11 prophecy- people that are drawn to those numbers are being given a signal, there is a message being sent to them. They are chosen to usher in the “Age of Aquarius,” a new spiritual beginning due to occur on 12/21/12.

Further research informed me there are people compiling survival kits, hoarding supplies, and stockpiling food and water. There is an “end of the world” countdown clock in Mexico, and an end of the world calendar for sale- “the last calendar you’ll ever need.” There are several end of the world blogs as well, and it seems as if  peopleare getting rich selling end of the world supplies from the Internet.

While some people may find this all amusing, others are severely stressed out. Some people with OCD or related disorders may be having a difficult time right now, ritualizing in order to stop the feared event. I came upon this article by Jay Michaelson- http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/5474/religious_belief_or_mental_illness/ Michaelson says that we are being caught up in a general anxiety, which is being fed to us in the form of movies, and other media that are preying on our doubts and fears. As doubt and fear are huge components of OCD, it is easy to see how certain people can become really freaked out!

There are many other sites that state the world will NOT end, that the calendar marks an astronomical event, which is the earth in the center of our galaxy, but they weren’t as entertaining or dramatic as the doomsday ones. I did find out that the ancients knew quite a bit about Astronomy and I question where they got that advanced knowledge. However, I believe that since they wrote their calendars many thousands of years ago, all ancient civilizations simultaneously ended their calendars with earth in the galactic center, as the astronomical cycle would begin again. 

I don’t believe the world will end, or that anything will happen at all, except for what humans do to each other as the date approaches. Remember the Millennium and Y2K? I think we should realize that there are people who will try to take advantage of others at this time. Stop and think about this- if the end of the world is really coming and these people really believe it – why are they making lots of money? They are obviously planning for their futures. TV shows make money on advertising for these programs, and movies can rake in millions. 

So, to those of you who are worried about the end coming- stop and think about why there is so much commotion about it – MONEY- and money will be no good to anyone if the world ends, will it? I hope we all make lots of money this year and I hope you enjoy the New Year stress free. I wish everyone a GREAT 2013

OCD and Light Therapy

It feels like the lights have gone out and the gloom and doom has set in. Depression takes a huge toll on the body, both mentally and physically. It may help if you notice your physical symptoms. Along with feelings of sadness and tiredness, you may get body aches, headaches or stomachaches which you may not realize is depression-related.

Depression often co-exists with OCD and many other mental disorders. All too often, depressed people don’t have the energy to seek help, and when they do, they are prescribed prescription drugs which often only mask the symptoms and do nothing to help underlying cause. Also, there are the unwanted side-effects, some of which are low libido and weight gain.

There is a form of depression called SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, which afflicts many people in the dark days of winter. The symptoms are sad mood, sleepiness, carbohydrate cravings, weight gain, lethargy, and loss of interest in activities. I have been a victim of SAD for many years, until I discovered LIGHT THERAPY!

Light Therapy is administered by exposing the eyes to 10,000 lux of light for about a half hour in the morning, upon arising. I have have spent many days reading up on the safest and best Light Therapy devices before purchasing an Alaska Northern Lights Northstar 10,000 light box- www.alaskanorthernlights.com It has no UVA Rays as they are not needed to treat SAD. I turn it on in the morning and position it two feel from my eyes while I check my email and a pleasant half hour is gone in no time, and I feel great, just like a spring morning in June. I have had my light box for several years, and it has performed perfectly, I have never even had to replace a bulb. There is no glare, as there is a protective screen.

There are many other light devices that work for SAD, but I advise not getting one with UVA light, or even one with a UVA shield. I am confident that you will feel a lot better in about 2 days. The benefits are only consistent if you use it every day, or else the SAD will return. Other known benefits of Light Therapy are better sleep, jet lag, bipolar disorder, just to name a few.

Besides Light Therapy, I recommend taking Vitamin D, as people north of Florida cannot produce it from the sun from November to March, and many are deficient. This will also help the Winter Blues.

I hope this helps some of the depressed people out there. I wish you happiness, light, and sunny skies forever!

OCD and Defeating Self Sabotage

   Sometimes, no matter how much effort we put into something, it doesn’t work out.  We may be on the brink of victory, but suddenly fail. Sometimes we begin a project full of enthusiasm and energy, but lose interest and abandon it, and all our time and work is lost. For many people, this phenomenon repeats itself over and over, and the belief that nothing ever works out for them becomes permanently ingrained on their psyches. Why does this happen? Perhaps the answer is not what they may want to believe. It could be a form of self-sabotage. Perhaps they feel guilt or a need to punish themselves (this could be from guilt over their own past actions, from bad parenting, or traumatic childhood memories.)  I believe that many people may not even be aware they have this pattern of self-failure- it is very important to be aware of the possibility.

I found this article which describes how people destroy their hopes and dreams, and how not to do this….

7 Top Self Sabotaging Behaviors by By Terri Levine
President, Comprehensive Coaching U

Author of the Bestseller, “Work Yourself Happy & Coaching for an Extraordinary Life”
www.coachinginstruction.com

1.   Focusing on what is not working or not right.

Problem: Finding that you think a lot and speak a lot about what is going wrong can make you feel dissatisfied and can quiet your sense of purpose and ambition. Notice how often you speak about things that aren't working.

!!Action: Ask yourself a new question: "What's going right?" or "What IS working?" Begin to notice all the things, no matter how small, that are working well. Keep an evidence journal and each day write down everything, I do mean everything, that is working. Change your way of thinking!

2. Being stuck in fear.

Problem: Do you worry a lot about the future and what is going to happen or might happen? Are you thinking about your fears so much that you are paralyzed and take no action because of fear of what might occur?

Action: It is time to put your focus on the present. We can't control or predict the future or other people's behaviors. All we can control is our own, right here, right now. Ask yourself the question "What is the worst thing that could happen?" Then, let go and know that it isn't in your hands to control the future and that rarely do the scenarios we create in our heads occur. Use the wonderful Serenity Prayer and actually write down the things you can not change, the things you want courage to change, and accept that the Universe, God, Spirit, whatever you call it, is the ultimate guide and you are not able to control the future. Relax, breathe and trust that the Universe will take care of you - it always does.

3. Feeling you have no value.

Problem: Do you forget all your accomplishments and lack pride in who you are and what you have accomplished? If you stew and obsess about the past or your lack of success or lack of goal achievement, then you'll be stuck in noticing how much you lack as a person. If you often criticize yourself or can't accept compliments, you aren't allowing yourself to love yourself.

Action: You can choose to notice what you do that is good and that you can be proud of, no matter how small it may seem. Each day keep a log of what you are grateful for about YOU. When you hear your "inner coach" or inner voice telling you what you haven't done right or well, turn down the volume on it and turn on the volume to hear the voice that knows the TRUTH about who you are and how you add value to the world. Acknowledge yourself for at least 5 things each and every day that you did well. Each day, compliment yourself on something you did that you feel good about. Notice your small successes and let compliments others give you flow into your bones.

4. Comparison of self to others.

Problem: Do you constantly compare yourself to others and then feel badly when compared to them? Comparison doesn't motivate us to do more or be better, instead it makes us feel we'll never be good enough and we aren't right now.

Action: Write out the 5 qualities you like best about yourself. Then write out what you value most in your life. When you go to a place of comparison, notice how similar you are with the other person vs. what is different. Begin to create a list of adjectives that describe you - at least 25 positive words about your greatness. Whenever you notice yourself in a comparison mode, think of some of the adjectives that describe YOU.

5. Meeting goals and then losing them.

Problem: Do you not believe that you deserve to accomplish goals and that you are entitled to what you want? What is the story underneath - maybe that you aren't good enough to have it?

Action: List all the things you have accomplished that then faded away. Simply notice these things with love and pride and don't focus on the fact they disappeared. How did they bring you satisfaction? How did they make you feel? What is the limiting belief that you have that tells you inside why you can't have what you want? Be quiet, be still and listen to it. Write down how you felt when you had accomplished the goal. Write down how you feel now, without the goal. Then write a "bridge belief": A very, very small belief that feels a little bit better than what you now feel. Each week, create a new bridge, that you can really believe. By using these bridges as stepping-stones, you'll shift your limiting beliefs slowly and be on the other side of the bridge and able to maintain it because you will have a new belief inside of you.

6. You chase away relationships.

Problem: Do you always feel something is missing in your relationships or find fault with the other person? Perhaps you are afraid of intimacy. Underneath this is usually a fear of abandonment or exposure that causes you to distance yourself from others.

Action: Create a list of the qualities you value in a relationship and the qualities you want to attract in your partners. Cultivate connections you have with people. Express what you want and don't want to the other person and allow them to express the same to you. Create time to acknowledge the other person on a regular basis. Notice when you feel afraid and let the fillings be - accept them and allow them to sit there. Don't try to push them away. Know that the feelings are there and that is fine. Focus on what feels good about the relationship.

7. Having no purpose.

Problem: Do you feel you have no reason for being? No purpose in life? We all have some purpose for being on the planet and it is time to notice yours.

Action: Write down all the things that are important to you (include possessions, people and feelings). Then write out what you want to contribute to the world. From your writing, create a statement of purpose for yourself that you can read each and every day. Add spirituality to your life. Give to others, give to the world and feel great about it. Make regular contributions to people and community. To give is to receive. Give, give, give and you'll Feeeeeel your life purpose begin to resonate.

    I am a firm believer in the saying- You Are What You Think. Our thoughts create our reality and sometimes we are not aware that our negative thoughts are on auto pilot, creating an inner world of fear, anger, anxiety, and failure. People with OCD and many of the co-existing disorders often fall victim to this self-sabotaging mental trap. Self-awareness is very important if we want to pull ourselves out of inner turmoil and emotional pain. The best way to rid ourselves of it is to consciously change the thoughts and actions that are causing it.

    I think that this article can put people back on the right track of manifesting great things. If you are one of these people who have been unwittingly sabotaging yourself, I hope this helps!

OCD and The Blue Moon of August 2012

On Friday, August 31, 2012, the second full moon of August will glow in the sky. When two full moons occur in the same month, the second moon is referred to as a "Blue Moon," and since this only happens about once every two and a half years, the term "Once in a Blue Moon" was coined. The next Blue Moon will be in 2015.

There had been much speculation, superstition, and folklore surrounding Blue Moons. I found a cool website, Keith's Moon Facts.http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/

You can find! Moon phases, facts, events, travel, eclipse info, photos, maps,folklore,and some great links.

On a more serious note, The moon and mental health

(Following are excerpts from "Lunacy revisited: The influence of the moon on mental health and quality of life," published in the May 2000 issue of the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing.)

---

Research has shown that a high proportion of health professionals continue to believe the moon affects the mental health of their patients.

According to CAPT Outreach magazine, "Evidence for the supposed influence of the moon on human behavior has proved elusive, but this has not deterred researchers. There is some evidence that there may be a greater amount of abnormal behavior at the times of full moon and third quarter (waning moon).

Researchers discovered an increased number of mental health admissions at full moon. Others have reported a relationship between the full moon phase and homicide rate."

I read many similar reports about increased emergency room visits, accidents, mania, etc. during the full Moon, so despite concrete scientific evidence, it must mean something. The conclusion of this article says..."For example, during the week of the full moon, extra attention could be given to the reduction of environmental stresses in individuals particularly vulnerable to the lunar effect. Similarly, increased counseling could be made available to vulnerable patients at critical times of the month." 

I think that there is something to these claims because personally, I can nave trouble sleeping when the moon is full. I hope people will be aware that a full moon can exacerbate certain states of mind and prepare for it.  Having said that- Look up at the sky, enjoy the moon, and have a lovely day!

Loss of a Pet- A Year Later

Remy, comfortable as usual

Loss of a Pet- A Year Later

All of a sudden this morning, I was feeling very depressed, a feeling I always dread coming over me. I caught my mind drifting off to August of last year when I lost my beloved cat, Remy, who was my constant companion for the previous 18 years. I think my mind automatically went to this sad scenario because it is once again August, and the coming anniversary of her loss triggered off the blues. I found myself holding back the tears. A bad memory did this to me.

Lately, I have been trying to catch myself from becoming immersed in negative emotions from the past, or worrying about the unknown of the future, so I became aware that my thoughts of Remy’s passing were upsetting me.  I then began to think about all the time I’ve wasted due to lingering in bad memories- it may add up to years. I’ve also spent endless hours ritualizing, ruminating, worrying about the past and the future. How much of the present has been lost? Can it ever be recovered? That thought was not cheering me up either, just causing me to feel even more disheartened.

Unfortunately, the past is over and can’t ever be changed, so why wallow in it? We should realize the extraordinary gift of the Present, right now. That is all there really is anyway. The only thing that will come out of lingering over bad memories are more bad memories. That is the law of the Universe- you end up with more of whatever you think and feel.  Now is the best time in life to change the future because what we think and do right now sets up the future. We can have hope, we do have choices if we involve ourselves in what is going on, instead of being stuck on Auto Pilot, obsessing over previous hurts.

If you are find yourself in a bad mood over the past loss of your pet or for any other past hurt, command your mind to return to the present and focus on the moment you are in. Notice everything around you such as the sounds, the smells, and look for happiness and beauty in whatever you are looking at. Realize the abundance, not the lack. 

If you are in this unfortunate position, and many people are, try to focus on the abundance of good times had with beloved pets, not the short period of bad memories. Remy had a great spirit and a commanding presence, and was always healthy, happy, and confident, no matter what. Even though she was a cat, I always admired that about her. Knowing her, she wouldn’t want me to be upset- she surely wouldn’t be! I hope I will see her eyes once again in another animal that I fall madly in love with. In the meantime, I will shower more affection on my remaining cat, Squeaky Mouse, who has been a good companion to me, especially this past year.

If you are mindful, vigilant of what you are thinking, and grateful for what is right now- what you do have, you won’t be so focused on past hurts. Also, focusing on NOW takes away the worry about the future. I hope there will be no more August blahs for me, and I hope you all have a great August too!