The terrible 'what if': how OCD makes every day a matter of life or death

I would want to measure dietary Taurine levels in the body for a start. Experiments consuming 3g/day have shown no side effects, but your main source is limited to energy drinks so you have to contend with caffeine, and Taurine does not last long in the body (can start to be expelled in urine within 10mins), much like many of the water soluble chemicals classed as vitamins or minerals. Cooking actually destroys it from organ meats and some scientific studies have shown a link between vegetarianism and a variety of mental health issues including OCD. You wont find any substantial levels of Taurine in vegetables, but you will in raw liver, kidneys and brains. From my own experience, 3 or 4 Redbulls a day (1g of Taurine per can) can change many repetitive behaviours. Taurine also has many other positive effects on the body like including VO2 max, improving cholesterol profiles, improving bile acid patterns, reducing depression, improving sleep, improving memory, reducing atherosclerosis, reducing fatty liver disease, reversing some types of cataracts, reducing stones especially in women, to name some of the observed scientific improvements to human health. Its probably why its now added to formula milk for babies since the 80's (but at levels lower than breast milk) and has subsequently improved their cognitive abilities.

the fact that this article got upvoted so much probably also explains why there are always paper towels available and a waste basket near every restroom door in the bay area right?

I literally possess binary memory when it comes to "what is clean" and "what isn't clean (touched the floor, public restroom, etc)" for most of my things. Also used to have "San francisco shoes" and "South bay shoes"

Not a sufferer of OCD, but anxiety and depression (and associated neuroticism). One of the scary things to accept is that you have no control over what you think, free will is a (darn good) illusion.

Since we have no idea why these obsessive and dark thoughts are occuring in psychiatric patients, the best thing you can do, as a patient, is to get good at identifying all the bullshit that's going through your head: "No, that random crowd of people doesn't deeply despise you", "No, you don't have to kill yourself because you can't finish your studies in regular time", "No, you won't be laughed at because you're looking for an SO"

Precisely none of the fears I had have ever come to pass. I am, relative to people I interact with, (by a huge margin) my largest critic, which can be disabling, when every time you make some small trivial mistake you think "Oh god, nobody will ever forgive me for this, what a stupid PoS you are". It's all a fiction told by a disordered part of the mind.

On the bright side, things have been improving a ton for me since when it was really bad a year ago, but it takes medication (not an option for everyone), time and lots of patience.

One of the best things I came across on the web are the works of Robert Sapolsky, biology and neurology professor at Stanford. Specifically his 25 part lecture series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL150326949691B199, his talk on depression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOAgplgTxfc and his book "Behave" (there's more from him, just look around).

It's not that I learned some "magic fact" that suddenly frees me from all nonsensical thoughts, but it has opened up the complex, nuanced world of human biology and behavior and numerous interactions between genes and environment, between mind and body or between different functional parts of the brain (obviously a course like this can only give a broad overview).

There's so much hidden stuff happening that, without us being conscious of it, influences who we are, and yet one doesn't have to be a plaything of one's environment, because several of these factors can be influenced like which experiences you seek and which you avoid, once you are aware that these things can shape you. That said, a lot of stuff like your genetic predisposition, prenatal environment, childhood, external stressors (e.g. death of close relatives and friends) can not be changed, but it also matters _how_ you think about them.

One will not become resistant to psychiatric illness no matter how fancy and elaborate you think about it or yourself, but it takes off the edge of thinking of oneself as this especially hopeless case. And equally importantly Sapolsky's course/book shaped my thinking of others, made me much less prejudicial (I sometimes catch myself with prejudice, but normally I notice), much more aware that everyone else is also subject to the same rules and phenomena that govern human thought and behavior and there's nothing "wrong" with them (in the sense that they're just "an evil person" or somesuch thing).

Couldn't get rid of all the compulsions for quite a long time (a few years really), but after starting meditating every day I was able to nearly totally get rid of them.

I'm basically finally able to just let go of the thoughts that once seemed overwhelming.

EDIT: To quote the article "because deep down, the sufferer knows the thoughts and compulsions are irrational. However, despite this knowledge, there always remains a terrible “what if”.".

That's basically it, I'm able to finally rationally decide that letting go won't have bad effects, so I'm able to let it go.

Ironic, in this case, as taurine was once extracted from bull semen.