Trouble sleeping because of noise sensitivity
Quote from OCDAnon on January 9, 2021, 3:29 pmHello
I'm currently in the end stage of recovery. I know how OCD works and I know what I have to do to get better.
However, I'm currently in a situation I don't know how to deal with and it's holding me back from doing recovery.
Backstory
My theme has to do with noise. Especially noise outside. It makes me feel very uncomfortable and I started avoiding doing things I like because of it. On top of it I had developed physical compulsions which made doing these things even harder for me.
It all started when one of my family members moved into the room directly below mine. In my room you can hear literally everything what's going on in the house. For a long time I just stopped doing anything I like.
When I went to therapy my therapist and I came up with a plan of changing my sleep cycle so I would be awake at night and sleep at day. In the night I would do exposure therapy on these physical compulsions while it was quiet around me.
It worked and after about 3 months I stopped doing these compulsion. Now the goal was to get back into being awake at day and doing the same activities while there is noise around.
After almost 8 months I started doing these activties at day again without the compulsions.I go to sleep at around 1 to 2 a.m and sleep until 9 to 10 a.m. In this timespan I generally wake up once to go to the toilet.
Then when I go back to bed and try to get to sleep again for a few more hours the aforementioned family member wakes up and with it the noise comes back.
Everytime I hear something coming from the room below a painful feeling in my chest arises. This feeling won't go away for several hours and it get's stronger the longer I try to go to sleep.
This leaves me with around 4 to 5 hours of sleep and I don't have the energy to do ERP on my physical compulsions.Question
How can I get rid of this feeling whenever I can't get back to sleep when my familymember wakes up and I heare these noises?
Hello
I'm currently in the end stage of recovery. I know how OCD works and I know what I have to do to get better.
However, I'm currently in a situation I don't know how to deal with and it's holding me back from doing recovery.
Backstory
My theme has to do with noise. Especially noise outside. It makes me feel very uncomfortable and I started avoiding doing things I like because of it. On top of it I had developed physical compulsions which made doing these things even harder for me.
It all started when one of my family members moved into the room directly below mine. In my room you can hear literally everything what's going on in the house. For a long time I just stopped doing anything I like.
When I went to therapy my therapist and I came up with a plan of changing my sleep cycle so I would be awake at night and sleep at day. In the night I would do exposure therapy on these physical compulsions while it was quiet around me.
It worked and after about 3 months I stopped doing these compulsion. Now the goal was to get back into being awake at day and doing the same activities while there is noise around.
After almost 8 months I started doing these activties at day again without the compulsions.
I go to sleep at around 1 to 2 a.m and sleep until 9 to 10 a.m. In this timespan I generally wake up once to go to the toilet.
Then when I go back to bed and try to get to sleep again for a few more hours the aforementioned family member wakes up and with it the noise comes back.
Everytime I hear something coming from the room below a painful feeling in my chest arises. This feeling won't go away for several hours and it get's stronger the longer I try to go to sleep.
This leaves me with around 4 to 5 hours of sleep and I don't have the energy to do ERP on my physical compulsions.
Question
How can I get rid of this feeling whenever I can't get back to sleep when my familymember wakes up and I heare these noises?
