Great medication + breathing exercise!

[Tamandua]

I learned of two very good ways to cope with obsessive thoughts of illness and v*. First one is a medication prescribed to me by my psychiatrist. It's called Seroquel, and it's used in treatment of bipolar disorder, depression, OCD, and schizophrenia. It lessens obsessive thoughts and prevents large breakdowns in response to small things, and stabilizes one's mood (it's also an antipsychotic, but I don't take it for that reason).

The second is a breathing exercise recommended to me by my cognitive-behavioral therapist, with whom I just started work. Essentially, you curl your tongue back to the soft part of your palate, and take a deep breath through your nose (if you sing or do yoga or meditation, you should be familiar with this). You hold in this breath for ten seconds and then let it out slowly through your mouth. It completely clears your mind when you're feeling panicky or obsessive.

[KaydeeJayde]

I wonder what the function of pressing the tongue against the palate. That's interesting. I'm a singer, and I know the deep breathing, but I've never heard of the tongue thing. I've also never heard of the medication, but I might ask my doctor about it. Glad it's working for you!

[Jada2010]

I've never heard of the tongue thing either.. but I'm most definitely going to try! Thanks for sharing!

[GrammarGal]

Ahh, that breathing is wonderful. When I feel nervous, I do square breathing: breathe in for 3 seconds, hold it for 3 seconds, breathe out for 3 seconds. Repeat until calm...or dizzy.

[asianeko]

The tongue is to help you focus. You'll feel the coolness of the air you breathe in, and the warmth of the air you breathe out.

I firmly believe that Calm Breathing is what started me on my road to recovery. There is an in depth way to find your personal breathing pattern in the thread link in my signature.