Ocd

[Tayl405]

Does anyone think they have a form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? Lately I've been noticing that I have a LOT of little things that I'm weird about. I'm starting to think I have a mild form of OCD! lol I don't actually know if that's funny.

Like, I feel like I have to organize EVERYTHING, which I never used to be like. And if it's not organized, I get stressed out. And I have to write everything down in lists or I'll forget it. And I check my alarm like 8 times before I go to bed. And I have to go to the bathroom another 10 before bed.

Does anyone else have these little things they do all the time that seem OCD-ish?

[bd1222]

Yes - When my boyfriend gets out of the shower - I have to have the shower curtain pulled back - so you don't see the tub...and if He doesn't hang out his towel right away and it falls to the floor or he puts it on my bed - I have to pick it up right away and hang it up...

I always have to make my bed before I go to sleep...even it's like an hour before I go to bed and my bed is not made...I make it so I have a neat bed to jump into...


I always have to check when I leave my apt that my door is locked.

At work, I realize that I checked my work over and over because I am stressing that something isn't correct?

That's considered OCD right?

LOL...

[midtwenty]

I've had a mild form of OCD almost my whole life. It mostly involves hand-washing, which is a pretty common symptom amongst those who have the disorder. I don't take meds or go to therapy or anything like that. The management of it takes place entirely within my own mind. I clearly remember being about 11 years old, standing at the kitchen sink washing my hands for the zillionth time that day, and suddenly something inside me snapped. I remember thinking it was preposterous to assume that I was going to catch a disease or become ill just because I didn't wash my hands a hundred times a day, and asked myself why I was behaving this way when no one around me washed their hands so many times and they never had problems. I chose right then and there to make a conscious effort to stop the behavior and control my impulse to constantly wash my hands. I have it so well under control now that I don't really have to think about it anymore.

Another manifestation of my OCD tendencies is my compulsive need for everything to be in an exact spot. For example, if someone comes to my house and picks up a knickkack off a shelf, I will go back later and "straighten" it to suit me. Everything on my desk must be just-so. My mousepad must be exactly even with my keyboard, etc etc etc. I don't fly off the handle if people put things back in the "wrong" spot - it's not that big of a deal. I just prefer and want things to be how I want them. I don't try so hard to control this tendency, with the exception of exercising patience with those who don't put my stuff back right. ;) I sort of enjoy my uber-organization and don't find anything really that bad about it. It doesn't affect my life like the hand-washing did.

[red]

my husband's best friend is ocd. it is not an easy illness. i mean, i have some things i am anal about, but it's nothing near what he deals with. i also have to have the shower curtain pulled back bcs i don't want it to get mildewy. i also don't like wet towels on my bed, but that's just being neat i think. wet towels on the bed are gross. but he does things without a reason behind them.
i have seen the real symptoms in my friend. we went to the batting cages one day and i was holding his wallet when it was his turn, and he kept asking me if i still had it. i know he can't help it though. and he has it mostly under control now. he has other issues and has a good shrink. there is a big difference between being neat or even anal and OCD. it's hard to explain...

[Tayl405]

Maybe I am just anal, but some things I do don't have a reason behind them. It's not out of control though (yet, at least) so I guess it doesn't qualify. But, I have to check behind my bedroom door before I go to bed, as well as under my bed (most of my things are right before I go to bed). I think this is because my apt was broken into once and we came home while the person was still there (LONG, creepy story) and now that I live alone I get freaked out.

[shimmer728]

I think I do. I'm extremely anal about the organization of my apartment. All my knick knacks must be perfectly aligned, or I can't function.

[paiger81]

I'm diagnosed as OCD with Panic Attacks. At my worst, my boyfriend found me in my bathroom. I was taking a shower, thought it was dirty and started cloroxing the whole tub & tile. He found me naked, scrubbing tile with a toothbrush. That was over 5 years ago. I was medicated for a while, but have been med free for 2 years.

I still have occasional issues-if I'm putting gas in my SUV, I have to let the $ amount end in a .00 or a .05.

I'm pretty sure you are just anal. ;)

[ResurrecteD]

none of us are qualified to diagnose...so if you have concerns, please address those concerns to a qualified physician...for safety's sake...

...having been OCD myself (starting at age 12) I can provide info about what sort of compulsions I experienced and the associated feelings...I believe such started as a result of major life changes (seemingly at the time) occurring all at once and my inability to understand/cope...I too experienced the common behavior of compulsive hand-washing...so much that I would wash my hands until they bled...bleeding wasn't the aim, but rather bleeding would be stimulus enough to override the compulsive behavior...I also would turn my light on and off numerous times before sleeping and/or lock/unlock my bedroom door over and over again...just to 'make sure' even though I was well aware the door was locked...I remember sitting in class one day during grade school, having missed a large portion of the lunch period because I couldn't NOT keep writing down the class lesson over and over and over again (until there was no more room on the paper to write)...or reading, re-reading, then re-reading again (and so on) sentences in our assigned readings for fear that if I didn't re-read it for the ump-teenth time that something horrible would happen (the horrible thing that happened was that it took me 3 months to finish Oliver Twist)...

...the knicknacks and the towels and the shower curtains may all be obsessions and/or compulsions...however, I suggest you evaluate 'why' you are obsessed with such or act compulsively...OCD has a tendency to defy logic...the reasoning behind the compulsive behavior generally is rather nonsensical...I still wonder how I believed my re-reading sentences in Oliver Twist would curtail any potential harm that could befall a family member...I think logical obsessions are more likely phobia related...

...and for me as well (right on midtwenty), I can remember a fairly distinct point in my life when I realized that my OCD was centered around a fear of death and dying...but I also realized that my OCD was preventing me from living...so in a sense I was already dead...thats the point when I began to deny the stranglehold of my fear and just accept the consequences of my not acting to compulsify my obsessions...

...OCD never truly subsides...but its been years since I have seen any remnants surface...

I hope that helps some...feel free to respond or PM for more info if necessary...:)

[paiger81]

Resurrected,
I find the death and dying fear interesting. My OCD started after I lost 9 close friends/family in a span of 3 years. I was not afraid of dying, and still am not, but I had the deep deep fear that other people close to me would die.

[gluegun]

I have a mild case of OCD. I find that my symptoms emerge when I'm under stress. For example, if I have a presentation at work I'll wash my hands literally 20 times before I go into the meeting.

I also have this weird thing where I count letters on my fingers. For example, when I'm driving my car I look at billboards and organize the letters in such a way that they "fit" chronologically on each of my 5 fingers. I can't let any two vowels be on the same finger. My neurosis is way too f'd up for me to adequetely explain!

[Tayl405]

I don't think (after reading these messages) that I have OCD, but my "symptoms" do usually occur when I'm really stressed out. Like right now. And I probably notice it more because I'm stressed out too.

[midtwenty]

My hand-washing also revolved around an intense fear of dying. To borrow a phrase from Seinfeld, I was a germaphobe. Still am, if you really want to know, but not nearly so bad as I was. I became convinced that unless my hands were hospital-sterile at all times, I would catch a disease or somehow poison myself. At one point when I was about 10, I became obsessed with a box of rat poison that my father had bought to put in a storage shed we had. He put it on the counter in the kitchen and left it there for a couple of days before taking it out to the shed to use it. Guys, this box wasn't even open and was sealed in plastic, yet I became convinced that any time I touched anything in the kitchen I would get rat poison on my hands and would somehow poison myself. After he took it to the shed, my obsession with the poison switched to the kitchen countertops. The poison was sitting on the counter, therefore the counter was now tainted. It took weeks for me to be comfortable in the kitchen again. What's amazing is that I have never told my family about any of this. I just worked through it myself, somehow.

[wacotxguy]

I've OCD for awhile now. I noticed it in college when I would compuslively check the door locks on my car, at home, check the stove numerous times before I left, stuff like that. Everything had to be in a certain place. I've relaxed a lot now, but I still have the compulsions to wash my hands a lot and not touching public door handles, etc, etc.

[ResurrecteD]

I sometimes am weary of touching door handles in public restrooms as well...but that's because I see too many people use the bathroom without subsequently sanitizing their hands...it really PISSes me off...I deal with enough shit on my own to have to deal with someone else's SHIT as well...:D

...I wouldn't wish OCD on anyone, but I can honestly say that overcoming OCD is one of my more prideful accomplishments...if you can beat mental illness, you can beat almost anything...