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OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

I have a Fish and Chip phobia. I think if I eat Fish and Chips - which I love - I will die...

I can eat them but I feel uneasy for a few hours afterwards.


:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
I used to have the regular OCD where I'd check everything was un-plugged and locked, go to bed, come back down, check everything again, go back to bed, get up, go check everything again and so on ad nauseum ... I didn't get a lot of sleep in them thar days. I was "cured" of it when I was bedridden with flu for a few days, nothing terrible happened, so I stopped quadruple checking everything ...
 
Has anybody ever experienced obsessive compulsive dissorder?
 
Personally, no, but there are some acounts on this thread you may find interesting:

.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6690
Link is obsolete. That separate thread has now been merged with this one.


:)
 
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beakboo said:
The most illogical manifestation of OCD I ever heard of was an American man, who couldn't seal an envelope until he'd checked his children weren't inside.

:D

Presumably that didn't take to much extra time. One look at the envelope, no, my children can't possibly be inside...
 
I suppose. like most people, I have one or two minor compulsions. The one which annoys me most is that when I put my alarm clock on at night, I have to click the button up and down a couple of times just to check it's actually on. Why? No idea. Particularly since Dr Daddy has an electric alarm clock on his side of the bed which is set to go off a few minutes before mine!

And ever since having the kids, I can never remember whether I locked the front door or not, so I surreptitiously check....surreptitiously since Dr Daddy takes the mick out of me something chroinic for doing it!

I'm big on handwashing when cooking as well, but I suspect that's the result of spending the past three years in a microbiology lab!

By the way, Yithian, I LOVE your avatar...the Cerne Abbas Giant is so cool!
 
Me, as well. And, to quote Andy, it is "bloody annoying" but, at least my version of it, is on the "milder" side and not as intrusive to my daily routine as some of the more extreme cases.

Why, jimbos2002? Is there a particular question that you wanted to ask in relation to it?

Polterdog.
 
Just like to add, that I had it for years before I realized that other people suffered from it. Never heard of OCD. Man, what a relief that was. Thought I was nuts and if anyone caught me at it I was deeply embarassed. Couldn't explain it to a normal person.

Also had another strange behaviour, where if someone was speaking to me I had a strong desire to yell obscenities at them. Didn't matter how I felt about that person or what they were saying. Thankfully I never did it. I believe this is related to OCD.
 
Andy said:
Also had another strange behaviour, where if someone was speaking to me I had a strong desire to yell obscenities at them. Didn't matter how I felt about that person or what they were saying. Thankfully I never did it. I believe this is related to OCD.

Sounds like Tourette's Syndrome and, until you mentioned it just now, I never really linked it to OCD before. It makes sense, however, that the two are actually closely related, as the symptoms share that same neurological foundation. Just doing a brief read up on it, it also turns out that Tourette's (and thus, by extension, OCD) all take shelter under the umbrella of Bipolar Disorder. It makes you wonder if there is only one disease out there and everything else is just a subcategory of it to lesser or greater degrees.

Polterdog.
 
What's interesting is that the same family of pharmaceuticals is used to treat OCD, depression and anxiety attacks. It's all somehow related to seratonin re-uptake inhibition. I suffer from depression and a friend of mine deals with OCD, and we both have the same prescription!
 
Why, jimbos2002? Is there a particular question that you wanted to ask in relation to it?

Not really, i had it for about 8 months, but ive beat it recently. Im interested in it because its in your mind, and i never thought id beat it the way i did. interesting. Thanks
 
I have one prescription for both depression & OCD, it's been helping. :)
 
GreenJeanz said:
I have one prescription for both depression & OCD, it's been helping. :)

Whats the perscription greenjeanz? I would be interested. Do you mean a real medical perscription or something in your mind?
 
Could we have a little more discussion on what this involves? I'm suspecting someone in my hubby's family, and I would like some real accounts to go by. (You can always use third-person....) When you have it, how common do you think it is to realize that you're doing something different than others? If in denial, how would you go about getting this person help? Does the medication help right away?

I've read up on hoarding, it seems to be connected somehow. What about repeating the same sentence, over and over? Thanks, everyone!
 
I used to wash my hands almost constantly.
It just got really bloody annoying after a while, and I just forced myself not to do it. It was difficult, but eventually I got there.
 
I used to be obsessed that my teeth were dirty, could spend 45 minutes at a time in the bathroom cleaning them, sometimes starting again if I forgot which bit I was on. No idea if this counts as OCD.

Would you like to share with us what your angle on this is Jimbo? I get the impression that you have something interesting to say on the subject that you keep skipping around? More than misc. allusions to it being 'all in the mind' surely?
 
I've also been thinking on something else, and have no idea where to post it... hopefully here is good. Did any of you see the threads on IHTM about faces changing? (Uhh, COP was one) Anyway, sometimes, lately, when I'm in a social situation where I'm alone with someone, I'll feel very anxious when I'm looking directly into their eyes. This builds and builds, and if I don't break eye contact, it rushes up through my neck into my head and feels as though my face is changing. Around my eyes especially, it's like a burst of something. I don't see any reaction on their part when it does this, but I'm wondering if it's little panic attacks, or what? Anyone?
 
Anyway, sometimes, lately, when I'm in a social situation where I'm alone with someone, I'll feel very anxious when I'm looking directly into their eyes. This builds and builds, and if I don't break eye contact, it rushes up through my neck into my head and feels as though my face is changing. Around my eyes especially, it's like a burst of something. I don't see any reaction on their part when it does this, but I'm wondering if it's little panic attacks, or what? Anyone?
_________________

Not saying you have this, there are a lot of other symptoms that you would have to have, but some people with Asperger Syndrom have issues like this. People with Asperger Syndrome tend to have poor or different social skills and looking into someone's eyes just doesn't feel natural to them like it would to someone else. Could also be social anxiety disorder, shyness, etc...

Personally, i have OCD, depression, social anxiety disorder and God only knows what else. I've had various diagnosises over the years. This is the current one.
As far as the OCD is concerned, it's a lot better now than when I was little, but sometimes I will have to do something a certain number of times (usualy 5). I don't always HAVE to sit in the same spot when in the computer lab or cafeteria or something, but if I can I will just because I feel most comfortable doing so. Also, sometimes if I am worried about something I will keep worrying about it even if I have determined that I shouldn't be worried and I will have to ask someone else what they think to feel better. I also get worried that I left the stove on or set my alarm clock for the wrong time and will sometimes have to check multiple times (especially if I have a test the next day that I NEED to get up for).
I know, I'm weird. :tongue:
 
jimbos2002 said:
GreenJeanz said:
I have one prescription for both depression & OCD, it's been helping. :)

Whats the perscription greenjeanz? I would be interested. Do you mean a real medical perscription or something in your mind?

Medical prescription. Paxil 30mg once daily.

As for my OCD specifically, I too have the dislike of looking into people's eyes(And yes, I've asked the neurologist about Aspergers', it's not ruled out entirely, but he is SURE I have OCD. It is possible to have both and eye-aversion is common to a lot of emotional disorders anyway). I have too many little scattered things to list them all(I'm tired, heh), but when I was a child I had it very badly and to be frank I was a headcase.

I also have panic attacks & major clinical depression.
 
I have to say I never associated eye-aversion with depression particularly.

Maybe with Social Anxiety, although I called it shyness at the time.
 
(Aww, I wish everyone the best with their health....)


No, it's not that I don't WANT to look into their eyes, it's just that that's when it happens. I am NOT shy in the least, I have a huge mouth, and am not socially constrained at all. I'll get up in front of an auditorium full of people and read, if you like. :roll:

I'm not upset when this happens, it's just like a head rush or something? Maybe a teeny bit nervous, if anything. What does a panic attack feel like, at first?

And someone very close to me has just been put on Symbalta, does anyone have any warnings against using this or other drugs that affect your brain? Some of the side effects are scary ... (I'm not saying I think they'll get them all, I know it's a compilation.)
 
I think it must be very difficult to live with compulsions. They seem funny from the outside, but when you think of the amount of time they take, it must be quite life-absorbing (if you know what I mean).

Many years ago, I went out with a man who had many compulsions:
- he had a large LP collection: alphabetically arranged (OK for a large collection), but also arranged by release date AND all A sides facing the same way
- all of his bill (notes) were arranged by denomination AND had the Queen's face facing the same way AND the serial numberes were arranged in ascending order
- he lined up his shoes in the closet with a ruler
- clothes were arranged in the closet by length
- he measured distances between pieces of furniture
- he insisted on starting up stairs on the same foot (most of us do, actually--I started watching people-- but if he didn't he HAD to go back and start again)
- he washed his feet thoroughly every time he came home
- of course, he couldn't bear skewed pictures, uncentred gewgaws on mantlepieces, etc.
Somehow, he lived a fairly normal life, but I couldn't put up with it at the end.
 
I've also dated men who exhibited compulsive behaviour, and in both cases I ended the relationship in part because they started extending that behaviour to me, and demanding that I behave in ways which satisfied their compulsive natures. No, it's not like that, you pervy bunch, but with one guy, he would get very distressed if the enviroment was in any way untidy or disorganized, yet for other reasons he couldn't/wouldn't physically lift a finger to do anything = me running around arranging/tidying the room to his satisfaction. (this is not the same thing as a manipulative clean freak, although I think there were elements of that, more like he felt helpless and relied on the people around him to make sure he was psychologically comfortable) Other highlights with these guys included demanding that *I* organize the money in my *own* wallet because one of them had caught a glimpse and couldn't bear the idea that my money, cards etc. weren't in the order he felt they should be. So perhaps I'm not as sympathetic to compulsive people as I should be.
 
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