OCD

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How many here suffer from this? And have you found a way around it?
I really hadn't had an issue with it for years and years until recently when I had a lot of stress to do with housing and unrequited love. Now, I have been obsessing severely in my mirror...checking from all angles, having to see exactly the same thing...finally smashed the thing off the wardrobe door tonight...and my bedcovers are another OCD thing... I have to have them looking perfectly flat and straight with no dents showing at all... it is insane, but I cannot seem to relax until I spend ages doing these thing...some nights are better than others. I note that it is worse when I see the man I obsessed over...so maybe it is a control thing? Anyone have any ideas or any tips on dealing with this ?

I've had OCD since I was 6, and it is terrible. I was on Clomipramine for it, but I stopped taking it due to starting DXM again.

I have not had it for that length of time, thank God. It is insanely frustrating... I am trying hard to overcome it with power of mind, but I don't know...it is like this pressure builds up. I am trying to figure out the cause...naturally it is compensating for something. All the time I have spent obsessing, I could have used for useful things like writing, drawing, creating... such a waste of time that could be used elsewhere. I keep telling myself that, but it makes no difference. I wish I had OCD over drawing the same detailed artwork over and over again or something...or writing a perfect poem. That would be better. But instead my bodysize has become the entire focus of me self esteem just about... fat/heavy=a failure, Thin/light means I can relax and have worth. Since when does that make any sense? It is not logical.

Yeah...whether it's how I deal with anxiety (which sounds like you) or it's a disease I was born with; I've never known any different. Mine was severe enough that it caused agoraphobia for a few years….

I "beat" mine with exposure therapy (CBT), i.e., jump on your bed, but don't fix it up to your obsessions and/or compulsions. It'll cause anxiety (of varying levels depending on how important the subject is to you), but nothing is free.

Give me some specific questions if you need specific help; I'm not that good at deducing what people want for their answer (written and verbal).

I am 95% my grandpa has it. He has this obsessive need to clean everything, even when it's already past 100% clean. Sometimes he'll even come over here and fertilize or mow our yard without even notifying us and he'll do his neighbors' yard, too. They're past 80 and he's 77! He does all the dishes three times a day by hand, he'll mop, he'll vacuum, he'll dust everything over and over... Does this sound like it could be OCD? Both my mom and I think it is but no one else in the family has it.

I honestly don't know if I have it, but I have small bits of it.
(Then again, that may be the AS)

I think I have a mild case of it. I tend to delete the cookies and that all the time, as I feel I need to. I also tend to make multiple accounts on online forums, as I feel I have to. I don't think that's OCD, then again, it is obsessive.

Maybe I have a mild case of OCD, but I don't have a DX.

I have an obsession for sorting everything (alphabetically and chronologically), although sometimes my bedroom is a mess. Some years ago I made "the choco-flan day", we had to make choco-flan every friday, if my mom said "NO", I got angry.

I don't have an obsession with cleaning, and sometimes I pass days without taking a bath because I forget it or I think I have more important things to do

My mom says that when I was younger than 5, she took me with her outside, and we have to pass for the same places everyday in the car, if she took a diferent route, I cried and had a tantrum, then she had to return and take the correct route.

When I was a baby I didn't sleep at night until my mom took me with her to her car, and drove some minutes.

The mirror checking could be Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

Do you get a "pit in the stomach" feeling of disappointment and dread when you aren't satisfied with what you see in the mirror? Do you try to avoid reflections? Dread having your photograph taken? Have to wear specific clothes or makeup when you look at yourself in the mirror or reflection? Do you find you look different each time you look at yourself in the mirror? Obsess over whether a mirror is accurate or is distorting your shape/image? Do you seek reassurance by constantly asking others to describe how you look? When you receive compliments do you always doubt them or think people's compliments are not sincere? Afraid to go out in public? When in public do you compare yourself to others and think they look better than you? Have you looked at http://www.bddcentral.com?

There's only one thing I do that I can think of that relates to OCD behaviors. With only McDonalds chicken nuggets before I eat them, I squish them a little bit between my thumb and my index finger and give it a sniff before I eat it. I don't do this with any other chicken nuggets, just McDonalds. I've been doing this at least since I was eight. At least that's when I became aware of it.

I dont believe i do really, some professionals believe i do. i clean a lot, because im stressed alot, i like things to be in straight lines, i have some serious food issues in the past too, i do not believe that was really annorexia and the only other reason i can think for it wis ocd. i dont think so..

I've had OCD off and on.

I was just asking about OCD yesterday.
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ic&t=31116

I either have it, or it's Aspie traits that look like it.

Either way, it's supposed to be really common for Aspies, and it's bad enough that 25% can be also clinically diagnosed.

I'm a LOT better than I was when I was younger, but unfortunately I have no idea how it got better. My life is relatively stress free, by normal standards (it's still a lot for me!), so maybe that helps.

Lightning88, that sounds to me like your Grandpa could have it.

I have a weird sense of how to keep "clean", but unfortunately for my house it doesn't extend much past changing clothes and washing my hands! No hours of scrubbing floors for me.

This is how I see them:
OCD; thoughts make you do something to relieve anxiety and if you don't do said something you experience various levels of anxiety; you don't find doing this enjoyable.
'trum obsessions; you cannot stop thinking about a single topic that you enjoy and this can cause anxiety in that it makes you fixate on said topic at the expense (and your performance in these) of all others.

Yes I have a mild case of it, and I've had it since I can remember. When I was a child, I didn't know what OCD was at all, so I just sort of did the weird things like touching my hand to my mouth and eyes in certain patterns and doing certain counting things and winking a certain number of times, etc. the list goes on and on. Then when I was older, I was diagnosed with it and my reaction was, "You mean these things I do aren't "normal" I thought all people did them?" In my teen years I started washing my hands compulsively, and I still do that (right now they are cracked and bleeding) I also pull the hair out of my eyebrows, eyelashes, and legs (trich) and I become obsessed with things to the point where I am a nervous wreck. I am also a hoarder which I think is because of OCD and Asperger's. There are probably more OCD things I do, there are too many to name.

My hands get pretty bad during the winter. I slap on hand lotion before I got to bed to help, but they still sometimes bleed-at least during the winter.

I have a hard time getting rid of stuff too. Not everything, but I do tend to save things, and am kind of sentimental about stuff. Don't know if that has anything to do with anything, or is just how I am.