OCD

Post Reply New Topic

Does anyone else here suffer OCD and if so, what form does it take...as in what actions or thoughts do you repeat? Also, is there anyone who has or has had an eating disorder and finds that their OCD revolves around something connected to eating or their body size? Thanks... looking to find if I am totally alone in this problem.

Also, is there anything other than medication that can help with this?

i eat whenever i watch a movie or tv.
when i get food unexpectedly like my mum randomly makes me something, if im on the comp i just throw on a tv show or something to watch as i eat.

I don't consider myself OCD, but, I do have to "prearragne" many things so I won't have to think about them. I need to be a pretty stringent scheduler so that I don't expend the brain power I need at my job thinking about what to eat or what to wear. My wardrobe is pretty monochromaic and I eat about 8 or 10 things in all, often eating the same things for lunch or dinner for years on end. (my ex wife thought that was pretty OCD). Example: I'll forget one or more of my morning toiletries if I don't put them out in the order I use them when I enter the bathroom in the morning. Is that OCD or just a tool for not forgetting? Another: My hat, keys, phone, etc MUST live in the same spot at all times or I will forget them.

Not sure, I tend to consider OCD as being where you have to repeat the same action over and over to a point where it becomes destructive and interferes with quality of life. For me, right now, I check myself in the mirror for up to an hour solid, from every angle, over and over again...and illogical as it is, I cannot seem to stop...and this results in all my self worth issues rising up which results in a lot of anger and rage. I suppose I am trying to find out if this is something anyone else here suffers with, or has suffered with

some1 moved my toothbrush in the bathroom a week ago, haven't brushed my teeth since

I must have everything symmetrical. It must be that way. If I step on something with my right foot, it must be done with my left foot as well.

And I do air typing, hahahha. That might be new. But in order for me to spell something, I type it out on my pants with my fingers or I type it out on my palms.

I also have to watch t.v. when I eat my ice cream. I just have to.

I was DXed with OCD before AS. It's funny in an ironic sort of way that my obsessive tendencies have always been sort of offset by my disorganized personality; for example, I can't stand living in a cluttered house but I have an impossible time putting everything in its place because it has to be absolutely perfect when I do, so it usually stays cluttered. Does that make sense? I used to have specific rituals but I'd rather not try to remember what they were. These days I can usually stop myself before I end up in that mindset again.

I was also diagnosed OCD (and other things) before AS. I've been diagnosed OCD since 1992. Two doctors last year told me that they still consider me to have OCD, but my Aspgerer's specialist says that he doesn't think so. He thinks that any of my obsessions or compulsions are not above and beyond what "normal" people with AS have.

I wash my hands a lot. A whole lot. There are piles of crumpled up paper towels all over my house because I'm always carrying one around to dry my hands on after washing them.

You might consider Body Dysmorphic Disorder which is part of what some call an OCD spectrum. Some also consider eating disorders to be related to an OCD spectrum also.

http://www.ocdla.com/bodydysmorphicdisorder.html

OCD waxes and wanes too - so you may have met the criteria in 1992 but it is less than now but still OCD. (I'm a handwasher too - lol).

I have OCD, and I'm always scared that I'm going to have something really bad happen to me. So I have to do all these things to try to calm myself down. I'm taking Clomipramine now so I hope it gets better.

I have OCD. Everything in my room has a set place and has to 'fit' perfectly and if it starts to get cluttered or disorganized I get really irritated and angry. There is currently an open book and a few papers beside me that I will have to put away before I go to bed so they don't bother me. When I was I kid I spent at least an hour every Sunday carefully pushing every little thing in my room into its exact position even if it was already there. As for treatment, I've just trained myself out of doing some things though it's really hard because when you're trying to not do something, the compulsion seems even stronger (for me anyway).
The only thing resembling an eating disorder is that I usually tend to overeat. When I was little my first word was 'more' and my parents could leave me with china dishes and not worry about breaking them (or even cleaning them). This never was a problem until university because it's harder to get exercise because of assignments and easier to get seconds because all the meals are buffets.

I need to see patterns, and I'm obsessed with symmetry - if I stub my left toe, I have to stub my right, too.

I have undiagnosed OCD which is more obsessive than compulsive - the main problem is anxiety about dangerous chemicals, substances, plants, food poisoning... Then things get contaminated, the contamination can spreads to nearby objects and the imagined threat doesnt seem to really dilute much - something is either safe or non-safe.

The few compulsions i have stem directly from this - washing hands & clothes, avoiding certain places, objects - throwing food away.

I vaguely remember doing something like this when i was very young - id suddenly focus on a movement id just done absentmindedly, then id have to correct it by repeating it on the otherside. the trouble i had was being too much of a perfectionist, because its never exactly the same movement (thats impossible) - so id have to keep adding extra movements to make up the balance. That doesnt help because im hopelessly creating a huge backlog stuff that cant possibly be symettrized. I developed an exit strategy for this eventuality - a chaotic flurry of activity so fast that ill completely lose focus and have no choice but to give up*

Eventually i thought f**k it, this is ridiculous and stopped. No more symettrical OCD!
The contamination/poison stuff started many years later, but ive mostly held on to my resistance to the 'superstitious' stuff. The paranoid obsessing ive developed since then has always been otherwise sensible & rational safety precautions - but taken to ridiculous and irrational extremes.

* Theres an similar 'exit strategy' that works for contamination - go round the house and lightly 'contaminate' everything - taps, door handles, food etc. This kills the safe/non-safe boundary.

http://www.ocduk.org/ - you might all find this site useful - the 4 steps program is worth reading.

Psychedelic drugs - psilocybin (magic mushrooms) has shown promise in clinical trials. You dose occasionally, then OCD symptoms clear up for a few months. I havent taken anything stronger than weed in years, but in retrospect i can easily believe i was much better when i used to trip occasionally. Entheogens can be positive on so many levels, id even go so far as to say it could be a great tonic for ASDs in general terms.

E2A (because i cant edit the above post)

Sometimes i think its no accident that so many completely unnessessary toxins that torment me and destroy the environment are thrust upon us from every angle, whereas the few exceptionally positive things that help are made illegal

Couldnt find any shrooms last year - will definately get some later, even if it means travelling.


sorry for the tediously long post!

I suffer from a severe form of OCD and I can directly relate to psych in his fear of contamination, although I am equally obsessive and compulsive.
Obsessive isn't a word I would use to describe my fear, intrusive is the word I would use. My fear(A) is loosing my memory and I.Q, but my main fear(B) of L**d
has an influence on Fear (A), and so my main fear is Fear(B) becuase it causes Fear (A).
My main fear has no bearing on what it is I fear and yet I am still fearfull, my OCD has evolved, and in order for it to survive it has to think of another excuse for me to be worried!! !!

Graelwyn, you mentioned that you relate OCD to obsessive or repetive actions that have no meaning.
I'm not sure whether this is the case for that type of OCD. Most OCD that consist of this behaviour has to have a trigger point or in my case an intrusive thought.
A ritual or repetive behaviour is caused by the intrusive thought to neutralise the thought.


My intrusive thoughts causes me to be constantly aware of contamination in parts of my room or it simulates events that might cause contaminitaion either deliberatly or by exposure, sometimes if not most of the time I can't read a book due to these thoughts.
My complulsive behaviour is to protect myself from becoming contaminated, this consists of placing invented paper devices in my room that can indicate whether somebody has been in my room, or it might consist of seperating my clothes in plastic bags and checking my radiator for l//d particles using a torch, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc,
Of course, my brief description of my compulsive behaviour is just a very very small part of some of the rituals that I have and do undertake in order to convince myself that I am safe, and some of these rituals have to be undertaken more then once, its like compulsive behaviour on my compulsions.

These rituals can be very complex, I have to simulate in my mind events that might cause deliberate contamination, and what devices and traps to use to check whther these events have been undertaken or to prevent these events from happening by placing clothing in bags and away from danger etc.
(My OCD has questioned my own perception, sometimes I ask myself whether what I am doing is okay and acceptable).

When I bring items in my room that I feel are contaminated I have to put them in bags, my mind has reviewed every item in my room that I feel is either contaminated or safe, my room always feels as though a danger is present in certain areas.
Once I leave the room I am renting, I'll have a good idea what to bring with me, this ensures that I don't bring the contamination with me.
OCD changes peoples personality, it causes people to become angry and changes peoples perceptrion of the whole and themselves.......


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh I don't even want to continue, I feel like I am punishing myself and revealing too much about myself.