Is this OCD or "normal"?

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I have an issue when I go grocery shopping because I generally find it disgusting when I see leaking milk cartons or meat packages or even water and dirt from some plants that stores sell all over the conveyor at the checkout. It is something that everyone tells me I focus on way too much but I think it is just because they don't pay attention. I now try and use the self serve checkouts as much as possible since one incident where someone put the bread I was going to buy in water (from what I don't know) that was on the scanner. I told them I didn't want the bread and made them take it off the receipt. Of course they though that was strange. I have seen people let their kids ride on frozen turkeys in the shopping cart or pack items that should not belong together in the same bag. This is considered so OCD, but really I consider this stuff common sense in my interpretation of the world. Anyway - today I went up to the Uscan and there was dirt all over one and I got out of line waited for another one but was still kind of disgusted. So - does anyone else notice this type of stuff. From what I've read about OCD (and I have been diagnosed with it) people who have it seem to think there ideas are silly. I don't (lol).

I think that it is important that your behaviors, your choice of how you relate to the world and how it is it you are is accepted by yourself. Self-stigmatizing is somewhat negative unless the thought pathology obviously is a discomfort to you. If others are bothered by it, it is with them the true problem exists.

B-u-happily.

I agree. Common sense tells you that you are better off avoiding any potential sorce of germs. However, after what I have read about OCD, I believe I fit the diagnosis (obsessive counting).

I also cannot drink out of another person's cup, nor can I eat of another person's plate. This simply disgusts me.

Me either, just the way I am.

Do you know what? When I go shopping, I do not pick up tins that are dented, leaky milk or anything like that either as I like my food and drink to be properly packaged. And the idea of letting someone sit on a turkey in a shopping trolley disgusts me. Also, when I pack my shopping, stuff that requires refridgeration will go in one bag, meats will go in another, frozen in another etc etc. Hmm maybe I mildly have OCD and don't know it, its entirely possible as I didn't know I had AS until about 8-9 months ago even though I weas diagnosed with it as a child. I was just never told.

Thanks - I think you are quite right. My ideas don't make me uncomfortable but others try to imply that it is a problem.

Same here - or how people take a bite off each other's ice cream cone. Yuk.

That is why I am unsure that this would be a true part of OCD - because it really just makes sense doesn't it. And I do that too with the food and it doesn't take any longer to package it correctly and is much easier to put things away when you get home. My husband tosses everything in and then you have to hunt for the refrigerated items.

Theres a type of OCD called 'pure-O' (obsessional) where theres less focus on ludicrous rituals, and the victim might be obsessively ruminating on 'common-sense' danger. Ive got a fear of exposure to various noxious substances (especially any that ive been stupid enough to research ). Sometimes i try to reassure myself that im over-reacting, but trying to think it through logically just fuels the nagging sense of dread and makes it feel worse.

I found this website recently, http://www.ocduk.org/ and that some of the articles have been really helpful. If i cant sort it out myself by september (mushroom season in UK) ill trip again for the 1st time in 3-5years- i think it makes the symptoms subside for a few months.

Back to supermarkets - i dont mind milk too much, but if i see washing-machine powder on the conveyor belt ill carefully stack my stuff round it. Also i like to get a really clean basket, with no suspicious looking stains that might be residue of poisonous household chemicals - and i dont mind being seen spending half a minute searching for the 'right' basket.

Thanks, I'll look at the website. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks about this kind of stuff though. I can feel quite weird because that is how other people act about it - and then I wonder about them not being concerned about such things (lol).

I'm by no means an authority, but it doesn't sound very OCD to me. It sounds like good cleanliness habits. I've had food poisoning before. Its awful.

Opinion is unclear on OCD dx, but I've plenty of extreme sensitivities to things that don't trouble other persons. Food is kinda' gross, in general, to me-that's my starting point-despite fact I do need to eat. Bothered (but not to point of distraction) by gunk on conveyor belt-I try to arrange items around the wet spots. I search for a shopping basket that looks less dirty than others-but they're all pretty scuzzy. I prefer similar things to be packed together, so the meat is only touching other meat, dairy only touching other dairy-but isn't often convenient to do so.

When I buy (raw) meat, I hunt through many packages before finding one that looks least awful. I pick it up with plastic bag so I don't have to handle sticky package, don't want it seeping all over my other edibles. Put sugar in separate plastic bag, so it contains any leakage I may have overlooked. Dislike how milk containers are covered w/condensation from coolers, then the moisture rubs off & gets on other groceries. And so on...

Regardless of OCD, that is a perfectly sensible and logical thing to do. When a can is dented, there is a risk that the seal is damaged and harmful bacteria creep inside and start growing. This can potentially make you very sick if you then eat the food in the can.

"botulism n. A severe, sometimes fatal food poisoning caused by ingestion of a toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum in improperly canned or preserved food and characterized by nausea, vomiting, disturbed vision, and paralysis."

Have you ever watched Monk and seen the segment where he's at the grocery store with a shopping cart? He completely fills up the cart, takes it to the checkout counter and, instead of buying the items, tells the cashier that all of the food is past its sell by date. He then walks out of the store with a look of relief on his face. That is TOTALLY me when it comes to my OCD. If I see a food item that is past it's sell by date I have to look at EVERY single one of the same items and pull all of the others that are past due. I've tried to ignore that urge before but it nags at me like a severe itch that I can't scratch until I finally give in.

One time I went to the nearby Food for Less and found items in the freezer section that had a sell by date from the previous year! I ended up going to the cashier with a cart full of ridiculously expired items. It was soon after that I saw the shopping cart segment from Monk. I laughed so hard and thought it was great that I was seeing an eccentric character on tv that I have something in common with.

It's all I can do to restrain myself from yelling at people who spit in the street.

I think it is only fair to expect some effort at basic hygiene in a supermarket.

I never buy vegies or meat from the supermarket.

I put the refrigerated stuff in the trolly last after I've gotten everything else. Sometimes I take an esky with ice in the car to the shops.

I always open the icecream - even the sealed packs to check that they haven't let it melt. Shop icecream - when it melts, loses half it's volume and becomes rock hard like concrete. Not worth eating in my opinion. So they can keep that stuff.

I don't like wet conveyer belts either. I don't care much what other people do with their food so long as they take it with them. What I don't like is some kid sucking on every jar and tin in the shop and leaving it there. Or taking stuff from the perishables isles and leaving it randomly round the supermarket - you just know the staff are going to put it back on the shelves - yuk.

I make my own bread in a nice bread maker.

I do tell the staff when stuff is past its useby date. I'm having real trouble now finding a supermarket that doesn't have perished perishables.

And they moved everything round in one of the supermarkets I shop at. Not even the staff knew where the hell they'd hidden the maple syrup or cocoa. It's weird when you have to have a personal guide to find everything on your list.

I also don't like when the price tags are missing or wrong. One supermarket had two packs for $5 or one pack for $1 - go figure. What they meant was "$1 off regular price" not what they wrote. I should have made them sell the stuff to me for a $1 since I only wanted one.

And the scanners they use - often ring up something twice when you only bought one of them. So I frequently check my docket. If I was really serious I'd total up all the things as I add them to the trolly, unfortunately I'm a bit too unco with the calculator to do that. And just as clumsy adding stuff up in my head.

I've stopped shopping at several sandwich shops and one butcher because they handle food and money with the same hands, no gloves and no washing, or all with gloves but money and food still get to touch via the same gloves. BLECH.

I reported one supermarket deli worker to the management for sticking his head into the cabinet with the food and holding each item up to his open mouth and breathing on it while he was counting the pieces. EEEWWWWW. I decided to do without deli stuff that week.

So walk in the rain - next time someone gives you a hard time when you are looking after your health - tell them you are going to ring your local government food safety authority and report them if they don't clean up RIGHT NOW. Be specific about how their actions are contributing to germs. Hmm, I should look up the number for mine and put it in my mobile phone. Won't that be fun.

However I'm not so twisted as to clean every surface at home with "antibacterial" product. Soap and water or regular detergent is suffiently antibacterial for me and I don't want to be contributing to super-bugs that are resistant so we have to use progressively more toxic chemicals to clean up.

I don't consider myself OCD at all. Um.