My OCD is getting worse

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I have OCD and it´s present mostly when I read a book or some other text. For example, I count lines to six in every text I read and I count also some other things. It´s very complicated but that´s okay, I got used to. But worse thing is that recently I started counting the words containing i, particulary the letter i. That really sucks because with this si very difficult to read. I tried to stop it through my will, but it´s actually impossible.

I believe there's a book called Brain Lock, a self-help book for OCD sufferers, that might help.

Okay, you know how in marital arts there's both hard style and soft style. Hard style would be something like karate that meets force with force. Soft style would be something like aikido which flows with the force and redirects it. And the redirecting is more the zen approach of allowing it to happen rather than forcing it to happen.

With my own struggles with OCD, if I get to a place where it's okay to do something and okay not to do it, that's a pretty good place to be. And this only occasionally happens, and that's okay, too.

So, with the counting while you read, maybe you could think of it like grids on a map or marking your terrain. Yes, it's slowing you down, but you're trying to look at it a little bit in a humous way. And thus, kind of detoxify the idea. And not add more power to the thought, just let it be, which is also kind of a zen approach.

If this is slowing you down for school, please get a tutor if you can. Or maybe get a book on tape, or asking a person to read the most important parts into a tape recorder?

I had counting issues along with various other OCD problems. I take Neurontin/Gabapentin for my OCD now & it's helping. I still have some urges/compulsions but I'm able to resist them now & get back to what I'm doing instead of feeling like I have to do them. It might get better if I were to take a higher dose but I don't think my OCD is that much of a problem now & increasing will increase the possibility of side-effects; I'm tolerating this dose pretty good. I don't recommend medication for OCD thou unless it's sever or you tried various coping techniques 1st but I haven't had much luck with anything else

I have some sort of OCD and problems with reading (sometimes I'm counting words and sometimes letter 'ö' - it's quite rare in Finnish but it still exists there) along with some other OCD traits are familiar for me too. Sometimes I also have to read the same line over and over again. Personally I find the latter problem more difficult because it really slows down my reading, counting is just sort of a bad habit for me. Will power doesn't seem to help me either. Unfortunately I don't know what does. I have to say, though, that my OCD is not probably too severe (it has got a bit worse lately, though).

I hope you find help with your problem.