OCD and Anxiety

[rouri]

Hello all, just wanted to check if anyone of you suffers from OCD on top of your anxiety? I am not sure if it is realted but I find myslef irritated and stressed if things not done the way i want.

eg: my drawer is in order and everything in place so when I open to get soemthing and close again, i do that carefuly because i don't want things to move from their right place, so if someone opened my drawer and closed it, I have to open it back and fix teh things that were moved!!! this apply as well on things at home, or some of the cleaning shoudl be in a certain way, when eating food i don't like mess around me and go crazy if someone eating next to me and making noises, or drop bread crust on the floor?? is this weird? does it happen to you as well?? is it related to anxiety??

[Paul1975]

OCD most definitley comes under the Anxiety and Depression umbrella. I think the general public's idea of OCD is someone who washes their hands constantly etc (which of course it can be) and they see it as quite humerous. However compulsions can drive anxiety in many different forms, most significantly in the thoughts that pop into your head and will not leave, these constant compulsions drive the anxiety and is in many cases quite severe. These thoughts can include worries about commiting violent acts, or can be sexual in nature and put the sufferer under a huge mental strain on a day to day basis. OCD is something that needs to be looked into much more in connection to Anxiety and Depression.

[rouri in reply to Paul1975]

100% true, people thinks it is a case of washing hands every minute, while it is much more than that. well i do get aggressive thoughts sometimes, I am much better now but sometimes like I am walking to my flat and start thinking if a car will hit me now, I would fly in the air, hit the ground and blood will be everywhere!! then i start thinking how my family will react!!! it can be the other way round, like what if someone in my family had an accident and dies, what will happen to their kids and I do get emotional as well. then i switch off, asking myself what I am thinking off!!!! very weird stuff going on in my head!! at the same time i find it fascinating how some people share a lot cause of anxiety!!!

[Gloriette in reply to Paul1975]

Thanks for this insight Paul; having suffered all my life off and on with anxiety, it has very much come to a head in recent years following the death of my husband of 40 years from cancer. At age 59 and looking forward to happy retirement, that's a tragedy in anyone's book, and I find it searingly difficult coping without his love, but above all his friendship; he was my rock.

However, it is only very recently that I've suddenly fallen prey to scary and often repellent intrusive thoughts and it's good to know I'm not alone, that it is just the vile anxiety and that I'm not going gratuitously crazy.

II sought help immediately from my GP who was very reassuring and am on some calming medication which is definitely dulling the effects, but it's good to know one's worst fears are shared by others. As social animals, we humans need companionable feed-back from those around us, a fact which often becomes overlooked in today's frenetically paced lifestyles. Thank you.

[milo1]

HI ROURI well i have not got that i have been the opposite lately just doing basic chores things that have to be done washing ironing cooking not a lot of cleaning going on here at the moment i just want to get well again i could do with you being here for few weeks l o l x we have to laugh or cry i would rather laugh x

[rouri in reply to milo1]

Hello milo, I gave up on ironing long time ago, always buy stuff that does not require ironing

better laugh than cry i guess, you are right.

I spoke to the lady for the £5 issue, told her that I will pay to see what is all about, but explained at the same time that some people cannot afford to buy food yet along paying for webchat!! she was very compassionate, told me that this website and all admin people are volunteer and no funds from government is given to them. they only continue with some people's contribution/donations/volunteer and admin people pay £23 for standard membership and £30 for Therapy membership, the first includes access to some articles and webchats for free and the later would give more access to some discounted therapies (they send like brochure showing the kind of therapy is available with reduced cost and payment is upfront) something like that.

so tomorrow I will call to pay £5 and see how it goes, if it is professional i will then pay for membership. I will take notes and pass it for everyone in here at the same time.

hope you had a nice evening. Am here love and not going anywhere xx

[flavour56 in reply to rouri]

where on the website does it say you can pay £5 towards a therapist helping with your anxiety

[Hidden]

hi rouri yes I have some symptoms especially sometimes I like things to be repeated 4 times - just little things like rocking my head 4 times before going to sleep. Also I had a spell of the intrusive thoughts that Paul1975 mentioned - fear you are going to lose control & hit some poor innocent or you are going to shout out an obscenity in public. You never actually do it but the thought that you might do just screws up the anxiety a few more notches. Thank you to medication and CBT for pulling me out of that hole.

[rouri in reply to Hidden]

I am like sometimes i have to tap my fingers on my desk few times, and if i tap less i get irritated and sometimes I am like making a sound to reassure my mind that I am still alive and my heart is beating (very weird habit) started whit my anxiety!! when i have a shower i have to wash my hair in a certain way and eve though the soap is washed out but I have to continue washing off my hair until i am satisfied!!! in my mind i am thinking that is just awkward. as for people passing by near me i just hate it i hate people who sneeze next to me, i hate people who make sounds with their heels, I feel like taking that shoes and through it away!!! IS THIS WEIRD

[wallflower_fairy]

Hello Rouri,

The above sounds familier to me as well. Its definately linked to anxiety. I started noticing something was wrong when I was about 13 and in secondary school (its a while back I know)- I had a different kind of anxiety, not the same as when you have your first day of school, or when you have a face a lion or something like that. It was more like a dread, or a constant feeling of unease. Horrible - I was constantly harrassed and I felt 'dirty' a lot. I mean really horribly -get-me-outta-here-now-must-shower type of dirty- it effected everything I did..I told no one about it. They just thought I was being naughty. People kept throwing things at me and it made me paranoid about germs and stuff- partly (its complicated and will take forever). So I think now I do things subconsciously to protect myself. Problem is sometimes I forget to do my rituals and that will make me anxious, even when I remember, because its usually too late. ..

I don't want to be bitter but I feel so..burdened. Like I have to do things and don't get a choice- which I don't. Even I choose not to do something, which I can. It hangs over me. It doesn't pass. So I know challenging my behaviour doesn't help. OCD sometimes changes to depression feeling I have somehow 'failed' for forgetting to do my 'tasks'. That I'm unprotected and am being harmed internally without realising. Or that I have to live with some kind of punishment. It doesn't just fade with time. I'm anxious most of the time. There are other reasons but this the main one.

Five years later, its faded a little- I don't get harrassed anymore which helps- but the OCD is still there, in some part of my mind, and I feel like it always will be. I'm never without my santising gel, I don't leave the house without it. And I get extra ratty without wipes. With them I can just about learn to live with it. I also was more anxious in the past because I didn't know what it was- I thought it was just me and that I had to deal with it on my own...then I put two and two together and feel better about that because at least I can put some kind of name to my behaviour. At least I know its not just me. Sorry-rant over.

xxx

[rouri in reply to wallflower_fairy]

hello love thank you for your reply, I don't touch anything on a train/bus/underground, the thought of it makes me sick, most of the times I am holding it with my clothes or just try to balance on my feet and try not to fell over!!!!! if i want to get somewhere i wait for someone else to press the button and if no one was getting off i will press the button and reach for my sanitizer with my other hand!!! not alone dear

[wallflower_fairy in reply to rouri]

Same here ! Do whatever I can to avoid touching ! Thanks for acknowledging my message and replying. Its good to see that I'm not on my own with this. (I seriously thought I was losing it at one point - lol). xxx

[rouri in reply to wallflower_fairy]

don't worry you are not losing it, for me you are perfectly normal xx

[milo1]

WELL DONE for finding out all the info let me know i will be willing to pay 5 as you have explained xx

[rouri in reply to milo1]

hi Milo, if you want to pay you have to call (08444 775 774) just ask them about the webchat on the 8th of August (7-9PM) they will take card payment, I spoke to a lday called Emma but she works part time, not sure if she is in tomorrow. at the same time you can ask for the package of £23!!xx

[Hidden]

Hi everybody

I think that everybody has OCD in their own way.i wash my hand straight away when I get home or take the gel with me everywhere.i don t line people chewing next to me or sneezing.I don t think this is the real OCD .i think OCD it s more then this.i also have Loats of intrusive thoughts.but this anxiety which is different from OCD.what do u think?

[Lions13]

I akways think of OCD as a spectrum that we all sit somewhere along. Mine used to be things like CDs and DVDs in alphabetical order. It was when I first started doing my COSCA Certificate that I went home and pulled out all my CDs and DVDs, jumbled them up and put them back higgeldy piggeldy...a complete mish mash with no order whatsoever. And do you know what happened...nothing...except I found some stuff to listen to that I hadn't heard in ages.

I used to be the same with putting petrol in the car, always had to be a multiple of £5...£10, bugger £10.01...£15...bugger. Now I don't even look at the pump and put in amounts like £8.37 and £17.78.

A little chaos is sometimes a good thing.