Hi, I am taking medication which has definitely helped me. I used to be much worse!
Treatment? Not so much. There's talking therapy which I attended once and was then cancelled. MH provision is woefully inadequate and OCD is not always recognised as being serious.
I do use my own techniques which are mostly mindfulness and listening to calming music on YouTube aswell as rain and thunder sounds which are surprisingly helpful.
My rituals are very annoying to me.
Everything has to have its place and I check constantly. Light switches and door handles are a bugbear of mine, I clean them constantly.
Anything glass or mirrored annoys me if not spotless and my oven top is glass and gets cleaned 20/30 times a day, as does my kitchen table. I'm looking at replying both of these to different materials.
I do not have an issue with germs and this is one of the great misconceptions of OCD, especially when watching the obsessive compulsive cleaners programmes where they bleach bleach bleach.
I don't actually use bleach apart from the toilet and have a slight addiction to Zoflora ( hence the username ) and germs per se do not bother me.
I'm definitely more of a visual person, everything has to look right, order and symmetry are very important to me.
I hardly sit down. Cannot relax. Have stopped watching television as just cannot focus on it.
Mornings are so hard.
Once ds (15) has left for school I get dd (7) up and it's horrendous trying to leave the house on time. She is late almost every day
school are aware of my OCD and I'm trying new techniques over the summer for when she returns in September.
I cannot leave the house unless the beds are made and the dishes are done.
Nothing left on the floor that doesn't belong there. It's so stupid.
I also have fibromyalgia which is a condition that causes extreme fatigue and widespread pain so often it's a case of my mind is telling me to do something and my body is telling me to rest. I'm so torn sometimes.
Thank you for responding.