Do I have OCD?

[MummikinsOopNorth]

Every day before I leave the house, I have to repeatedly check if i've closed the fridge door, the oven is off, and if all the taps are off and lights are off. Once i'm out the door, I have to check several times to make sure i've locked it.

This doesn't just happen once, but it takes me about 20 minutes to do all of this. I don't just check the once, but loads of times and it makes me upset and I am so hot and stressed by time I am going to work, or whereever i'm going, that on my days off, I prefer to stay home so I don't have to do all this.

Does anyone else does this, and if so, how do you cope?

Yes, I'm afraid you probably do. Are you particularly stressed about anything at the moment, or have you done this sort of checking for a long time?

Doing a course of CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) on the NHS can really help with OCD. I've known friends who had really obsessive patterns of behaviour (usually when they were under a lot of stress) and it ended up owning them. Have a chat with your GP - they're usually very happy to refer you to a CBT practitioner - it works (as long as you do the homework!) and it's cheap for the NHS! Win:win. I've done CBT myself (for anxiety) and I can vouch for it.

HTH

I can second the CBT, i am having my 2nd second next week for OCD, High Aniexty, phobias and moderate deression. MY Gp was really good (unusually so) when i went 5 weeks ago to ask for help.

I do think you have OCD, the way i gauge if something is my OCS is by asking myself 'how would i feel if i didn't do these thigs' and if it would cause me to worr y and panic i ususally put it down to OCD.

My Ocd takes up about 3 hours a day i really don't want it to take any moer time so i have high hopes for CBT>

You have another advocate of CBT here! I've suffered very badly with OCD in the past and while CBT wasn't the only thing that improved life for me, it massively massively helped. I'm sorry to say, I recognise myself in your story (which probably does mean you have a level of OCD), although my major issue involved nighttime routines, which could, at worst, add about an hour onto my evenings. You should get help as soon as possible, once OCD takes over your life, it can bring you down emotionally quite quickly. I know it did me.

Have you been under stress lately?

Best of luck sweetheart. I'm adding this thread to my watchlist, so hit me up if you need to talk, I've been there :). x

You might have the rituals , but you might not actually have true OCD.
Do you get strange thoughts ?
Is it "just" checking ? or is it checking because if you dont something awful will happen if you dont?
Have you always been like this ?
Does it get worse when your stressed or anxious, or does it make you anxious?.
Do you have any "triggers" that make it worse?

CBT is good at helping .

Hello all, and thanks for your replies.
I am under stress at work and commute about 4 hours a day to my office which is the most stressful part of my day.

I check, because if I don't I do think that if I didn't, what if...my oven was on and caught fire, or...I left the iron on and it caught fire.

Also, for the past few days, for example, last night I saw some bits on the floor in my bathroom and thought that if I didn't pick them up, on this come Friday (13th!!!) something absolutely horrific will happen. What, I don't know, but the same after tea, I was so tired, I didn't want to clean away the bits and pieces til later but my mind was telling me that I had to do it or something bad would happen.

Also, if I have a full bag of rubbish from the bin, I have to put it in the wheelie bin outdoors that night just before I go up to bed (usually 11pm - 1am) and even though going outside at that time scares me to death, I still do it. It's awful :(

I work with people with OCD and yes, compulsive checking is one of the 3 most common types. Obviously I would never diagnose someone over the internet but it certainly sounds likely.

What you ideally need is a type of CBT called ERP (exposure and response prevention). It involves restraining from the checking and learning to sit with the anxiety that creates. You can do this gradually e.g reduce checks by performing 4 checks rather than 5 for a week, or by checking for 4 mins rather than 5 before going out etc. You would usually rate your anxiety levels on exposure, then again after 5 mins, then after 10 mins, then after 15 mins etc until it has come down by 50%. You move up a step when you can do that step fairly comfortably.

First thing I recommend would be a trip to the GP, they can advise what help is available in your area (where abouts are you btw?). You can manage this on your own with self-help, many people do. 'Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder' by Veale and Willson is a great text, v user friendly and jargon free but if you can see a professional for guidance that would be better.

Please come back to me if you want any more info - wishing you all the best.x

I have OCD and it can be a real pain. A typical trip out can pose great delay with me.

The children have to be in the right colours so for instance if i pick a blue top for DS2 then everything down to his pants and socks must be the same colour or coordinating.

When i get to the door before going out, I check i have everything, I then check before i close the door and then again once i have closed it, and again when i get tp the corner of my road.

But my worst thing is bedtime. I have to wear matching pjs and so do the boys or i panic terribly that something bad will happen don't ask me what but I am certain it will.

I have an appt with my gp for next week.

Jaceybee what are the other types?

People often joke with me that I have OCD as I can't stand my hands being dirty and I literally sit cringing when DS is getting all mucky at toddler group (I'm trying not to pass my dirt thing on to him). Everyone always notices and jokes "oh is your OCD kicking in" (I don't get offended by it).

I also have to have the volume on an even number, or 5 as thats in the middle. If it is an odd number I can't think of anything else until I have changed it. I don't like certain things being out of place, fridge magnets etc and it drives me up the wall when people think it is funny to move things. I don't think bad things will happen though if I don't do these things, its just that I can't think of anything else until I have 'fixed' it.

I do have unwanted thoughts about bad things happening, mainly to DS to the point where I am imagining his funeral and I start crying and find it hard to stop thinking about it then feel awful and wondering why I am thinking such horrible things and by me thinking them, then it could happen.

I am careful to check things are shut locked and have to make a concious (sp) effort to check but it doesn't take me hours or anything like the people above. I do check it a couple of times though, just in case I missed it the first time. Things like the cooker etc, what if there was a fire?

People joke (and have done for years) about me having OCD but I'm just not sure that it is. I have done the straight line thing and having things in perfect places since I was young though and would line up toys/make up etc until it was in the perfect place.

hi, it does sound like OCD to me - I'm the same, I check all electrical things are off 3 times as well as all the nobs on the cooker and checking the door is locked in multiples of three. I can't be much help because i still do it now. I started after a number of deaths in my family when i was 9 and it definiftly gets worse when I'm stressed.
the only thing i've found that helps is my dp has a rule now that i can only check things once, then he'll go round before we goto bed just once.
I think going to your gp is a very good idea and i've heard brilliant things about CBT, hope you're ok, sorry i wasn't more helpful¬

Detective Potato, you've just described a lot of what I do. I never thought of myself as having OCD, but I definitely have anxiety issues (on citalopram for it which definitely helps)

I really know what you mean about the bad thoughs/something happening to DS. It's like I can't stop myself thinking about [shudder]

Its horrible isn't it! I'm convinced that me thinking them will make it happen so I try and stop but once I've started I find it really hard not to carry on. Grrrrr.

I would also say I am probably a pretty anxious person too.

It's got noticeably worse since I lowered my AD dose, so I know it's not real, I know it's irrational, and I know I can handle it if that makes sense.

I'm glad it's not just me, my friends think I'm 'loopy'

I also do this :( however I dont spend 20 mins doing it I just check it a couple of times and if im in bed and have forgot to check I will get up and check its crazy I always do it with the door aswell,the cooker, the fridge, my straighteners everything.
It doesnt really affect my life so I havent done anything about it yet I just hope eventually i'll stop.:)

My ds has very high anxiety levels. The therapy that he is receiving is similar to what Jacybee describes. Trying to decrease or increase exposure depending of whether he repeats or avoids doing something.

I have OCD but luckily it doesn't impact on daily life as I can control it, and have had CBT which helped enormously.
DD is 13 and has it badly- again CBT has helped but she has bad days- we went to the dr's this morning as she was having problems breathing. It's nothing physical- she is woorrying about going back to school and seeing an exfriend who has been callying her names.

Detective Potato - the 3 main types are compulsive checking, compulsive cleaning/handwashing and compulsive mental rituals which are usually done in response to disturbing intrusive thoughts.

There are also a few subtypes, there is debate among mental health professionals about exactly which disorders are OCD spectrum disorders but definitely things like compusive hoarding, ordering (lining things up etc) and possibly skin-picking/trichotillomania, Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

Basically, we all have 'quirks' like liking things all facing a certain way or having to check things before we leave the house or even stuff like touching wood but these things in themselves don't mean someone has ocd.

Re the picturing your dcs dying and going to their funerals, I used to do that when mine were little (still do sometimes) and it was awful but I wouldn't say pathological iyswim. What we call 'magical thinking' means thinking that we can cause/prevent something happening just by thinking about it. Again, it's not necesarily a huge problem as we all do this to an extent from time to time. The therapists who trained me got us all to write down 'I wish X (dh/dm/dc whoever) would die in an horrific car accident' or 'I wish X would contract a terminal illness' and sign it. Unsurprisingly not everyone would do this!

If it doesn't particularly affect your life then I would say don't worry about it, we all do/think weird stuff sometimes.

But if it is causing you distress and interfering with daily life then it might be worth getting some help with it. There is a self-assessment questionnaire on the website OCD Action which might be a good place to start www.ocdaction.org.uk/support-info/do-i-have-ocd/

Thanks for that. I took the test and I scored 11/20 so I probably don't have it. At least I can tell that to people who keep saying I do!

I also got 11/20 on the 1st part and 0/20 on the second so I dont have OCD .

Sometimes I worry that I have it too, but whenever I have done a test like this it says I haven't - also reading through the list of things, it makes me realise what hellish things other people go though :(

I think I'm just very tidy, organised and when I am (very) stressed I get side tracked easily and can't remember if I have turned the oven off, locked the door etc and I need to check.

I think that for me, at least, it's just that I am so stressed my brain can't remember the 'ordinary' things so I have to check I have actually done them.

I really, really feel for any of you suffering from OCD, it must be really, really awful and I hope you all manage to get some help with CBT etc

I think I am just a neat freak, it really bugs me though.