I think I might have OCD

[sunshineinthenorth]

Hoping that someone can give me some good advice and possibly help me to figure out if what I'm experiencing sounds like OCD. I won't drip feed, so here are the symptoms that concern me.

1. Smells. I'm absolutely obsessed with making sure that my clothes and hair do not smell of cooking/smoke/other odours. It started when I lived in a studio flat and I stopped frying things because I was concerned that my clothes in the wardrobe were starting to smell of oil. I then moved into a house and stopped drying/keeping clothes and coats downstairs, and its slowly got worse. I now put all clothing in our bedroom and when DH cooked a curry the other day, I had a proper panic about him boiling spices in the house, and starting trying to block the door of the room with blankets to keep the smell out. If I've stood in the kitchen when cooking anything with a remotely pungent smell (meat, eggs, pasta sauce) I will wash my hair that evening, even if it doesn't need doing otherwise.

2. Checking. This doesn't affect me in the 'locked doors' way but I constantly check things I've copied down, booked the right date for travel, the platform of my train etc. I'll do it over and over (5 times) until I get frustrated. I'll also do things like re-read emails again and again to check I've not misread them. To feel fully better I have to ask someone else to check too.

3. I dwell. I go over conversations in my head and I always think I've done something wrong even when logically I haven't. I also can't sleep at night without a podcast on because if I have silence I start thinking about all the trivial embarrassing things I've done over and over again.

Now writing it down it does seem like I'm creeping towards OCD, but I don't have conventional symptoms, germ phobia, organisational patterns, counting. However if I was asked do I put these obsessions first over things then it would be yes. For example I won't eat certain things now because the worry about the smell isn't worth it, and I avoid booking travel because I hate the constant checking of dates, times, platforms etc.

Can anyone help :(

I don't know a lot about OCD, but I know that there are different types not just cleaning etc.

The best person to ask would be your GP you could print out your post to take with you.

Your GP is the first person who can help you OP.
Make an appointment as soon as you can otherwise you will not get the support you need. MN is fab but they are not real life support which is what you need first.

Do you think the GP will do anything? I don't want to be a time waster and I think it sounds a bit silly, especially the smell thing as it's totally irrational

I wouldnt say you are a time waster.

It is clearly bothering you as you have posted about it so I think that is a good enough reason to chat to your GP.

I could have wrote this post! Definitely worth speaking to your GP.

Just wondering if this is social anxiety?
There is an NHS page on it if you Google- was trying to post a link but failed.
Sorry.

Definately appropriate to talk to your GP about, its obviously bothering you, and is something that is causing am impact on your life. If it is OCD there are treatments that can help, so it's definately worth looking into.

booellesmum I don't think it's social anxiety, I'm quite confident and I'm not shy, I just get paranoid after the fact that I've offended someone or they are ignoring me if they don't text back etc. I think this particular behaviour is more anxiety related but according to the NHS website dwelling is a common symptom of OCD as well

I have a diagnosis of OCD and the checking things, asking for reassurance, and feeling that you have no choice in doing something that other people might think was odd/OTT are all very familiar. I do have problems with numbers/counting, organisation/order and intrusive thoughts of self harm/harming others though as well. I think the diagnostic criteria was if these thoughts are distressing or if behaviours take up more than an hour a day. I think most people will have some obsessive and/or compulsive traits - I don't personally have a problem with the phrase 'a little bit OCD' - it's how much of a problem those thoughts/behaviours are for you which makes it a disorder or not.

Talking to your GP would be a good start - options they might suggest could be referral to a psychiatric assessment service, medication (antidepressant) or referral for CBT. You can self-refer for CBT through your local IAPT service as well, without having to see your GP first.

What Anxious said!
I have an OCD diagnosis and it's diagnosed not by the presence of obsessions and/or compulsions but by the time taken up, whether other people are impacted (i.e. to give reassurance) and crucially by the amount of distress caused.

I would talk to your GP. CBT is very effective, especially with physical compulsions/checking. I have intrusive thoughts and thought compulsions to counter the intrusive ones, and CBT and medication have worked wonders.

hey how did you manage to get over your smell ocd?

suffering from the same issue right now, i'm indian so curry is cooked everyday at my house but cant stand the smell. bought diffusers, air purifiers, incense you name it :(