OCD Thread

[ThatWomanInTheDress]

Any other OCD sufferers on here?

(I do mean proper OCD not “oh I like cleaning too”)

How are you getting on during the pandemic? Mine seems to have really ramped up recently (covid masks and breathing obsessions).

We used to have a really long running OCD thread on here for support anyone still around?

Yes, OCD sufferer here. Mine is focussed on contamination that will cause vomit but stretches way further than that. There are so many different strands in my brain that I have built up over the years.
I feel the need to have control over everything health wise so whenever anyone is slightly off it triggers me massively.
I've often been compared to a Meerkat, constantly on the look out for danger.
I literally can never relax and it's exhausting.

It is so exhausting isn’t it, I’m in a bad patch at the moment when logically I know that I’ve been through good years and bad years.

Contamination obsessions are so common but so insidious. Have you done any work to get past them or are you just coping at the moment?

My ds 12 has developed really bad checking OCD during this lockdown and don’t know how to help him 😔

Yes! Hello! “Pure” OCD here - intrusive thoughts. I’ve had it about 20 years. Managing okay, but very very anxious that I may catch OCD and give it to someone else. My OCD tends to surround a strong element of responsibility, so this makes sense. I also feel quite uncomfortable around other people and staying home a lot has made that very difficult as it’s now my norm. It’s been too easy during the lockdowns to essentially avoid all triggers so now they feel much more frightening. Lots of ERP to do once we are freed!

@keepingmindful, so many teens suffering with their mental health at the moment. I would absolutely advise finding a private therapist and getting him some help ASAP. NHS waiting lists for teenagers are huge.

@Wink182 good that you’ve got to the root of yours. Mine is kind of the same, not wanting to let people down or disappoint people. So bloody exhausting

I have OCD, as a kid it was counting and an obsession with all my possessions being perfect, as a teen it was intrusive thoughts and that went on and got worse through adulthood. It’s actually been fine for the past year but that coincides with me being put on quetiapine. It’s all come back now though because I’ve had shallow breathing and chest pains for the past week (I’ve started another thread about this asking if people had covid with only these symptoms). I recently quit smoking and I’m convinced I’ve got lung cancer. I feel like I have an unshakeable intuition, that it’s pointless continuing about my business because I’m about to die, pointless trying to enjoy things or look to the future, I turned the TV on and someone in the programme said something about cancer which I took as a ‘sign’. So I think the OCD thinking is coming back but I also feel like there is something wrong with my lungs and maybe I need to listen to these thoughts? I don’t know. Surprisingly though covid/the worry of covid itself didn’t have this effect on me

@ThatWomanInTheDress I have had all the help the NHS have to offer, and have spent thousands on therapy over the years, tried many different meds but I am just getting worse and worse. I have definitely seen a sharp decline in my mental health since having DS 7 years ago. It's so hard.

My anxiety and OCD has got worse during lockdown. Recently I felt the need to recheck some documents but had already sent them. Sounds silly I know. This has turned into something I've become really anxious about.

Has CBT helped anyone? Thanks

We had an urgent CAHMS referral for general anxiety last September and got to see someone in January through CAHMS and Healios. It was hopeless, a virtual session going through PowerPoint slides. My ds didn’t feel comfortable engaging and I stopped after 2 sessions ☹️

hey keepingmindful, I feel your pain as my 19 year old has too.

DS now has OCD re kitchen hygiene and it's getting worse and worse with each day.

I think it might be anxiety transference; he's worried about Covid but can't do anything about that (because he's not a scientist who can invent a cure-all vaccine) so he's transferred his anxiety to the kitchen hygiene as he feels that he can do something about that (not by him cleaning but instead by insisting that we all follow over the top rules re what we can and can't touch, where things can be placed, when we need to wash our hands etc).

May I ask what form your DS's OCD is taking? Is he aware himself that his behaviour is OCD?

Mine is awful at the moment!
My hands are so sore but I just can't stop it!
Ahhh it's exhausting

oohmama, I'm sorry that you're going through this . Are you able to get any help?

Do you insist the people you live with wash their hands constantly too?

Hello. May I join?

I posted a thread the other day about my worsening MH. Some lovely Mn'ers made me see I should not continue to suffer as I have been. One pointed out that she thought I may have OCD. After a chat with my GP he suggested likewise though I presume I've not been formally diagnosed.

Mine presents as intrusive thoughts/behaviours which I can see are irrational but I cannot seem to stop them. I've had these around my job (which I've had to leave) for a long time (escalated I believe by trauma) and now, it's a fear of catching Covid. I thought I 'just' had anxiety. The meerkat analogy alwaysscared posted really rings true, particularly so in my work environment.

My GP has started me on medication (day 3 today) and I've self referred for CBT.

I feel quite alone with all this in RL.

for others having a difficult time of it.

hey polelynn, know that you are not alone here and I am sure many mumsnetters who are in the same boat will offer support. I myself don't have any OCD but I am on a very steep learning curve because of DS and will support you and others in any way I can.

I realise now that DS fits well with the Meerkat analogy. Doors have to be locked shut, as a passenger, constantly pointing out things to the driver etc.

Sadly, DS thinks that there is absolutely nothing wrong with him so will not accept any help that's been offered

You’re absolutely not alone with intrusive thoughts I’ve had so many for years which come and go:

What if I drive into someone on purpose
What if I suddenly start screaming racist abuse at someone
What if I hurt one of my kids
What if I go mental and end up in hospital
What if I can’t work because I’m crazy
What if I get acrophobia
What if I
What if I

And on and on and on.

It’s exhausting

Thank you both. It is exhausting and crippling.

My job was one where I had to be on alert and things could go downhill quickly, so my 'what ifs' thrived and were reinforced in this environment. It was then my default position to see the risk in everything, though to be fair it was not the ever present, constant state it is now. It seems that through avoiding work, the fear has transferred to Covid.

@Happytodayhappytomorrow that must be hard when you can see your DS could be helped.

Happy today - I’m no expert but I think it’s unusual to have OCD and not be aware that something is wrong. I think usually you know that the compulsions are odd/not grounded in fact but the risks just feel too big. I wonder if he’s not telling you everything he’s thinking, or if perhaps there’s other things going on? Has he been formally diagnosed with OCD? Does he understand that his behaviour isn’t normal?

Hope you don’t mind me asking

Thank you Happy. My son is checking doors and windows, like you I suspect that he sees this as taking control of keeping himself and his family safe at a time of a threat, e.g covid. He was anxious generally previously but it’s turned into ocd during this lockdown. I’m worried about tomorrow morning and whether he will get out to school on time.

Happy, my son has accepted that he has OCD but we are nowhere close to getting it more manageable. He has little sisters who offered to make him a list so he can know which doors he has checked so he doesn’t check them again, bless, but it’s affecting the whole family as he is uptight, nervy and slightly manic :(

It's interesting that you say that Wink182 as I've been thinking that perhaps OCD is the wrong title/description/tag/diagnosis. And it's purely my description, nothing official.

He doesn't himself constantly clean the kitchen for example, he just shouts at me/kicks off if I do something that he deems to be unhygienic.

Keepingmindful, it's hard for siblings isn't it? DD is supposed to be studying for exams but spends so much time researching DS's behaviour to see how she can help him

That Woman, it does sound very exhausting and sending a big hug. My DS has been saying that he finds it exhausting and your wouldn’t want to me’. I asked him what would happen if he didn’t check things and he said that he could never do that..

Happy - it may be that he has OCD and something else, or it could just be a slightly atypical OCD, I’m not saying he doesn’t have it, just that I think it’s unusual. Maybe he does know it’s not normal to feel that way but he’s not come to terms with it yet. The problem with most OCD thoughts are that there is a grain of truth at the heart which can make the whole thing feel real. Like you could get food poisoning and die from an unclean kitchen, but it’s very VERY unlikely.

Does anyone have any strategies for quieting the mind from the what ifs? I find it hard to deal with lapses in mine/family behaviour which I think will put me at risk.

It's easier said than done but I try to take things one day at a time.

I recognise that what I am stressing about today might not bother me next week.