Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

[NickN3ro]

Anyone else seem to have this along with their AS? I feel it I cant have random people touch me, I have to keep my car a certain way, if theres something on the wall sideways I have to fix it the list goes on what kind of issues cant you get past?

 

[IdahoRose]

I used to have OCD really bad. I needed medication for it. Here's a list of compulsive behaviors I used to do:

- Handwashing. I never counted how many times I washed during the day, but it was enough to make my hands chap up, crack and bleed. Sometimes I even went back to wash them 2 or 3 times in a row if I did something like dry my hands with the wrong towel. I was a master at using my elbows to manipulate door handles.

- Changing clothes. Every night before I got into bed, my pajamas had to be free of any kind of germs. Basically if anything besides the bedsheets and my skin touched them, I had to change. Sometimes I changed so often that I ran out of PJs and had to sleep in my underwear.

- Aversion to chemicals. I couldn't go anywhere near bleach, laundry detergent or fabric fresheners (like Febreeze). That was because I had an intense fear of accidentally getting poisoned.

- Refusing to swallow my own saliva. At one point I thought that my saliva was contaminated by the air I breathed, so instead of swallowing it, I kept going to the trash can and spitting it out.

- Hoarding. When I was in junior high, I hoarded every paper I'd gotten at school, as well as every drawing I'd done. I stuffed them all in a cabinet. When my mom finally got me to clean it out, it filled up 10 garbage bags.

I've been on medication for about 5 or 6 years now, and now my OCD is but a distant memory. In fact, I'm the opposite; germs and chemicals don't frighten me at all, and I'm a total slob.

 

[Droopy]

- Handwashing. I never counted how many times I washed during the day, but it was enough to make my hands chap up, crack and bleed. Sometimes I even went back to wash them 2 or 3 times in a row if I did something like dry my hands with the wrong towel. I was a master at using my elbows to manipulate door handles.

- Hoarding. When I was in junior high, I hoarded every paper I'd gotten at school, as well as every drawing I'd done. I stuffed them all in a cabinet. When my mom finally got me to clean it out, it filled up 10 garbage bags.

Join the club.

 

[IdahoRose]

Join the club.

Where do I sign up? xD

 

[NickN3ro]

Ive been watching the OCD project so its been making me think

 

[IdahoRose]

Ive been watching the OCD project so its been making me think

Think? About what?

 

[Geordie]

I'm in the OCD. I will never stop doing something until I am forcibly forced to stop doing what I am doing, like washing my hands and so on...

 

[Kempy]

I'm not that bad, but if I do something with one hand, I HAVE to do it with the other to balance it. I don't even know why I do it. Also, if I walk to college and I pass a lamppost, I have to pass the lamppost on the same side when I walk home. It's like I've got a piece of string attached to me and I have to re-trace my steps exactly to stop it from tangling. I also don't step on drains, especially if there are 3 or more in a row. Also, if somebody I'm with walks round one side of a bollard, I feed I have to follow them the same way. This sometimes means I have to go back to the bollard.
Come to think of it, I am quite bad!

 

[Geordie]

Perhaps these things really make you feel better, to calm you down... :dream:

 

[katcha]

I've not been diagnosed with OCD, so I can't officially join the club.

I refuse to touch dishwasher, bleach and other such chemicals. I know it won't logically happen, but I have this fear that they will wash away all the good things my bodies needs and I'll end up getting ill.

When I was younger I used to refuse to wash myself as well, and refused to touch shower-gel, although forcing myself to do it enough times has taken this behaviour away.

I feel like something bad is going to happen if doors are left open, curtains are left open or windows are left open. I mostly ignore this feeling out in the world, although when I am at home I do go around shutting everything.

I also have a thing about the placement of objects. I'm not so much concerned with cleanliness, but more so objects being perpendicular, straight, etc. I also have an issue with clutter, feeling the need to remove from sight anything I deem to be clutter.

 

[Pinky]

i have OCD aswell.

 

[CJinherPJs]

When I was 9 I became obsessed with germs, and I used to:

• Wash my hands until they cracked and bled
• Smuggle disinfectant and sterile wipes up to my bedroom to get rid of any germs I thought people had left up there
• Refuse to eat with the same cutlery as the rest of my family, I had my own set due to my fear of germs and becoming ill
• Refuse to touch door handles and TV remotes
• Change my clothes every few hours because I thought they were contaminated
• Cover myself with deodorant because I managed to convince myself that I smelt, I once got through a can of Adidas bodyspray in just over a day
• Brush my teeth and floss them obsessively because I hated the thought of plaque rotting them away and I was paranoid that my breath smelt

No diagnosis of OCD though.

 

[Droopy]

@CJ are you still like that or did you get better? Also, did you take any form of medication for it?

 

[CJinherPJs]

@CJ are you still like that or did you get better? Also, did you take any form of medication for it?

I'm a lot better now actually. I still get the urge to wash my hands sometimes but I'm nowhere near as obsessive as I was. And no, I've never been on medication for it. I just outgrew the worst of it, I guess. It probably was OCD though, I think.

 

[Droopy]

I'm a lot better now actually. I still get the urge to wash my hands sometimes but I'm nowhere near as obsessive as I was. And no, I've never been on medication for it. I just outgrew the worst of it, I guess. It probably was OCD though, I think.

That's good that you're a lot better now. I actually have a similar thing with germs but not on the same severity scale as yours once was. I did take medication for it, which helped a lot, but I went off the medication as I generally hate taking tablets. Now though, I'm not as bad as I was years ago.

 

[Droopy]

I was at a meeting on Wednesday, which was mainly about my Aspergers Syndrome and getting a job. I had to attend as I'm currently on benefit since I have no job and the person just wanted to confirm that I actually had Aspergers. My Obsessive Compulsive Disorder was brought up and she suggested that I take medication for it.

It got me thinking about whether I should or not. I had been put on medication before by my psychologist and it did seem to work for the short time that I was on it. I can't remember why I stopped taking it. Anyway, I was briefly reading the OCD article on Wikipedia and how the medications work. To be honest, I don't particularly like the thought of what it does.

 

[jaws]

- Hoarding. When I was in junior high, I hoarded every paper I'd gotten at school, as well as every drawing I'd done. I stuffed them all in a cabinet. When my mom finally got me to clean it out, it filled up 10 garbage bags.

:-O WHAT! That's considered hoarding? I still have all my projects, reports, etc. from preschool through college. I keep them in file boxes and have actually found them quite useful..have just updated certain reports I've written in previous grades for college reports, or have gone back to certain presentations for things I've need at work and enjoy flipping through all my old art work to see my progression in skill.

I too use to be a hand-washer in my early years...I would use wipes to clean my hands after each bite of food at meals and really did not like getting dirty. That stopped on it's own around age 8 or 9.

While I do not consider myself to have OCD, I am picky about certain things...like; how the dishes are stacked, where kitchen appliances are kept, and things of the sort. I find it just makes more sense to me to have certain things "in their place". However, I feel it is more of something I've developed through years of trial and error, and have found the most most efficient place/order to keep things. It does not bother me if things are moved, I just find that I might stop using things that are not in the "proper place" as if they have disappeared...or I'll simply notice and move them back. I've only had a few meltdowns over it, but that is when something was moved continuously without discussion and thus, no one knew my reasoning for wanting it where it was.

Example: I like espresso, and kept my espresso maker next to the sink. I prefer it there because it is quicker to clean out and make multiple shots. My partner prefers it on the counter near the stove which is across the kitchen...I think it is messy (drips on floor when carrying dispenser head back and forth across the kitchen to clean it) and more cumbersome. It's now next to the stove and I did not feel any anxiety about it...I just get me espresso from Starbuck's now.

I guess I think of OCD as having a very stressful anxiety to it and the above example is just my aspergian need for routine, lack of flexibility, and mind blindness (as to my partner's reasoning for wanting it where he wants it). I know :toomuchinfo: thus, my nick name...Jabber Jaws.

 

[Droopy]

Has anyone successfully defeated their OCD or made it have less of an impact on them? I'm receiving learning support at the moment and the person who helps me is also going to try help me with my OCD. She is an ex-nurse, former counselor and also studied psychology (she has a degree or something in it). Anyway, she knows someone else who had severe OCD and was able to eventually help him reduce the effect it had on him. Hopefully she can help me with mine but I'm not expecting any miracles.

 

[Geordie]

Anyway, she knows someone else who had severe OCD and was able to eventually help him reduce the effect it had on him. Hopefully she can help me with mine but I'm not expecting any miracles.

It's good to have someone helping to reduce OCD - I hope me and other AC people can give you additional support, too!

Of course, we can also support other users with OCD, too

 

[alien girl]

when i was eleven and a half my parents took my brother me and my sister to a looooong trip in which we sat in the car from morning till evening, not talking and just looking out the window, no music, either. my parents wouldnt stop the car if one of the kids needed to go to the bathroom. we just had to wait.
so, they stopped at a gas station and i was sleepy, so i decided i wouldnt leave the car and use the bathroom. and then we drove and i really, really had to go, and my parents made me wait a long time till i thought i'd go crazy and couldnt take it anymore, and finally we did stop.
ever since then i have an embarrassing ocd that every night when i want to go to sleep, i have to use the bathroom every two minutes... sometimes it keeps me awake all night and sometimes just a few hours. i'm 45 and still have that damn ocd.
my cat sat on my lap once, and i swallowed my saliva because my throat felt a bit sore, so my cat got off my lap. ever since then, whenever he sat on my lap, i was so afraid i'd have to swallow and he'd get off my lap, that i'd have to swallow every few seconds and tried not to, but that was torture.
i once went on a school trip and we walked a lot. when everyone stopped walking, i had a very hard time stopping. when i was younger and had more energy, sometimes i'd start walking and not be able to stop even if i was hungry or tired. i went into a trance.
aspies are very prone to ocds. we are obssesive by nature. i also need to flap a pen between my fingers at work the whole time, so i can relax, and i flip it with the speed of lightening.
oh, i once swept my house and couldnt stop so i swept the table... ugh.