Haven't been around in awhile. Been trying to get things situated in my life. GUess that's what we all are trying to do. Anyhow, lately, I've been having this problem. It seems small, but it's progressing. I have this thing whenever I eat food that other people make, eat off of a dish that someone else has washed other than myself, or just anything to do with hygiene, even down to eating or drinking off of someone else, it really is grossing me out. My room is a pig sty, yet I am this way? It's beginning to literally feel like I have a phobia for this kind of stuff or something. Is this related? Should I have this checked out? I was like this when I was 16-17 and then I stopped it and now it's back again. I try not to let it bother me, but I get the same feeling with this stuff as I do when I see a cock roach or a bug or something.....*shivers*:(

hey there,
i kinda have same problem im funny with my food. i gotta cook all the time and serve my own food. rarely my b/f cooks an if he does i gotta watch him. also when i was a kid i washed my hands alot but mum got me over that b4 i got worse. then i was ok up untill living on my own and ive started with food. i too never keep my room clean. i also like to keep the junk mail till ive read it all, i know its wierd but i feel like ill miss out on something!! i dunno it might be ocd maybe i should tell the doc but i try not to let it bother me sometimes its worse then other days. maybe just tell the doc see what he says. goodluck :)

My best friend in high school (and once roommate) is an utter slob, but terribly OCD. She had/has the same issues with food. Clutter and dirt are different things, and her fears are mostly other kinds of contamination (cleaning products, pesticides, etc.).

But it's only OCD if it's extreme & keeps you from functioning. How bad is it?

mine isnt too bad, when i was a kid the washing hands and the fear of germs was bad but im ok now. i think u just need someone to watch over u and tell u to STOP when they see u doing it, thats how i got over it as a kid my mum did that and told me over and over that there were no germs and stuff. i watched a program on tv bout it too and a lady was really worried about eating with her hads coz of germs and always washing her hands and the doc put his hands in the toilets and licked them to prove to her she was going to be ok and that there are germs but not enough to make u die from eating with ur hands and stuff. she was then on her way to getting better. very interesting show. ive also got ADD so that could be why i have trouble cleaning....:P

I struggle with OCD too. Mine is different though - I'm not afraid of germs, I'm afraid of effecting my future. Sounds strange, I know, but it's like in Star Trek, how they have shows on all those alternate realities, my mind thinks that I can sway the direction my life will take by simple movements, for instance, to keep my life from changing course; I would have to place cup handles all in the same direction in the cupboard, while showering if I'd spin around one way I'd have to "unwind" myself by spinning back, making sure I was on an "expell" breath instead of an "intake" breath when I read words like "cancer" or "death" for fear of bringing them into my life...sucking them in I guess. Anyway, when I'm deeply entrenched in my OCD, if I don't "right" the "wrongs" immediately I am washed over with an intense feeling of doom and fear. A fear that I have stepped off the path I was on and have gotten onto an even worse one, one where terrible things happen. Deep rooted superstition I guess, although where it came from I'll never know. Do you think that's where superstitions come from? An OCD person stepped on a crack, then goes home to find his mother had broken her back - he links one with the other, and fears cracks from that day forward?
I read an article once about future shock, and how there are those people who thrive in modern society, and those who don't. The ones who thrive easily make connections, they are able to see the connection between all things, i.e. nature, mankind, earth, the universe. The author gave an example of eating a new food, say you've never had a tangerine and then ate one, and 2 days later your face breaks out in fire-red, angry pustules. The "thrivers" will make the connection with the tangerine quickly, within a day. Then there are those that it will take weeks, months or years to make the connection. And there are those that never will. I'm one of those. He said my type (a non-thriver) will attribute occurences to other-worldly things. Superstitions, religious punishments, mystical phenomenons. Hence, the OCD traits of touching walls 3 times as they're passed, unnatural fear of germs, having to have items arranged "just so".
I think "old wives tales" must be attributed to this behavior also, and the odd superstitious behaviors we've seen in history - slaughtering animals to "appease" the gods, getting newly purchased houses "blessed" by priests to run out any ghosts that may be lurking. You see it in modern times as well - people have their "lucky shirts" etc.
So, it seems to me to be an ingrained trait of humankind, must be there for some self-protection reason, but it's gone awry in some of us. We're looking for a way to gain control of our lives as we feel we're not in the driver's seat, just free-falling off a cliff, bouncing off the rocks on our way down. Why, I even went through the house once and threw away all of my husband's belongings that would be frowned upon by intense Christians - tarot cards, a necklace of his that had a crystal charm hanging from it, a book of gods, etc. in hopes of putting my life back on track and getting in God's good graces. I was getting slammed again and again by life without even a chance to catch my breath. Not knowing why, but thinking I must have been somehow responsible, I searched for the reason that ill fate had befallen me. I thought I was being punished and didn't know why.
I used to have no problem reading my horoscope. It always seemed to not apply to me and I didn't take it seriously. Then one morning I read my horoscope (it was a bland one) and I had a TERRIBLE day. I attributed it to reading the horoscope and have never read one since. Ingrained instanly. Fear will do that to you. Panic will do that to you. Wanting to NEVER have a day like that again will do that to you.
I also OCD on cleaning sometimes. Like I'll get stuck spending hours on shining a teapot when the rest of the house is in chaos, but that has nothing to do with fear or life paths, it's just getting "stuck" in doing something, almost like falling into a trance, or the need to reach perfection.
BUT, when I was put on Lexapro for anxiety, I was very surprised to find that my OCD simply disappeared. I wasn't expecting it at all, but it vanished.
I'm not on meds anymore and of all of them I took (including 200 mgs Adderall daily) I miss the effects of Lexapro the most. You might ask your doctor about help with your OCD. It can come in phases (I think it depends on your stress level in your life at the time), and it can show itself in different ways at different times.
Phobias and OCD are kind of intermingled with me. Is OCD a phobia grown far out of proportion?
I had ONE experience, when I was little. I don't even remember it, my gram told me about it. My dad opened the door to a tiny building, the ceiling was COVERED in moths and they all came flying out when he opened it. I've been told I freaked totally out and have had a crazy fear of moths ever since. I scream and run when I see them. I have a panic attack. People around me have to get the moth for me or I can't regain function. I am absolutely out of my mind with fear. One incident (that I was so young during I can't even remember!). Instantly and permanently ingrained into a phobia. The self-preservation instinct gone haywire.

I don't experience OCD in the same way as chamelion. OCD seems to affect different people in subtly different ways.

OCD is an anxiety disorder in much the same way that a panic attack is also an anxiety disorder.

For me anxiety really brings out my ocd. I check things. I check them over and over, and I have to struggle to stop. Sometimes I just get a very tense, feeling and I feel like I am going a million miles an hour and I just wish it could stop. I wish to god it would stop, and I wish some more that someone would please, come make it stop. It does not stop until it runs it's course or I get distracted enough for it to end. Sometimes I just get very vivid images of ideas or possible events in my mind. They bother me because I get stuck on them and I wish they would go away, but I can't seem to do it. It might take a while for them to go away on their own. Stress makes it worse and it can be rather unpleasant. When I talk, If I am very, very stressed I sometimes get stuck on the last few words in a sentence, and I might repeat it several times until I get it right.
There is nothing I can do about it. When I get stuck, I am really stuck.

That is OCD. You are fully aware that you have both an obsession and a compulsion that you can not control. When you get stuck in a loop it is particularly horrid, but for me that is very infrequent as my ocd appears to be mild.... so I usually end up checking things a lot and being overly fussy about details.


Me :D

I seem to have a lot of those things in common, just in different ways. I realize now that I do notice a HUGE difference when I am under a lot of stress. The funny thing is though, it's hard for me to recognize when I am under stress as I am a people pleaser in my career and I work long hours. If that makes sense. But any how, I do notice that the patterns are more when I am tired. I also feel anxiety a lot. My mom takes lorazepam for that and I hope that I do not have that. It's really hard for me to gain the "want" to take medication.

OCD is all about anxiety. That is why it is some times referred to as; "the silent scream".

Me :D