The other day, I was thinking about the various symptoms I\’ve had during my years with OCD. It almost seems like my brain dined at the OCD smorgasbord. I list them here because, while some are obviously common, others I\’m not so sure about and I\’d like to know if anyone can idenify with some of the more unusual ones. It\’s late so I\’m not going to bother with anything other than a basic list of obsessions and compulsions (rather than categorizing them or explaining them).
Fear of germs
Fear of certain people or certain types of people
Fear of being taken away from my family or my family taken away from me (including a fear of imposters– perhaps Capgra\’s Syndrome)
Worrying that I\’ve run someone over while driving because of a bump in the road (followed by checking)
Worrying about leaving the lights on, leaving the door unlocked, leaving the stove on (followed by checking)
Avoiding stepping on sidewalk cracks and walking under ladders
Avoiding government buildings (post office, courthouse, police station, etc.)
Hair pulling
Skin picking
Knuckle cracking ritual
Swallowing ritual
Touching things repeatedly, a certain number of times, while having certain "good" images in mind
Writing and erasing over and over while having certain "good" images in mind
Going through doorways repeatedly (while thinking "good" images, too)
Mental numeric patternss
Magic numbers
Repeating words or phrases over and over
Repeatedly checking answers on tests
Bringing "good" mental images into mind to combat the "bad" ones
Having to think "good" images while doing certain things (going through doorways, touching something, etc.)
Counting number of steps taken, number of breaths taken, number of times blinked, etc.
Hyperawareness of respiration and hearbeat (including being aware of "even-ness" or "oddness" of breath or beat)
Excessive worry and guilt ("haunted" feeling) regarding past events
I should mention that I don\’t struggle with all of these things anymore. Remnants of some of them still linger, but my symptoms are mostly internal now. I\’ve probably failed to list some things, but I\’ll have to add them later. I\’d be interested in hearing about the symptoms and experiences of others.
snap…..lol 🙂
rest assured that you\’re definitely not the only one with these problems. even compiling such a list is a typical symptom![\"\"](\"/images/smile/emo/001_smile.gif\")
xxxx
The crazy thing is when I was diagnosed with OCD last month, I thought yeah right. I don\’t have this. The only thing I was obsessed with was checking to make sure the door is locked at night which usually took up 20 minutes of my time, checking the stove which took up 20 minutes of my time. And I never go out to eat at resturants. I worry if the food is cooked well enough and if I am going to get sick. But when I went on here, and I saw what other people suffer from, I realized things I do, that I thought was normal is not. Like the skin picking, worrying about the curling iron being left on, checking my alarm clock exactly 20 times to make sure it is set and set for the right time……And the list goes on and on….So I am hoping it will get better. Bad thing for me is my family does not understand at all. They get mad at me and tell me that it is all in my head and I need to stop. My husband yells at me thinking that will scare me to stop wanting to do these things. Little does he know, I wait until he falls asleep and then I get up and do all my rituals. Or else I would never falls asleep. It sounds like you have gotten better from what I read….I hope I can do the same.