OCD ?

[anneasquith]

do you suffer from ocd. what impact does it have on your day to day life ? if you dont know the meaning of these words you probably dont have it,. NB QUAD, we dont need a diagnosis thanks .

[tamirra]

Yes i suffer, i used to be very bad, well i think i was, when my kids were younger i used to get them to crawel along the floor on there knees if i had washed the floor, if i had cleaned my bathroom and they used the toilet they couldnt wash there hands in the bathroom they had to use the kitchen, then i had to bleach everywhere afterwards, if i visited someone elses toilet and there taps were not shiney i ahad to clean them before i left the bathroom, i have self taught myself not to do certain things, but even today you can only haver a bath in the evening not in the morning, we had an en-suite added to our bedroom but nobody is allowed to use it as it will get dirty, i have to clean my house everyday from top to bottom and i cant leave the house til this is done, if i need to go out early and its not done i worry about it all day and has to do it when i return, ive tried very hard to get where i am today and i am proud of myself. x

[hellywelly4]

Have you seen the doctor, Tamirra, because there is a lot of help available these days. Not like a few years ago. Well done for managing to stop yourself doing some of the things. No-one who hasn't experienced it can understand what it's like. It takes over your mind and you can't think of anything else. Try the OCD website too, they are really dedicated to help people like 'us'.

[tamirra]

How does yours affect your life Helly?

[hellywelly4]

I have to touch things in a certain order. If I don't I think that something awful will happen to one of my family. It used to be that I feared I would die, and the rituals I went through when I went to bed - it was awful. I do manage to overcome it if I'm not too tired, at least most of the time, but sometimes I have to go back and touch whatever I needed to do, otherwise I can't settle until I've done it. I've heard it called 'Magic thinking', and I think we take responsibility for stopping dreadful things, and that what we do stops them happening. It seems to happen to all sorts of people. I was lucky, I didn't have your cleaning type of OCD, in fact I'm sometimes too much the other way!! I think you have been very brave to put your problem on Answerbank. I'm not being patronising, it is such a difficult problem to admit to.

[tamirra]

Hi, i dont mind admitting to the problem, but what i do know is that i wouldnt want help recovering from it, i cant imagain my life not being like it and i would rather be like this than the opposite way, all my family think i should seek help but ive got no intentions of asking for helpm my family have got used to the way i am so they just ignore it now, there is one thing that upsets me, its where i dont like my little grandson coming here very often as he makes a mess of my house and moves things from where they are meant to be, and it stresses me out so much i end up shouting at him which i hate doing, also it annoys me when people move my coasters on the coffee table, they have to be a certain distance away from the corner of the table and at a certain angle, and this has to be corrected before i can go to bed, so do the cushions have to be plumped up, god i sound mental dont i??

[hellywelly4]

It's easy to give advice, but difficult to take it. I just wonder if you are subconsciously using the OCD as some form of defence, but what do I know, I'm not a doctor. My great delights are my grandchildren, and it's such a shame your problem stops you enjoying your little boy. There's no reason, if you did decide to get help, that you would go to the other extreme, and I feel your life would be so much better. You must come to such a decision in your own time. Please know that you can get better. I'm trying so hard not to preach to you, I hope you will take my comments in the spirit they are intended. I wish you well.

[anneasquith]

for all you abers who answered my question... and gave such intimate and accurate accounts,,, thank you very much, i admire you all for your honesty.........mi have only one piece of advice. i believe tiredness can make your OCD worse.now im away to straighten my cans of beans ..