I've noticed a very strange correlation.

[cjemc]

I've had a bad cold since Dec 23. Do you know that the last 4 days my retching has all but disappeared. I remember this being the case last time I had a cold sometime in 2014. It seems like I have no fear in me. The sugar cravings have also subsided somewhat. What on earth could this suggest I wonder?

[pulisa]

Your mind is focussing on your cold symptoms instead of the retching?

[cjemc]

Your mind is focussing on your cold symptoms instead of the retching?

Could well be. What would that indicate? OCD?

[.Poppy.]

Could well be. What would that indicate? OCD?

IMO, it signifies the power of distraction.

When I had terrible HA, I would be downright giddy when my monthly would come around (sorry if that's TMI) because most months I got terrible cramps. While that seems like a negative thing, in reality it was perfect - I knew what it was, so I wasn't afraid of it, and the pain distracted me from my other "symptoms" for a few days. By that time, I was usually feeling better about whatever I'd been worrying about, though of course I just moved onto something else.

[uru]

I had the same thing with throat issues.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Could well be. What would that indicate? OCD?

Nope, that's not OCD.

When I relapsed completely I picked up a cold the week after I went off work. I felt much calmer. The cold went, the anxiety spiked back up to where it was before and off down the doctor's I went.

Oosh has said he finds the same but it should be noted that many on here say the opposite but I have noticed at least some I can remember are HA people and they have additional issues to cope with in that scenario as pulisa will tell you.

Colds just reduce anxiety for some of us and this means less symptoms. I can tell you that in a number of us OCDers on here we have noticed that our overall anxiety levels dictate whether our OCD increases in intensity. When this level reduces, so do the intrusive thoughts, the compulsions, the overall strength of it, etc.

So, it doesn't prove OCD eitherway, it still remains a possibility but like I've said to you many times, I'm not sold on OCD as there are other possibilities in mental health disorders and you need to get beyond the ignorance of the untrained GP and into a specialist.