Does this sound like OCD?

[panickychick]

I have irrational fears of drinking poison, getting Cancer and having asthma and heart problems.

I have a fear of hurting others or turning into a psychopath. Sometimes if I walk and I 'think' I have wet feet I have to wipe whatever I'm standing on with my feet so to 'prevent' somebody from slipping on it.

I know that these are all stupid but something inside me tells me to do them anyway.

I think these are OCD symptoms, does anyone agree with me? [Ugh]

Proper Bo!

Edited because I just couldn't spell this time. [8)]

[paul]

hello there ,its sound st ome like ocd,i myself have it.

you may already know this ,but ocd comes in different forms ,to do with repeated rituals to pure obbsessions,its sounds like its intrusive thoughts that bother you (im like that tooo ,i have to do this or that will happen,plus contamination issues).

again its just my opinion so try not to be alarmed,i myself was suprised to find out that it was a recognised condition !

good news is that it can be treated ,ive had some success in the past,but its tough though but posssible.you made a good point about even though we know its irrational ,we still go through with it

some advice to you would be to find out more about ocd,the nature of it etc,believe it helps.

good luck with it anyway

[panickychick]

Thank you.

I myself knew about OCD and when I realised I might have had symptoms, I decided to find out more about it and decided to post here to read sufferer's opinions.

Good luck to you too and thanks for the help.

Proper Bo!

[Laurie28]

OCD I'm not sure !!

Anxiety def yes!!!

I would say the fears are definetly anxiety - OCD to me is more rituals ie obsessive cleaning - having to do things a certain amount of times or something will happen -

Fear of hurting others etc is anxiety as well

In my opinion anyway!!!

lucky

[sal]

Hi

I would tend to say it is more anxiety you are suffering from. I have those thoughts about losing control and hurting someone and i know how soul destroying it is.

I had a great CBT counseller who taught me that thinking doesnt mean it will come true. I could think i was going to win the lottery but it doesnt mean it will happen.

I can assure you also that if you were going to turn into a psychopath and go mad, you would be the last to know about it as mad people dont know they are. A person suffering from that kind of illness would never sit and rationalise that how they are thinking is wrong as to them it wouldnt be an issue.



Lots of Love Sal xxxxx

[Laurie28]

I'm sure most people remember the feeling that they are 'going mad' .

I had myself down as having all sorts of mental health problems.

Worst feeling in the world isn't it??? Afraid of yourself. Some of us have even hidden 'dangerous objects from ourselves incase we 'flipped'

Toatlly agree with you Sal we need to remember these are just 'thoughts' and EVERYONE has them. it is just that us anxiety sufferers dwell on them too much and have ourselves condemed as 'bad' or 'mad' people whereas 'normal' people dismiss them for what they are ..... just thoughts

Love
Lucky

[Meg]

Thoughts not instructions...Energy follows thought.

Compulsions are the activities that someone feels they have to do in order to counteract and relieve the pressure caused by the obsessions.



Meg
www.overcominganxiety.co.uk

You cannot conquer fear until you have learned what it is you're afraid of. The enemy is ignorance. Vivian Vance

[theinfamissy]

I have a irrational fear kind of like your drinking poison phobia.I have a fear of eating/drinking something that has been drugged.

[mum2four]

I think the only way to know for sure if you have OCD is 1 talk to your Dr.

The thing's I know about OCD is 1- you know your fear's and thought's are irrational 2- You dont have to have visable rituals thay can be mental one almost like list a question you ask you self before you can do something. 3- If you think about some thing for over a hour a day before you can do it than you MAY have 4- if your thinking and or your ritual's cause significant disruption to your day than seek help it may be OCD. 4-OCD tend not to be set fear's that stay the same I read that the symptom's 'wax and wane' over time and in the long term slowly get worse over time the longer it's left untreated.

As for me if I had listen to most of the people on here I would never have asked my Dr if I could have OCD and not just anxiety disorder. I love this site I really do thay can be very supportive when it come to normal thinking anxiety sufferer's but when I started talking about my strange thinking ritual's that come and go as thay please with little controlo what so eva I felt like an out side in stead of feeling like thay knew what i was on about. I found a excellent site recently with people that think exactly like me is so uncanny.

http://www.phobics-awareness.org/chat.htm

Talking to people that are not afraid to talk about there strange behaviour and not going to judge you if you talk if circle's like i do or talk obsessively or about strange fear like the other day I was talking to person about the fear that I might jump off a bridge with out thinking about it so I scared when i cross bridge's. I can still cross the bridge but I can look over the edge and I have to walk a set distanace from cars and the edge of the bridge in order to feel safe that I'm not going to act impulsively in a dangerous manor(which I have never done but she get scared I might) I get scared I might puch my kids or other people off the bridge if I not carefull so I can stand to have people pass me on bridge or my kids near me when I cross the bridge if I am near them I have to hold there hand so tight in case thay some how fall over the edge.

I hope I have given you an idea what a irrastional obsessive line thought could sound like I think about more that what i just said for that situation. It not like I intenstionally start thinking about it it's almost like a list that i see in my head thay gose there at rapid spead I really had no idea that I had so many negative thought about a situation till I went on med's. I'm on luvox 100mg and it has slowed my thinkinhg down from a milolion miles hour to a very slow reasonal speed talking speed and some days it's slower than I can talk(lots and fast lol). In stead of racing around to get my house work done and stressing out cause I will run out of time in 9mth of being on med's I'm doing way more that eva have been able to and I cant find real house to do sometime's. I'm find now that I do have the comuplustion to repeat cleaning and I do have ritual's that my head what me to for fill but was unable cause I was thinking way to much. I was thinking about the dishes form morning till night and I could make my self do then. before I went on med I thought I was lazy and that there was high proberbilty I didn't have OCD but I now know I have OCD for sure and I have had since i was a young child. OCD can be a tricky disorder it can try to convince you that black is white if you dont know what you dealing with. It was trying to trick me in to thinking I had control as long as I thought before I did something. I was even having conversation in my head about if I was really an obsessive thinking and if I wasn't and I get med's for it what will happen ect and the I would think but hang on I thinking about thinking so I must be an obsessive think surly and I talked in circle for hour about it for I finaly said enough is enough get help and go from there. As I got better I saw more and more layer of thoughts like the med's were slowly stiping away the layer's of thought the pages of thougts as thay here writen in my he

[mum2four]

Here something that also might help you decide if you may have OCD or not

Common Obsession......

Fear of harming others
fear that something terriable might happen
fear of speacking or writing incorroectly
concern's about dirt or germ's
concerns about contamination
concerns about contracting disease
Concerns about body waste or secretaion
Forbidden or perverse thoughts


..... and compulsions

Saving ald newspapers. mail, sring or wraping paper
Excessive hand washing or teath brushing
Excesive house tiding and cleaning
Cheacking doors, looks and brakes
Needing to touch, measure thing's out
Needing to tell, ask confess, and debate.
Packing/ un packing suitcases. rearranging drawer's

I prety much have or have had huge issues with almost all of the above and more.