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View Full Version : help - have i got GAD or OCD



makenzie
18-07-08, 18:09
Hi, i am 20 years old and from the UK. Ever since i can remember, i have always worried about things, and have had an irrational thought pattern. Growing up my mother would tel me that i am just a worrier and that i will be ok. However, i have never got rid of what was bothering me, and dont really understand what it is. Since doing some research lately (as i am having a very hard time with it at the moment) i have come across this website on the internet. Here are some but not all examples of what i have and are suffering from.

Examples...

1.At a young age i would often worry about a family member dying, e.g. mum. Then i would have a thought pop up in my head that i was wishing my mum to die of cancer. This was obviously irrartional, as i did not want my mum to die, but the thought would just keep on poping up, and i would get very worried and upset,about this and worry for long periods of time that itwould come true.

2.In the Uk about 5 or so years ago, two girls went missing and were killed by a man. I was always watching the news at the time to see what was happening with this story. As a couple of weeks past, i started getting very anxious and nervous aroung young people, and started having horrible thoughts in my head that i did not want. It seemed the more i tried to not want them the more they would pop up, this depressed me even at a young age myself (15 or so). I started noticing that when i tried to stop a vision or thought in my head, i would try and blank it out with some other random thought that was not quite as bad, however i would still worry about my original thought / vision and get very upset.

3. Another episode when in high school, involved me asking my friend or the person sitting next to me, to repeat what i had just said. I would ask this because i had this horrible feeling that i had blurted out whatever i was thinking of at the time. Even though somewhere deep down inside of me i knew i had not blurted whatever i was thinking out, i still could not convince myself that i hadnt. i would then worry constantly. Then i noticed me having really bad random thoughts, in my head in class, and then worrying that i had said them out loud.

4. I have been with my girlfriendfor five years now and she means the world to me. However in the 2nd year of our relationship i went on a lads holiday to spain, and cheated on her. I felt awful after this and told her when i got back, she forgave me and we were finnally ok. After about three months, out of the blue i started to get very nervous and anxious around other girls, and started to believe that i had done something wrong behind my girlfriend back, even though i new i hadnt. This got so severe that when i worked in my family shop, i would check the cctv cameras just to make sure i hadnt. This has progressivly got worse for me now, and i now find myself doing the most stupid of things, that i cant even explain in words half the time. For e.g. i was working on some scaffolding two days ago, when a girl walked past on the other side of the street, immediately i felt anxious. At the time i was painting, and as soon as i saw the girl i noticed a blodge of paint on my index finger, even though i new the blodge had come from the paint tin i was holding, i started to wipe my hand and begin trying to get the blodge there again. Then all of a sudden i thought i felt something touch my lip, this could of been from rain, dust or anything, but because i could not distinguish what it had come from i got worried about the whole situation of seeing the girl to the paint to the feeling on my lip.(I no this must sound so stupid but at the time it was one big bloody worry)

5. I do like to gamble (i know i shouldnt) and about two months ago i was gambling on line, i was wining and losing as usual and finnally i lost about £300. After losing the amount i checked my bank balance, and saw i had a total of £1.96 in my available funds. However i then got this thought in my mind that what if the gambling site had not withdrawn the money from my account, and i had been spending the banks money, and then i would be fined and charged ridiculous amounts of money. After recieving a bank statement which proved that the money had been taken out of my account, this still did not satisfy me, and i found myself phoning the bank up and speaking to someone personally. After all this i still worried and was not convinced, and was having trouble sleeping and the first thing that i thought of in the mornings was the money. Again deep down inside of me i knew i was not going to be charged but i couldnt seem to stop myself from believing that i was in debt.


Recently, my anxiety has took a whole new level it was making me depressed and worthless. Everytime i am near a child i get very anxious, and have horrible thoughts / images that i do not want what so ever, and disgust me. But after the thought has happend i feel as though i have actually done what i was thinking and get very depressed and down. And i have recently started to check things over again over the most ridiculous of things.
So i discussed this with my girlfriend so i went to see a mental health nurse (with the persuasion of my girlfriend,) and the nurse said that i am suffereing with GAD. eVEN THOUGH I HAVE ONLY BEEN ONCE, I STILL CANT STOP THINKING I MAY HAVE OCD.

If anyone can relate to my problems i would love to hear from you. Thanks mak.

Southern_Belle
18-07-08, 18:25
Hi Makenzie,

If you read some of the other OCD posts you will find that many have some of the same thoughts as you do. Just because you have these thoughts does not mean you will act on them. I personally can't your diagnosis. I do think they give the same type of meds out for GAD and OCD but I'm not sure. If you are upset by these thoughts I would suggest counseling and/or medication. Perhaps you could get in contact with the nurse again or your GP. Remember, these are only thoughts, anxiety can whether it be GAD or OCD can beat down our self esteem. You need to know you are not alone.

Take care,

Laura

makenzie
18-07-08, 18:30
Hi laura, i have got another appointment in a one weeks time, this time i am going to tell her everything and not hide anything from embarrasment,as this site has reasured me that i am not a bad person. thanks for your advice. Take care.

Southern_Belle
18-07-08, 18:40
Good, nothing to be embarrassed about and you definately are not a bad person! I have both GAD and OCD. My OCD comes in the form of cleaning. Before I went on medication I would be up all night cleaning my anxiety away. That is how I viewed it anyway. The more anxious I was the more I cleaned. The only way to get better is to be truthful. I do wish you success on your trip to the doctor and good luck.

Take care,

Laura

wombat
13-09-08, 03:47
Hi,
I think you have ocd because i can relate to everything you've said and i've been diagnosed with both. I think with ocd and gad they kind of go together anyway...that's what my psychiatrist has said anyway.
I think it's irrelevant the name given to the condition but it's much more important to get CBT.
I've been seeing a consultant at the Priory hospital and he's diagnosed ocd and so have about 4 other doctors and i still worry....but what if it's not ocd and then it just escalates even more.
I bought a great book called overcoming ocd by david veale and rob wilson and is worth checking out.
Wombat.

makenzie
25-09-08, 21:25
thanks for that reply, i have recently been diagnosed with ocd now and see a mental health nurse once a month. I will check out that book too. If you ever want to send me a thread about anything that is on your mind (ocd crap) then feel free to do so, and vice versa. mak.