When does OCD become a problem?

[CharlieHakes]

I'm 19 and I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but because it never used to be too severe (I would just occasionally switch a light on and off until it felt 'right', or count randomly when I felt it was needed, etc), it never affected my life too much, and so I had no treatment.

For the last few months, my behaviour has become more obsessive, for example, when I'm listening to the radio in the car, I'll check the number of the volume and I'll have to say out loud that number a certain amount of times depending on what day it is, (eg. monday-1, tuesday-2, etc)

I'll walk in and out of a doorway until I feel comfortable to walk through properly.

And I have a crazy fear of germs being on my hands, or on the food I'm eating, or them being on an object I've given to someone, and vice versa.

I feel a bit awkward going to the doctors to describe this, I'm scared I'll sound crazy! It's starting to take over my life, so if anyone else has any of these symptoms, what did you say to your doctor, and did you get treatment?

[vicky23]

I think ocd becomes a problem when it starts causing you distress. I was diagnosed when I was 16 when I was going through GCSE's the stress triggered a bad time of it to the point where my parents noticed and took me to the Dr.
You're certainly not going crazy about 1 in a 100 people have ocd so you're certainly not alone and the Dr's will be very familiar with it.
I'd just go ahead and spell it right out, you believe you have ocd based on the fact that you feel the need to do perform certain compulsions. If you don't perform these rituals you get anxiety. You don't mention in your post if you have obsessive thinking but I'm guessing you mostly likely will so tell you Doc about this.
S/he will probably ask you a few questions about how long it's been going on and how it affects your daily life i.e. examples of the obsessions and compulsions.
So for example, I obsessed over failing my exams, my family becoming ill etc so in order to counteract this I touched things repeatedly and picked things (glasses, socks, food) based on how they felt, whether I got good or bad 'vibes'
From there the Dr will refer you to a psychologist for CBT or maybe a psychiatrist if you and your Dr decide it would be beneficial for you.
I went on medication and although it took a while to work it was very effective in helping me get my life back.
All the best