Does anyone have an interesting OCD..?

I have to set all my electrical & media volumes to a prime number, otherwise the world will end & Barnsley will get relegated (again.)

 

My volume is always at an even number.

And I have to put things in a certain place in the dishwasher

 

I hate empty spaces in my wine rack

 

Checking doors are locked. I think that comes from my time working for Yorkshire Bank in the 80's & early 90's.

Sadly my wine rack is always empty, as if I have wine in the house it gets polished off as a rule...

 

I like to have had an even number of anything. I couldn't drink three pints. It would have to be four. If I bought 8 cans of John Smiths and started the second 4 pack I'd have to drink the sixth can or them all.

 

Not sure it's interesting, but I was diagnosed with OCD when I was about 18. Had it over a decade now. I don't have outward compulsions, my compulsions are mental. My mind likes to throw questions at me that can't possibly be answered, and it causes me a great deal of anxiety and depression. My compulsion is to try and work it out or find an answer or proof (OCD works on uncertainty), but that reinforces it and it's a continuous spiral. It's manifest itself in other ways over the years. When I got my first real proper girlfriend when I was around 18, I had to confess to her every time I had an unfaithful thought (such as finding another girl attractive in the street), or if I had told her even the smallest lie. Just as someone with OCD can't stand any dirt on a fresh sheet, my mind couldn't stand "bad thoughts" in my character, so my compulsion was to confess. I've been obsessed about whether I've had HIV before, and not believed negative tests (several). I've had many different themes over the years, and each one is always the worst until you get a new one and then you wish you could go back.

Basically, my mind throws things at me, and I have to get answers otherwise its mentally paralysing. I've had a couple of severe breakdowns with it over the years, and I have to manage it day by day. It can make normal life ten times harder than it otherwise might. I'm not one for having a pop at those that trivialise OCD - I can take a joke - but honestly, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It's hell on earth.

One good thing, though, is that when it's quieter (rare these days), I really appreciate the good moments and I can't imagine a better feeling of just feeling normal.

Stopped seeking help years ago, though, after a terribly experience where I was completely misunderstood and made to feel terrible. I had already been diagnosed but they didn't recognise my symptoms as OCD and it got quite awful for a moment. I try and manage it myself these days working with charities. BTW, it's in the WHO's top 10 most debilitating diseases.

 

I've been known to over sensationalise things in my mind from time to time. When I'm at my worst I'll over think the slightest little thing to the point it gives me a mental fog and I can't concentrate on anything else.

 

I understand that, mate.
I’ve trained my brain to manage it.

 

Yeah, catastrophising things to the extreme is OCD-like behaviour. I used to confess things to friends all the time, seeking reassurance, and if I had a pound for everytime they said to me "why on earth are you even worrying about this at all?", I'd be a rich man. But to me, it consumed me.

 

None that I can think of. But there was a guy at work .Who, when he parked up. Must have gone round the car 5/6 times checking all the doors were locked.
Walk away at least 2/3 times after and return to check again.

 

I think different things work for different people and for me it's just about doing everything I can to not engage in trying to figure things out.

One of the world's leading OCD specialists summed up what it is like quite well. "Imagine someone who is terrified of either snakes or spiders, then telling them that there might be either of them in their bedroom, and then telling them that they have to turn the lights out and go to sleep". I thought that's a good analogy. Even when I'm too busy to engage with it, I have a persistent feeling of "something is wrong", that seems to taint everything.

 

Yeah I look for meanings in mundane things. I couldn't grasp the notion "it just is". If someone had done something I couldn't accept that "they just did it". No rhyme or reason. Just a mundane act that most people do.

Laura jokes with me about it. "You're over thinking things" she'll say.

 

Yeh, thinking is overrated haha.

It's very strange because half of the things you'd "expect" someone to worry about, I don't really. I'm uber laid back in most respects, but I'll also worry to the point of bordering on psychosis about whether people are real or not.

Apologies for hijacking the thread - again - appreciate it's not all about me.

 

No glad you've posted mate.

 

That's a really in-depth analysis and explanation, Pinball. I found it an interesting read and it looks as though, having been diagnosed, you have the understanding of how it affects you are able to manage it to a degree, which is credit to you. I can't match your account and am not OCD, although probably many folks are somewhere on that particular spectrum. I have to put the mugs in the cupboard in a particular order and place and get annoyed if someone does it wrong. There is a logic to this, as there is only one way in which they will all fit in. Same with dishes in the dish-washer - right place only. I can't think of others at the moment, but have a habit of getting acronyms muddled up, such that, when a friend told me that his COPD meant that he found it impossible to climb Helvellyn, I couldn't work out how obsessive-compulsive would do that. It was then that he explain that the OCD bit of COPD was a respiratory disease caused by the fact that he is a musician who has worked too many smokey clubs over the years. It then made sense. Al the best, mate.

 

I used to read Coronavirus as Coriolanus.

 

2 way lights in kitchen/dining room, have to be in the correct on off position. So I walk across in the dark to turn on.
I used to put water in kettle and boil it, when it wasn't needed. Electric bills have helped me cure that one.
Knives, forks etc. Have to be in the correct parts of drawer tray.
Certain cups have to be on the right shelf in the cupboard.
This one might need a different category but I have to keep dishwasher topped up incase rinse aid light comes on!

 

I can't watch tense sporting events with the sound on because of the Commentators curse. Although the track announcer doesn't bother me at the races. Likewise if my team is winning comfortably I can watch with the sound on no problem at all. That's more superstition than OCD.

Another example of OCD is having to have all the different variations of something. I collect 00 model railways as I've mentioned numerous times before. I bought an A4 Loco with early BR crest on the tender. I then had to have another with the late crest then buy another in BR Express blue. It can be expensive at times as I've had to buy four Coronation Pacifics, 3 A1's and am currently up to 5 of nine variations of A3.

 

My daughter has to have volume on even only.
She also doesn’t like anything bare metal or Gold, to the extent she has to eat with plastic cutlery.