OCD is ruining my life. My parents have to yell at me almost everyday because I have to take the dish washing soap to wash my hands, even if there is a bar of soap right there I just feel like bar soap doesn't clean off germs as well. I could just touch a wall with paint and I think "oh I have to wash my hands now I don't to drop my iq" because i think there is lead on the walls even though it is in good condition. I feel like such a outcast because I know nobody around me does this, and my family is Jamaican and I know back then they didn't have water they could constantly wash their hands with.

Well thats normal. My ocd started with contamination (aids) and moved into symetry and 'evenness'. All from age of like 8-14ish. I saw video in school about mental illness and a part about ocd I said wow thats whats going on with me! Sometime later I told my mom about it while we were i car. I said I think I have this problem. Luckily we had heakth insurance. So Im not sure what is possible given your circumstancea but I think you (and your family who is getting frustrated with you) would benefit a lot from some professional help.

Yes! Good. Thats exactly the kind of stuff you should do. Do you play any sports? An acitivty you want to try but mayne avoid because of contamination is perfect thing to try. Have you tried using features on this app? They have section for contamination. I think your pretty clever I hope you can figure this out (in a non-compulsive way).

Yeah thanks I'm gonna try that

Update - My mom says shes gonna take me to the doctor and see what's up, I feel like the doctor explaining to her what OCD is gonna be better because she knows it's a professional

Good. I hope things work out for you.

Well I think societies that dont have access to same level of hygiene / utilities still have ocd and it manifests itself differently. No one in your family or extended family had any sort of anxiety related problems? Im the only one in mine woth ocd but other family members have other anxiety issues. Im just asking because Im trying to help you fi d strategy for you to bring this up to parents. Do you have counselar in school you could talk too. You are clearly having contamination ocd it sounds like.

Not that I'm aware of

Is there any adult you can talk to about this issue safely? Maybe finding an article about it for someone to read? Theres a lot of resources to try and help people understand this isnt a 'character flaw'and is a real issue you can get help with.

And my OCD didn't actually start with contamination. It actually started with hocd On November 12, last year when I saw a TMZ video of stan Lee because that was the day he died I don't know what took over me but I just started having weird ass thoughts about the picture, and it all spiraled from there.

I got the hocd under control though

I dont even think it started there when I was younger maybe 10 I used to have this compulsion with smelling my hands repeatedly for no reason I didn't even have the Intrusive thoughts back then.

Its hard to say when it first starts. Its more important to deal with it before it might get worse. How did you find out about ocd?

I'm gonna try to resist the compulsions. I literally see my little sister rubbing her hands all over the walls and eating something after and nothing happens to her.

Well thats the best strategy. Im way older and my therapist is making me rub dirt in myself so I never feel clean. It sounds silly but it works.

Im not gonna lie at first I thought there was a demon inside me ? but One day I went on Google to see what was wrong with me and I saw intrusivethoughts.org It really informed me about the types of OCD and how the OCD brain works.

Ever go camping? Camping is god way to do exposure for contamination ocd. Helped me a lot when I was growing up.

Interesting that is a good websitr

Oh yeah I went last year with my cousins and i took raw sticks to cook the marshmallows it really helped expose me to my fears.

This stuff is starting to get overwhelming, today I gave my phone to my dad because he said it's too late to be using my phone and he probably thought he was doing me a favor charging my phone but he put it right against the wall, and there was paint dust all over it because he was doing something to the old paint, probably sanding but I saw some dust go in the same area he put my phone in. And that happened about 2 months ago but there was still dust there

I can resist the compulsions when I touch walls, but it's really hard knowing that lead dust potentially went on my phone

I tried to remind myself when my phone dropped on the peeling paint on my porch and I ended up fine, and that reduces my anxiety

Can you just give me some facts about how you can get lead poisining I promise its not reassurance I'm just curious

I'm just asking because theres a lot of sources online saying you have to be exposed to it more than 1 time for it to cause damage .