Ocd episodes question

Yes, that's completely normal. I've also been diagnosed with ocd and have the same experience. I've had periods of time where I'll have maybe 2 years without a really strong spike but it eventually comes back around. There's video on YouTube where this man is explaining how his OCD manifested in a cyclical way throughout his life. Its "The hidden gifts of obsessive compulsive disorder - Pat" . I'm currently going through the worst one I've ever had. It started in October and I feel like I'm maybe finally getting a hold of it. And by that I mean I'm not doing the compulsions and I'm not doing any avoidance either. I feel like okay, yes, it does look like huge spikes and then nothing in between but if you really pay attention, your brain does little things all the time that are very ocd and you probably just haven't noticed it. Like the other day I realized that other people with ocd experience "emotional contamination" which I thought was just a me thing. Like say you wore a specific shirt on a day something bad happened, that shirt will always feel like a shirt you might experience another bad day with. Or it will make you very uncomfortable or it will contaminate you with the emotions you experienced on that bad day. This is something I've experienced my entire life. I'm just now noticing it.

Nothing to feel guilty about. It's different for everyone. Even people with the most severe cases of OCD will have stretches of time where things aren't so bad. There are many variables involved, such as enviroment, life circumstances, hormones, lifestyle, relationships, etc. Mental health isn't a competition. If you feel like you need some help then you have every right to get help :) Also for what it's worth, OCD symptoms tend to start showing themselves more around ages 11-13 or so. To my knowledge it's not something that can immediately start when you're born, because the parts of the brain that are known to be hyperactive in OCD aren't developed yet.

I definitely have experienced this/still do. I'm actively going to therapy and still have times where it's not terrible but then gets worse. Getting better is truly an up and down ride. But I've dealt with the same thing since I was a kid.

I can relate! I get imposter syndrome all the time because my mental health issues tend to be more mild. I'm actually here for BFRBs, not OCD, but I did have several scrupulosity symptoms as a child, which makes me wonder if I might be on the OCD spectrum. It's a lot better these days though, so maybe it was something else. I agree with @djflorio that mental health isn't a competition. The label is less important than how you are able to function!