- Date posted
- Yesterday
First time telling others about OCD
I am curious if others have experienced these things as well. When I was around 10 I remember my OCD centering around symmetry, when I turned my TV off I would always leave it on a specific channel and volume, same with my radio. I would comb out the ends of my rug, with a tape measure, measure the distance from certain items to the sides of my dresser to make sure they were centered. As I got older it morphed into different things, writing them makes them sound more odd but anyway: At one point while living abroad I was overly concerned about contacting HIV and was super conscious about not getting cuts, at the same time contamination started to concern me in general, I would ask my wife to carry a bottle of rubbing alcohol with her so I could douse my hands in it if I was obligated to touch something or shake someone’s hand. (Interestingly, that still bothers me even until today, now in my 40s, but not every person “feels” unclean to me, I can shake some people’s hand and be ok.) With my current job we are encouraged to carry pens with us so our customers can sign the invoices-I never do, and on rare occasions when I know they will say something, I will let them use my pen and then it goes directly into the trash. Also, at our warehouse, we have customers that come in, sit in chairs while waiting, I feel the chairs are contaminated, so I haven’t sat in those chairs for years. Sorry for jumping around on the time line here, I have also dealt with intrusive thoughts, this aspect of OCD goes back for years, it continues to annoy me, but I’ve learned to cope. These are more minimal things, but I’m guessing also caused by OCD: When I pump gas I have to stop on just the right numbers, even numbers are more “comforting” to me, also on the way to work there are certain streets I won’t go down, [I could and probably be ok with it] but I figure why even bother, it’s not a big deal I tell myself, I could if I wanted to… lol, but every morning I avoid those streets. I also obsessively worry about my wife and daughter when they get sick, especially my daughter and my wife has to tell me to calm down. I will ask her over and over about it and if she thinks she will be ok, in my mind, even though I know it’s unreasonable, I can’t help to always think the worse even though it’s a common cold or stomach flu. One more thing, bcs I know this is a long post, when we go out to eat, I have to sit in the “right” area of the restaurant. It can’t be in the middle or have people sitting on either side that don’t meet my criteria. There are more things, but I know this is lengthy. I’ve never reached out about this until now, nor can I say I have been medically diagnosed with such. Bcs of doubting and or embarrassment I guess, I haven’t been to a doctor. Note: My mother was diagnosed with it, my older sister as well. My daughter seems to be struggling with it too. However, to my knowledge OCD isn’t hereditary?🤷♂️