- Date posted
- 12h
New to ticks/rbfb, I thought i was just annoying.
So whats the deal with ticks vs Repetitive Body Focused Behavior(RBGB) and how much does it really matter? I had intrusive thoughts for years before I realized I may have OCD. I never thought it could be OCD because it was entirely mental...or at least I thought so. The thing that made me finally accept that it was, was that it dawned on me was that my OCD definitely has an obvious physical side. I feel quite silly for not realizing this before but most ofnit feels pretty benign compared to the mental side. I often joked before I realized I had ocd that I had doggy ocd or something because walking in circles feels so good. Denial does run deep. What I have now noticed about the physical side of my OCD: Walking in circles/pacing. When I am nervous or stressed I get itchy all over. When I am nervous in crowded bars I get convinced theres something caught in my throat and I'll keep trying to clear it to be rid of the sensation. I am constantly scrunching my nose at a thought or shaking my head, sometimes letting out a little yell or an impression of a crow. I was shocked to learn how ubiquitous the shake your head like an etch-a-sketch move was. Which leads to my question. Is the etch-a-sketch move a tic or an rbfb? Also any of the above...because some are blurry to me. The throat thing is like kinda rbfb, kinda somatic ocd. The itchy thing is more on the skin picking side of things. I think the constant little noises and funny faces to be a gray area. I'll catch myself humming a song. Sometimes I don't realize and someone else catches me humming. The record for longest reigning song goes to "Closing Time by Semisonic" on repeat from April-October 2025. Surpassing the previous title holder "Twist and Shout by the Beatles" who only reigned for 2 months. Another fun one was "aye aye aye" my coworker said he knew what kind of day it would be based on the number of "aye's". Hot, blue bird days were always a 3. I have kind of shaped my career to work alone as much as possible because I have known for a long time I have the really annoying kind of ADHD. For better or worse my mind is usually an active place and I can entertain myself plenty. Sometimes its great! The best months of my life and most mentally healthy if my life were in the closing time era. I will admit there are definitely times where these tendencies have been inappropriate or embarrassing. What I am not sure on is if some of these tendencies are ticks or rbfb? Part of me thinks its more likely the latter because I can be quite impulsive...like plenty of things I say or do may not be well thought out to say the least but being a bit of a brash loud mouth or even just having loose lips doesn't necessarily make something a tick. But again does the difference even matter if they are treated the same? How much does it matter if I don't really mind some of them? I don't always mean for them to consciously slip out. Other will catch me humming a song before I do. Am I being lazy or soft on my ocd by humoring these tendencies? I guess over the years I had grown to accept them despite the occasional annoyances. Idk. Not really at the top of my radar in terms of the parts of ocd that make my life hell. That is until I am in any environment in which I need to sit still and be quite. Then its hell. But I always attributed that to the adhd. Where's on this one? Blurred I think.