- Username
- ccg
- Date posted
- 4y ago
My story is different then most people with OCD. I do remember some moments or days when I was younger (like 12 or 13) where I would worry about things no matter how much my parents told me everything was ok. But for most of my childhood and teen years I was a happy go lucky kid who didn’t fear anything. It wasn’t until I was 19 in college studying Pre-Med and was being stressed to the limit I had my first panic attack. I didn’t even know what a panic attack was. The next year I started having weird intrusive thoughts. Later, I would find out this was pure o ocd. Fast forward 8 years later, here I am with much knowledge and recovering from this wicked crap!
Hey, I meant to comment under your reply lol but long story short, my story is similar to yours :)
Thank for sharing. I relate to your experience so much. Mine started when I was a teen but it went away for years and then came back when I was in college.
That's pretty much how my story goes. I do remember having some of it as a kid. But throughout middle and high school, I don't really remember having any issues whatsoever. But as soon as I got into college, I noticed a difference in the levels of anxiety I was experiencing. Then, this last year, when I was 19, I started getting the intrusive thoughts that wouldn't go away (OCD) around August. It's a horrible thing to deal with on a day to day basis. It makes me question so many things :( but we're all in this together.
I was about 14
8th grade was when it got serious
same! 8th grade was the complete worst
I've had it pretty much since I was 3, currently I'm 14
11 or 12 maybe even before that I have sucky memory lol.
Probably around age 5.
About 7 but I didn’t know what was wrong at the time until it became controlling at 13
Since I was 8 years old for me..it was actually worse back then because of my creative kid brain
Looking back I think the earliest instances I could see it being OCD was when I was about 11. It got a lot worse when I was 23 though.
I've had it since I was a young girl. I think I showed symptoms when I was 4 years old.
8th grade for me.
for those with sexual orientation ocd.. if you are comfortable sharing (and if you remember), what was the moment/person/place/etc. that first triggered your sexual orientation ocd? i’m just genuinely curious and want to see if there are any patterns. for me it was the summer before my freshman year of high school (i am currently 21). i was going to a pride parade with some family friends and was texting a guy that i ended up dating for a while. to be quite frank, he was a total idiot. he asked what was up and i told him that i was going to a pride parade with some friends. his immediate response was “wait does that mean that you are gay??”. i remember that i got this weird sensation of panic after i read that text. and his question like stayed lingering in my mind for longer than it should have. long story short, my sexual orientation ocd really kicked in halfway through my freshman year of high school..but i didn’t realize that that was what it was until about 2 years ago.
How has everyone else's OCD progressed throughout their lives? Has everyone else always had severe OCD or did you live regular lives beforehand and encounter one point where it went from 0 to 100. Where are you now in your OCD Journey? I'm very curious as to everyone else's stories and have left mine below if you’d like to read it. From what I can remember, I went relatively undisturbed by OCD the majority of my middle/late childhood, only having about 1-3 thoughts a year that weren't super bothersome but did create a level of distress uncomparable to regular intrusive thoughts. They were mainly about my health and about my parents safety & wellbeing. The earliest memory about my OCD that really stood out was back in 5th Grade, when I hit my head on a swing set and immediately began reciting every moment leading up to injury as well as every math equation I knew to make sure my memory was still intact. The greater part of my adolescence was essentially the same and resembled what I believed to be a normal life, just with a couple of OCD thoughts sprinkled throughout it. I was able to function pretty well albeit depressed and somewhat anxious. It wasn't until I was close to my highschool graduation that I experienced the worst panic attack(at the time) at the idea that I would hurt my parents. It was so distressing because the thought felt so loud that I believed it was genuine which only caused more distress. I was so scared that I would act on the thought that I discarded all of my sharp objects and locked myself in my room. That was my first ever severe reaction I experienced due to OCD and was back in May of this year. I actually learned what OCD was the same night and realized that many of my newly found fears including mold growing in my walls and my parents disliking me were also caused by the OCD. Unfortunately learning that it was probably OCD wasn't enough to quell my fear and I engaged in a bunch of compulsions in the months to come, worsening my OCD In the process. June was alright. July was worse(I only had like three topics for obsessions which sounds great now). Late July-Early August was my tipping point . Things went from worse to profoundly terrible in a short period. I found this app late August which was great because I had grown exhausted. September was pretty bad but not as bad as August. Now it's October and life is somewhat good now. I've become more knowledgeable of OCD (big thanks to this app and my therapist) but I'm very far from done. There's still this looming sense of anxiety that follows me everywhere. I have like 20 obsessions now, some being larger and scarier than others but those smaller ones are still apparent. But, the fear has decreased as well as the mental compulsions that came with it. My mind is quieter now. However the anxiety has stayed the same. My heart still drops whenever my worst obsession is triggered. Headaches, brain fog, sweating, rapid heart rate, sense of being paralyzed, racing mind are commonplace in my life but I've learned to sit with the physical discomfort (not that it makes it any less terrifying). Anyways, I'm here now which is cool. I’d like to listen to others' experiences to get a better understanding of OCD and maybe feel a bit less alone. feel free to ask any questions.
For those with contaminations OCD, I have two questions for you: 1) Did it start in childhood for you or after a specific event linked to contamination/based on science and extrapolating it? 2) Can you give me one example of a thought/worry? I'm just curious to see what other people experience
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