Philip

Hi Tony, Just to encourage you not to give up but to be courageous because there is hope ... I used to have the same difficulty as you with closing jars and packets and bottles of food. I used to close them and then re-open and close them again because I wasn't sure it was closed properly, either because it was too slack or too tight. Sometimes I would open and close the same jar over 20 times in a row. (Actually doing this never helped because my doubts increased the more often I repeated it.) I used to have the same problem with closing the fridge door and the freezer door, and turning off taps. I could not do it just once and then walk away feeling contented. But I am completely better from all that now. I got over it by gradually increasing my exposure to closing things only once (you need iron self-discipline) and then enduring the anxiety. Initially it was difficult but overall it was not as formidable as I expected. Once you get your foot on the bottom rung of the ladder, so to speak, climbing up to the 2nd and 3rd rungs aren't so bad. Good luck in getting your life back. I think it would be a tragedy if you retired from plumbing because of OCD. Philip

Some people with OCD have various other mental health problems such as depression and SAD. Personally I find that when one of my mental health problems is lousy it exacerbates the others. It is widely recognised that cold, dark evenings in winter affect certain people and cause depression, and this may be linked to a deficiency in vitamin D. I recently started taking a vitamin D supplement and it has lifted my mood. Note I am definitely not saying that taking a vitamin D supplement directly improves OCD, but I would suggest that if you have a vitamin D deficiency then getting that put right may give you a better platform on which to deal with your OCD. Why not get your vitamin D level checked out?

I have wasted so much of my life and lost so many opportunities for happiness as a result of trying to resist/fight anxious intrusive thoughts. I am now trying to adopt this approach: Rumination never, ever, ever, ever, ever achieves happiness and peace. It will always be self-defeating. It is always like scoring an own goal. It is always like trying to put out a fire by pouring oil on it. If I ignore the intrusive thought, I will end up feeling thoroughly miserable and stressed, but what have I got to lose? Really I haven't lost anything because the alternative approach of trying to fight the intrusive thought will make me miserable anyway (even if I feel an initial relief). Since I'm going to end up miserable either way, why not take the path of least effort and just don't bother fighting? It helps me to recall a story in the Bible in which the city of Samaria was under siege and the occupants were slowly dying of starvation. A group of lepers in the city decided to get up and go over to the enemy camp. Their reasoning was that if they stay in the city they will die of starvation, whereas if they hand themselves over to the enemy the worst that could happen to them is that the enemy would kill them, which is no worse than staying in the city and dying of starvation!