Reading probs?

[Guest Nima]

I don't know if this is OCD, tics, both or neither :blushing:

But reading books (which is something I've always loved) is becoming more difficult.

Every sentence, particularly ones that are speech, I have to say absolutely PERFECTLY in my head, or I feel like I can't move on to the next bit. Sometimes I do, but then I'll go back and read the whole page again because I haven't read it 'right'.

When I say perfectly, I mean a few things:

1) the intonation and pronunciation of the words has to be just right, especially for speech.

2) This all merges in a wierd way with what I think of as my breathing tics, which are actually a huge mess of different things where I sort of 'cough' by forcing in my diagphram, or force air out in little stages - this has to be done on particular syllables of words- there's no real pattern though some syllables cause more tics than others, but it has to feel right for me to move on.

So, I get stuck on a few words, saying them over and over in my head whilst tic-cing with my breathing until I think its proper.

Argh!

Its driving me up the wall at the moment!

This thing seems to wax and wane, and I've had it since my mid teens, but its sooo annoying, and leaves me feeling quite light headed and dizzy sometimes..

Often I just have to give up my reading and watch TV, which I feel is a real cop out.

does anyone have any advice, or insight into this?

Im not sure where in the ocd spectrum this falls into..maybe lots of parts.

[Guest george25]

I love reading but unfortunatley I do a similar thing. I have to re read a sentance over again or count the words to make sure they add up to an uneven number. The best way I found round this is to just keep reading and know I can come back to those pages if I still feel I need to, by that time I've forgotten which bits I'm supposed to reread and I just flick the book glancing at the words and tell myself I'm done. This won't work for everyone but using this method it does make things easiar and it will improve over time just remember your not alone!

[Guest purrfect]

I find that if I accidentally read a line more that once (if I don't have my reading glasses on) that I then have to re-read it a number of times till it feels OK to move on (four or eight times). This happens a lot, but it doesn't put me off. I read about a book a week, breaking up the times to give my brain a wee while to rest.

[Guest Remster]

Nima

I have OCD problems with reading and writing, which is a particular problem for me as academic activities are the only ones I was ever good at, apart from a bit of music and sport. But I've no solutions to offer. (So why, you might ask, have I bothered to tell you?)

Remster

[Guest charlie75]

Hi Nima,

I have this too, I re-read sentences until I feel I have got them right. But I have to tell myself a number of times that i can re-read them, like I will tell myself I can only re-read the sentence twice and then I have to move on. Do you think you could try that? I know its easier said than done.

I also do it with the TV, I have sky so as you know they have the information bit that you can find out about the programme, I re-read this throughout the whole programme until I have got it right and remembered each word! It's quite embarrassing when I have someone watching the programme with me, my daughter gets very annoyed with the blue box flashing up on the screen every time I read it!

I do find it does help to set the amount of times I allow myself to re-read these things.

Charlotte.

[Guest h_777]

Hi Nima,

with the reading, and making sure it sounds perfect, I have done that for years - I have recently just tried forcing myself to carry on reading, at a slow steady pace - it's one of those things unfortunately where the only way you are going to get it to stop is to ignore that uncomfortable feeling until it subsides. Annoying I know, but eventually you realise that it doesn't matter, you still understand the book.

with the breathing, I have no idea i'm afraid - read my post on the TS board, I don't know if it is a tic or whatever either, but it is sooo annoying isn't it!! Mine is worse when I am reading too - I can't explain it, but I just have to get my breathing right before I can move on to the next word.

I have tried stopping this, but it seems impossible.

Good luck with the reading hun.

[Guest Nima]

Thanks so much for the suggestions, everyone

I'll try to keep reading and ignore the feeling, thanks Holly! Its true, the breathing is much, much worse when I'm reading, it is incredibly annoying.

I think with the reading things until they sound perfect in my head, its really a matter of my trying to get the most out of a book, in an extremely convoluted fashion.

Then again , it does happen with non fiction too, hmm.

[Guest h_777]

ugh know that feeling - you feel you have wasted a good book if you haven't read it perfectly. how can you say you have read something at all, when you didn't do it exactly right?

but yeah as i say, keep reading, just keep going, and it will get easier - i didn't think it will, but it is gradually getting better for me, so it will for you too.

xx

[Mel1971]

As Holly said, the more you read, the more exposure you are having to that particular problem, and the easier it will get

of course it will take time but hopefully the more you read and the frequency of reading will make things easier...

best wishes

melissa

[Guest Remster]

As a matter of interest, how many pages per hour can people manage? I'm asking because I was surprised by Purrfect's claim that she reads about a book a week, which is way out of my range. I can manage anywhere between 2 and 20 pages per hour.

[Rachie]

Hi there. I usually read a book a week, but I read every night in bed and in the mornings sometimes too, and in my lunch breaks, and on days off. So I do spend a lot of my spare time reading.

I don't have quite the same problems as you reading, Nima, but I get stuck turning pages backwards and forwards fairly often. I just have to force myself to stop it. I get really obsessive about understanding something and re-read sentences. I find it comes and goes, really. I think you're right though and the thing to do is keep on reading.

Rach xx

[Guest h_777]

hi rachie, understanding a book is something i obsess over too - i get anxious that i have missed the point or something, and re read loads to get it into my head. my biggest achievement as far as this is concerned was, i read a book this summer called 'Birds Without Wings' by Louis de Bernieres... it's very long, and there are a lot of chapters about war, which i found disturbing anyway, and at first i couldn't get my head around all the talk of armies movements, and battles and dates... but i got through it, and you know what? i may not have a clue what year so and so invaded so and so, or who died when, and who was in charge... but i understand completely the massive scale of the war, and the smaller, intimate relationships that were just ripped apart - i gained the full impact of the emotions described, love and hate, grief...... and i'm sure that was the point of the book.

i realise i am raving about it quite a lot now lol, got carried away, but yeah, really amazing read. And just proves that even if you don't understand everything in a book (although most of the time you probably can anyway), it doesn't matter too much!

[Guest Nima]

ugh know that feeling - you feel you have wasted a good book if you haven't read it perfectly. how can you say you have read something at all, when you didn't do it exactly right?

Thats exactly what I meant :original:

Almost like, whats the point in reading it if you're not going to do it perfectly?

I never connected this with OCD type perfectionism before.

Its good that you were able to take the larger meaning of the book, Holly.

I think I would have made myself reread all the technical war stuff...well done for not.

Actually, the Lord of the Rings was hard for me, all that description of scenery and politics, I had to reread almost all of it!

[Guest h_777]

yeah exactly, it was hard not to re read - i did with the first few chapters, but then i forced myself not to. it can be done!! :original:

lord of the rings was hard for me too.

yup i think it is definitely perfectionism ocd.

i used to stare at each letter for a certain number of seconds to make sure i had taken it in.... it didn't work because i spent so long on each letter, i hadn't really taken in the word. Plus it used to take AGES!!

[Guest paulstriker]

yeah exactly, it was hard not to re read - i did with the first few chapters, but then i forced myself not to. it can be done!! :original:

lord of the rings was hard for me too.

yup i think it is definitely perfectionism ocd.

i used to stare at each letter for a certain number of seconds to make sure i had taken it in.... it didn't work because i spent so long on each letter, i hadn't really taken in the word. Plus it used to take AGES!!

I have this thing too where, i read a page and it just doesnt quite sink in....so i go over and over.... also with tv... if i switch channels on sky i have to go back to channel i left just to make sure i didnt "harm" anyone when i fired my remote! then i go back to channel i really want, but though i have done this time outta mind, and provebn i harm no one, it still never remains in my memory. how weird is this?????