Rem

sorry I meant Fluoxetine*

Will this make me feel better? I just took my first tablet, my OCD is extremely bad at the minute. My theme has changed as I just started university and I can't sleep. I wish I didn't have this mental illness

Well, from what I read inconclusive doesn't mean it's negative nor positive. It could mean a faulty sample or a faulty testing kit. However, definitely get yourself tested. This isn't just an OCD problem, your health could be at risk. Go to the doctors get tested and go from there. I hear many people say HIV isn't a death sentence anymore, and it's true it's not as big of a problem as it was before - but it's still not something that should be taken lightly despite many trying to brush it off as not that big of a deal. Definitely not something you want for the rest of your life. Hope that you both are ok.

had my assessment today, I told them about my OCD and they said it definitely sounds like I have it. I told them I've been really struggling and tried self-help, told them what I learned and they were very impressed as most people they see haven't done any of the work. I did tell them despite me learning this by myself, I'm still struggling heavily and need help from a OCD specialist. So they did an absolutely wonderful thing of sending me more self-help links and an appointment with some generic therapist who doesn't specialise in OCD and that could take up to a year. I need an OCD specialist because they understand the types of thoughts people with OCD have. Gotta love the mental health sector in the UK. They preach about mental health and how it should be taken seriously, but it's all bark and no bite. Nothing actually gets done

Oh apologies, I thought you were talking about a 'course' of CBT or something. I'm not worried about my course directly, it's just when my OCD plays up (most days to be honest) I find it extremely hard to do anything - let alone studying. I feel as though I can't take in information because I'm always worrying about an 'obsession' but I'm starting to doubt if I even have OCD now because as @northpaulsaid, I haven't been assessed lol.. It's just hard to do normal things in general, I stop going out when I'm worrying and I just sit in my chair and worry for hours. My friends have invited me out multiple times this month and I can't go out.

@northpaul how did you find CBT? Was it hard? I'm glad CBT worked well for you. What do you mean by future course?

@northpaul @Angst Also, how long after a diagnosis will it take to start having CBT? Have you two had it - If so, how did it go?

No, they told me I'd need an official diagnosis from a medical professional. Years of suffering, misleadingly thinking it was just anxiety. Then the past year I started struggling even worse and decided to look up help online. I started looking into OCD and saw that it really links up to what I've been experiencing. Things like responding to intrusive thoughts with compulsions is what I've done my entire life but I just assumed it was all anxiety. Also, multiple of my close family members have OCD too.

Hello, How would I start the process for getting diagnosed with OCD? I have made an appointment with my GP and that is coming up in a few days, but I don't want to be sent just to be 'assessed', I was told I need a formal diagnosis that I actually have OCD by my university and student finance in order to get support. If I don't get support I'm sure I will definitely struggle at university, as when I have my 'episodes' of OCD I'm not in the right space to study or do any sort of work, I just become crippled with anxiety.

@ocdjonesy @Lynz thank you both, sorry for getting coming back and posting about this but I've just really got into my own head this past week and I haven't been feeling great. Thank you for the replies

Definitely not the case, I'm not attractive. I hope it was just that, but I just can't believe it. Considering the lack of context she has and all she can take from this is someone looking at her multiple times, I can't see it being this either. Definitely not. I'm not like that at all. I'm worried about how she perceives me though. If I was her and I lacked context, I would be a bit weirded out.

It happened again. I was at the gym and wanted to get my flask out of my bag as I got it out and unscrewed the lid to drink and as I stood up from the crouching position while drinking I saw her looking at me. Perhaps she is keeping an eye on me and is scared. What should I do? I'm so scared myself, I didn't even mean to look at her. I can't take this, why do I have such bad luck.

@HelloItsMeHi, thank you for your comment. I appreciate it. I'm trying my best to move on. I may just stop looking at this thread entirely to be honest because some comments really aren't helping me. Hello @thinks2muchThis sounds like I've written it lol. So similar to me. I haven't experienced this so much, my family are quite supportive.

We looked at eachother for less than a second and then I looked away. There was no negative facial expression on her face and she did smile at me once

@howard I'm sorry if I came across as rude when I was questioning whether you were being intellectually dishonest or willfully misunderstanding, but it seems like you were genuinely ignoring what I had said and just being confrontational to me. Every time I tried to explain it again - you would just completely ignore my point and it frustrated me. So I'm sorry for that, but I was upset by your comments

No idea what this means I didn't indicate anything. She seems to be a similar age to me. The fact that you make these assumptions is just bizarre. and I have no clue what you are trying to say here either. I was originally correcting myself due to a previous comment and said I use the word 'girl' for women as a previous comment asked about it. @ocdjonesy, @McW, @L.M. have all said that what you have suggested would be classed as an avoidance so this is really confusing me I appreciate you are trying to help me calm down @howard, but your comments have upset me. @Caramoole

Thanks @ocdjonesy, I'll take the advice you have offered and will attempt to put this behind me.

I don't know, I start thinking she'll start telling people or report me or something and it'll make me look like a total creep.

I understand what you are trying to say, but I'm more worried about the fact that what she thinks of me. I'm 100% confident in myself and I know I wouldn't be looking at her in a weird way - but obviously she doesn't know the context of what is going on and she could easily assume something like 'he's looking at me in a creepy way' and feel uncomfortable - when I'm not, I'm not like that at all.

I'm not sure if you are just being intellectually dishonest or willfuly misunderstanding what I'm saying, but the way you seem to perceive what I am saying is totally wrong. You say 'don't look in her direction'. I don't mean to look in her direction I'm not actively trying to look in her direction, I just look around the room sometimes while I'm thinking and she just happens to be in my line of sight. It's a series of bad roll of the dice every time. She just happens to be there every time I'm daydreaming/in a trance. I don't even know she's there, I cannot help doing that, it's something I've done since I was very young. It's literally pure chance she's there.

I'm sorry, but this sounds so accusing. It sounds like you think I've been doing it on purpose or something - which I wasn't at all.

Thank you @ocdjonesy

I wasn't watching her though. It's just when I was looking around, she looked at me the exact same time as my eyes were crossing her, and it's happened multiple times so now it looks like I've been actively looking at her when I haven't. I feel terrible. I don't know how I can do that, this is something I've done since I was little. My head just goes on autopilot and I just start looking around while thinking about things.

Yeah I definitely wasn't staring, but perhaps she thought I was staring. I don't know, I hope she doesn't feel weird/uncomfortable. Hi @ocdjonesy. Yes I normally do this but for some reason I panicked the first time it happened with her. I know, I probably sound really stupid. Hi @northpaul Yeah I'm exactly the same. If something is interesting to me I can go hours just thinking about something.

Hello there @McW Apologies, no she is a woman not a 'girl'. I just use the word girl for women. I know 'checking out a woman' is normal, but I genuinely wasn't doing it to her, and it's happened so many times that I know it actually makes me look weird. It's just coincidence every single time and I know that sounds like bullsh*t but it's the truth. I suppose not, but this just feels a little bit different. If someone kept looking at you, wouldn't you feel a bit uncomfortable? I would.