Hi, Just found this forum, Wondering if anyone has any of these things?

[Guest DCR]

Hi Im Dale.

I have just found this website today after looking up various things to do with OCD.

I recently split up with my girlfriend back last year so I decided to go to the doctors to seek help as I could not do anything that I enjoyed and was totally obsessed with her

and don't have one minute a day that I dont think about her, and when those thoughts come I feel a big wave of depression through me.

He initially prescribed me 50mg of sertraline a day, I started taking this and it made me feel really really bizzare, I felt like i'd been given speed or something but at the same time felt spaced right out and could not drive and was having serious panic attacks, I went back to him today and had a long chat and started telling him about things I do that I feel are irrational and effecting my every day life, so he changed me promptly to a different medication and said the previous one did not agree with me, and said I might be suffering from OCD as well as depression.

I have a few questions if I may, and i'd love to know if any of these things are related in any way to OCD.

Common symptoms that I suffer from which I beleive to be OCD are.

Having little rituals like when parking the car outside the house I have to do things in a certain order, like press the engine off button, then the lights, then set the radio on a certain channel and volume, making sure the steering is totally straight before the car locks the steering otherwise I gotta do it again, Turning the T.V. off on channel 3, all lights switches that work on a 2 way circuit have to be in the off position on both switches (i.e. the hall turns the upstairs light on and off, but when I go to bed it's gotta be in the off position downstairs, even though the upstairs switch turns it off it has to be off downstairs or it will drive me nuts).

If I think I saw a word somewhere or item, picture anything I keep thinking I have to go back and look to see if it was what I saw, if not it drives me nuts!.

Things all have to be equal, like I had tyres fitted to the car and they are all the same tyre, same model, same tread pattern, but he only had 3 V rated tyres, and 1 W rated which is just a higher speed capability, but it drives me mad thinking there is a odd tyre on my car! even though it's not.

Everything has to be straight and aligned perfectly, if not it drives me mad.

If the room gets slightly messy I have to tidy it up, and cannot stand things out of place, but if it gets in a serious mess it doesnt bother me.

I work as a engineer and I took 30 screws out of a machine the other day, a couple of them are gold in colour, all the same types of screw, but when I put all the screws back in I realised there was a silver one where a gold one was, and it drove me mad and I had to take it all apart to put the gold one back where I thought it would go.

Dirt and dust drive me insane, but i'm not worried about germs on my hands, but am worried about catching a serious disease and sometimes worry sick im gonna get a serious disease.

I fuss over things being totally organised, like my tools, cutlery draw, boot, desk.

superstitious stuff drives me mad, like walking on 3 drains etc, and i get depressed if i forget and walk on them.

I sometimes get horrible thoughts in my head like, a member of the family is gonna die in an accident or something and cos I thought about it I think it will happen, or talking to someone I think about hitting them or something (even though they are being really nice, and I wouldnt do that), even horrible sexual thoughts and I have to think other things to block them out.

I will add more to this section but I can't think off the top of my head now what else, but there are loads.

Other things that I do but im not sure if it's OCD or something else, and i'd love to know if anyone else suffers with them

I get in a relationship with someone, but I constantly worry about it, and analyse it. Then I feel I have to say something about it cos im worried, but cos i've said something about being worried I worry even more, then I say something again apologising over bringing something up it keeps going in a vicious circle and I feel the relationship is then doomed and I start suffering really bad with anxiety.

When the relationship is over I cannot stop thinking about them, the thoughts of anything good or bad is in my head 24 hours a day and wont go away, I feel completly obsessed by them even if it was someone that I didnt even like, I start to convince myself that I must have liked them, and it makes me depressed and I cant do things I enjoy.

If i've moved the house around and something bad happens after I have moved it, I will feel depressed and put it back the way it was when things were good, or somethings I dont like throwing out cos it was there when things were good.

I'm addicted to looking around shops, even though I dont want anything, but it makes me happy to buy something, I keep looking for something that I might want, or is cheap. Then I get depressed when I spend my money, then realise after playing with it for a bit that I didnt really want it and take it back for a refund.

I buy say a T.V. but I get it home and i'm not happy with it, so I keep taking it back for a different model, I ended up with 6 different models of T.V. recently and I wasnt happy with any. But yet I looked for weeks and weeks to buy it, and read 100's of reviews, I just could not decide on the one I wanted and spent hours in different shops.

When I go food shopping or clothes shopping I take like 2 hours as I cannot make a decision on what product to buy, and keep putting stuff back and picking up different brands, I read almost every label on the product to help me to decide what one I want, then when I do decide I have to check all the sell by dates to make sure I've got the freshest one in the shop!. Everyone who comes shopping with me doesnt understand why im so indecisive,I just cannot decide what product/brand I want to buy, and I will constantly ask who ever is with me opinions, and even then I cant decide. sometimes I have to go to more than one shop cos im sure it's cheaper or better value for certain items.

If I buy more of one item that is the same they all have to be exactly the same.

I recently bought 6 soldering irons as they were cheap, I planned on keeping one for myself and selling the rest in work, but I had to check each one of them and I had to keep the one that worked perfectly, some then had higher flames than others, some made different noises and it drove me mad to find the perfect one.

I recently bought a brand new car, and little tiny parking dents and things have made me not want to clean the car any more, and am thinking ordering another new car.

I hope im not going mad lol, i've always suffered with all of these but i'm started to realise it's making my life difficult.

Thanks for taking your time to read this.

Dale

Edited February 7, 2008 by Guest

[Guest FN75]

Everything has to be straight and aligned perfectly, if not it drives me mad.

If it helps, I once spent 90 minutes straighening a rug!!

I sometimes get horrible thoughts in my head like, a member of the family is gonna die in an accident or something and cos I thought about it I think it will happen, or talking to someone I think about hitting them or something (even though they are being really nice, and I wouldnt do that), even horrible sexual thoughts and I have to think other things to block them out.

I'm with you here...

I get in a relationship with someone, but I constantly worry about it, and analyse it. Then I feel I have to say something about it cos im worried, but cos i've said something about being worried I worry even more, then I say something again apologising over bringing something up it keeps going in a vicious circle and I feel the relationship is then doomed and I start suffering really bad with anxiety.

When the relationship is over I cannot stop thinking about them, the thoughts of anything good or bad is in my head 24 hours a day and wont go away, I feel completly obsessed by them even if it was someone that I didnt even like, I start to convince myself that I must have liked them, and it makes me depressed and I cant do things I enjoy.

And here!

And a friend of mine has a really bad OCD with things being 'straight'.

Welcome to the forum. You are not alone!

[Biccy]

hi dale

welcome the forum glad you found us

i would say that you doctor could be right but we are not medically trained so can not confirm the diagnosis but if you look

through the forum im sure you will find alot of posts that relate to your issues.

one thing for certian your not mad and your amongst people who understand what your going through.

did your doctor offer to refer you to a psychologist or psycharatrist for soem cbt cognative behavourial therapy ?

xx

nicky

[Guest DCR]

Thanks for the replys

The doctor has put me on Clomipramine as he said Sertraline didn't agree with me, though I am a bit concerned about taking this new tablet after what Sertraline had made me feel like.

Yes he's refering me to either a psychologist or psycharatrist though I don't know what the difference is with them, and he said that may take a while to get an appointment.

Today has been quite constructive actually, I went to meet up with my Dad earlier who always thought he just had bad nerves from having polio as a child and now suffers really bad with anxiety and worry etc.

After opening up to him about some of the things above he seems really relieved as he has very similar thoughts and obsessions like I do and is now relieved cos he thought he was mad and never told anyone about it!.

Edited February 7, 2008 by Guest

[Guest FN75]

Sertraline made me really ill too. I had to come off it immediately (as in within 48 hours).

I'm just coming off venlafaxine (as everyone knows!) right now - I've decided to go drug-free.

[Kylie]

Hi Dale,

Firstly a very warm welcome to the forum, I hope you find it of some support...there are some great people around.

As Nicky has already said, none of us are medical experts and are therefore unable to offer you a dignosis..but it certainly sounds like you are displaying OCD type symptoms.

I am pleased to hear you have visited your GP, and you have been referred. If you CLICK HERE you will find some information regarding the Community Mental Health Team...which outlines the differences between Psychiatrists and Psychologists.

Please keep posting and let us know how you are getting on.

Kylie

x x x

[Guest Alexander]

I'm addicted to looking around shops, even though I dont want anything, but it makes me happy to buy something, I keep looking for something that I might want, or is cheap. Then I get depressed when I spend my money, then realise after playing with it for a bit that I didnt really want it and take it back for a refund.

Yes im like that, but i cant take it back, I cant part ways with anything I buy, I get really sad if its goes back.