Published on 12, July, 2020
How many of you suffer with OCD? I know I've posted about this before, but I thought I'd do it again as I've been suffering greatly with it as of late. My symptoms are varied, you have the pretty standard ones, like washing your hands every fifteen minutes in case you didn't do so properly the previous time, but also, and I'd be interested to know if anyone else has this, ruminations on events that happened at least five years ago. You can't look at something without somehow being reminded of an event you regret.
Thankfully, CBT therapy has been arranged and I'll be having it in at least September, but until then, I have to suffer with those three letters that, if you've never heard of them, you're clearly living a better life - OCD. I know this isn't the happiest of posts, but you can't expect me or indeed anyone to be happy all the time. Everyone, including people like Mr. Jolly from Playdays (remember him?) has to feel any emotion other than happiness at least once in their life.
But please do tell me your interactions with it if you have it and/or know someone else who does. My dad and his surviving niece also have it, but my surviving niece took CBT which, as I've heard, is life changing. Looking forward to having it!
I think I may have contamination based OCD and am awaiting an assessment (5 months time) to see if I can be referred for CBT.
I feel like any object that another human has touched is just alive and crawling with germs and I hate to touch something like this as then I feel as though I can feel all the germs crawling on my skin and it is unbearable until I have washed my hands. I don't like my clothes to touch something that other people's clothes have touched either. If, for example, the person who I live with comes in the house, then makes himself a cup of tea without first washing his hands, I have to disinfect everything he has touched before I can touch it. I also don't like breathing in the same air that other people have breathed out.
I am also terrified of the sun/daylight touching my skin in case I get skin cancer. (my skin reacts badly to UV light and I am covered in moles). So leaving the house involves a lot of covering up, but even then, after all the covering up, and inside the house I still feel as though I being blasted with radiation and can never quite relax until the sun has gone down.
It doesn't sound much but these two things together on top of my sensory issues, social issues, anxiety and wanting to avoid any change to my routine etc... all together make for a bit of a nightmare!