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forum Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Any tips on obsessive shopping (or lack of)

(15 posts) (8 voices)
  • Started 2 years ago by
  • Latest reply from Parvez Choudhry
  • This topic is Not a support question
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    Unregistered

    I was new to this forum yesterday so hope its ok to ask a question. Does anyone have or know of someone with obsessional/compulsvie behaviour when it comes to food shopping? I've had OCD for over 20 years but last year it morphed into a new form and part of that is around food and pakaging. When I try and buy food I get thoughts about whehter the food is contaminated, or somehow been tampered with and have to check packaging, which means that most shopping trips I come home with nothing as either the packaging/food didn't pass inspection or I felt that people would think I was wierd for picking all the stuff from the back and checking it so I give up trying to get anything. I tend to go to different shops and try and buy one thing from each shop so no one sees but it takes ages and doesn't really help.

    Anyone else experienced this?
    Any suggestions?
    Jo

    Wed Apr 14 2010 20:38:03 #
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    Drizzles
    Member

    Hello jo, as we haven't met on any other topic before: welcome to the forum! I'm not sure about your problem, do you think it might be related to a general obsession about hygiene? Try to focus on whether the food looks good and imagine all the good things that you can make with it and try to focus on how much you want to eat this/use this for your cooking. I know it sounds like an idiotic idea but it might help you a bit.

    Wed Apr 14 2010 21:29:48 #
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    Unregistered

    Hi
    It is related to other issues with hygiene which started last year. Before it was more about checking stuff which I learnt to live with a long time ago. The food thing is the worst part of it at the moment as it makes eating tricky so i'm tired a lot and that makes me a bit low someimes. Thankyou for your advice, ti didn't sound idiotic and any advice is worth trying as i haven't been able to find any solutions yet myself
    jo

    Wed Apr 14 2010 21:46:26 #
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    Drizzles
    Member

    I really hope it'll help you somehow, feel free to PM me any time you want to talk about it too. Sorry I couldn't help you too much, my OCD problems are with different things. Make sure to tell us how it works out for you though!

    Seb

    Wed Apr 14 2010 21:49:49 #
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    Unregistered

    Thankyou

    Wed Apr 14 2010 21:53:09 #
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    Truddles
    Member

    When I try and buy food I get thoughts about whehter the food is contaminated, or somehow been tampered with and have to check packaging

    Phew....so I'm not the only one that does that. I also have a problem buying anything to do with personal hygiene (shampoo, shower gel), toilet rolls, washing up liquid, tissues etc. I must look really suspect in the supermarket checking all the packaging is intact and ensuring that the lids on the hand wash haven't been tampered with and or opened. Then when I get to the checkout all the non food items have to be put in carrier bags and then the handles tied together The staff are used to me and even give me carriers that haven't been sat on the checkout or I wont use them.
    Surprisingly I don't have to do that with the food. But I am slowly improving. The trick is not to get too annoyed with yourself for checking as it just raises your anxiety levels and so makes the OCD worse. I started with purchasing things that were well packed or vacuum packed then gradually moved onto the more flimsy packaging. I still am very cautious and have to check several times but I am improving.

    It is tiring and I quite often find that by the time I get home I've completely gone off the idea of eating the food that I took so long to purchase.

    Have you tried CBT? If not perhaps you could ask your GP to refer you for CBT.

    Wed Apr 14 2010 22:36:09 #
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    Moocher
    Member

    I don't like it if packaging looks like it's been messed about with. If you get your shopping delivered they are always giving you stuff with torn packaging. They offload it onto the home shoppers because they know nobody will buy it instore.

    Thu Apr 15 2010 9:47:09 #
  8. Avatar Image


    Unregistered

    I once spent a whole day buying a pack of toilet rolls. For some reason every single pack I checked had a split or a hole. I tried several shops. I do understand your distress. Wish I had a suggestion.

    One tip for anyone who feels embarrassed when they are examining an item and they realize someone is watching them, patiently waiting to reach something from the same shelf. A friend of mine felt very embarrassed when she realized a work colleague was watching her with a very bemused look on her face. My friend had been carefully checking several packs of kitchen towels. Without stopping to think, she announced “Just looking for a pack that has a competition on it, I’m sure they had them last week.” There had been no competition, but my friend felt it was a good excuse!

    Moocher, they also give online customers produce with the oldest dates. I couldn't cope with having mine delivered!

    Fri Apr 16 2010 14:27:07 #
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    Truddles
    Member

    I too have the problem of buying toilet rolls amongst other things and ensuring the packs don't have a hole or aren't split. They seem to be very lax with packaging these days. I've got past the point of caring if people look (though I'm still embarrassed) but if they stare I just say 'I can't help it, I've got OCD' and under my breath 'Aren't you lucky if you don't have it.'

    At the moment I find by far the hardest thing in the supermarket to buy is hand wash as I have to check each bottle to ensure that the top is secure and hasn't been opened. When I'm doing that I do feel a complete idiot. Checking each one takes so long and if I'm unsure if it's ok then I have to temporarily put it back on another part of the shelf so I don't confuse it with the one's that I haven't already checked.

    I think I need a T shirt saying 'Please ignore my actions - it's not me it's OCD!'

    “Just looking for a pack that has a competition on it, I’m sure they had them last week.”
    is a great excuse, must remember that one

    Fri Apr 16 2010 15:09:39 #
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    Unregistered

    After a long not so good day at work its nice to come in and find that there really are other people like me :-)Makes my diet of peanut butter sandwiches and cheese and tomato pizza not so bad when I think there's other people going through the same thing, although I wish for us all we could just go to the shop and buy whatever we like without any worries or distress. I guess I'm lucky really as I've only had this thing about food for a year and am hoping it will soon disapear into the night the same way it arrived :-)Thanks for the tips and sharing your experiences it does help
    Jo x

    Fri Apr 16 2010 22:08:27 #
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    swan
    Member

    My issues are more around chemicals bleach ect and so dont out them in same bag as food. Yesterday I was buying a paper and asked for another carrier for my newspaper I was told I could only have a small food bag. Felt bit stupid.

    Sun Apr 18 2010 16:04:59 #
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    Daisy Vine
    Member

    I too have massive problems with checking packaging when shopping, and doesn't it make you feel even worse now minimal packaging is generally preferred by shoppers (that probably don't suffer our contamination OCD thoughts).

    I get strange looks from cashiers when I put my flimsily wrapped bread rolls into a second thin plastic bag used for loose rolls. The other day I was asked if the wrapper had torn, to which I merely answered "No" because I didn't want to explain why but perhaps we should be brave and say "it's my OCD" more often, rather than suffer the embarrassment?

    Daisy Vine

    Sun Apr 18 2010 22:45:25 #
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    swan
    Member

    I understand what you are saying daisy vine but think if i told a complete stranger i had ocd i would feel even more embarrassed and dont think i would have the understanding we all want.
    Swan

    Mon Apr 19 2010 2:59:17 #
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    Truddles
    Member

    Before I went down to look after my mum I could manage to get out alone but just couldn't manage once I was in the supermarket. Because of my epilepsy I used to get confused and if I took something off the shelf I was frightened that I'd left something of mine on the shelf, so the OCD had a field day. I couldn't go without shopping so I had to bite the bullet and ask the staff for help. Now I'm no longer afraid to tell staff in the shops about my OCD. I'd now rather do that than them think that I'm a weirdo. I don't just say I have OCD I explain a little about it, that way I feel that I'm helping to spread the word about OCD.
    They all now know that there are some items that I can't put in my bag without putting in a carrier bag. It does however embarrass me if I think that I'm holding up the queue
    Unfortunately OCD does give us a rather large carbon footprint and minimal packaging really freaks me out.
    It does take courage to tell people but we need to as otherwise it will remain a hidden illness and why should we be made to feel ashamed to say 'I've got OCD.'

    Mon Apr 19 2010 11:13:54 #
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    Parvez Choudhry
    Member

    I try to disguise the fact that I'm checking the packaging for splits & dents by appearing to scrutinize the nutritional label or the ingredients list. While I hope people think I'm just checking up on the fat content or the artificial colourings, my hands are surreptitiously feeling round the container.

    In the case of something large like a box of cornflakes, I put two boxes in my trolley, walk on a bit, then go back and put one box back, as though I had changed my mind about how many boxes I wanted .... and I make sure I put back the box that had been at the front of the shelf and I keep the other one that had been hidden further back on the shelf.

    By a fortuitous accident I often wear a shirt that is similar to those worn by staff in Tesco. Consequently when I am groping to the back a shelf for something 'untouched', other customers often think I'm a shelf-filler and so they come up to me and ask me to direct them to a particular item they can't find. I don't tell them I'm actually another customer - I keep up the charade and tell them where to look and then carry on as if I were just doing my job filling the shelf!

    Mon Apr 19 2010 15:31:31 #

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