OCD Action

Truddles
Member

Hi

Is anyone else a member of the Bedtime Ritual Club?

I can't go to bed without going through a string of rituals because of my OCD. It takes me ages to pluck up the courage to go to bed as I dread all the rituals that I have to perform in order to get into bed

Does anyone else have this problem?

I long for the day when I can just get into bed without all the stupid rituals

Mon May 3 2010 18:13:28 #
Nigel
Member

Hi Truddles; I wasn't going to reply because intitally I didn't tink I did. Maybe I don't and it's just what everyone does but I do this:

I check every door and window and plugs. I think that's fairly normal. But then i check again and check where i was sat a few times then if i go to the bathroom i look in the wc, the bath and the sink to see if i dropped anything.

I've been doing the majority of this for the last few weeks.

N

Mon May 3 2010 18:27:36 #
poppyfields
Member

Hi Truddles, you know i do and hate it also. Using the avoidance technique by sleeping downstairs at the moment and it's great just getting up from the sofa and falling into bed without a single ritual!! If I can do it downstairs, why can't I do it upstairs??? grrrrrrrrr I'll try, if you try! Pops

Mon May 3 2010 18:41:48 #
Unregistered

Hi Trudy,
Yes, I have bedtime rituals too. In fact that is my old familiar OCD which I've had for most of my life. In fact until it got extreme to the point where I couldn't sleep at all when it was dark in my late teens, I didn't actually think there was anything abnormal in my behaviour, I assumed that everyone had the same thoughts and behaviour (my family never acknowledged my odd behaviour as a child they thought it was a phase.......seemingly a rather long one :-)).
I went to see my GP and after several prescriptions for sleeping tablets that didn't work he asked me why I couldn't sleep and when I told him that was when I discovered that other people wern't all doing the same things.
Funny enough after over twenty years of living with this I don't mind it to much anymoree its like an old slightly weird and creepy friend most of the time. When it gets bad it still can be terrifying and is an expensive habit as I regulary break door/ window handles. The thing I really wish for is that I could just once go to sleep at a time I choose rather than my OCD chooses. But to be honest after the last year with these new changes to my OCD I wish I could go back to when that was my main quirk
What kind of rituals do you have? Are they to do with checking or hygiene?
Jo

Mon May 3 2010 18:42:08 #
Truddles
Member

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin..............

First I have to check all the windows are shut and locked, I keep jiggling the handles so many times to ensure that they're locked that it makes my wrists ache. Then wash my hands.
I then have to go down and check the front door is locked and have to check again and again and then come back up and wash my hands again.
Then I have to get a glass of water and put it on a table in the bedroom ready to take my medication and then wash my hands again.
Then I have to get the bathroom ready and get undressed, then I have to wash my hands and carefully get clean towels out without touching anything and get my slippers, the shower gel and shampoo (it's quite a balancing act) and again without touching anything go and shower.
Showering takes ages as I can't touch the wall or the curtain and every time I need to use the shower gel I first have to wash my hands with it - daft aren't I?
Then carefully go to the bedroom again without touching anything and dry myself, then go and wash my glasses under the shower or I can't wear them to read in bed.
Then I carefully have to go and check the taps are off in the kitchen and the fridge freezer is closed, then check the taps and the light in the bathroom are off.
Then wipe my hands with a baby wipe before getting nightie out of the drawer and putting it on. Yes folks I checked the taps and bathroom light with nought on, that way I know my nightie hasn't touched anything and so is safe to wear in bed. My bed to me is a clean uncontaminated area.
Then finally carefully get into bed
I also have 'special clean' slippers that I wear once I get out of the shower and I keep these safe under the bedside chest of drawers.

All this takes anything from one to two hours and I'm sick of having to be so careful and constantly check things. If it takes any longer I'll be finishing after it's time to get up

Sorry if I've tired you all out - I hate what my OCD has done to my life
It's such a waste of time and by the time I've completed the rituals I've woken myself up and can't get to sleep.

Trudy

Mon May 3 2010 19:18:27 #
Unregistered

I don't think your daft, I wash my hands when I touch the shower gel bottle too, normally to make it easier I have two bottles one clean and one dirty - maybe omeone will invent a bottle that you can wave your hand and it dipense without touching it like those tap that you get in department stores

Mon May 3 2010 19:41:19 #
thelazypick
Member

i don't think mine's a ritual but,

i hate to get up to do things after getting on the bed. i think something terrible might happen if i get up in the middle of the night. moreover, with my obsession with even numbers, i'd have to get up too the next night to undo the previous night's getting up. sorry if it's confusing, my thoughts are so crazy i think no words can explain.

Tue May 4 2010 2:31:02 #
Rena32
Member

I used to have the bedtime rituals, but they faded as quickly as they came, although they did last for several years. Now, I have morning rituals, check the stove over and over, check that the lights are off over and over, check that the coffee pot is off over and over, check that everything is unplugged over and over, it takes forever just to get out of the house to go to work, then I worry after I leave for about five minutes, if I left anything on before I left, by the time I get to work that worry is gone and a new one moves in. I used to have the hand washing problem years ago, it lasted about a year, then faded and I moved onto something else.

Tue May 4 2010 3:44:58 #
Wombat140
Member

I used to have a few bedtime rituals, but I HAVE NOT GOT THEM ANY MORE. I can't even remember just now what they were. And I'm pretty sure I got rid of most of them deliberately - they didn't just luckily happen to go away. Hope some of you find this encouraging!

Mon May 10 2010 20:09:05 #
Truddles
Member

Perhaps if I stop going to bed then the rituals will go

Mon May 10 2010 20:48:34 #