OCD Action

Wombat140
Member

I can't find any way of explaining this coherently, so I'll just do the best I can and if anyone wants me to explain further I will do.
When I walk past a lamppost I sort of feel as if I've got caught up on it and have to jerk my head to get unstuck. I realise that this is not sense, and neither is my explanation of it. But I cannot find any way to avoid doing this.
It gets worse the further I walk, like I'm on elastic, attached to the wretched lamppost. If I don't jerk my head, it gets worse and worse, until I can't think straight, or walk straight. Then I have to do it anyway, only much more so than if I'd done it straight away. Sometimes I get away with not doing it though, but mostly it is like I said.
I've had this one on and off for years. It hasn't bothered me at all for a long time, but in the last week or so it's come back worse than ever. When it's particularly bad I also "catch" my feet in marks on the pavement! All this is driving me round the bend.
Has anybody else had this kind of thing? And what on earth did they do about it?
Yours grumpily,
Wombat140

Fri Jun 19 2009 18:50:07 #
Unregistered

Wombat, I think I've had most OCD symptoms at one time or another, but this is one I've yet to experience. I'm not sure how common it is, I've certainly read of it in books and in messages on boards. I'm sure someone can reply who has experienced it. Are you going through more stress at the moment?

How is the astrology coming on?

Tricia x

Wed Jun 24 2009 13:09:15 #
Wombat140
Member

Really? I did get one reply from somebody on the OCD-UK board, saying he used to have it but grew out of it. I'd never heard of it before. You could say I was having a lot of stress when it started, as I'd got a particularly nasty attack of intrusive thoughts. These have gone now but the lamp-post thing hasn't yet. Suppose I'll just have to wait till it goes.

I sent the astrology data to someone else to analyse, but he hasn't got round to it yet.
All the best,
Wombat140

Thu Jun 25 2009 17:39:56 #
brennie
Member

Wombat140, i'm sorry sweetheart but i cant relate to this lamp-post it intrusive thought , i know you realize its not true and this one must be so frustrating for you, i can relate to the catching feet on pavement mark/cracks though, but i do this with all cracks /marks in my home on the floor tiles in my bathroom and kitchen , they drive me mad also until i can get my feet to feel right and symetrical.... i'm not sure if this is anything like your explaining Wombat but whatever we do we know that from time to time it does dissapear ,but what confuses me is why oh! why does it always seem to come back when it leaves us for awhile without any apparent reason for it ? .... hope that makes sence

love brennie x

Fri Jun 26 2009 1:10:43 #
stevieb
Member

Hello Wombat

Yes, I think I can relate to what you are saying, I've experienced this bizzare compulsion myself, but only ever in a mild form. Only mine didn't really involved lamp posts. Mine was an idea that an invisible, elasticated restraint had caught on my feet, and was stretching as I walked, only with me, it usually 'snapped' and freed me, but on a few occasions, I had to step over it, and allow it to twang back again. But usually I 'break' it.

Another thing I used to do as a kid, was that I often flicked two of my fingers against my thumbs, though I'm not sure why I did this. I think it was to break an imagined, thin bit of string. I don't get that one anymore, and the former habit is pretty rare now, but I knew what you meant as soon as I started reading your post, Wombat.

So don't worry, I've suffered similar things, too, but on the lower end of the scale. So next time, don't jerk your head away, just ignore the annoying bit of elastic, and let it snap, though don't get into the habit of flinching, because there's nothing really there. Then each time, imagine the elastic to snap sooner and sooner, more and more easily, until eventually there'll be no more irritating, imaginary elastic there at all.

But isn't that one bl**dy bizarre?

Mon Jun 29 2009 2:12:57 #
stevieb
Member

You know, it really gets me when someone starts a thread, asking for advice, then they don't come back to comment again when they get some!

Tue Jul 14 2009 15:35:42 #
Unregistered

Steve, It's good to hear from you. How I agree with you over this. It is so inconsiderate when time and effort is spent and appears to be ignored. You are not alone, though, someone else from the board was talking to me on the phone today and this subject cropped up.

How are you doing?

Tricia x

Tue Jul 14 2009 15:59:25 #
stevieb
Member

[quote="Tricia":3lz7mtqq]Steve, It's good to hear from you. How I agree with you over this. It is so inconsiderate when time and effort is spent and appears to be ignored. You are not alone, though, someone else from the board was talking to me on the phone today and this subject cropped up.

How are you doing?

Tricia x

Hello Tricia, nice to hear from you, too. Yes, it is frustrating when we try and help someone, and it doesn't appear to be appreciated.

I'm not too bad, but things are fairly stressful at the moment, though nothing serious. I'm still getting the odd, niggling OCD hangup, but this has been encouraged by the fact that I'm about to make positive changes to my life. So when I'm about to step out and do something else, little OCD doubts crop up, but they're not really major issues anymore.

Today I celebrated my 39th birthday, and I told myself recently that it was time to do things, and make positive changes. I cannot let this vow slip away this time. There are the smaller changes which I'm going to make; go out more, get a new car, move to a better flat, away from my incessant stream of ignorant neighbours who have affected my physical and mental well-being.

Then there's the bigger changes; push my ambitions to be a published writer, find myself a nice girlfriend. And to finally defeat what remains of my OCD. These things don't all come in any particular order, but they are all on the agenda. Its time for me to stop talking and thinking, and to do. I've been telling myself this now for many years now, but have not made the progress I should have done. But no more.

So those are my proposals, how are you, Tricia? How are things in your life at the moment, and how are you bearing up? I hope you are well, anyway.

Again, its nice to hear from you, and I should post on here more often. I hope to chat to you again soon.

Best wishes,
Steve xx

Tue Jul 14 2009 20:46:34 #
Unregistered

Hello Steve, I hope you have many happy returns of the day! I certainly found my forties easier than my thirties, so hopefully your best years are yet to come. But try to enjoy the last of your thirties!

I do hope that you manage to move before too much longer, the stress those neighbours cause you seems considerable. I lived next-door to awful neighbours once and my nerves were shredded!

I also had a list of things to achieve this year, but sadly my mum's cancer has put most on hold. She is doing very well at the moment and I am slowly recovering from the past few months. I know that sounds utterly selfish, but Mum has been dealing with it better than me! Hospitals are a great fear and I've had to face so much this past few months. My physical health is suffering, but I'll bounce back hopefully. I wish I could say the OCD responded well to all the 'therapy' but if anything it's worse.

How is your book coming along? Mine is almost finished, but the proof-reading will probably take several years!

I do hope we see more of you here, you are missed.

Best wishes,
Tricia x

Wed Jul 15 2009 14:49:09 #
Wombat140
Member

I'm

Oh heck! I'm really sorry about that. I didn't realize that I'd upset anyone till now, because I haven't been on the Net since Monday.
Sorry I didn't reply. I just hadn't anything to say, except thanks for the replies. I should have said that only I forgot to.
Steve - I'm afraid I can't usually pull that one off. The trouble is it gets worse the further I walk, until eventually it gets so strong that I can't make myself walk any further, and I have to do it just the same only worse. But I'm very grateful for the reply anyway. You can rely on that even if I don't say so - but I will.
Thanks once again to all of you,
Wombat140
PS Sorry about the top bit. My browser is having a tantrum and won't scroll properly.

Thu Jul 16 2009 17:59:30 #
Nimrod
Key Master

[quote="stevieb":13k8mj57]You know, it really gets me when someone starts a thread, asking for advice, then they don't come back to comment again when they get some!

I fully understand your frustration, but there can be all sorts of reasons why people don't come back. Of course, it could be that they have got what they want and don't have the decency to acknowledge it or it could be for any number of genuine reasons. Perhaps they have computer problems or have been tied up with work or chores or it could be because of this dreadful condition that OCD is and that has prevented them from getting back on the forum. Perhaps we should give them the benefit of the doubt and take it that it is the latter. But whatever the reason the forum is visited by far, far more people than those who post and ask for advice so the questions and advice is seen, and hopefully of benefit to a great many people, many of whom will also be suffering from this dreadful condition.

Best wishes,
Caps

Thu Jul 16 2009 21:34:09 #
Rikki_bristol
Member

Wombat,

It's been a while now since this thread started, how is the lamp post thing going?

When I was 7-11 years old I used to have a similar thing to you, I thought I had an invisible rope grafted to my back, and when I would go out with my friends I could walk through the streets and be fine- as long as my rope wasn't tangled up. For example if I swung round on a lamp post I would have to walk or swing back round to free myself of it, but it wasnt just lamp posts, i'd have to walk the same way home through the same doors etc til I got home. Nothing could cut the rope such as a door closing on it or anything it just meant there was always a tension there reminding me it's stuck. So I completely know where you're coming from, I never had the head jerks with it although I do get it with other things but the tension and the difficulty sounds very familiar.

But guess what? I'm completely free of it, i have freedom to walk anywhere I want to. I can get into a car one side and come out the other and happily watch it drive away, which before i would cry and run after it because my rope was being stretched away from me.

The change come not because of medical or therapy intervention but because of the way OCD and anxiety works (i'll have to write up a life story somewhere so people can come and see some of my experiences). So, how on earth did OCD get rid of this inhibiting feature of mine? Because OCD is adaptive, as it is also egodystonic, meaning it doesn't fit in with our ego/self perception. The best time for OCD to adapt is in our younger years up til where I would say early 20's as being naive, innocent and childly open is a key mix to making changes, that doesn't mean older people can't change it just means we're less able.
So while I was growing up, in the years leading upto secondary school alot of personality changes come and went but the main OCD and other comorbid conditions I have stayed the same. It took a while before I realised that I wasn't worrying about my rope because it had been replaced with something else, the OCD trait had adapted to my new state of mind and found a place to make something else inhibited. Some will say well where's the positive side in this? Well because yes it's bad it had inhibited me in some other way but it's not as bad as the rope was. Some how I managed to naturally influence this adaptation to be something less distressing.

The advice here is to use CBT, mindfulness, and other techniques doctors will teach you, to start changing our problems and be open about it.
Panic panic panic, if anything needs elaborating on then please message me as I have trouble converting thoughts into words

Ricardo.

Sat Aug 8 2009 17:48:36 #