OCD Action : CPDT (Cute Puppies Distraction Technique) - The national UK charity providing support and information to anybody affected by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Living With OCD

CPDT (Cute Puppies Distraction Technique)

Joel, January 12, 2010

This is going to sound a bit strange, as I am not telling this to a Doctor; I am putting it in a blog. I have this cough, no let me rephrase that, I have the most annoying cough I have ever heard. It raises its ugly head when I am anxious or stressed or when I think about coughing, or when someone else coughs which then makes me think about coughing, which then makes me cough. When I was younger I’m sure it used to be seasonal, three months on, three months off. I think it might be related to my OCD because when I have a bad thought I sometimes cough or I cough more than once because I’m counting in my head and because it comes when I get anxious. So that makes me think is this cough fake? But if I don’t cough it feels like my throat will close up and I will stop breathing and inevitably die.

I am struggling right now to leave “inevitably die” in this blog because my biggest fear is death and even the thought of writing that is making me feel sick, but maybe if I tell you how I am feeling about writing that I might feel better.

You might think that this is a trivial topic and that it is only a cough. But this cough is affecting my everyday life. It has made me hoarse, I swear that my voice is now a lower tone after the coughing fits I have had in the last 6 weeks. I have to take cough sweets with no actual medicine in them, you know the aniseed tasting ones, the other day I think I must have had about twenty in one hour. My tongue went numb, can you imagine what may have happened if they were cough sweets with medicine in them? Probably the same thing. At work it’s at its worst, people think I have swine flu or some sort of infection. Then I have to explain or try not to get worked up that I might have swine flu… you know germs, disease… bad…scary…anxious…ritual….ahhhh.

The reason I am writing this is partly if anyone could shed some light on this or tell me if they think it is OCD or something. Please no scare mongering though.

Other than the wonderful cough, I have had a great Christmas and New year. Lots of family and friends seen, lots of fun had, lots of presents opened and lots of alcohol drunk. On one tipsy evening… my Auntie Heather and I got talking about my cough and my OCD. I’m pretty sure we tried that technique of if you do something you shouldn’t you get a slap. So when I coughed I got a slap, not to hard of course. After ten minutes we all realised this made it no better. So my cough lived to see another day… grrr. Seven years ago was when this cough appeared and I am still none the wiser.

I think my OCD hasn’t been so bad over Christmas, I have been quite relaxed or so occupied that I haven’t had too much time to think. Puppies, my auntie has 2 new puppies, they are little Black Labradors, and I think everyone who has OCD should get 2 puppies, and here is why… if you are not playing with them, they are causing havoc somewhere else… chewing, fighting, trying to play with the cat or destroying something. Therefore you have to watch them most of the time which is very exhausting and distracting. But then you have to forgive them all that because they are so cute especially when they are asleep. I think I will call this therapy CPDT (Cute Puppies Distraction Technique). I think I am on to something…

Hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

Georgie 21

2 responses to “CPDT (Cute Puppies Distraction Technique)”

helen says:

February 23, 2010 at 8:44 pm

I think you need to see a throat specialist!!!!!!!!!!!!!
rosa5 says:

March 3, 2010 at 12:06 pm

Could the coughing be some sort of Tourette’s symptom? The strain on your larynx (?) might be then giving you a sore throat.
The puppies sound lovely though.