Compulsive habits?

[bandster_1007 1]

wow...that's a new way to irrigate the ear..haha...it hurts my ear if Water goes directly in it.

i have what doctor's like to call "yucky ears" my ears on the inside are not shaped well to "clean themselves" and it is hard for doctor's to see in there. and i have eustacian tube dysfunction..so i have frequent ear infections.

i think it is genetic, my brother was born deaf, but he has had his ears reconstructed twice and he is able to hear, but he will need to sign when he is old (although he doesn't know sign language).

[areellady 1]

Just a note to those who are saying you are OCD.....checking the doors and alarms twice is not OCD. I have OCD. Diagnosed OCD. It is not fun or just something to do. It cripples every aspect of your life. It is not about, "oh, I better check the door before bed!"....it is all night, checking and rechecking and rechecking....ALL NIGHT....so finally as exhaustion hits you as the sun is coming up, it is time to get up and ready for the next day. I am not trying to be obnoxious, but it hits home when I see someone say, I am ocd....when in reality, they have not idea what OCD does to a person. Medication did the trick for me and I have tried many times to go off of it, but I am one of the luck people in the world to not only be fat, but have to take Luvox for the rest of my lift. It works, and I have led a normal life when on it.

[Wheetsin 714]

Definitely. People who have OCD - there's no doubt about it, because their lives are interrupted. Rituals, practices, etc. But, you can also be obsessive about things without having OCD. Obsessive tendencies.

[bandster_1007 1]

.....checking the doors and alarms twice is not OCD. I have OCD. Diagnosed OCD. It is not fun or just something to do. It cripples every aspect of your life. It is not about, "oh, I better check the door before bed!"....it is all night, checking and rechecking and rechecking....ALL NIGHT....

uh..i majored in psych..but that doesn't amount to much, but i have been diagnosed. i used to get up several times a night to check the doors and all of the windows..and if you noticed about the key thing and checking under cars. i have ocd and it does cripple my life.

oh and another thing..the amount of times that you check is not what defines you as OCD...the fact that you can't sleep until you do it, and the fact that you HAVE to do it a certain number of times, is what defines you as OCD. if i accidentally get in the bed without checking every door is locked TWO times..then i cannot sleep. that is OCD by textbook. and if you go home to check to make sure that things are unplugged because you CAN'T go on..and you do it regularly, that classifies you as OCD. you do not have to do it every day. as with any illness there are different degrees.

[munchkin392 1]

Just a note to those who are saying you are OCD.....checking the doors and alarms twice is not OCD. I have OCD. Diagnosed OCD. It is not fun or just something to do. It cripples every aspect of your life. It is not about, "oh, I better check the door before bed!"....it is all night, checking and rechecking and rechecking....ALL NIGHT....so finally as exhaustion hits you as the sun is coming up, it is time to get up and ready for the next day. I am not trying to be obnoxious, but it hits home when I see someone say, I am ocd....when in reality, they have not idea what OCD does to a person. Medication did the trick for me and I have tried many times to go off of it, but I am one of the luck people in the world to not only be fat, but have to take Luvox for the rest of my lift. It works, and I have led a normal life when on it.

Ummm...I don't think anyone is taking OCD lightly here. I have been diagnosed with OCD and take Effexor for it, and it sure sounds like alot of these other folks have it also. I'm sure none of these obsessions or compulsions make life fun for anyone. For me personally, it's hell being a nurse while I'm a HUGE germaphobe!!

[green 6]

Just a note to those who are saying you are OCD.....checking the doors and alarms twice is not OCD. I have OCD. Diagnosed OCD. It is not fun or just something to do. It cripples every aspect of your life. It is not about, "oh, I better check the door before bed!"....it is all night, checking and rechecking and rechecking....ALL NIGHT....so finally as exhaustion hits you as the sun is coming up, it is time to get up and ready for the next day. I am not trying to be obnoxious, but it hits home when I see someone say, I am ocd....when in reality, they have not idea what OCD does to a person. Medication did the trick for me and I have tried many times to go off of it, but I am one of the luck people in the world to not only be fat, but have to take Luvox for the rest of my lift. It works, and I have led a normal life when on it.

My heart goes out to you, Lady. OCD is a horrible thing to live with. I do believe, however, that there is a spectrum with these illnesses, and that some individuals are more grievously afflicted than others.

My tenant has OCD, she is a checker, and one of my closest friends, a guy who is gay and a paranoid schizophrenic, also seems to be afflicted with OCD. He is a counter but I sometimes wish that he was a washer for he lives in one of the grimiest apartments that I will voluntarily enter. He counts in sequences of three and he will chase his cat around the apartment if the animal jumps off his lap before he has finished giving him sufficient carresses that they add up to a multiple of three. He must count, you see.

As for my tenant, the checker, she is prone to destroying door knobs, locks, and Water faucets while she is checking to make absolutely sure that they really are closed, locked or off. She has become a close friend of mine and she always quietly replaces her own ruined hardware.

Drugs like Prozac will cap this behaviour but the OCD sufferer pays a price; these drugs do tend to smash your sex drive.

I am in the way of being a bit of a checker but I am still well within the boundaries of normal land. I do not lose sleep at night because of my urge to check and it doesn't take me 5 to 10 minutes to lock my front door.

I do, however, have a bunch of little rituals. I have to spend a certain amount of time on the internet, and I have to watch prime time TV, and I cannot go to sleep before spending a couple of hours reading in bed. All of this adds up to a lot of chores which are left undone. Oh, ugh!

[Ang1982 4]

My OCD'ness I have been doing for years - since I was in high school so we are easily looking at around 10 years.. I always thought it was strange I would try to force myself to not do it but I couldn't help it and how bizaare it was. Until this past year when I actually started to do some research on the internet about it - and who would of thought its a full blown disorder.... May I introduce to you... Trichotillomania... aka " "trich" as it is commonly known, is an impulse control disorder characterized by the repeated urge to pull out scalp hair, eyelashes, facial hair, nose hair, pubic hair, eyebrows or other body hair, resulting in noticeable bald Patches." (thank you wikipedia for the brief summary).

That's right folks I pull my eyelashes and my eyebrows out. Not to the extent where I am bald of lashes and brows but I definitely get bare spots in both sometimes and it's TERRIBLE. And the worse part is - I CANT STOP. It's so subconscious that I don't even realize I am doing it until it is too late. It makes me ugly and I can't stop. I've not told my doctor yet as I'm sure I'll end up getting referred to a psychiatrist or something of the sort - so far they aren't sure why people do this, and it can't be cured but it can be medicated with OCD medications but do I really want to be medicated?

If anyone is curious about what this is - this is an interesting article which is very similar to my "story". Psychology Today: Hair Pulling: A Baffling Disorder

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

I know that I don't have OCD, but I am interested in it since one of my best friends has it and do does her daughter. The medication has helped tremendously, but not completely.

I have watched the guy on Deal or No Deal talk about it on many talk shows. He is afraid of germs. He refuses to touch money. Once, he made his wife meet him at a parking garage, because he couldn't leave to pay. He lives in LA, so I would imagine this isn't easy for his wife. He absolutely refuses to ever touch money.

I know it's difficult for my friend to get out of bed to check and recheck the burners on her stove. I am glad they came out with medication to at least help somewhat with this.

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

I do have another friend that does that too. She had her eyebrows tatooed because she has none.

I have a tendency to pull out my hair, but I can control it.

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

I do have restless legs too. The medication for that really helps.

Restless leg syndrome is now known to be a lot more common than when I first got it. I thought I was crazy because I couldn't get my legs to sit still.

[steph_co 9]

Ang1982 - I've heard of that. I think I would talk to somebody. Medicated doesn't always mean out of it.

[Ang1982 4]

Ang1982 - I've heard of that. I think I would talk to somebody. Medicated doesn't always mean out of it.

Yah Ive been thinking about that, just haven't gotten around to making a Doctors appointment with my Dr yet to see what they have to say / get any required referrals. Will probably book one for early into the New Year.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I appreciate the thoughts, phyllisc and Wheetin, but believe it or not she already gets a professional manicure AND pedicure once a week! I took her to a podiatrist who recommended surgery for ingrown toenails, so we undertook the pedicure route instead hoping we could avoid surgery. And her fingernail cuticles overgrow and are very thick, so that was the reason for the manicures. I understand her compulsion to pick at them because they're so thick.

It sounds like you are describing mycotic nails. The thick yellow nail usually means there is a fungus growing in there. It usually happens of someone cuts/tears their toenails down too far to the point that they bleed. The fungus is in the air and it gets into the nail bed and over time the nail grows in thicker and thicker.

Here is some info:

ACFAOM.org: Onychomycosis

The only reason I bring this up is that there is a treatment. It's an anti-fungal drug that is in tablet form. You take one tablet daily for (usually) 90 days. By that time the nail has had a chance to grow out again and the mycotic nails are gone. She's just too young to have to have something like nasty yellow nails.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I can't tell you how much better this thread makes me feel! I do soooo many of the above mentioned things! Probably my worst one is picking my skin-acne, scabs, whatever. And I have really, really fair skin so it leaves scars. My hubby is always yelling at me to quit it! But seriously, I am OCD about too many things to list even. Sad, but true!

My sis has OCD in a mega huge way. Example, she'll be cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and she HAS to plan it so that she's done wiping the table off at exactly the same time as the song on the radio comes to an end. If she misses it then she has to clean the table again and she has to finish at the same time the next song is over.

When her kids were little she'd be using the vacuum cleaner in the living room while they were trying to watch TV. Well, she couldn't stop cleaning. After a couple of hours of this they kids would call me and tell me she's at it again. We'd hang up, I'd call my sis and ask when the last time she used the vacuum downstairs because the last time I was there it was pretty dusty and dirty. She would panic and run downstairs and clean then the kids had the living room to themselves. We finally told her we used to do that a couple of years ago.

My niece is just as bad. She has to line everything up in the cupboard according to fat grams. The least fat grams in the product is at the top left hand place. The items with the most fat grams goes on the bottom shelf, right side. If two products have the same number of fat grams per oz then those go in alphabetical order.

For me I cannot STAND it if my nails have jagged tips. If it is not absolutely smooth and perfect I'll cut them all off. Makes me nuts to try to ignore it. I hyperfocus to the point of ridiculous. If they are not perfect I cut them off and let them regrow. Since I don't use fake nails or coverings it can take months to get them where I want them.

If one nail is a hair shorter than the others I will redo my entire manicure.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Regarding cuticles. I have a cure for messed up cuticles. The more you pick at them and tear them the more jagged they are and the more jagged they are the more you pick at them.

I bought some stuff at CVS pharmacy, it was less than two dollars, it will last a couple of years at least, and it is called:

Pomada De La Campana, Dr. Bell's Pomade

It's simple basic cream, it's in a plastic round jar kinda thing that is the size and shape of a can of tuna... white with black writing. Put it on your cuticles at night for two nights and your cuticles will be in perfect condition again. The stuff is amazing. But don't put it on your face, it's too rich for that and you'll get zits.