Anyone have other OCD behaviors

[tryingtoquit]

Besides the skin picking, do you do anything that is OCD related, like checking (is the door locked, is the stove off, did I turn off the curling iron, did I put stamps on my mail?)

I used to be that way, along with the skin picking. Luckily, prozac, now zoloft (which has worked wonders for me, by the way, I can think clearly) took the checking away, but skin picking is still there.

Someone said they are worst right out of the shower, me too, that's becuase we have no make-up and wet hair and think that clearing out a few pores will help us out with our appearance, NOT! And come to realize it an hour later, late for work, upset and the picking did us no good! Just get the make-up on and the hair done and some earrings in, and SMILE!

For me, I think how good I look in all my pictures over the last 10 years of picking, yet felt so terrible because of it. I thought, if I didn't pick, I would have been happy and the pictures would look the same (the sores don't show much in pictures).

Also, the OCD of this sort is inherited I have read. I know my dad would pick skin with a clipper off his feet. I just came to realize this is quite common among skin pickers as well.

Anybody's relatives fess up to a secret habit?

[touchingpeace]

I have read that CSP is considered an OCD spectrum disorder. I definitely have other OCD like tendencies and behavior. I remember that I pulled all my eyelashes out when I was 9, though I didn't start picking my skin until I was almost 12. Also when I was 10 or so I started picking at my scalp, which I still do. I am absolutely obsessed with my hair and pick and pull at all the time. I think these are all part of the same thing. I have found that playing with my hair relieves stress for me just like picking, though it is socially acceptable and picking is not. So, it is something I can do when I am around others that actually can leave me feeling the same way I do when I pick.

My dad and sister both have mild cases of OCD. They both pick at little bit, though for them it is more about counting and diligently keeping track of random things to relieve anxiety. I have read that it is hereditary, and has to do with a chemical imbalance in the brain. Whether true or not, I am trying to start seeing what gifts this situation has to offer.

I don't think it is random and I don't think it is a curse. I think there is a lot of energy behind this things and if we can divert that energy into things that help us grow will all will be unstoppable. Knowledge truly is power, the more aware we become, the easier it becomes to find a way out.

Take care.

-Jules

[angelkiss]

I don't think I have OCD to a serious extent, but sometimes I will all of a sudden go into this crazy state and I will clean obsessively. The last time it happened, I was feeling really stressed out and frustrated so I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom--vacuumed, mopped, dusted, washed dishes, cleaned counters, threw away anything that was laying around (which made my boyfriend crazy). I bleached and scrubbed the bathrooms, I was absolutely went crazy! Then I sat down on the couch and in two seconds I fell asleep! My boyfriend just laughs at me and says my OCD is flaring up. At least he finds the humor in it :-)

[Stef (Incubabe)]

Now that I think about it...my mom did have a lot of scars on her face from what looked like picking. And my dad picks at his flesh all the time...except...its gross when he does it...*skeeve*

When I was younger I was obsessed with 4. I had to do everything in 4's or even numbers. It was odd. Now, if I get in bed without putting on my scar cream, or brushing my teeth, or exercising I get right out of bed. It may just be hygiene issues but I dont think so. Everything has to be just so or I cant fall asleep...I think I need pills. LOL

[Ebnykween]

I have trictotilliomania (obsessive pulling of the hair). I started doing it when I was around 13. I never pulled out any hair except my eyelashes. I would pull until they were all out, and my eyes were swollen and sore. If I found one scant hair, I would be up in the mirror bound and determined to get it. For years I never had any eyelashes, and I hated it, but just chalked it up to a nervous habit.

Then one sunday earlier this year, I was reading my local paper and they had an article on my "hair pulling" and gave it a name. I cannot tell you what knowing it was SOMETHING did for me. It really changed the way I thought of my disorder. I thought of it more than just this nervous thing I did when I was stressed out, angry or even tired (or bored!) Knowing that I have this disorder has made me a LOT more aware of what I am doing and for the first time since I started pulling, I actually have a full set of lashes (and I am 38!!!)...it can be overcome, I think with time and not always with medication, now all I do is rub my finger across the tips of my lashes and I like the way I have no gaps.

[Carree]

When I was younger I would also pull out my eyelashes and eyebrows. I never completely pulled all of them out but they would be pretty thin. I haven't done that in awhile.....

[Elsie]

Other OCD behaviors........hmmm........

compulsive eating, for sure, and talking! I'm serious! Sometimes I just can't stop, especially when it's about something upsetting. You know how some people clam up? Well I run on and on, trying to rid myself of the emotions I'm feeling.

Weird, huh?

:-*Elsie

[evildeb]

When I was a about 6 or 7 I remember biting my nails clear down as far as I could.. I would bite them until they were raw and sore.

I also had episodes with tourettes like behaviors or complex tics that involved pulling my hair up with my hands and making a puff type sound like when someone goes wheew. I used to do this mostly while seated at my computer. I had that wierd compullsion for about 6 months.

I am also the parent of a 13 year old boy that has tourettes. He was diagnosed at age 6 with it, after his kindergarden and first grade teachers kept complaining about my son making wierd noises and grunts, and blinking all the time. or making wierd faces like pursing his lips and then grunting. They didn't want to believe he had it, they thought he was trying to be disruptive and that I needed to disciplin him more.

from age 4-6 He also displayed some OCD type rituals. He had to have me make sure his food was cut a certain way, wasn't touching at any point on the plate, and I had to taste any thing he ate from a restraunt first. Whenever I left for work he would throw a huge fit if he could not tell me that he loved me and for me to make sure that my car wasn't gone (stolen) he had watched a news program that had a story about stolen cars and worried that mine would get stolen when I was at work..

at 8 years old he had a bad tic episode where he was compelled to keep licking his face or chin just below his bottom lip and did so till it was bleeding. that was a bad one that lasted about 3 weeks. I was glad when that episode was over.

he hasn't had a real bad episode for a couple of years and we are hoping it has gone. but I read it can lay dormant and flare up again later.

Now I know that he probably got his disease from me.

[Secret]

I do thinking rituals, like if I have an encounter with someone and want to know what that person thinks of me I'll ask my higher self and do an eenie meenie miney moe thing with my fingers, my right finger is positive and the left finger is negative.