I was diagnosed with CDO. It’s kind of like OCD except it’s in alphabetical order the way it’s supposed to be.
At work, I have to have my various software editors open in a particular order. If something shuts down, I have to close the ones behind it and re-open everything in the correct order.
I wasn’t taking anything in this thread all that seriously, including my own reply, since it’s MPSIMS and all, not prone to using a message board to diagnose medical problems, etc. But go right ahead if you do.
I have a laundry list so long, many armchair psychologists will diagnose me OCD from it:
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[li]I must use hand lotion after bathing/washing myhands/getting my hands wet. Every time. If I don’t, I will actually get very anxious/upset. It’s just easier to let me do it.[/li][li]Things must be in a specific order in the pantry – if someone goes in and moves them around, I must make someone else get things from it for me if I am cooking, because otherwise, I tend to stop what I am doing and rearrange things before I can finish what I am doing.[/li][li]Candies, mixed fruits, mixed nuts kinds of things must be eaten in order of colour or in groupings of colours – for example: if I am eating trail mix, I must eat all the almonds, then all the cashews, etc until the nuts are all gone, then I must eat all the papaya, then the raisins, and so on.[/li][li]I peel grapes. The reason I won’t eat them is that I always peel them and people make fun of me for it. I also don’t eat popcorn in front of people very often, because I eat it a very specific way that keeps me from getting any hulls in my mouth.[/li][li]I am not as bad as some people, but I must check to make sure the stove is turned off multiple times before I leave the house. I have caught myself doing that one even when I didn’t have the stove on in the first place.[/li][li]I count stairs mostly, but I have caught myself counting steps when I know it is a short distance.[/li][li]I tend to walk just on the center of tiles, trying not to touch the cracks. I don’t do it on purpose, but once I notice that I am doing it, I can’t stop.[/li][li]At work, my email inbox must be clean. All emails are read immediately and then moved to the appropriate folder or deleted within 5 minutes.[/li][li]I put lotion on my feet after sex.[/li][li]I cannot have people touch my hands. It makes me physically ill when someone unexpectedly does it.[/li][li]I also cannot stand socks. Pantyhose and stockings don’t bother me, but socks? That’s when you know it’s below freezing – I have voluntarily put on socks.[/li][li]Christmas is a nightmare for me – I cannot stand more than 3 colours at a time on a Christmas tree or on gift packaging. Our Christmas colours vary from year to year depending on my mood for the year, but are 1 main colour with no more than 2 complementary colours. This year, we’re going very gothic and will have black as the primary and white and silver for the complements. It’s a good thing that I work for a gift wrap packaging company![/li][/ul]
Sadly, there are more, but I will leave them off in the interest of time. I know I have issues, but they really only affect me, so it’s cool.
I was diagnosed with OCD. I see a lot of occasional obsessive actions in people, but that’s all they are. Occasional. Anybody can get obsessed with something from time to time, or develop what seems like a compulsion. The difference between those and OCD is that the OCD sufferer has it all. the. time. I’ve been battling obsessive thoughts my entire life (thankfully compulsive actions are a smaller part of the problem, although still part of it) and it came as a relief when I found out what was actually wrong with me. I wasn’t “crazy” as I often feared and wasn’t going to end up in an institution (when you’re a kid and obsessed with demonic possession-thank you “Exorcist”- you start to wonder if your future is in a padded room).
Everybody has momentary symptoms, sometimes due to a trauma, that lead them to think “I must have OCD,” or “I must be Bipolar,” or even, “I must have Aspergers.” The reality is people’s brains just do those things from time to time even when they’re otherwise “normal.” Lumping people into larger and larger groups just because they have occasional temporary expressons of a few symptoms just leads to watering down of diagnoses, unrealistic jumps in numbers and Jenny McCarthy not wanting kids to get vaccinated.
I have the same issue with my hands and lotion. I have a bottle of lotion in every room and I carry some in my purse. People make fun of me for this often so it’s nice to know that someone else suffers from the same obsession. I’m actually getting low on lotion, I need to get to the store ASAP.
I also cannot stand socks. I try to avoid wearing them even in the winter months. My husband used to sleep in socks when we first started living together. It drove me over the edge. I cannot stand for anyone to sleep in socks with me in the same bed. Thankfully he gave up the socks rather easily.
I have more but can’t think of them right now.
I can’t eat anything without doing 70situps before and 70situps afterwards-if I cant do them I can’t eat.
I can relate to the smelling thing- I hate the idea of someone thinking I smell and so shower a lot and use lots of deodrant and perfume.
ivylass, I do the same thing with opening programs at work. The Dope must be first, dammit!
Here is a picture of my pantry. Labels forward, everything organized by type. I’m not OCD, but it bugs me if all the labels aren’t forward. They’re actually quite a few that are slightly crooked in there, on purpose. I’m trying to not be so anal about it. It sucks, sometimes, that I don’t like anyone else to put up the groceries - it means I have to do it all the time. <sigh>
The lotion thing is the one that scares me the most – it’s the thing that made an ex-employer (who was a licensed psychologist) tell me that perhaps I should seek therapy. It is so bad that I literally have been in tears if I could not get lotion. If I am in public and for some reason no lotion is in my purse or I cannot get to my car to get the lotion, I will forgo washing my hands after using the bathroom – I’d rather have filthy hands than no lotion. Both of my children craved and ate lotion as toddlers, and we joked that they missed it from where it seeped into them by osmosis in the womb.
Personally, I have a control over the few things that qualify as O/C, so I am not terribly worried, but I’m telling you, in the event of a catastrophic economic meltdown, I will be looting for lotion!