ocd or bp

just a quick question ... ?

how many do things in a very ritualistic way ...

ex .. I eat my breakfast exzactly the same every "work" day ... when I return home I ck my girls social media and come here before anything else ...

it just feels wrong to do other wise ...

bp or ocd or both ... ?

do you have a ritual ... ?

I've never heard of bipolar disorder being associated with rituals. As for whether or not your symptoms would qualify for an OCD diagnosis, that's up to a doctor or psychologist to decide, I'd think. There are many people who follow daily rituals (one or several) without them qualifying as dysfunctional. Most people I know have regular rituals. It's a common part of the human experience.

Do talk to your doctor if this is a concern for you.

If you mean this thread to also be a sharing place for regular rituals, I'm sure many people have some to share. I get up at the same time every morning and make breakfast for hubby and myself. We like that time together. Then we go back to bed until 8:20 or 8:25 am after which my husband starts his morning bathroom ritual, and I prepare his lunch and feed my bird. He leaves, then I do online stuff and meal planning. Etc. One slightly superstitious thing I do is at breakfast, after we take our meds, I have to put the pill boxes back in a rather exact way. If he puts them back upside down, that bothers me, but I don't become significantly anxious/bothered about it. I will straighten them, though. We have other minor rituals, but not dysfunctional.

I consider myself organized and relatively neat, but I'm not **** retentive at all. Some places are quite tidy and others less so. I'm a "hide it in the oven or closet, if needed" type tidy person.

I'm a perfectionist about a couple things, but not at all about everything else.

I'm quite hung up on numbers of repetitions. Mostly 9 (example: I rinse my face 9x), but other numbers as well, always odd. EXCEPT 3. I hate 3. Quite fond of 5 and 7 though.

I ate the exact same breakfast for at least a year. Every.single.day. Almond poppyseed muffin and English Breakfast tea. Only changed because my favorite muffin's recipe was changed. Now they are disgusting. Also, they changed the packaging to very un-ecological. So I figured it was time to revisit cereal.

Just a bit of weirdness, nothing pathological.

that is just what I am saying ... not a pdoc concern but still a very strong habit ... the way I lay my meds out ... must be just so ... it seems like I am afraid something bad will happen if I do not do it just so so...

numbers never meant any thing to me but concerning breakfast I eat every bite in a certain way ... pop tarts need to be eaten left to right in even small bites ... with the most icing at the bottom to be last ... I agree not pathological but really strange and something 99% of people would never understand ...

I used to do that when I was a kid. Everything at the table at a restaurant had to be "just so" - equal to each other in all ways.

I have been down the rabbit hole with my bp before and maybe just maybe that fear of what happens keeps me wanting everything to be the same all the time ... to not tempt fate so to speak ... so I have habits ...

I do a lot of things ritualistically but think I have OCD. It’s just I like certain things done in a certain way, and I hate unexpected changes to my plans. But I don’t count or constantly repeat an activity again and again.

I am OCD about more things than I am willing to admit lol

It’s just who I am. Nothing I do causes harm to myself or others.

Yes, I have rituals or routines to get me through the day. It helps me keep my thoughts from racing all over the place. Sometimes on a low day I’ll write myself a schedule to help stay on track. One of my weird things is I have to watch Bobs Burgers while I am cooking dinner and listen to Sublime while I do housework in the late morning. Why? I don’t know but I feel uneasy if I stray from my schedule too much.

very well said ... no harm no foul

You can have both; I do. My OCD is mild and only needs treatment when it starts playing into psychosis from time to time or when obsessive thinking is affecting my mood. I have much more obsessiveness than compulsions although I do have both.