OCD is ruining my life.

Not diagnosed yet, but I am pretty sure it's what I have. I am CONSTANTLY thinking about cleaning/organizing. It doesn't stop, I won't go to bed or leave the house until the house is spotless! It makes me angry and mad if the house isn't clean perfect 24/7... I have a 7 year old boy and 3.5 year old boy. Anytime a toy is in a common area, or out of place, I freak out and pick it up RIGHT away. Unless you went into the boys rooms, and besides their pictures on the walls, you wouldn't think kids lived here.

If the boyfriend leaves a plate on the counter, I rush to wash and put it in the dishwasher. I do laundry EVERYday, if there isn't enough for a load, I will start taking clean stuff to wash.

I know this is affecting my life horribly, and I don't know what to do about it. I can never relax and am on edge 24/7.

{{{{{{{{Mommy}}}}}}} what a bummer~! i still have some light OCD's, but they used to be horrible. nothing nearly as socially acceptable as Cleaning... there are very few meds which can even touch one,, but you might ask your Primary Care doc if he'll let you try Wellbutrin,, and there's another one i don't remember it's name. i rarely recommend meds, because of the horrible side effects they often bring,, another thing that actually helped me was,, Acupunture~! but be sure you get a really good practitioner or it's just a waste of money. hope you get a handle on this,, i do know that stress makes it worse,, best wishes,, Gus

I can relate to your situation very closely xoxmommyxox, though i was diagnosed quite a while back. I get really agitated about anything in my house being unclean or untidy, especially clothes or dishes. I can't relax in any sense while there is mess around, it really gets under my skin and causes stress. And like you, being a mom to two children presents a lot of challenges there. I really try to let them just be kids and make some mess while they are playing around, but it's not easy.

I'm also actually on the once-a-day laundry cleaning cycle, and generally bug everyone with constant reminders to wash their hands and by following them with a kitchen cloth and cleaning spray. Thankfully everyone in my family has gotten used to it by now, so I hope I'm gradually become less irritating by virtue of that. Over the years, I haven't really been able to change the part of my thinking, though I had some successes with CBT for a couple of years and may actually look at starting another program in the near future. For quite a while I used various meds, but now with the kids, the insomnia and other side effects cause too many issues.

Seeing a doctor about working out a treatment plan may be a good option if you are always feeling on edge. I guess I've just never followed through on any of my treatment plans properly, mainly because we were moving around with my husbands work which left me swapping doctors too often. But I do know of others that have had lasting improvements with various medications and therapies, so perhaps talking to someone about it may be a good idea.

I wish you all the best, and hope you are able to start making progress soon I am new to this forum as well, but am sure you are in the right place to get some good advice from all the people here in similar situations