[cj32]

I have been bothered by fearing certain numbers now for a long time. It's actually hard to write this because of the anxiety involved with even writing the numbers down, but I need to put it out there and see if people can help. I have this ridiculous fear of the numbers 13 and anything associated with 911. I fear that doing things associated with these numbers are harmful to my health and could result in something terrible happening. I was even hesitant to write this post today because the date is 9/11.

Relating to the number 13: I see it everywhere. If I am going shopping and the address of the store adds up to 13, I will not shop there. If the letters in the neighborhood I want to live in add up to 13, I will not live there. If the letters in the girl's name that I want to date adds up to 13, I won't date her. If I'm leaving my house for the day and the first number I see when exiting adds up to 13, I have to go in and "re-do the leave". When entering and exiting places, I have to think of a lucky number/lucky song/person with a name who's letters don't add up to 13; and if I do this "wrong", I have to literally enter or exit the place over again. I take vitamins and medication and after taking them and closing the lids, if I think of anything associated with the number 13 or see words/numbers that add up to 13, I have to "re-close" the lids in order to prevent harm from occurring in my body.

I could go on and on about this but I figured I'd stop here and see if anyone responds with some valuable information on how to get better with this. I'm a pretty normal guy, and aside from this, I feel fine and do normal everyday things, but these fears are a major inconvenience and get in the way every minute of my life. If you can help give me some tips on how to get better, I would really appreciate it.

[Maven]

I can see how this would make life difficult. I have my own OCD habits that make life hell at times. The best way to defeat it is to push through and let the thoughts come. Eventually, you'll see that good and bad things happen, no matter what the number, and even with 13, most likely, nothing bad will happen.

Superstitions are hard to break, but if you pay attention, numbers don't cause things to happen or not happen (except maybe the lottery ). You have to try to force yourself to not add up numbers and just trudge through entrances and exits. It isn't easy, but it can be done. I had to stop focusing so much on numbers. I still do it sometimes, but not as much as I used to.

You say you take medication; do you have a pdoc? A good psychiatrist or psychologist can help you in fighting those thoughts. Perhaps a change in your meds is needed to ease those thoughts. My medication makes it MUCH easier to deal with my OCD. I still have a lot of depression and frustration, but it's still better than what it used to be. I hope you can find the help you need.

[Omers]

I don't mean to offend or minimize so if this does please just ignore.

In numerology they would add the one and the three and it becomes "4"... the "qualities" associated around the number 4 are "practical, detail-oriented, organized, orderly, systematic, methodical, precise, reliable, punctual, dependable, honest, trustworthy."

Usually in numerology any double digits are added together but 11 (9+1+1) is considered the "master" number and is very special.

I know when I get stuck on something (I am not OCD but do get stuck in things like OCD for periods of time) it helps if I can talk to myself about as many other ways to think about what is going on as possible.

Sorry, know it's weird but I thought I would put it out there.

[cj32]

Thank you for your responses. I agree that I am seeing and noticing these numbers more simply because I am giving them more "attention". It sounds so simple to just not pay attention to numbers like these, but when the anxiety is that great, it's just not worth it. Besides going to see a therapist, does anyone have any other good information how to get over this ridiculous fear of numbers? Has anyone ever had any problems with this type of things before, because I feel lik it's one of those things where unless you've dealt with it, it just sounds stupid and something you can just brush off as not a big deal.

Originally Posted by Omers

I don't mean to offend or minimize so if this does please just ignore.

In numerology they would add the one and the three and it becomes "4"... the "qualities" associated around the number 4 are "practical, detail-oriented, organized, orderly, systematic, methodical, precise, reliable, punctual, dependable, honest, trustworthy."

Usually in numerology any double digits are added together but 11 (9+1+1) is considered the "master" number and is very special.

I know when I get stuck on something (I am not OCD but do get stuck in things like OCD for periods of time) it helps if I can talk to myself about as many other ways to think about what is going on as possible.

Sorry, know it's weird but I thought I would put it out there.

[Alcinus_of_chell]

Originally Posted by cj32

I have been bothered by fearing certain numbers now for a long time. It's actually hard to write this because of the anxiety involved with even writing the numbers down, but I need to put it out there and see if people can help. I have this ridiculous fear of the numbers 13 and anything associated with 911. I fear that doing things associated with these numbers are harmful to my health and could result in something terrible happening. I was even hesitant to write this post today because the date is 9/11.

Relating to the number 13: I see it everywhere. If I am going shopping and the address of the store adds up to 13, I will not shop there. If the letters in the neighborhood I want to live in add up to 13, I will not live there. If the letters in the girl's name that I want to date adds up to 13, I won't date her. If I'm leaving my house for the day and the first number I see when exiting adds up to 13, I have to go in and "re-do the leave". When entering and exiting places, I have to think of a lucky number/lucky song/person with a name who's letters don't add up to 13; and if I do this "wrong", I have to literally enter or exit the place over again. I take vitamins and medication and after taking them and closing the lids, if I think of anything associated with the number 13 or see words/numbers that add up to 13, I have to "re-close" the lids in order to prevent harm from occurring in my body.

I could go on and on about this but I figured I'd stop here and see if anyone responds with some valuable information on how to get better with this. I'm a pretty normal guy, and aside from this, I feel fine and do normal everyday things, but these fears are a major inconvenience and get in the way every minute of my life. If you can help give me some tips on how to get better, I would really appreciate it.

You could try new ways of interpreting what you see, so that it is no longer thirteen,
Example; I have an opposite (and milder) thing with numbers divisible by three, so let's say there are 5 of something, I would count it like 2-1-2
And by double counting the 1 in the middle, it becomes two threes that overlap.
You could also try instead of counting letters assigning each letter a number based on its position in the alphabet (a=1, b=2, ect.) and adding them.
Hope that helps.