[FaithlessCat]

Hi Folks, I finally had my first ever meeting with a psychiatrist on Monday and I feel it went really well.

He spoke to me at length for almost an hour then asked DH to join in and asked him if he ever witnessed my manic episodes and to describe them.

He has put me on Tegretol to see if that will help stablise my moods ( I am making no assumptions but he mentioned hypo mania so I guess he is thinking BP II ), he also confirmed Musical Halluncinosis and finally OCD but not the usual ritual type rather one where a person ruminates and catastrosizes.

I looked this up and of course found out about Pure O

I had never heard of it so of course never considered it but from what I have read so far this def sounds like me.

Just wondering if there are others here with pure O and what their experiences are.

I suffer terribly with visualising worse case senarios and ruminating on things I have said to someone in the past ( like years ago ).

Mostly these thoughts lead to anxiety. ( probably why I was diagnosed with GAD ) .... the pure O makes so much more sense to me because I was never anxious about a lot of stuff just certain thoughts.

I find myself repeating lines of songs or nursery rhymes over and over again in my head for no apparant reason. I also do this thing where I run my finger under my eye ( across the lower eyelashes) and collect the 'sleep' continuously, the feel of it sliding against my eye ball is very calming for me.

I also Skin pick ( both on myself and by proxy on my DH's back ) . On myself I use scissors and a finger nail to squeeze white spots on my arms and get a sense of euphoria when white stuff pops out, on my DH I squeeze spots on his back which give me the same high.

I finally feel like I am getting some answers to whats going on with me.

[bluekoi]

FaithlessCat, I am glad you are seeing a psychiatrist and getting the help you need. Good luck.

[richeye]

Hi Faithless Cat,

I too suffer from Pure O OCD among a couple of other things. I obsess about different things, and in the years i've suffered from it, I'd obsess about about becoming a homosexual, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, hurting my nieces and nephews. I also rehash embarrasing episodes in my past and have to say a quick prayer to get the thought out of my head.

With that said, i also suffer from mood disorder not otherwise specified with psychotic features. So you are in the right place. Take care and God Bless.

[Bigmike727]

Hi, my OCD does include uncontrolled obsessive thoughts aswell as other symptoms like rituals, compulsions, etc. I find that I have alot of obsessive thoughts of the religious type, like incessant prayer, blasphemous thoughts, etc. The Prozac has largely helped with these though. Atleast you made the hardest step by going to get help, atleast it was the hardest for me. Anyways, I wish you the best.

[gtripoli]

I am a little confused by your post.

You mention this...

Originally Posted by FaithlessCat

...and finally OCD but not the usual ritual type rather one where a person ruminates and catastrosizes.

And then seem to contradict yourself here...

Originally Posted by FaithlessCat

I suffer terribly with visualising worse case senarios and ruminating on things I have said to someone in the past ( like years ago ).

OCD is OCD is OCD. The particular theme it takes is rather unimportant. The core issue with all OCD sufferers is that we all give too much importance to our own thoughts. We either believe the thoughts actually represent reality, or can change reality, or can change who we are. It really is as simple as that.

I used to try to find others that suffered from my exact "brand" of OCD. But really when you boil it down, it's all the same.

[FaithlessCat]

I think you perhaps mis understood what i wrote.

Admittedly when i wrote it i was not as well informed as i am now.

When i said i do not suffer from the ritual ( ritualistic ) type of OCD . I meant i do not need to perform rituals ( hand washing, counting, turning handles ) in order to stop something from happening.

Instead i was stuck with constant negative thoughts pretty much 24/7 that i could not get rid of and could do nothing to change.

And in my opinion they are most certainly not all the same.
Anyone who takes the time to educate themselves either by reading up on or speaking to sufferers of the different types of OCD will see that even thou they all do have the same underlying problem with taking over our thoughts and making us question reasonable thinking. The manifestations and absence or presence of coping mechanisms ( using rituals ) differ.

If I'd thought for one minute that washing my hands, walking up and down 4 steps or counting my fingers repeatedly would have stopped the bad thoughts for even a moment ... id have been on those rituals in a shot !!

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[FaithlessCat]

As it happens ... Thanks to my p-doc changing my bipolar meds. My OCD symptoms are now almost completely under control.

Something i am thankful for every single day !


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[gtripoli]

Originally Posted by FaithlessCat

I meant i do not need to perform rituals ( hand washing, counting, turning handles ) in order to stop something from happening.

If you have OCD, I guarantee you are doing some sort of ritual in order to either neutralize or disprove your distressing thoughts. Your rituals just happen to be internal. OCD simply attacks whatever you fear the most at a given time and you driven to do something, either internally or externally, in order to calm your anxiety.