ExRx.net

It's funny. My OCD is worse when i am conscious of it and trying to control it. But if i am working on something it is minimized. My OCD is definitely harder to deal with than my ADHD. At least with that, i can force myself(for a short time) to relax. I am like you in that i usually memorize things to say in anticipation of a question, rather than being spontaneous in conversation. I did try some OCD meds several years ago and it just didn't work and i really didn't want to try another med. I'l wait until something safe and effective comes out also. That might take a few years until the drug companies have done their testing and proven it's allright to use.

Bob and Ironman, my guess is that most people know very little about OCD. I think that in general it is indeed more disabling than ADHD. Of course there are people with severe ADHD and people with mild OCD, but in general OCD is worse, partly for the reason that you've mentioned, that there aren't medicines that are as effective. Some people get a lot of help from the SSRIs (and related drugs) but not everybody gets complete relief. Maybe you could educate us all about how OCD affects your lives. Many people think is just funny habits (we all enjoy Monk), but in reality it can be pretty disabling.

The first problem is there are these things that you just can't stop thinking about. Sometimes very scary horrible things. Then sometimes there are things you actively do, or just things you do in your head that make it go away. Then sometimes there are things you have to do a certain way and you don't know why. Or you just feel very uncomfortable or anxious if things aren't a certain way. You might like even numbers but not odd ones. Or you might have to do things a certain number of times or touch things, or check things so many times. Then if you don't do it right you have to do it again. It wastes a lot of time.

So there will be things you can't do, or situations you can't be in because you won't be able to do or avoid certain things you are obsessed with.

Part of it is anxiety and part of it is being hypersensitive to things most people don't notice.

So imagine being forced to think about things you don't want to think about all the time. Or being forced to do lots of silly things you don't want to do. Or that you have to do your daily routine a certain way or you feel very uneasy. That's basically what it is like.

Ironman covered it quite well. As far as me, I have persistent thoughts-some horrible, some amusing, but these thoughts invade the psyche at any time and w/o provocation especially when i want to sleep. I don't have the rituals that many people have (remember Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets) I believe people are born with OCD and it may be latent until some events in their life trigger the classic symptoms. I believe the persistent thoughts and daily rituals some people experience may be a way of masking or dealing with some traumatic event/events in ones life. One thing i've noticed in the past year or so is i have been typing many words with reversed letters. Never had this problem before. Maybe i'm dyslexic and it's just coming out now at age 57. I also have diffculty in remembering where i park, even if it's only a five minute stop at the store, or i will walk the wrong direction to my car. Very frustrating. Hopefully some day, there will be wmderful eds to contol OCD. I anxiously waiting.Now i just spent five minutes correcting all my reversed letter words. HAAAAA.

Well, i just read my post and noticed i made some typos I didn't catch the first time. Oh well. I think you understand what i meant though.

I wanted to mention again how I really hate SSRI's. A very large number of people get sexual dysfunction from them. There are some people who have it permanently. see post SSRI sexual dysfunction (pssd). I think dopamine reuptake inhibitors like bupropion are effective and much less risky for the treatment of depression. A person would have to have a serious problem, be unresponsive to other treatments, and be made aware of and be willing to take the risks before I think giving them an SSRI would ok. At the very least they need to tell them there is a good chance their junk won't work while they are taking it and a very very small chance it won't ever work again.

When people start talking to me when I'm lifting, I finish the lift, and say in a not-welcoming tone, "Do you want something?" and then walk away.

It's also good to master "the stare" -- usually they'll get the message and go away. They should know it's dangerous to distract someone who's weight lifting.

It's hard to acquire social skills when you've spent your life in front of the TV set. But alas, much of modern life is geared to being at home. Sometimes I feel like an old fuddy duddy: "In my day, kids went outside and played touch football and basketball and hide-and-go-seek, not sit inside playing those darn video games!"

But those video games are pretty amazing, really, so do you blame the kid or the parent? Limits must be set. Set up a schedule. Workout for an hour. Or walk for an hour. Then you can do the video game thing for a little bit.

Ah yes, sweets. "Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour."--Shakespeare. We (weight lifters) are better off without them. Better off without sugar and aspartame (no matter how "safe" it is). The only thing I like to follow a meal with is a cigar or a little sip of scotch, not a piece of the aptly named Death By Chocolate cake. Sugar's bad news. In my twenties I finally figured out how to maintain blood-sugar levels and I haven't looked back.

Oh: is there a difference between a "sugar craving" and a "carb craving"? Either way, they can be conquered.

Actually aspartame is probably the safest stuff on the planet. Nothing has been more tested. All the research comes up negative. In fact in one test the control group had more headaches than the aspartame group. It was not statistically significant enough to say it reduces headaches though.

There is not one single bit of science showing any problems. Plus it is in so many things millions and millions of people have been taking in large quantities of it for many years.

So what is all this panic about? It's all conspiracy theory BS and urban legend. It is pervasive for the same reason any of that claptrap is. It is for psychological reasons. there is an evolutionary reason for people to be that way too. I won't post it again here as I already h ave so many times.

Aspartame has 2 properties. It is sweet and that sweetness breaks down when heated. That's it. It does not do anything to your body. It just makes stuff sweet, that's it.



I get so sick of all the diet soda crap. It is just flavored carbonated WATER, that is it! It is more than 99% water. It is very close to a neutral ph and may be a bit alkaline because of the sodium. So everything you think it does, NO IT WON'T. With one exception. This stuff will hydrate you much like water because basically it IS fv(K1ng WATER.

As for regular soda. It is sugar water. There is only *ONE* bad thing in it. Just 1. Can I stress one any more? That one thing is sugar. That's it. The only bad stuff it does, is what any sugary stuff will do. This can be a bit worse than other junk though because of the liquid form and wateriness, make it easy to take in huge amounts of sugar.

In my day TeeBee, we played tackle football.

There's a middle-aged guy who likes to pal around with everyone in the locker room. He's short and kinda pushy and forward. He likes to nitpick other guys he saw when he was working out. Something never seemed right about him, then someone informed me he's a convicted murderer.

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The first time I ever stepped foot in a gym, years ago when I was a fatty, my friend and I tried using the stair steppers in the back corner. Not the stair treadmill, the other type. If the machine isn't on, there's isn't any resistance and you sink quickly. We thought we had managed to turn them on and started a program, but the resistance hadn't risen. Nonetheless we spent a minute looking like we were walking in snow.

Then a very large man with downs syndrome, tongue hanging out, shirt tucked into high-rising shorts and wearing a MASSIVE pair of headphones, comes over and shows us how the machine works, then gallops off.

My most embarrassing gym experience ever.

I played tackle football in school. Wrestled. Weight-lifting. If not, I would have gone home, eaten junk food, and watched reruns of "Gilligan's Island." So sports in a way helped me with social skills -- in short, you're around people, not alone.

I saw a guy with tattoos all over his face. He saw me smirking at him. I would not give him the satisfaction of "being scared" or whatever he wants by getting his face tattooed. "No, really, it looks great (not)." I notice a lot of people who dress a certain way in order to "tell" people who or what they are. Does this make sense? Seems they're just lost souls, and should dress better and stop hating their fathers. I don't know why people want to deliberately be off-putting or unsociable. We're only here a short while.