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OCD and Fibromyalgia??

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Posted 7/23/2009 2:36 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone'

I'm just wondering if anyone has any OCD tendencies with their fibro?   I have some OCD about cleanliness and having to have everything neat, organized and in its place.  The problem now is I don't always have the energy to keep things at the standard I'm used to.  (very frustrating)

The fatigue is sometimes the worst for me with fibro because I can't ever plan to do things because I never know how I'm going to feel. 

If you have any thoughts or explanations, I sure would be happy to hear.

 

Have agreat day!

 American Woman

Posted 7/23/2009 5:44 PM (GMT 0)
Most all of us are Type A personalities and perfectionists.  Fibro gets us  over that!  shocked

 

I'm obsessive when I'm leaving the house.  I can't tell you how many times I've turned around and gone back home to see if I turned the stove off.  It seems my brain can conger up things that make me worry! 

 

Sherrine

Posted 7/23/2009 5:45 PM (GMT 0)
I am a TYPE Wacky personality.
Posted 7/23/2009 5:49 PM (GMT 0)
I have both fibro and OCD. Don't care for either one. :(
Posted 7/23/2009 6:42 PM (GMT 0)
hi! i definately have ocd. my mind races constantly. i had always had a type a personality but obviously that doesnt fit well with fibro. i used to be very particular about how our house looked. i still have that thought in my mind but does not match at all what our house looks like. i think ocd causes our adrenals to go haywire, too. even when we are unable to act on our ocd thoughts we still think them. i dont think our minds can distinguish between the 2. best wishes to all who suffer in any way.
Posted 7/23/2009 7:17 PM (GMT 0)
Hi American Woman, I can't remember if I have welcomed you. This drives me up a wall, if only I had the energy to clean that wall while I was up there. This has been the hardest thing for me to let go of. My house is filthy and I do not have the energy to keep up. Fatigue is a major factor for me and when the energy is gone it is gone and there is no pushing. I'm trying to figure out how to work a cleaning person into our budget cause I can not relax in a dirty house. I will give up whatever it takes to have someone to clean for me one day a month or every other week. We are getting ready to go on vacation soon and all I can think about is the money we will spend on vacation would pay for a cleaning lady for quite awhile, is that not sad but it means that much to me.

 

I guess those of you that have the same problem will understand that.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Posted 7/23/2009 11:23 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for all the good info. I don't feel so alone when I have other people who understand what I am going through. OCD is a major pain and I would rather have fibro than to have OCD.
I also have had to go back home to make sure the stove was off or the coffeemaker or anything else my mind would think of.
Well, tomorrow is another day and hopefully it will be a good one!!
Thanks again,
American Woman
Posted 7/24/2009 1:24 AM (GMT 0)
i am pretty anal.. when it comes to things being alphabetized always have been.. especially my movie collection and my bf's cd collection
dishes in the sink.. i can't go to bed until they are done.. thats about it...
Posted 7/24/2009 3:49 PM (GMT 0)
My OCD drives my hubby mad! Mainly becuase I cant do all the things all the things I need to when I get off work becuase I have school work, so I direct him while I sit at the computer lol. The bad thing is that everything has to be cleaned a certain way or I go crazy and have to do it. Yesterday Michael would not vaccuum the floor right so I had to (you have to vaccuum in a certain direction in aisles then change direction every 4, its weird but all my cleaning is done like that), so here I am crying and vaccuuming like a mad woman!
Posted 7/24/2009 4:17 PM (GMT 0)
I know what you mean, Jada.  No one can do things as well as I can.  skull    I practically killed myself last Thanksgiving preparing everything and getting it on the table.  People kept asking me if I needed help and I kept declining.  I really nearly fainted while carving the turkey and, by the time I got to the table, I barely could life a fork.  I am determined to allow people to help me this year.  I just can't keep up that destructive behavior.

 

Sherrine

Posted 7/26/2009 4:37 AM (GMT 0)
I'm not OCD in the true definition of the word. If something is not placed correctly it does not cause me anxiety or emotional discomfort. But I do consider myself OCD in my behavior such as certain things have to be in certain places otherwise trying to find them is a huge stress session and I will tear the house apart looking for whatever it is.

Prime example, my housekeys. They always either go into the right hand pocket of my jeans, if I'm not wearing a jacket, or if I am wearing a jacket, then they go in the right hand pocket of that. If I lay my keys down on the counter while unloading groceries.....all h*ll breaks loose the next time that I try to head out the door cause my keys aren't where they should be. And OF COURSE, I don't think to look where I last had them. I have to check around the floor where my jacket had been laying cause they may have fallen out of the right hand pocket. Then I have to go and check the right pocket of every pair of pants that's in the laundry...cause well if they weren't in my jacket then they're SUPPOSED to be in my pants. lol

After several minutes of watching this the DBF finally just gets up and goes looking for them, he doesn't even bother asking if I want help, he just finds them and brings them to me and tells me to slow down and breathe... eyes
Posted 7/26/2009 6:13 AM (GMT 0)
Hi American Woman.

This is a very touching topic and heartwarming answers,,,,IMHO. It has be at tears but they are somewhat tears of relief. I've never talked about it before but I've been a closet OCD'er for probably 30 years. I have mentioned something small to one person before but never actually told anyone what life is like inside this head some days. It was very bad when with the ex, but these days it's more annoying. Once in a while it does get in my way and then I have to sit down and have a good talk to myself.

When Marlee and others mentioned having to go back many times to check to see if some particular things is 'done'...like if the stove is off I was stunned that anyone else ever did that. When Sherrine talked about fixing Thanksgiving and nearly killing herself doing it...I began to think we were twins. I do the same thing and I keep saying I'm going to change. Probably the most bazaar is the numeric 'stuff'...like everything is related to numbers. Count the number of ice cubes that go into my ice tea every time; the volume on the TV has to be set to an even number...you get the picture. I do come by this honestly because my biological brother is OCD about cleanliness and germs. He even wipes off the telephone receiver on MY phone...lol

I also have issues with someone else not doing the jobs around the house 'right' and there have been times I've been that crying mad woman like Jada. I"m not trying to sound like I have what everyone else does but I decided to risk it and share something I've not talked about. I also can not turn off my head and some days it makes me crazy. The list goes on....but I have learned to live with it for the most part and try hard to ignore it. Once in a while it will get me but I am way more in control that I used to be.

Thanks for letting me talk...
Chutz
Posted 7/26/2009 11:41 AM (GMT 0)
hi,
I've been told before by a doctor that type A personalities tend to get fibro more. Make of that what you will.
I'm like piercings tho, things have to be a certain way but not to the point that'll be of axious discomfort if not, i feel for those who do.
Marlee2. I'm just coming to grips with not being able to wash the floor so i really have to just forget about what people think when they come into our house.
I always put my house keys onto a hook just inside the door so they are always in the same place.
I think the reason we may be classed as being the same personality sometiimes is that in order to mke things easier on ourselves we have to be organised and know where things are. Isn't it just easier if things are as they should be. In neat boxes, bags etc, mu husband thinks this is really anal, but just accepts it. ;-)
Posted 7/26/2009 1:16 PM (GMT 0)
My DH and I use to go around and around over the chidren having chores cause they couldn't do things the way I liked them done so I would do it myself, they got by pretty easy growing up. My middle son has developed some of my OCD. I loved it when my GD was growing up and she was my little organizer, I didn't realize she was developing the same problems I have always had. N
ow that she is a new mommy and has her own apartment I see myself in her. I haven't talked to her about it.

 

Chutzie you know you can talk to us about anything. I keep my calendar and bill paying card for the month right by my computer to keep track of everything. I have no idea when it started or why but I have to cross off each day with red ink and when I pay a bill I have to circle it with red ink.

 

Now I'm starting this germaphobic thing every since the swine flu thing started with washing hands and wiping door knobs off when people are in and out. I even had my grandchildren scrubbing up like they were going into surgery every time we would go out and come home. What is being precautious and OCD???

 

I'm one that uses a tape measure when placing furniture so it is spaced exactly where it should be.

 

Fibro will not allow me to do the things in my mind cause I don't have the energy and I have had to let go of a lot of it but I know if I was able I would go right back to my old ways.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

 

 

Posted 7/26/2009 1:40 PM (GMT 0)

Good topic.  I always labeled the hubby as the one with OCD.  Even though he can be surrounded by clutter, it is always neat and in perfect  piles.  When he talks on the phone, he walks around the house and straightens out anything that might be askew...like a coffee table that might be a rat hair off center.  A candy dish that isn't exactly in the middle of the table.  When he get the mail, I see him walking with it towards the house, arranging it in order of size.

But...unknowingly to me...I too am a counter.  It just pops in my head.  Everytime I walk down the basement stairs, I count them.  When I pull clothes out of the dryer...count them as they land in the basket.  Sometimes when I am walking the dog, I find myself counting my steps.  I wish I would count calories the way I am driven to count how many kernels of frozen corn are falling into the pan!

Huggies

Donna

Posted 7/26/2009 6:07 PM (GMT 0)
Donna and Marlee...

.you two make me feel much better! You begin to feel like some sort of whack job when your head just takes over and counts things whenever possible. I can not sit and relax unless everything is picked up and cleaned! and that just doesn't happen any more. So I am this whirlwind tripping and bashing into things trying to get cleaning done so I can sit...but any more I'm having to sit before all of the work is done. I know it's unreasonable to be like I am, but it's a very hard habit to break. It makes hubby crazy and it's beginning to have the same effect on me too. I'm learning working on it , especially since I joined the forum. Thanks to all of you I'm getting better.

Loves!
Chutzie
Posted 7/26/2009 10:01 PM (GMT 0)

I have had a problem w/ OCD since forever, just like FMS. Gotta love that Type A personality. I have to ck to make sure my keys are in my bag before I leave the house, sometimes several times before I leave the house. Then ck to make sure I really, really locked the front door. I must ck again to be sure I locked the car and my keys are back in my bag before I close the car door. It almost isn't worth going someplace after all that nonsense. I have never lost my keys (knock on wood) like many other family members that I won't mention - Ok, I will lol! DH, DS, DD, to name a few. So I guess that is one saving grace.

I also have to have vacuuming and dusting done MY way, it annoys my children no end. The towels will be folded and placed in cabinet the way I want them. My clothes that go in closet all have to face one way. I fold my underwear in a certain way and it is in my drawers in a certain way.

Yrs back I came down w/ pneumonia, out of work 6 wks. I thought I would go crazy, it reached its peak when I found myself spelling the word over and over - p-n-e-u-m-o-n-i-a. I couldn't stop. I still will repeat things to myself on occassion. I will hear a song and before I go to sleep I will hear it play in my head, go to sleep, wake up a couple of hrs later and the song is playing in my head before I even open my eyes. It is like an endless 8-track, for those of you who know what I'm talking about. smilewinkgrin

Iwill count the # of motorcycles that pass me on the road, after they pass, my DH will always ask, 'How many?' Sadly, I can give him an exact count.

I write everthing down on my calendar, appts, when I sent out a particular paper, when I placed a LD call, weird!

My DM and my first DS have the same fixation about the locked doors, house or car.

I'm sure there are other things in that vein, but I can't remember right now, that should keep me up tonight to make sure I can remember something I forgot. smhair

My family kids me about this, but it is so stressful and annoying. I can feel the tension in my jaws from this sometimes.

God bless.  Alice.

Posted 7/27/2009 3:33 AM (GMT 0)
Oh Alice...you just reminded me about how songs get stuck in my head...for days.  My latest was the commercial for 'Free Creidt Report.com" with that young kid that is riding around in a piece of

junk car...it is on the television so often and it sticks in my head and like you, I wake up in the night and it is still reeling around...

I check my purse at least three times to see if they are in my there before I get out of the car.  And....I have made the hubby turn around after twenty minutes into a trip because I am certain I left the dryer on.

Huggies

Donna

Posted 7/27/2009 3:00 PM (GMT 0)
Chutzie up til fibro zapped my energy I always made sure everything was done and in it's place before I went to bed at night. Like I was afraid I would have middle of the night visiters so the house had to be perfect. smilewinkgrin

 

I have lost total control over my house and to me that means I have lost total control over my life, it is so overwhelming. My DH doesn't understand this since he could live in a pig pen, well I feel we are both living in a pig pen right now. If I'm not trying to clean I'm thinking about what all needs to be cleaned. Today I will try to get the hard surface floors done again but I will be lucky to get all them done.

 

It really has gotten to the point that for my own mental health I have got to have help with the house cause I can't keep up with daily things that alone do all the extras that need to be done and it does consume my life. I have tried to change this part of me and I do much better than I use to but I am who I am.

 

Everytime I say something on here about us being family the song "We are Family" gets stuck in my head for hours, here we go again.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

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