I have suffered from what I consider a mild case of OCD since young childhood. I had Tourette Syndrome really bad with vocal tics and neck and shoulder movement. My mom was very upset with these things because it embarrassed her. It was so frustrating because I could not explain how I had to do these things or I would explode like a bomb. When I became an adult I found out that she was suffering from her own OCD such as she had always counted steps, tiles, bricks, etc. She apologized for losing her patience when I was a child, I grew out of the vocal tics but still do the shoulder and neck tic when stressed. I suffer from anxiety which my mom also suffered. Depression runs rampant on mom’s side of family. I now know how my mom felt about my OCD since my younger son age 16yr has suffered since he was toddler. I was fortunate that I had my experience and knew how to get help for him. He has been off medications for 5 years now and recently going through adolescence his symptoms have returned so we are starting the drugs and therapy over again. His depression is great and he cannot shut his brain off. Fortunately, he is a very smart kid who expresses himself very well and can tell me what is going on in his brain. I thank God I have better resources and options than my poor mom had back then. I am 48 years old. God bless everyone who suffers from these often debilitating issues. Pam Published: October 20 ::

I knew something wasn't right for a long time. I was a sickly child starting at age 2. I experienced horrible headaches, and eating disorders. I did not want to eat; I had no appetite and gained energy from not eating. I see now I had early signs of chronic depression (the headaches) and OCD not eating. I suffered from asthma and could have an attack if overly stressed. I am now 50 and have been taking meds for 20 years. I "outgrew" my asthma at 17. It was just gone. I suffered every day from some sort of panic or depression since I was 6. I managed to work my way up to several impressive executive jobs. I changed jobs every five years. For the last five years, I have had extreme difficulty keeping a job. I take Prozac and Ambien to sleep and recommend anyone giving this a try for some major relief. I am slipping back into a difficult depressive state. I have a husband and wish I could work but cannot seem to manage to make that happen. He cannot keep supporting both of us; the job market has taken a turn on him as well. I just don't know what to do anymore. I have no medical insurance but manage to see a professional every six months. The doctor is wonderful, very modern, but I am afraid to confide to him how bad I am for fear of not getting meds. Published: March 10 ::

I think mine started when I was about 8, I suddenly had the urge to swear constantly, but then felt guilty for doing so and had to tell my Mom. But then the urge grew stronger because I knew if I did it I would have to tell my Mom and that scared me. That was the start. Throughout the years I have constantly worried about things I know are irrational, I have constantly sought reassurance that these thoughts are irrational, I have worried about dirt/germs and washed my hands so much that my skin dries out and splits so much it bleeds, I have worried about leaving germs that other people may pick up and have also washed things I have touched, I have checked things repeatedly, doors are locked, oven is turned off, cigarettes are definitely out and won't cause a fire etc - and by repeatedly I mean getting out of bed 4, 5 or 6 times to check again and again. I am nearly 22 now and have had a 3 year period where my symptoms have been relatively mild. I have never been diagnosed or received help for any of these problems. I believe I just found ways to cope by myself, mostly by forcing myself to just get on with life until the irrational thoughts stopped consuming me so much. I don't think it will ever go away, I think I will have good times and bad times, times when I can cope and times when I feel I can't, but the main thing to remember is that it is a way of thinking, it can possibly be changed, but more importantly, thoughts cannot physically harm you. Knowing that I can control this and change the way I think gives me the motivation to try and do this as best I can. After 3 years of believing it was going away I’ve realized it isn't and probably never will, but I am determined to get through this and learn to keep it under control. Published: November 19 ::

I developed OCD when I was 10. It began by counting steps I took on the sidewalk, and soon the counting increased while stepping or performing any action. I jumped over rugs and made sure fringes were straight, really weird things that I did not understand. My parents noticed there was a problem, but suddenly it just went away. Not forever though, later in life I had a child at age 18, worked a job running the counties emergency systems, responsible for over 15,000 peoples welfare. OCD came back I would count while I did everything, I tapped on the wall and turned the lights on and off, swallowed over and over again life was horrible, but somehow I manage to keep going, I once again sought help and was placed on Lovenox. It made me deafly sick, so I stopped taking it. I began doing rituals of counting and tapping that was a never ending life of torment. I decided to go to the church I had been brought up in. I went there for guidance and strength suddenly the OCD was suppressed. I now realize it never really went away and I had developed ways to cope. Today I am 40 at age 39 I had a mental breakdown and OCD is alive and destroyed my life, I can no longer work, and it is hard to function in day to day activities. The doctor has given me this medicine to try due to intrusive thoughts which causes me to repeat an action. I read the side effects and I don’t know if it’s a chance worth taking. I don’t want another sit back from medicine that disagrees with me. In my case I feel OCD will be a constant companion for the rest of my life. I just have to learn ways to cope with it. I don’t know anyone else that has OCD has severe as me. As I read the other stories, I cried out of sadness because I know of the suffering , but out of joy also, because I can see that there are other people like me. Published: August 17 ::