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

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.

I have had OCD since I was young but just recently got diagnosed at the age 21. The biggest issues are picking and counting. I pick at my face to the point that I won't leave the house it looks so bad. I regret it always but for some reason can't stop myself from doing it. I pick my fingers and toes til they bleed and they are always so sore. Also, I count everything and I need it to be an even number in the end, if it isn't I will find something to match the shape of what I was counting to make it an even number. I count lights, poles, lines in the road. When writing I will write then erase until there is a hole in the paper because I want it to be just right. I want the volume on an even number always, also the heat in the house. I realize this seems silly to some but it is horrible for me. People are always saying just stop but I can't, I finally went to the doctor about it because it was making my life miserable and I know it isn't normal, they gave me Prozac so hopefully it will help.

I started at 8 by counting random things on my school bus on the way to elementary school out of boredom then I just started counting numbers and numbers and had to do things repeatedly out of fear. I do not know why and ironically I suck at math. At that time I did not know what I was getting myself into I turned into a neat freak my parents never had to tell me to clean my room it always was. A few years go by I am in middle school and I would tell people how I feel and think and they would look at me crazy so I was embarrassed and never told no one. This is when I worry about things like the future money random things and would stress and this is when I started to bite my lips. As a way to cope with it down to the point that they bleed and my parents would make me stop. Fast-forward to high school one day I am watching mtv true life and they have a episode of I have ocd and I started thinking when iI was done watching it. This is crazy I don't have it. Then one day in school in class we start reading a book called the curious incident of sum dog I forgot the title but main thing I found out about asbergers like rain man the movie. Start doing research for a year ask my school psychologist and found out I had it. Fast-forward to today but I don't tell anybody I am embarrassed and afraid people won't understand I tell my friends but they tell me I have just normal worries and they check things twice too but I don't think that if I go on a trip to Wisconsin that is normal that I have to go back to make sure I locked my house door at least 3 times and make sure I disconnect everything and now I am trying to stop biting my lips and I am starting to do thing like counting again and I am afraid. I have read a couple of these comments by people and my story is exactly like one where the guy's symptoms went away then they came back and he had a breakdown and now he cannot work so I am afraid of my future. I am only 17 on my junior year in high school and I do not want to have a relationship cause of this if I just hope this will not hold me back. I do not know what to do but I don't want to tell my parents and I do not want to be on meds it is just frustrating.