For a few years in my teens I developed a weird OCD. Everytime I'm in a car and a car drives past me, I inhale and hold my breath. I only breath when there's no oncoming traffic. In traffic I used to hyper-ventilate, since I can only exhale in the tiny crack between cars and I nearly passed out a few times. Did this for like 3 years and one day it just stopped for no reason.

I had an OCD with snapping my fingers next to my ears. Started for no apparent reason. I had to snap my finger next to my ear. Obviously I couldn't do it in class, so I would feel really uncomfortable the entire class and between classes I'd snap away like crazy while walking to my next class. After school, I would do the snapping every 20-30 seconds until I go to sleep. My fingers were raw after weeks of snapping and it was bleeding.

After my dad saw what I was doing, he forced me to stop. He'd sit next to me for the entire night and distract me with TV, books, or video games. It took about 2 weeks and it finally stopped. I still have the urge to do it once in a while but I have to force myself to stop.

Weird huh?

no

Oh and before I forget, just to reassure everyone who has read my previous post, I do not have access to firearms, nor do I have any current intentions to hurt or kill myself. I was just giving you a short rundown of what I have gone through with this disorder and other mental health issues that tie into OCD (like spokes on the hub of a wheel). Once again, I just wanted to allay any alarm that I may have caused by posting this here on Hope Cube. I can be rather blunt and candid in my description of my having this disorder. It has become rather rote for me to recall my experiences and I think that I have become less affected by it, however, I need to remind myself that what no longer alarms me, may in fact alarm others who have no previous knowledge of the disorder. I hope that my explanation has in some way ameliorated any concerns that you may have about me.

Thanks again and I look forward to your personal stories (whether they be about yourself or someone you know).

Take care,

august242

GrassEgg and bizwack,

Yeah, those compulsions sound like smaller manifestations of OCD to be sure. With regard to holding your breath while driving, I had a friend once reveal to me that she used to have to blink her eyes everytime she passed a telephone pole while driving. That got a laugh out of me, not so much was I laughing at her, but more of the image of someone blinking heavily while driving down the road. Almost like something out of a cartoon. I just imagined a deserted highway with an endless stretch of telephone poles adjacent to the road and thought of her driving down it at night having to blink like a thousand times. Eyeballs swollen from blinking so much.

Bizwack, yeah man, that is a unique one to me. Now if you only could have been caught snapping your fingers when it was socially cool to do so like back in the 1960's when the "Beatnik" culture was in high fashion. You know, wearing berets and snapping your fingers as a form of applause while listening to freeform coffeehouse poets in a smoke hazed filled room. (If unaware of what Beatniks are or were, do a search on Google or Wikipedia for them ... very amusing subculture). You'd be the top "daddy-o" of the group with your fondness for fingersnapping. :)

Thanks for your feedback, I will check out the Obsessive Compulsive Anonymous website for further info ... I believe that I had touched base with them about nine years ago and participated in some of their online forums. I'll check back and take a look at the progress that they've made.

By the way, who are you? I did not notice any name or avatar connected to your triple posts.

Thanks,

august242 :)

I know how you feel about the toilet flushing with the feet things and I kick open doors in public places. XD I don't even bother washing my hands, I usually bring hand sanitizer. I am the same way about my books too. I didn't know that was ocd, but I thought it might be. Because it drives me crazy if I look at it any other way than ordered correctly. 0_0 I have horrible anxiety attacks constantly. It's when I'm in public and such other places. My chest tightens so bad it feels like I'm having a terrible problem. I used to freak out about it, but now that I know what it is, it's not so bad. :3 Other weird things I do with OCD is sort of dealing with music, but I think this is more of an anxiety thing. I have to constantly listen to music. It drives me crazy when it's silent. When I listen to music, I always have to somehow keep with the speed of the music, no matter what I'm doing. If it's tapping my foot, typing, or "drumming". It drives people around me crazy. I've tried to stop it, but I can't. Is this OCD or is it something else? Thanks <3

Oh my goodness! I'm a very neat and clean person, everything has a place and it should be in it or else it'll drive me to distaction. But I've never felt anything like what you're going through. I will keep you in my prayers. I DO know the depression part. The meds they give always do wane due to the tolerance that our bodies build up. Doc's alway have to change it up. I was glad you posted the assurance of not having firearms anymore. I know what it's like to have the temptation right at your fingertips. I wish you well and I wish I could give you better advise. Please keep in touch with me. I've noticed that you've sent ma a couple of responses and I appreciate it very much.