LymeNet Flash: OCD symptoms

LymeNet on Facebook

LymeNet on Twitter

Follow @LymeDiseaseNet

The Lyme Disease Network receives a commission from Amazon.com for each purchase originating from this site.

When purchasing from Amazon.com, please
click here first.

Thank you.

Dedicated to the Bachmann Family

LymeNet needs your help:
LymeNet 2020 fund drive

The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations.

»	LymeNet Flash » Questions and Discussion » Medical Questions » OCD symptoms

UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!

Author

Topic: OCD symptoms

Radha
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 8464

posted

for those of you who have OCD as a result of lyme

or babs or bart, by the way which infection is

this a symptom of? well, i have repeated racing

thoughts but they are not scary and i dont have

habits like repeatedly washing my hands or

checking things, but do things like have to pick

every hair or fuzz ball or crumb on my sheets or

cannot sleep........is this still OCD? and

anything to take to help it? other than

antidepressants? thanks for

your help

Radha

Posts: 392 | From New York | Registered: Dec 2005 | IP: Logged |

Jin
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 11735

posted

Dear Radha,
Those things do point towards OCD behavior. I have many different things that bother me. My brother makes fun of me and calls me Miss Monk! I have to wash my hands a lot due to gluten being all over the place. Sharing a kitchen when you have Celiac is not easy.

My face is broken out because there must have been gluten on the phones as well. I should have known better! The things I fear most are germs, gluten, and I have some other odd habits. For instance, it bothers me if I do not have cans and packages facing right-side up.
They cannot be upside-down on the shelf, because it will bother me until I flip it over.

I have managed to correct some of the OCD behavior. You can break yourself of it, but it takes work. You cannot help but wonder why something so silly will bother you so much. They waste your time and energy, yet you cannot resist the compulsion to fix the silly issue. Anti-depressants are best avoided, because they are highly addictive and used too often on people who do not actually need them.

Sincerely,
Jin

--------------------
Celiac Disease (2007)
Candida Overgrowth (2006)
Thyroid Disease (2004)
Gallbladder Disease (removed- 2003)
Fibromyalgia (2001)
Ovarian Cysts (5 in less than 10 months - 2000)
Anemia (2000)
IBS (1999)
Acid Reflux (1999)

Posts: 369 | From Midwest | Registered: Apr 2007 | IP: Logged |

kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797

posted

My daughter need medication. But, cognitive therapy is also important. Her racing thoughts involved painful episodes from her past.

Your brain has pathways and racing thoughts get stuck in a pathway. It can be retrained.

When my daughter is stressed it comes out with compulsive blinking or licking lips. Her hands are raw from washing, too.

I want to throw out all the anti-bacterial soap, but my husband works for the company that makes it, so we have it all over the house.

It's like lighting your hands on fire. Dermatologists really see problems with using it all day long.

I stay away from it unless I'm cooking with raw meat or cleaning the cat box.

Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006 | IP: Logged |

Radha
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 8464

posted

thanks for your replies, yes the silliest things

can drive me crazy until i make it right, but my

thoughts are just anything, everyday thoughts,

its raining, or it tastes terrible, these things

will repeat until i say them out loud and i

cannot just talk to myself, i need someone, my

mom, to listen to me.....thank God she is so

understanding!! do you know which infection this

belongs to? thanks for your help and if you

cannot leave home how do you do this cognitive

therapy?

Radha

Posts: 392 | From New York | Registered: Dec 2005 | IP: Logged |

Radha
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 8464

posted

thanks for your replies, yes the silliest things

can drive me crazy until i make it right, but my

thoughts are just anything, everyday thoughts,

like its raining, or it tastes terrible, these

things will repeat until i say them out loud and

i cannot just talk to myself, i need someone, my

mom, to listen to me.....thank God she is so

understanding!! do you know which infection this

belongs to? thanks for your help and if you

cannot leave home how do you do this cognitive

therapy?

Radha

Posts: 392 | From New York | Registered: Dec 2005 | IP: Logged |

lakes592
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 18905

posted

I have OCD but mine started before Lyme at least I hope so. Mine ame out when I went away to school. What helped me get it under control was a year of intense therapy including behavior therapy and Prozac. I'm at about 90% I do still have occassional panic attacks and I have to wash my hands before I eat food.

--------------------
If you keep doing nothing...nothing changes!

www.underourskin.com

Posts: 579 | From NH | Registered: Jan 2009 | IP: Logged |

jkmom
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 14004

posted

My daughter has OCD, probably from Lyme.

I took her to an OCD treatment center for intensive behaviour therapy. After the first two days, the therapist started coming to our house because her issues are mostly around the house.

If you can find a good OCD therapist, I think it is not uncommon for them to go to your house.

You could work on it yourself. As an example, probably the therapist would have you lay on your bed with some hairs on it for a short period of time (a minute if that was all you could stand) and work up to more, until it didn't bother you any more. Another one could be that you delay saying your thought out loud for longer and longer periods of time. The idea is that you feel the anxiety and see that nothing happens even if you don't give in to the compulsion, and that the anxiety goes away, and/or that you can cope with it. From what I understand, eventually it becomes easier to ignore the thoughts.

I only know of books for OCD treatment in kids, but I'm sure there are good ones for adults. The therapy is called CBT/ERP, so you want one that talks about that.

Posts: 984 | From US | Registered: Dec 2007 | IP: Logged |

Radha
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 8464

posted

thanks so much for your help
Radha

Posts: 392 | From New York | Registered: Dec 2005 | IP: Logged |

Radha
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 8464

posted

if you are not taking any antibiotics then can

the OCD still get better with just CBT? and did

you have babs or bartonella or just lyme?

Radha

Posts: 392 | From New York | Registered: Dec 2005 | IP: Logged |

jkmom
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 14004

posted

I also had OCD-like thoughts. When I went on the gluten free diet, they went away. Now, the only time I get them is if I accidently eat some gluten.

If you haven't tried giving up gluten, it might help.

Posts: 984 | From US | Registered: Dec 2007 | IP: Logged |

Radha
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 8464

posted

i dont eat anything with gluten.or sugar or caffeine, and low carb too!

Posts: 392 | From New York | Registered: Dec 2005 | IP: Logged |

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:

The Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey
907 Pebble Creek Court, Pennington, NJ 08534 USA
http://www.lymenet.org/