dotty,I just read the thread where you where in the beginning of the year. I haven't read it before. The doctor that told you not to worry was trying to put your mind at ease. If it's OCD,he will be greatly helped by new medications like Luvox,and several others. It takes about TWO MONTHS for the medicine to get into his system. He's going to need some kind of therapy. Please take him to a specialist,who is well recommended. If you cannot afford one, please go to Social Services. If it isn't OCD take him to some kind of neurologist. Some regular doctors,and some psychiatrist's will just tell you anything to calm you,or him down. A specialist of some kind,a neurologist,or a highly skilled Psychiatrist can make the diagnosis. A regular family doctor doesn't usually have the expertise to really know. Please let me know how he's doing. The earlier the treatment at his age,the better off he will be in the long run. He's at the age in life right now, where what he becomes in life is being formed. I don't mean to be alarming you,but It should be a high priority to get him to a specialist. It may be a problem that we have no idea of,but a specialist would,over time. Actually a correct diagnosis might take awhile.A treatment plan might take awhile also,but at least he will be on a path that will bring him treatment.Oh please let me know how he is. My heart goes out to you all. Brokenfriend

Hi BF! I am sorry that you have OCD. I have recovered from anxiety and I have learned so many helpful things about mental health. I'll bet your father's anger just always set you on edge. I think that people grow up anxious because they don't feel secure. Your dad's anger probably never allowed you to feel secure and everything just snowballed from there. I got better by focusing on the here and now and only going back in my past if it helped me understand how I was behaving and thinking today. It is all about self-understanding and problem solving and feeling secure. I think it helps to tell yourself that most of your feelings of insecurity are coming from your childhood and that these conditions don't exist today and that you can feel secure today. The feelings of insecurity are just a habit from the past when you were a child. Children don't think correctly because their brains are not capable yet and aren't fully developed. Our feelings form then when we didn't have the mental capacity to deal with these issues and we continue to carry them with us today until we confront and deal with them. This stuff can really be understood and worked out.

Dotty, I hope you are still around. Do you feel that you are a bit anxious and not feeling too secure?

Thanks for asking about my son,he seems to be coping better at school at the moment,they have managed to keep him and this other child separate.Has big problems with eating at school often doesn't touch his packed lunch,he says its the mess and people eating bananas makes him feel really sick.I dont really know if I should be doing anything to stop his massive dislike of bananas,if we have them in the house he gets so worked up and angry.
Unfortunatly I have had a couple of bad months with my PD,the medication caused me to become very obsesive.I'd turn the computer on in the morning spend all day on it,forgetting about everything didn't do housework,have no food for dinner,late getting kids from school.I would seem hard done by if I had to stop to help kids with homework or if they needed the computer.For about a month most nights I would sit at the computer from 10pm right through to 7am.I would often just be watching to see if anyone was posting.some nights no posts ,it just seems silly how obsessions can effect us so much.I would also go on msn,but unfortuanatly meds made me hyper and I would flirt and go to far with people.Got obsessions with different people
wanted to know where they were all the time,obsessed with trying to get their msn adresses just so I could chat to them.Once I had got their adresses the thrill seemed not to be there as much as before.Anyway enough about me .Due to how I have been acting some of my sons issues have got worse probably feeling unsecure.I have changed my meds starting to feel a bit better but still having to fight some of my obsessions,I realise how I am effects my kids so I'm trying really hard,its just not easy.
My son has been off sick for the last three days,when his ill he gets alot more frustrated about things .Things have to be done a certain way and things have to be in the right places.His feeling much better today but he hasn't eaten much at all over the last week,think things are putting him off, he gets so frustrated about the smallest of things,but I guess that all part of OCD.
He still uses the punch bag to get rid of some of his anger and also still does his judo.
Thanks again for your post its good to have people who care and understand.
Dotty.

I'm so glad that you are back. I'm sorry that your son has been ill. When I get physically ill,I become more troubled also,most of the time. I'm also glad that they are keeping the bully away from him. That's wonderful.

We are all unique,and different. I didn't like eating around people because they make me nervous,and the cafeteria is to big,and stirs up my phobias. I have a fear of being in masses of people. I had troubles in class,the auditorium(that was like walking into hell,I was so scared),but I could not avoid it. Back in those days,I don't think that they coined up the word phobia yet. It took a toll on me.

I've seen those late night seminar claims,and I've heard them all. I even went to the Phobia Clinic in around 1982 when the clinic started,and went though the program. A lady took me up tall buildings,and we went across bridges,and everything. I'm still having problems.There is still hope with many peoples wisdom,and I'm seeking it.

I like bananas though,all of us are scared of our own particular things. Maybe another kid made a face at him with a banana,or chewed up banana.There is something in the back of his mind that creates this fear,and is probably from a memory in some way,shape,or form from school. Is he afraid of spiders? There is a common myth that sometimes Tarantulas come to this country in the banana boxes.This is not true. I worked in a Supermarket for 14 years,and I uncapped enough boxes of them to know. The reason we open the boxes of bananas is to release the inert gas that keeps the bananas green.

Does he become fixated on bananas for more then 10 minutes. The doctor that told you to not worry about his OCD sounds like a nice guy,but before this problem becomes a full blown melt down,I believe that he would greatly benefit from therapy. It doesn't sound like mild OCD. It sounds like fear,and many emotions are involved. I don't want to alarm you at all. Please follow up on his illness,and find a councilor,preferably a psychiatrist who can write medicine proscriptions.

With me Luvox helps the OCD part of my illness. Those fixations don't have the power in my thoughts that they use to. I don't think that Luvox is habit forming. I could be wrong. It would be best to ask your doctor. Medicines like Luvox has to accumulate in your body for six,to eight weeks before they can help you. That brought my thoughts into management,unless someone is out there alarming,and scarring me all the time.

My sister keeps alarming me about my financial situation,and she was hostile to me on the telephone for no reason at all this week. She just will never, ever get it. In the last several years since I have moved up here close to my sister,she has alarmed me over,and over,and has become increasingly critical. I cannot do anything for her that she likes. She's not only critical of me,but of many,many people,and other family members. It hasn't done me any good to here such anger,and bitterness. Now she has turned on me.

She has a illness also,so I'm taking things into consideration,but she's tearing me to pieces with her words just like dad did in his temper tantrums. She still doesn't get it. Why come down hard on a person who is troubled. Someone out there please pray for us. I am a good person. She's having problem's beyond what I understand. It's like a free floating hatred,anger,and hysteria,and I haven't done anything. I'm waiting on Social Security Disability,and Social Services. Long story,and I didn't get like this over night. I've been troubled since I was around 13,or 14 years old. I'm sorry dotty,I've strayed off the subject a little.

Computers are addictive aren't they. I've been pulling myself away from them after a short period of time. A couple of weeks ago I was on this computer all night long for two nights in a rowe. When I do that the tension pain in my chest gets painful also.

I have to remember that balance is a good thing. A little computer time,cleaning,and other things are good in balance. Actually balance is a good practice to have about everything. I'm glad that you came back. I was worried,because I know that these things don't usually go away by themselves. We need help,medication sometimes,therapy,or support.

My obsessions would start as a scary thought,and get bigger,and bigger,and would become so massive,that I couldn't understand it anymore,and I'd become confused,and then the thought would decrease little,by little. Then I'd have at least three more of these type of thought intrusions,over a short period of time,until things calmed down.

These thoughts became confusing, and irrational,and all blown out of proportion. Sometimes the thoughts would come about the same thing that bothered me before,but with a little twist. If I tried to figure them out,they would become worse. Finally Luvox helped me. I still have problems,but the thoughts don't stick like they use to. I still have plenty of other problems emotionally.

This OCD thing didn't hit me until I was well into my thirties. I had the phobias,dread,nervous tension,and depression from the time I was about 13 years old. My parents said that I did "stupid" types of things,insinuated,but not said, when I was under 10 years of age,and laughed. I heard these things for years. I heard it from my Mother,and then my sister in the last 4 years. Mom died last fall. I realized what it was,that they where talking about. Do you understand what a compulsion is? I told them recently. I was obsessed with that. It had to do with our curtains. They stopped talking about it. It seemed to be funny to them before. The last time Mom told me about it,she was laughing so hard that she could almost not explain it. The damage was already done by then,and I tried to educate them as to what it was.

What I don't understand is why my own family thought that it was funny. I also heard that I got a spanking from my dad,and they said I said,now can I play with the curtains.Now I know that my IQ is higher then they implied. I don't know what was wrong with the attitude here. I know that my sister is unforgiving of my Mother because she didn't love us very much. I just don't understand this. I didn't have these feeling toward them. I did have a struggle forgiving Dad for his anger at me when he was drinking. Then we got along very well for decades.

When my mother,and Dad moved up to where my sister lived,my dads attitude changed toward me. He had a stroke,and my sister took care of him. From everything that I've heard to this day,they both spoke bad things about me. Pam screamed at me on the telephone about 6 years ago,and we didn't speak very much to each other for a year. I believe she has put a wedge between Dad,and I,because dad doesn't want me to visit. I know my sister's in contact with him. All of this hurts me. I'm sorry dotty,I've gotten off the subject again. I'm just hurting.

My OCD started when I was about 6,or 7,but It didn't blow up until I was in my 30's.This type of behavior was totally misunderstood. My Psychiatrist said that Doctors knew about OCD in the 1950's. I never heard of it until about 1990. I as diagnosed with this as part of my problem in the 1990's. They said I had other problems such as free floating anxiety,Borderline personality disorder,depression,and panic disorder back in the 70's,and 80's. Now I here OCD. I wonder do I have a combination of all of these,or something else yet to be discovered. I feel like a mess.

I may be Bipolar also. I'm going to another doctor soon to fine out. By the way,these thoughts are called obsessions. If you would do something in response to the obsession,it's called a compulsion. Some people claim that if you do not respond to the obsession with a compulsion,you can get a healing from it. I believe that It's called cognitive therapy. If this is true,and it may be,get him help before it becomes forged into his personality.

It seems to take the wisdom of many people to pull me up out of my broken pieces. There are probably allot of people like me. If this is true,I wish they would talk about it. That way it would be known that it is a real problem,and more solutions would be available. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's a genetic problem that comes down the family tree. I hope that researchers are working on it around the clock. Brokenfriend

I'm sorry for writing replies that are long. Could this be a disorder? Sorry. Brokenfriend

Hi BF and Dotty, I am sorry that you are both suffering. BF I agree with therapy. We become anxious when we grow up feeling insecure. The treatment is to find security. The cognitive behavioral therapy that you spoke of helps here because it helps us to examine why we are feeling insecure. Because the environment when we grew up made us feel insecure we just continue to feel this way even though our environment as adults is much more secure if not completely secure. The treatment is to convince yourself that you are in a secure environment and that you should, therefore, start to feel secure instead of continuing to feel insecure like you did as a child when your environment really was insecure. Dotty, it seems like your son doesn't feel like he is in a secure environment. I think that therapy would be good for both of you.

I find it very helpful reading your posts.I'm glad you can open up and share what you have been through and what you are still going through.
Although I don't have ocd my family while I was growing up always seemed to be putting me down.I struggled at school found the schoolwork really hard,my family really just made out I was useless and would not achieve much.It has kept with me,its made me have very low self esteem.I guess in a way its made me alot stronger mum.I fight for my kids,two of them have full special needs statements,that was without support from the school.I encourage them and help with homework,always trying to build on their self esteem.My husband who has ocd and who is very clever finds it very hard to keep patient doesn't understand how the kids dont understand homework.
I understand where you are coming from about family .I know mine seems nothing compared with what you have had to go through.
I have to go now but will finish answering your post later.Take Care Dotty