Is this "light" OCD? [Archive] - HealthBoards Message Boards

ImTheLucky1

01-10-2006, 11:46 AM

Is it possible to have a light case of OCD? I didn't know of any other way to ask.

My step son has to "pick" at things. I never really paid attention to it before until I discovered something yesterday.....

He's 12 and has always picked at his fighting men (you know, G.I. Joe and such) He will pick at the toys till pieces start to come off then really goes to work on them. I never paid much attention before b/c that's all I had really noticed. I thought maybe he was just doing it out of boredom. Well, yesterday I go into his room and find several other things that have been "picked" at: anything made from rubber, foam, plastic. Some I think actually have teeth marks. Then when I went to go online last night I noticed that my mouse pad felt funny. He has picked off the bottom half of the foam.

Should I be concerned or is this just some kind of nervous habit?

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jen_thomson

01-10-2006, 05:46 PM

I "picked" as a child...and my oldest son(now 15 and "pick" free) did, too...by itself, that's not a big deal...but when I "picked" (or rolled up tiny pieces of paper), it was when my intrusive thoughts were at the worst...all those bad thoughts that play over and over again in your head. I mention that only because I remember it being really hard growing up with all those thoughts and not being able to tell anyone about them. With my son, I knew what he was going through, so we've always been able to talk about our ocd...I'm not saying that's going on with your son, but it could be....I would talk the situation over with someone, maybe you could even start with your family doctor...if it's just "picking"- no harm, no foul....but if there's more going on, it would be best to find out about it early...betcha anything your son extremely creative and quite smart, isn't he?

GatsbyLuvr1920

01-10-2006, 07:35 PM

I'm a compulsive skin-picker, and I remember having to destroy small objects as a kid (still do at times, in fact), but unlike jen thompson, I don't do it because I'm having obsessions. I just do it as a habit, a compulsion, something I HAVE to do or I just feel restless inside...
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

ImTheLucky1

01-11-2006, 09:51 AM

Actually, he's WAY into sports and of average intelligence. Maybe it is just a bad habit. I plan on talking to him about it next time he's here simply b/c he has started doing it to things that don't belong to him. I guess I'll know more from that- see how he reacts and whatnot.

GatsbyLuvr1920-
I'm a "skin-picker" also. My husband says I must have been a monkey in a past life. I wouldn't say I'm compulsive about it though. If I see a blemish of any kind I practically have to sit on my hands- I can't stand it. But it doesn't make me feel nervous or anything like that and I can get past it. So I guess I'm OK with it.

GatsbyLuvr1920

01-11-2006, 12:41 PM

No, I'm compulsive about it. If I can't pick, then I get restless inside, and it's just painful. And, I do pick with an OCD-twinge to it: I can't stop until the skin "feels right" or lies down "perfectly"... :rolleyes:
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

ImTheLucky1

01-11-2006, 07:23 PM

GatsbyLuvr1920-

I'm curious about something-
Do you only pick at blemishes? Or just the skin? And do you only do it to yourself? B/c I go after my husband sometimes (hence the 'Monkey' nickname).

GatsbyLuvr1920

01-12-2006, 02:49 AM

I don't really do blemishes, mostly skin. Like, for some reason, three years ago when I was in 10th grade and my OCD came back, I just started picking at my scalp. I think there was a pimple or a mole of some sort right on my temple, but it gradually moved to the top of my scalp. I had this big sore, and I picked it over and over again, making it bleed, the same spot for almost two years. Then it healed, and last year, I started on two new places, which I still pick almost daily. I do my cuticles a lot- whenever the skin grows back I bite it off, and I bite my nails off, too. And the skin around my toes is also a problem. However, the bottom of my big right toe is where I pick the most. The same time I started picking my head, I noticed that I had a callous there, and I picked at it for weeks until I finally ripped some skin off. After that, I was able to use that starting place to rip off the entire first layer of skin. I like that because the skin is smooth, going back to the obsession thing. Then, it grows back calloused again, and in a month or so, I start over. Now, though, I've just been ripping the skin off with cuticle scissors; it doesn't even hurt, despite having the first layer being removed because it's just dead skin...If these were just disgusting habits, then I guess I could make myself quit, but I can't. The only one that I think is somewhat "normal" is my cuticles, but I go beyond that, too, making my fingers bleed. Can't stop, though... :rolleyes:
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

ImTheLucky1

01-12-2006, 12:25 PM

Wow.... Does it not hurt? Or get infected?
I'm pretty bad about picking at my scalp also. I have made it bleed before but I keep at it till I'm satisfied I've removed whatever it was- dead skin, pimple, infected hair- whatever. Kind of weird. I know that I don't have a real problem (at least I don't think I do). But I also know that it would totally gross some people out if they knew what I did........

GatsbyLuvr1920

01-12-2006, 02:33 PM

My mom is really the only one who knows. She still yells at me to stop it, but not nearly as much or as forcefully anymore, now that she knows it's my OCD and I can't help it. Thankfully, it hasn't become infected, although when I went to the dermatologist once awhile ago for acne, my mom wanted her to check my scalp out and she said that the color looked infected. So she gave me this salve, which I never used. It was so incredibly greasy and made me feel like I hadn't washed my hair in days! As far as my toe, sometimes if I peel off the skin deeper than I anticipated, it'll hurt and I'll have to put a Band-Aid on it, but it's not an open sore, so it doesn't get infected. I think that, in the three years I've been doing it, my toe has only ever bleed three times or so... :D
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

ImTheLucky1

01-12-2006, 07:20 PM

It's really cool that ur able to talk about it. I've often gone through "spells" wheere I do it more and thought that maybe I have a problem but I know now that it would be an ongoing thing if I did.

Hey, thanks for sharing with me! :D

GatsbyLuvr1920

01-13-2006, 09:25 AM

No problem! I can talk more openly about it on here because nobody will judge me, like in real life. I do tell my friends about my OCD, in detail if they understand, but usually, I'm pretty general about it because OCD, especially my type, pure obsessional, is often misunderstood, and nobody believes me when I say I have OCD anyway, so why go into details unless they believe me? ;)
-GatsbyLuvr1920-