Post-It

Since dealing with OCD for 2 1/2 years now, I've learned a lot and have taken notes about my own experiences with OCD. I think a lot of you can relate to the nature of my own OCD...

- Whenever I get a new obsession, I wish I had the old obsession back, because "that was so much easier to deal with!" The current obsession always seems like the worst one.

- Some people's OCD is constant (mine was constant for almost a year), others are cyclical. Mine is currently cyclical...meaning I can be in "remission" or without any OCD symptoms for months on end, and then something will trip me up and I fall back into obsessing. When I am not obsessing, I can't figure out why I was ever bothered by my obsessions in the first place; when I am obsessing, I can't remember how I felt or what I thought/did when I wasn't obsessing. It's almost like being in a trance. Then, the trance lifts and I go back to normal life. The way I think when I'm obsessing versus the way I think when I'm not obsessing is like night and day.

- My three main obsessions (relationships, religion and myself/loved ones dying) all have the same themes, but every time they come back, they're slightly different and it makes me think it's NOT ODC. It was definitely OCD last time, but this time it's definitely not OCD and my real thoughts/feelings!

- Emotions seem to mean everything to the OCD sufferer. If I can't get the "right" feeling with a particular thought, it sets off my OCD.

Anyone have anything else to add about the nature of your OCD? I find that remembering that I have been here before, and that even though OCD may switch tones, it always has the same theme/feelings/pattern of thinking, helps remind myself that it really is OCD just trying to rear its ugly head again.