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Trying to figure out if I have OCD or just ADHD. Some site says you probably only have one but the symptoms overlap. “Compulsivity and Impulsivity are opposite ends of a spectrum,” well what if I’m proof of horseshoe theory? At the end it said ask if you’re inhibited and capable of complex compulsions or not, and I’m like “kinda, at least sometimes.” I’ve heard others say OCD symptoms can fluctuate or have episodes, idk. Fuckin’ Occhiolism. If I could know what other people’s minds felt like.
When I was going through nursing school they told us why diagnosis was so important - not for the patient, mental health treatment is kinda individualized by necessity.
It’s so they have a billing code and can get paid lol. What bipolar and bpd and whatever all look like can sometimes be similar and there are biases in diagnosis (more men have one than the other etc).
For me, OCD is checking. Over and over. When I had it bad, I’d check my door a few times then leave. Even if I was 30 minutes away by bus, sometimes I’d go back and check again. I would wake up in the middle of the night and check the stove was off, and again, and again. Some people’s OCD is more about thoughts of harm like being so scared of hurting kids, then they’d get those thoughts - obsessions - over and over. I also had compulsions around clean food and water, used to not eat at work ever even 12 hour shift and be dehydrated I wouldn’t drink some bottled water.
Yeah I know diagnosis is stupid. I’m currently reading ‘You Are Not a Rock,’ and it’s pretty good, and the author’s approach is basically “everyone’s at least a little compulsive and here’s how anyone can improve their mental health.” Still I’m at the phase in my self discovery (this is a familiar cycle) where I really like labels.
It’s not as bad as some of the worst I’ve heard, but am very much a checker. I check my belongings and notifications, whether I set a timer, whether I still believe something, etc a lot. I also have a lot of intrusive thoughts and get compulsive trying to appease or disprove them. I think I have OCD, lol.
I think I’ve had/have sensory/motor, waste, losing things?, contamination, existential, harm, and relationship OCD. That’s all in the past year. Meanwhile I’m impulsive and do stuff that makes people with regular anxiety anxious for me.
Yeah you might, good news is that, if you do, you can learn to deal with it in ways that don’t suck as much as rechecking and rechecking. And learning to accept that your thoughts are just thoughts, doesn’t change who you are, acting on them might but just having thoughts doesn’t mean anything. Also meds can help, they did for me especially at first.
I know, I’ve gone through many of the resources from aforementioned rev left. They’ve helped and I’m a little more mindful and stuff. Unfortunately I forget all the advice if I’m not currently reading it. Of course I keep coming across things that are just “wait, that’s OCD.” The thing with OCD meds is I’m scared they’ll mess with my ADHD and vice versa. My mind is both very over and under active. They also keep each other in check a bit. I can impulsively ignore my anxieties and I’m only understimulated sometimes.
You wouldn’t be the first person on like Vyvanse and an SSRI! I’ve had a few patients with em.
uh talk of attempted suicide(s)
So yeah I’ve seen more than one kid (intentionally) overdose on their Vyvanse or Concerta and their effexor or sertraline, so I even know the worst combo effects when people are purposefully taking too much of both.
Anyway, meds are just one tool. Don’t have to do it. I did a lot of CBT and EMDR and some exposure therapy and I’m off my meds now anyway, safely, and I still feel like I’m on top of my OCD
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Wow I feel really bad for those kids for a bunch of different reasons. Once saw someone fry their brain on a sertraline overdose.
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The hardest was the 10 year old, they try it with tylenol usually but this kid had harder stuff to try. 10 years old…
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Really respect your ability to deal with stuff like that in your work.
If I reread this book every night I think I’ll be able to handle it. My contradictory combo leads to periods of realizing my compulsions are stupid. I also have endless faith (sometimes) in my own betterment. If it doesn’t work out and I successfully get diagnosed I’ll consider meds.
From Rev Left’s description of his own OCD, the foundational pillar of OCD is anxiety. All the compulsions revolve around anxiety.
I’m obviously anxious. OCD fits my anxiety more than any other description. Fuck, why do I do this. In one mood it’s obvious I have OCD, then I doubt it a lot. Then the cycle begins again. My initial questioning was due to Breht’s testimony hitting home.
I’d push back on this a bit, OCD is no longer categorized as an anxiety disorder but it’s own thing in the DSM-V. Anxiety is a huge component of it to be sure, but a lot of OCD (especially the types of OCD that are centered around taboo thoughts, which is what I mostly have) also spirals around other feelings such as guilt, shame, disgust, or self-hatred. The primary feeling that drives me to do compulsions in response to intrusive thoughts is a mix of all of these, and I don’t even know if I would put anxiety at the forefront of it. That being said in the past when I was a kid with OCD I remember anxiety being a larger component of my experience with it, so I know that’s a common experience. I have severe OCD but I also have a completely separate anxiety disorder, and these two things are very distinct experiences for me (though I don’t doubt that for other people with the two that distinction may not be as clear.)
I have both. OCD symptoms can definitely fluctuate, they’ve fluctuated a lot within my life. I’ve had moments of relative calm, including one fairly long stretch of time where my symptoms were so mild they could maybe be considered subclinical; only for it to reemerge later and send me into some of the most hellish OCD spirals of my life.
I honestly don’t feel like the symptoms overlap for me at all, but that may have to do with my current OCD themes not being really centered around checking.
I agree there’s not much in common. The internet tells me they’re kinda similar tho. The first video I found basically said if you think you might have both, you can’t, just do OCD treatment and see if things improve. I think the similarities are if you’re obsessing you’re probably inattentive and with ADHD you ruminate, and I know I’ve acted compulsively around under stimulation, but maybe that’s because I have both.
As it turns out, humans are actually kinda complex and statements like “you probably only have one” still have to have that ‘probably’ in there. Also, “Compulsivity and Impulsivity are opposite ends of a spectrum,” seems like kind of a weird thing to say? Like, sure, they are kind of opposites, but I don’t get why you can’t experience both at different times or with respect to different things. Plus adhd isn’t solely about impulsivity and ocd isn’t solely about compulsivity (I mean there’s a whole other obsessive part to “obsessive compulsive disorder”)
Funny thing is I think the spectrum’s actually kinda right. I just feel much more impulsive or compulsive at one time and then it changes. Yes I know the other symptoms, I just mentioned the part I found notable in the article.