how your ocd started?

although i'm much sure i'm not very obsessive, i have some obsessions yes, but when i was a kid i had too many, i counted step tried to reach points before a car passed throught me or mom would broke a leg , had intrusive thoughts, etc.

Although it's gone and i don't belive it qualify OCD, i would like to ask if you know how it started?

The bulk of mine, which is mysophobia ("germaphobia"), actually started because I wanted to keep my CDs and DVDs in good condition by washing the oils off my hands prior to handling in order to avoid leaving any fingerprints. It snowballed out of control from there. Any other aspects of my OCD, I really couldn't trace back to a definitive moment.

My first bout years ago started when the kid across the street told me his cat had FIV, which I feared could be given to humans. More recently it started when I touched a door handle with a red spot on it while I had a cut on my hand. The worst part is after I learned my initial fears were unfounded (FIV is cats only, the spot on the door handle was only rust) it was waaaaay too late to stop the obsessions.

Probably in primary [elementary] school, seeing the disgusting things other children do. Which is what children should do, I suppose. I wished I could have no inhibitions. I felt as though I was born a 50 year old. To add, I didn't talk to anyone and kept myself to myself. Probably the root of all my problems. And that I never sought advice from anyone. Never been to the doctor, never asked for help, never taken a drug stronger than aspirin. Not about to start. I feel like im beyond that.

I was probably about 4 or 5 when I started to obsessively clear my throat. My parents were concerned because they thought there was something wrong with me physically. It went away after a while, so they figured whatever had been wrong went away, or it had all just been a bad habit.

I didn't have anymore compulsions until about second grade, when I would get these 'tics'...compulsions, I guess....where I would weeze, snort, and generally make little noises with my mouth and sinuses. At this age, most people ignored them, except my mother, who was greatly disturbed. Once again, she thought there was something physically wrong with me.

Mine started in the fourth grade, and I believe it was triggered because we had just moved across the city to live with my mom's fiance, who has basically abused me mentally and emotionally since that point until we moved out ten years later. I think I felt extremely anxious from having no control, so I began doing these rituals to ease my anxiety.
Which is really ironic, because I have no control to stop it...huh.
But I stopped stepping on cracks and had to make sure everything I touched had a certain amount of pressure...and that's how it started.

Started when i was still young, i would make humming noises, i would count my steps, i would try to only step on the cracks when walking on the sidewalk. i would watch peoples feet and try to step at the same time. i would move my fingers and toes up and down 4 times.

Hi. I'm new here but a long time sufferer of OCD. It started when I was about 8 or 9, compounded by a teacher's extreme reaction to my odd handwriting. Like someone else posted, a big thing of mine is not wanting to contaminate my possessions, such as CDs, DVDs, books, furniture, everything really.

childhood-
i watched a scary movie (nightmare on elm street) and then i was afraid of freddy coming through my window. a few days later someone told me freddy went to bed and woke up with claws. so i was terrified and i slept with inward fist (fingers around my thumb) and a smile on my face for about 4 years. i was afraid i would be ffreddy.

something with soap... i'm not quite sure but i can't use regular soap, i can only use Dove soap, all other soaps makes my fingers pruny which ican't have
Prune fingers i'm not sure where i got that one, But i hate prune fingers more than anything, if someone pissed on my leg right now i would still like him more then pruned fingers.

all those seemed to pass in highschool, not a thought. not a care. i was good boy. not the best student but i was ok.

after highschool I worked a lot. and i started washing dishes, Brang back my prune finger phobia. and then also the hygenics of the place made my wash my hands lik mad.
but i couldn't stand washing my hands all teh time, my fingers would prune and i would be in a worse state, so my hand washing stopped in a week or so.

then i moved to china 2 years ago. and everything was good, not a sign of OCD. and then i was readig a bok on serial killers, and now i think i'm a serial killer...
maybe i can just keep washing my hands until they are pruned every tie i think of a bad thought, it worked for hand washing it may work for this...

Not sure if there was ever a trigger for me...more of an eventual realization. My mom said recently that she thaought I was OCD when I was younger. I never thought about it...just lived my life being obliviously "weird" but not causing too much trouble. Over the last 5-6 yrs or so, though, I've been trying to figure out what was going on in my head...divorced my spouse, thought I had ADD beacuse my oldest kid was diagnosed with it, thought I had Aspergers after reading about it, finally figured out I'm more OCD after I started dating another person who is OCD...best thing that could have happened to me. Now it all makes sens, AND I am understood. I guess the poit of my long story here...no trigger, just a wake-up realization. I've been this way all along, just didn't recognize it for what it was.

Hmmm, I used to count the steps in my house as I walked up them (that one stopped) because whenever I would walk upstairs in the dark I would miss the last step and almost fall.

I write down EVERYTHING (In list and statistic form) because once I went to a video store and forgot what movie I wanted to buy.

Gah. Mine started ever since i was around 4 or 5 i remember sitting i an doctor's office watching some infomercial for kids my age about the importance of washing your hands after sh*tting no joke. seirously its kinda sad this is my earliest memory. and what started my handwashing obsession. Thank you public infomercial thank you. honestly i think it was b/c i watched it so young, it like brainwashed me in an odd way. esp. since it listed everything bad u could get from NOT washing your hands.ahh other than that wayyy too many to list. i also had this weird thing with cleaning my room when i was 6 my room was ALWAYS clean (even though im lazy) an routines.... i had too many. like the "morning" rountine. i would wake up at exactly the same time everyday and i had to do things in order or i'd freak. ex. get dressed,comb hair, brush teeth,etc. but im completely over that now (crosses fingers) and i normally do things different everyday, (for spite) sometimes ill wake up and eat breakfast first which is oddly refreshing, maybe because i never got to do that before. :/ maybe im just weird haha. only the hand washing problem is left. isnt OCD just SO lovely?

durda_dan said:

childhood-
then i moved to china 2 years ago. and everything was good, not a sign of OCD. and then i was readig a bok on serial killers, and now i think i'm a serial killer...

Click to expand...

I also read a couple of books about serial killers. When ever i get angry in work, i seem to have really violent thought of doing things to people that make me angry. And working in a Hotel Kitchen, these thoughts usually consist of the things i see every day. Namely Knives and very acidic cemicals (strong oven cleaners), and pans that have either hot boiling water, or hot boiling soup/sauces. But, i am also confused. When i have these thoughts, i feel something, and im not sure if its anxiety or adrenalin, maybe a mix of both. When i was a kid, i use to imagine beating up people that bullied me, and i felt the same feelings. The more 'into it' i am, the stronger the feelings become. I also used to have thoughts of me cutting my own wrists/throat whenever i picked up a knife.

I dont know when this started:

When im in the car as a passenger (i dont drive) i find myself counting the white lines in the road at times. Also, when a car passes from opposite direction, i count the 'facial features' of the car. I look at the left light, count 1, look at the car badge in the centre, count 2, and look at the other light, and count 3. with every car that passes, until some other thing catches my attention.

Its also the same for people, but not always. 1 for ear, 2 for eye, 3 for nose, 4 for other ear, 5 for other eye, and 6 for mouth, and as i am counting i look at the feature in question, just like i do with cars.

I knew i had s/a for some time, found out just over 3 years ago (after about 10-15 years thinking what the f*** is wrong with me). I came back to this sight just today, because i was depressed. I just wanted to read other people's problems (to see if it help's or not) and found info about OCD which i never knew what it was, so i researched, and found out i have that too. I thought it was a part of s/a, but i was wrong.

Nev

I think mine came from a strep infection when I was young, but I can't prove it. After the first strep case, I went through phases of seperation anxiety, afraid of not being able to fall asleep, and hand washing until my hands were red and raw.