Do you have something others don't understand?

reply to post by supergeek


Wow, you're so good at lurking, I almost missed this post.

Thanks for emerging. I don't know why medical stuff draws so much unsolicited advice, but I suppose people do mean well, at least. Well, most of them, anyway. There do seem to be a small minority of people who have a real hostility towards anyone who is mentally ill, though nobody who has posted in this thread that I can tell. Maybe they have a personality disorder?

reply to post by jonibelle


OMG,you have just echoed the words I,ve said since 15 years old(32 now)but no one never gets it!i just can't switch my brain off from thinking.........oh my friend you,ve made my day,please I get it..............I REALLY DO
the mad thing of it all is that...............YOU GET ME

When I read the title of this thread I immediately thought of my OCD. I've had it since I was a child. I remember when I was in first grade and had to separate the syllables correctly, I was convinced that if I didn't, the ground was going to open up and the letters were going to fall without companions. (Yeah, I was a weird kid)

I was officially diagnosed at 16 (I'm 20 now). My doctor sent info to my school so they could learn how to deal with me but they didn't even read it. So high school was a tough time for me. I go to an Art school now and the teachers have been very understanding and helpful.

Unfortunately, my hoarding compulsion is getting out of control and my family doesn't understand me. Sometimes they make jokes and that kind of hurts. I don't do all these weird things on purpose, but they just don't understand

Also, another issue with having OCD is hearing the "But you look normal" comment. That one really irks me almost as much as the "Why don't you just stop?" one.

I'd like to see a normal person dealing with my brain for one day, they wouldn't even last 2 hours.

I feel for you as I have a child and a sister in law that suffer from OCD. Both are able to continue on with everyday activities, but with so much more effort than "normal" people. My son seems so exhausted by the end of the day that he just is ready to collapse by dinner. He's not so bad in the house although some of his obsessions do carry on here...but outside and at school....I can't even imagine.

I feel bad because sometimes when I'm having a bad day, or not patient I badger him and tell him to just get on with it, or just drop it and usually it makes matters worse. Its very hard even being a patient compassionate mom to understand where he's coming from, so I don't expect he gets much better reception from the general public.

He's been sent home from school with a behavioural report (basically when your child has done something "bad") because he refused to start his schoolwork until he cleaned the pencil markings off his desktop. It's frustrating to me that the school doesn't understand...so I can only imagine the frustration he feels.

His biggest concern is the future...and I don't mean the future as in "what's going to happen in 2012" but just an hour from now, tomorrow morning, next week etc. He's constantly getting himself in a tizzy trying to figure out just how everything will play out. For example:

"It's raining and chilly out I'm going to wear pants"
"ok son"
"but wait...what if it gets warmer later...then I'll be too hot"
"then wear shorts"
"but its too cold right now for shorts and then I won't have fun outside at recess"
"ok, then wear shorts under your pants"
"I hate how that feels and then if it does get warm i'll be SUPER hot. If I start sweating in school what if I smell bad. And then the kids will make fun of me. And then next week when we go on our school trip noone will sit next to me on the bus. We're supposed to do a report on our school trip with a partner, but I won't have one because I'll be sweaty and smelly and then I'll get a bad mark in science. If I get a D in science I might fail grade 5 and have to do it all over again. Mrs. Teacher is going to be so disappointed in me..what am I going to do"

Insert crying and sobbing into this typical morning conversation and that sums up my morning...every morning....something different each day usually something that (to me) is completely irrational and it's hard to be compassionate when you can't put yourself in someone else's shoes.

I remember in grade one he got sent home early because he started bawling his eyes out during the remembrance day assembly. He doesn't even have any family members in the military...not even like great grandparents, and we're in Canada so it's not like we're a HUGE military country lol! He couldn't stop crying and saying how bad he felt for the soldiers...he was inconsolable for about 4 hours straight. We have to keep him off of the news channels on tv..the weather channel especially. As early as 4 yrs of age he was obsessed with the weather channel. (hence the too hot/too cold convo above). We thought it was cute and perhaps he'd be a meteorologist...and then we realized how bad it was. He would wake up at 3 am to watch the weather channel. Now that he's 11, he goes online and reads it, reads the farmer's almanac, reads about weather in other cities, provinces, and countries!

Anyhow, now that i've rambled about my own son...the point of this all is that it's definitely difficult for anyone without OCD to even begin to understand a thing about OCD. I wish you all the best and hope things get better for you

Michelle