Neurodiversity week! My OCD story

Can you tell us how did you realize you were neurodiverse? How it presented and how old were you? 

Mine started when I was at school, at the time I did not even really know what OCD was, I would walk to school and knock my hand on a railing and have a sudden urge to have to do it with my other hand, it had to feel the same, I did small things like this for many years.

In my 20s it started to present itself in other ways, I started to get an obsession of doing things in 4s and 8s, I would be a football match for instance and if I clapped at something it had to be 4 or 8 claps, within a year everything I did became about 4s and 8s and then it became about even numbers, everything had to be even, volumes on radios, volumes on TVs, even the temp in house had to be even on the thermostat.

It was at this point the anxiety of not doing the above started to present itself, I started to think if I did not do the things above or have things on certain numbers or do things in 4s ad 8s that something bad would happen, not just to me, but to anyone I cared about, my anxiety would go into over drive if I could not control it.

How does being neurodiverse impact your daily life on a personal level? 

To this day, I still do certain things in 4s and 8s, I now also have certain things in my house that have to be checked are off (you guessed it, I have to check them 4 or 8 times before leaving the house or going to bed) things like certain switches (not all of them which is odd, just certain ones). The oven switches have to be checked, the lock on our door before bed has to be checked, the volume has to be on an even number (it's okay if it's not only if I have not seen it, but if someone changes the volume and I see it's odd it has to be changed.

If the above does not happen the anxiety can be extreme, thankfully 1 year ago I was brave enough to tell my doctor all of the above, it took me that long to build up the courage, it was at that point I learnt more about OCD and actually got diagnosed and that it was actually an illness and I was not just losing my mind. I now have tablets to

How does being neurodiverse impact your daily life in a work setting?

I am fairly lucky that my OCD does not affect my daily working setting too much, the main one is if a phone call ends on an odd number I have to dial my VM and end the call on an even number (some days it's like winning the lottery when all your calls naturally end on even numbers), other days it can be a nightmare when you ring you VM 20 to 40 times a day.

Apart from that I don't really have any major things that impact me that relate to work.

What do you do to alleviate some of the "daily challenges"? Do you have any coping mechanisms or ways of working?

I try to avoid knowing or seeing what volumes are on (some days I can all day)

I take fluoxetine daily to help with the anxiety of not doing any of the above and the to help control the thought process of something bad will happen if I don't do them.

Apart from trying doing these things there is not much more you can for OCD, it's not something that I can take a tablet for and it vanishes.

What would you want someone to know about ADHD? What should people do/not do and how can they be accommodating to your needs?

Just that OCD presents it's self in many ways, OCD is not about having a tidy house and OCD is not quirky fun. Actually only 2% of people across the globe actually have OCD, a lot of people say things like "oww its just my OCD" or because they like things tidy they say "I have OCD"

OCD is horrible and attacks in ways that make you feel horrible, if you have a friend that suffers, be nice and ask them how they are doing with it, it means a huge amount when you do, trust me, I have friends that do, now they understand.

Also, if you suffer with any of what I mentioned and you are unsure or worried about asking for help, it was honestly the best thing I ever did, it was scary but it was also amazing and has helped my daily life so much.