Unable to control "interests"?

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It's been three days now. I feel like I don't really have any control anyways but this has just gotten out of hand. I uncover information, make an analysis, try desperately to discuss it with anyone, think about it for like 20 minutes, then continue. Constantly. I'm totally obsessed, and my family is freaking out about it. I didn't care until I realized my back is hurting like hell cause I've been sitting in a seat ALL day for 3 days, slept 5 hours then got up to study this. How do I "cut off" from what I'm studying? I have both ASD and OCD, making it a blend of "I have to study this because of X, and I like to study this because I want to find out more about X which raises questions about X as I study another kind of X." I'm just kind of getting tired of it, I want to give up.

Any help? Any tricks? It's as persistent as a cold.

People with ADHD can sometimes hyperfocus, also of course us autistics, and bipolar people having a manic episode. However, don't label yourself. Regardless, there's something in there that got your attention for a REASON. Find out what that reason is; analyse yourself. You like this? Why do you like it? Then answer the questions that arise from THAT question.

That sounds normal to me.
Have you tried some dedicated rocking?

Gosh!

I have gotten into recent discussions here with folks about the difference between aspie obsessions, and OCD obsessions. I have had both kinds, and I feel I know the difference. To me they are quite different animals.

Aspie obsession are kinda like drug addiction. They take you over because you just gotta learn about the thing because learning about it gives you a kind of high.
OCD is more a negative thing- like an invisible demon is forcing you to do a behavior at gun point against your will. And unlike any aspie obsession the OCD thing was gross and something I fought against. But fighting against it just made the obsession worse. But finally giving in to it caused a fleeting sense of relaxation.

With the worst aspie obsession I ever had -when I finally decided it was taking over my life too much- I sat down and thought about it. What about this thing is so darned seductive? I realized what the real underlying issue was. And then simply abandon the obsession as an obsession. And started doing things that solved the underlying issue. And the obsession vanished.

The OCD type thing I had was much tougher to deal with. I am still like a 'recovering alcholic'. Have got the thing under control. And its not nearly as bad as it once was for years and years. But it took a long time to get there.

If this thing that you're obsessed with is combination of both my worst aspie obsession AND my OCD type obsession then -gosh!- that's tough to deal with.

Typically the same for me. I'm no sociopath, so I usually feel bad when bad things happen to my family. Sometimes however, when I'm in a particularly..uh, I guess "attached" mood, I start getting recurring images of family being injured, and when I'm at parties it's horrible. I get these nasty and EXTREMELY vivid and loud images in my head of people who I love and talk to being tortured in the most terrible ways, yet still alive, very loud and violent, abrupt, deafening. Like giant metal machine kind of torture. It's actually scarring. It's very surreal, like something you could never see in real life but you'll only see in nightmares, that sort of thing. They get stuck, and it provokes deeper emotions, negative feelings and a feeling of horror and disgust. The funny thing is my mom and HALF sister all have a form of OCD, severe anxiety, and possible Aspergers. On my mom's side these traits are noticeable in her own mother, her mother's father, etc. It goes up like a ladder. Both the ASD and the OCD. My mom has these "extreme" thoughts as well, and shes aware of a lot of her symptoms. My sister and dad lack all the OCD/ASD traits entirely.

Aspergers obsessions are like what you said, a constant drive towards something. If curiosity was an emotion, I guess you could say that's the Asperger one for me, the emotion of curiosity. I discover something, I "enjoy" playing around with the thoughts, then I move on to something SIMILAR but not exactly the same. It's odd because a particular sequence of ideas takes hold, and builds on top of that. I like A, anthropology, then I like societies, then I like tribes, then I like Africa, then I like Africa's diversity, then physical phenotype, then I get interested in the Amazons, then Europe, and branches out and out until I'm literally studying every single thing about every single specific tribal group or phenotype in an extremely specific place in the middle of Togo for like 20 hours a day, sleeping and eating for the other 2. It gets bad because I find I can't stop. It doesn't really give me a "high" like as in enjoyment of something like music or food, it gives me more of a "satisfaction", the attraction to new and old information, the awareness of or knowledge of the existence of a particular group in the world. It's like a web. Also, you could take any language within the greater Sahara/Maghrebi region and break it down till you reach the bottom, then combine it with similar groups till you reach the top. In this case, the top is Afro-Asiatic, then Berber, then Tuareg, then dialects of Tuareg, then towns, then religion, then etc. Demographics, population, it's too expansive to cover.
Ok, I'm done, but that's basically what I can recognize as the difference. My favorite areas: Language, genetics, religion, and phenotype.

For me its 20th century small arms and weapon systems. I find trying to limit my use of the internet really helps. When I'm on the internet, I'll be on it up to 16 hours a day, sleep is pretty much impossible. Having the internet is a good thing, but it becomes very compulsive; you can just get lost in all the information, and its very hard to unplug. The same is true for books, but books arnt the same. Believe me, having this ability to focus is a strength; I personally wouldn't be any other way.

Its not in uncontrollable urge, its a behaviour, all behaviours are voluntary. Just challenge the behaviour.

Are you saying that your worst Aspie obsession felt close to an OCD obsession?

No. The opposite. That they felt quite different. And solving them was quite different.

Cheers Even after reading your description of the two I personally cannot work out where my obsession is based but that could be because I don't have ASD or OCD

Have been officially dxd with aspergers.

About the particular issue, one shrink said it was OCD, the other said it was "just a bad habit". But either way it had the "feel" of OCD.

One shrink explained it that an obsessive compulsive disorder "is something bad will happen if I dont do X". An aspie obsession is one in which you just so interested in a subject that you cant stop researching it, or working on it.

The OCD type obsession I had was with compulsively pulling on my own nose to the point of causing pain, like anorexia, or cutting. I was grossed out by it myself. But couldnt stop doing it.

The aspie type of obsession was with designing my own board game (with dice, and tables, etc) simulating naval warfare in world war two. Bought Jane's Fighting Ships of WWII ( a guide to every ship in every navy of the world in WWII). A hobby that just got out of hand, and kinda took over my life. Like if fantasy football took over all of your time.

The whole emotional content of the two obsessions were totally different. Like comparing cutting to fantasy football. Totally different categories of things.

The nose obsession bascially worked as such: I would resist the urge to do it, and resist and resist. And then when I finnally caved in there would be a moment of zen-like calmness. But then days of physical pain for recovery. Turns out that that is a typical pattern for a lot folks with compulsive behaviors (the person fights the urge to do the thing, and that just feeds into the urge, and then a moment of serene bliss when you finnaly cave in, but followed by regret because of the consequences). The aspie obsession didnt "work" that way at all.

That sounds familiar. I get into those states too when I paint of vid or read. Just yesterday, I sat up for 18 hours all night and morning just editing a fan video and I would not have been able to stop myself even if zombies were chasing me. Time stands still when you are in the zone. You don't notice anything around you, you forget to eat, to drink, you forget to go to the bathroom until the last second and sleep, well...pfff...doesn't feel necesssary. I have to say that 3 days is A LOT though. And I think probably damaging to your body. Your family is right to be worried.

You gotta pull yourself out of it. It's difficult and it feels like going against your natural instincts but it's possible to do. However, I can't do it when I am alone and I don't get a push from my surroundings. I can when I am with family or friends because I care about their feelings and when they say "Let's go" then I gotta move....even if I am in the middle of something. Granted, sometimes it takes me a while...like when I was in the middle of decorating my cargo-bike in my parents driveway and it took me half an hour to snap out of it and join them for dinner after they called for me a thousand times. But I got there eventually. In the end that is all that matters.

Very interesting , thanks. It would appear my obsessions are not OCD then unless i'm doing it just as escapism ( the bad thing being life itself ). They do feel like addictions sometimes and I know it's not healthy for a typical person but it feels good for me especially as ASD is overtaking every waking thought at the moment.
I did have a 1943 edition of Janes Fighting Ships , the temptation to cut out the line drawings and put them on my wall was very tempting but I could never destroy a book like that.

I can relate so much to these posts. My body is suffering from so much inactivity lol
But essentially, the difference is as others have said: Inability to stop something because fear of something else for OCD VS A total absorbing joy of a specific area. I don't know why that specific area, I can't change it because it's like a craving. It's like you try 40 drugs and only 2 of a family of 4 out of a set attract you. Or it's like slowly eating a MASSIVE dopamine filled cake which spans hundreds of miles, and you know you'll never finish but you can't get enough. You defecate after eating that much of course, sort of like forgetting the information after reading so much, and that's why I keep reading the same articles, cause I forget some of the information I read after like 12 hours of nonstop reading.

I have OCD and special interests, so I can relate to your cake analogy .