Anyone Else Get diagnosed with "mild ocd"?

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I have had a few people refer to me as too technical, too picky, neat freak, etc. I feel that I just like order and it just feels right. I have been this way since I as about 4 years old. My toys and shoes were put away by types or favorites... Anyway, since so many NT refer to me as obsessive I am curious why so if the psychiatrist only diagnosed me as MILD ocd and nothing else; prior and after that he said I NEED order and it is NORMAL for me. He also specified that not having order will cause me to have anxiety and I don't seek order in order to cope with anxiety(which a lot of people do), BUT I do tend to fixate on order if I sense something isn't right or is about to set me off schedule; I don't wait for things to go wrong I freak if I think it is/will.. which is very true. Every nurse I encountered even the MD was surprised that I was not prescribed any medication nor given any my entire stay. So, this means it is totally normal for someone on the autism spectrum to be orderly and picky, right?

I also want to know why so many NTs think I'm "crazy" and therapists and others with similar education and of course most highly intelligent people never do. I have no intention of offending anyone, but I have noticed this online and off... I feel like with common sense and an open mind the vast majority of people would/should "get it".

All of the stuff he said and the questions he asked, I thought he was going to basically say what everyone else was saying but in a professional manner; I was wrong. What he said was much like how I talk about myself or people like me.

If the grammar and spelling's bad I apologize I did not and usually don't read what I post before posting. I only correct what I notice..as I write.

Last edited by Mishra2012 on 16 May 2013, 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I haven´t actually been diagnosed with it, but my psychiatrist has made a remark. I myself am not in any doubt:
Everything had to be lined up perfectly from age 4-8, or I couldn´t sleep. My shoelaces had to be tied ABSOLUTELY even, or I couldn´t function, and even the shoes at the front door was put in order by a measure before I slept.
Later, as a young adult I had to reverse a certain route through the house and touch certain things before I could sleep. In these last years, I have had to check again and again, that the computer is off, that the gas is off, and that I´ve locked the door before I leave. I have, in fact ruined a lock, and I am often late because of my routines. If I am in good balance, I can keep it at a minimum, but when I am stressed, it goes bananas.

Last edited by Jensen on 16 May 2013, 5:17 am, edited 2 times in total.

This may be the wrong place to ask this but does anyone know of any excellent autism specialists in the RTP area (in NC)?

Thanks

Here is a link to Autism Therapists in Durham.

http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/r ... 67&lmore=1

I wish it was mild... lol

I would probably be diagnosed as mild OCD but I know I can border on moderate to severe at times. My shoelaces have to be the exact same length, I have to change any clothes with any type of hole instantly and have to do my morning routines even though it makes me late for work. It's kinda obvious I have it and only recently made the connection to Aspergers.

I am not officially diagnosed with OCD, but in my diagnostic paper they wrote that I have OCD features.
I think that it's probably related to AS in my case.

Yes. A psychiatrist said I seem to have mild OCD, but not significant enough for a dignosis because it seems to be more symptoms of an ASD.

I don't think mine ever said how bad mine was nor have my parents told me it was mild or how bad it was. I assume it's mild because I barely seem to have it and can't relate to others with it because I don't do what they do. I was told OCD was part of my AS. For instance, I come home and I may get upset when I come home to a messy kitchen and I have to clean it before I do anything else. My mom gets upset too when she comes home to a messy kitchen but I do it to more extreme where I shut down and have my mind focused on it. I don't do it because I don't think it's right or because I think bad things will happen, I just don't like it period. I have better days than others where I don't get as upset and I do it without an attitude or being too upset and if I had a bad day at work or worked hard at work and I am coming home and want to relax and instead I find the kitchen a mess, I start yelling and slamming dishes in the dishwasher and yelling at anyone who gets in my path. Only cure to this issue is if someone offers to clean the mess up or don't leave a huge mess at all and stop being lazy and it won't get that bad.


I remember things in my childhood that caused me distressed inside me I hated like I always feared my mattress was coming off my bed from me lying in it and when I roll around in it so I always got out of bed and push my butt against the mattress and I did it over and over before going to sleep. If I didn't do it, the thought would have driven me crazy so I had to do it to get it off my mind. then I finally grew out of it maybe when I was around twelve. That compulsion went away.

Then there has been my environment that has caused it like with kids for example, being told I stink or how dirty I am and giving me lectures about if I ever brush my teeth or not or brush my hair so I got obsessed with being clean and got afraid of dirt and would feel distressed if I felt dirty or couldn't shower or brush my teeth, and hated to sweat because it meant I was filthy now and it wasn't a problem for other kids to be dirty and only me. I also got obsessed with hand washing because I wanted to stay clean and if my skin wasn't smooth or shiny, I washed them only to make them worse and I kept washing them to keep the skin moist until my mom bought me hand lotion. That got rid of the compulsion to wash my hands.

I think the environment cause cause OCD in a person but the person has to have the gene for it for them to get it. I must have had it in me already so I was prone to getting it from other people and anything that would trigger it.

I remember obsessing over being normal and it wasn't a pleasant interest I had because I constantly worried about trying to be normal and I had to be careful what i did with my body and everything or kids would think I was mean or weird or a show off or crazy or rude but once I quit caring what people thought, this went away.

Mine just seems to come and go. I do believe it has gotten better since high school because I am able to set things aside now and not worry about it or let myself fret on it and get distressed over it even though it's still on my mind but I am not stressed over it. I also get distracted from it when I focus on other things so I literally forget about it at the moment.

What I get is for the most part order, structure, etc. is a natural part of AS. I didn't ask him to clarify (I wish I did), it seems that if I were NT I would probably have been given meds and prescribed meds with moderate to severe ocd as my diagnosis. Other animals can be obsessive.. it is usually a coping mechanism and a basic one. I know someone that intentionally became obsessive with certain tasks and habits, her goal was to improve her mood. So, I do not think there is any gene for OCD. OCD and addiction seem so similar to me. He also specified that coping in such a manner is ok in moderation; the issue is if something interferes in the coping process it can cause more anxiety(Which I totally agree and have seen it happen).

Do they give a qualifier of severity in some cases? My psych report just says Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. No mild or severe or anything like that.

I guess some do and some don't.

It always seems like to me is when an NT has narrow interests or obsessions and routines they must follow and it causes them an impairment, they get diagnosed with OCD because that is the closest match they could get to for a label. But if they had autism, I bet they wouldn't get diagnosed with that unless they had true OCD. Some professionals diagnose both and call the autistic traits OCD. This is based on my experience and what it looks like to me from what my psychiatrist did and what my mom has told me because that is what she was informed by him. I recall my mom saying I don't have true OCD and then she says I have OCD but said 6 years ago I didn't because I didn't meet the criteria. :shrugs: But it's listed in my papers I have it. Just looks like to me he calls autistic traits OCD.

Yes. This is for reason of obsessive thoughts more than compulsive behaviors, so it is not full blown OCD.