Doctor tomorrow.

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My 'computer settings/messing about with' OCD has caused me so much anxiety & panic, I've given up and made an appointment to see the GP tomorrow.

These doctors are amazingly good, and I do trust them. They have just got me a refferal out of county to a specialist AS service, which is FANTASTIC. However, my panic/anxiety/OCD has been particularly bad these past few weeks. It's all been revolving around computers (which I don't really know that much about), and changing the settings, clicking things and deleting things trying to get it to mess up. STUPID I know, but when I don't carry the urges out, I feel so tight, panic, can't think, eat or sleep, and that can go on for days & days at a time.

I've not had a decent night's sleep in ages, I'm tired, lost about 5lbs in 2 weeks, and I have no idea where this sh***y thing came from.

I really don't know what to say to the doctor, it sounds so stupid, and I don't want to take medication.

What do I say? 'Dr I'm here because I'm having urges to do things to my computer that I shouldn't'? It's going to sound so stupid!

I'm not even like this all the time, I go through phases, sometimes lasting a few days, sometimes weeks. It depends on what it is I'm OCDing over. If it's something I can exhaust in a few days, then the anxiety does go away after that, but this one is endless.

I'm having panic attacks, losing sleep & everything, all over a stupid computer.

If anyone has any ideas as to what I could say to the doctor, I would much appreciate it!

Don't worry too much about what you're going to say. Your doc will have heard similar things many times before, so you won't shock, confuse, or confound him/her. OCD, panic attacks, and related anxiety are all common enough. Your doc should be able to recommend a variety of possible strategies, from meds to therapy, to help.

If you're not confident about remembering what to say, write down what you need to tell your doc when you're there. That way you won't forget anything.

Have faith in yourself.

Like us sober countrymen..well, my ancestors..used to say...

"You ain't goi'n to the doctor because you're fine."

Don't worry. One of the most annoying things about the human mind is that sometimes concious action can bypass free will.
The back-seat driver grabbing the wheel, so to speak. That ain't supposed to happen, and it's quite annoying. Doctors know that, and can deal with it.

Good luck.


Worst thing to do is to think "people won't believe me". Usually that's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I would imagine the doctor will have seen all manner of OCD obsessions.
Mine are not much better, believe me, if not more weird than yours.
I have a weight obsession which in turn causes me to obsess about the effect of my body on the things around me, so it is not unusual to sometimes find my actually jumping up and down on floors in my flat to see if I break the boards on them... it is also not unusual to see my poking and prodding every chair I have to sit on to see if it is squishy, creaky, wobbly etc etc. I check seams on my clothes obsessively also, and in the past, I spent hours contorting my body in front of a mirror each night obsessing over loose skin on my buttocks... in fact, I never told my doctor about that, such was the nature of it.

I can think of worse things, just tell the truth. You have a compulsion to mess about with your pc trying to disable it, and can't stop doing it.
It all tends to stem from the same source- stress. I always tend to think that OCD happens as a means of distracting the mind from what is really bothering it. If you cannot fight it, then why not consider short term help for it? I take sertraline when I am having an especially bad phase, and it seems to calm things down. Alternatively, when this urge comes, force yourself to go to another room and do something else until you feel calmer. Or turn the computer off if that is an option. In the end, with my obsessions, I get so fed up of the intrusion into my interests, I do eventually manage to calm them to a manageable level, but it aint easy.