Help--I Can't Sleep

[sleepless in boston]

Hello...

 

I am frequently visualizing words or phrases that I hear and aligning them to make them symmetrical. For instance, I might hear someone say "please hold the door"...In my mind I need to find a way to line up the words on top of each other so that it appears symmetrical...In this example, I would place "please" on the top line, "hold" on the second line, and "the door" on the third line so that the "h" in "hold" aligns with the "e" in "the" and the "d" in "hold" aligns with the first "o" in "door"...

 

But then I try to find any other way possible to symmetrically line them up...Some phrases or sentences don't align such as "the boy threw the ball"..I can't align those words in any way so that they appear symmetrical on top of each other, unless I allow for punctuation and count it as a character...

 

I can count letters in words very quickly and provide someone with the answer...I might be given the word "encyclopedia" as an example and I have already broken it down in one second to six syllables, counting the letters in each syllable, and providing the answer of "12"..I've always attributed this to being an excellent speller of words..It is hard to count letters in words if you cannot spell them correctly.

 

I am 44 years old and have been doing this for about thirty years...

 

It affects my sleep, my attention span, and tires me out mentally.

 

I am hoping there is some form of medication to lessen this form of OCD...

 

Does anyone experience similar forms of OCD and have you been able to control it with medication?

[cleo]

I just count letters in words and they have to give me an even number and if they dont i will add words to them till i get an even number.

I want to ask you is this something that you do all the times or have you noticed that there are days in wich they are not so strong and you might do it less and sometimes not at all?

I have another tic for example if im walking ona side walk and there are lines on it that divide the cement block i make sure my left foot steps on them before my right foot , so i will time my steps to make sure my left foot goes on it first, BUT if i know someone behind me is watching me i will not do it because i feel ashamed.

Now im pretty sure shame is not a drug=) so there has to be a better solution to this issues then simply taking drugs

[rettarue]

Hello...

 

I am frequently visualizing words or phrases that I hear and aligning them to make them symmetrical. For instance, I might hear someone say "please hold the door"...In my mind I need to find a way to line up the words on top of each other so that it appears symmetrical...In this example, I would place "please" on the top line, "hold" on the second line, and "the door" on the third line so that the "h" in "hold" aligns with the "e" in "the" and the "d" in "hold" aligns with the first "o" in "door"...

 

But then I try to find any other way possible to symmetrically line them up...Some phrases or sentences don't align such as "the boy threw the ball"..I can't align those words in any way so that they appear symmetrical on top of each other, unless I allow for punctuation and count it as a character...

 

I can count letters in words very quickly and provide someone with the answer...I might be given the word "encyclopedia" as an example and I have already broken it down in one second to six syllables, counting the letters in each syllable, and providing the answer of "12"..I've always attributed this to being an excellent speller of words..It is hard to count letters in words if you cannot spell them correctly.

 

I am 44 years old and have been doing this for about thirty years...

 

It affects my sleep, my attention span, and tires me out mentally.

 

I am hoping there is some form of medication to lessen this form of OCD...

 

Does anyone experience similar forms of OCD and have you been able to control it with medication?

[rettarue]

I too suffer from counting. Sometimes when watching TV I count letters in words as they go by at the bottom

of the page. It drives me nuts. It also makes me NOT pay attention to what I'm watching or listening to. No

wonder I can't remember anything.

Sometimes when looking at someone, I outline their face, going from eye to ey and down to mouth creating

a triangle effect in my mind.

I count letters on signs while traveling and outline the shapes of signs even though I know what shape certain signs

are.

I want everything to come out even. I count by twos and if something doesn't come out even I find something to

add to the count to make it this way.

I recently told my mother and brother about this, I'm 57, and they said they do it too. None of us knew that about

each other.

Is there a pill or something to take for this? Help, It's driving me crazy and embarraassing.