It's good luck if..

[Mamafear]

I posted a thread earlier asking if anyone had little things they feel like they have to do or bad stuff/v will happen. It was so comforting to hear, once again, I'm not alone. I'm wondering if anyone felt up to sharing their compulsions. My main ones are...when I hang washing, I have to put linen and grown ups clothes on back line, two boys stuff in second line and two girls stuff on front line with socks, gloves, underwear etc. everything hung with matching pegs. I cannot answer the phone until it's rung 5 times, (unless it's one of the schools, (still feels like it's bad luck)) I NEVER say anything about how well we've done not getting v or d lately (writing it or saying it in a roundabout way is fine). When I read to the children each night, if I make a mistake, I have to start the sentence over again. I know that I'm being silly, but boy I'm scared to stop. I have a few stranger ones but haven't the guts to post them (yet) Anyone else care to share?

[Denglish81]

I won't ever say how long it's been either. I also have to put all the toilet lids up in the house before I go to bed.
I won't ever rent a place that has less than 2 bathrooms and must have a dishwasher. I knows there's more, but I'll have to think of them....

[Mamafear]

Wow, I love the 2 bathroom one, my house has one bathroom (door is less than a foot from my door which is great if I have to make a mercy dash but because there are 6 people in our house, it is pretty scary at night. I desperately want everyone to have their own rooms and now I want two or three bathrooms! Funny you have to have the seats up before bed, I've absolutely got to have them down (closed for business). Also, I have a rubbish can in each room and on the few times that one wasn't in the room, someone v'd sonow I'm really carefull. On of my really ott ones is I have a very set route when we walk places ie whichever street we walk, we always cross at the same spot. The kids have never questioned it, but automatically follow each route without missin a beat!. I have actually integrated alot of these habits into my life without realising it!

[DeadxxInside92]

I won't talk about sickness in fear of jinxing myself. I always flush the toilet with the lid down and I always use my foot to flush and open the lid lawl. When I was little, I did not allow myself to step on any sidewalk cracks whilst walking. That was just plain irritating haha

[Mamafear]

Ha! Yes, I did the cracks in the foot path too, and yes, what a pain! All of them are frustrating! SometimesI say 'no dares today' and if I can 'see' the words in my head, then I don't have to do all the routines, (although, I still do some). I sometimes say to myself, 'if I get home before the mail comes,' 'or 'if the phone doesn't ring this morning' etc, we'll be safe from v for a year. Wow, I just reread what I wrote....I am thinking I really am a bit odd!! :/

[DeadxxInside92]

Ha! Yes, I did the cracks in the foot path too, and yes, what a pain! All of them are frustrating! SometimesI say 'no dares today' and if I can 'see' the words in my head, then I don't have to do all the routines, (although, I still do some). I sometimes say to myself, 'if I get home before the mail comes,' 'or 'if the phone doesn't ring this morning' etc, we'll be safe from v for a year. Wow, I just reread what I wrote....I am thinking I really am a bit odd!! :/

Lawl I've gone through similar scenarios in my head. You're not alone.

[Skittles04]

when i open the fridge, i have to step out of the kitchen before the door shuts. i've been doing that since i was about 8 haha

the food in the pantry needs to have the label facing outwards

when i was younger, i'd lie in bed and imagine myself v* in every room of the house. i thought this was 'protecting' myself from being sick

[SUM1]

I'm not sure this is a weird compulsion (because it's not exactly an action), but I absolutely hate wearing the same clothes/pyjamas as I wore when I've had viruses. It's just because they bring back memories of it and that makes me feel worse. I also don't like being in the same rooms as I was when I was sick (except my bedroom, that's one "safe haven" for me) and once when I was ill I had the ceiling light on, and ever since that I always use my bright lamp instead of my ceiling light, even though I've got a new ceiling light. I try to avoid any environment I was in when I've been sick. I haven't been sick for 3 years, and I'm 14. I have a strong feeling that I won't be sick for at least 15 years since then, and by then I hope to have got some sort of therapy to treat my phobia and other disorders.

[Mamafear]

Sum1, I do tht stuff too, the bad feelings assosiated with stuff makes me soo upset! Skittles004, I do the lable thing with our bathroom stuff because once when my son was really sick he knocked all the bottles down and so keeping them tidy works for me like a full stop!.

[Mischief]

Hi Guys, Im new. I found the site whilst trying to look for a website that had a list of movies that were safe to watch! I thought the points about leaving the toilet seats up was interesting; I leave them down because I worry that if I leave them up its almost as if Im expecting im going to V, and if I leave it down it must be ok because im telling myself im not going to. I have a special jumper I wear if im not feeling too well though and it used to help me feel better to put it on if I felt ill from nerves etc rather than a bug or something. It doesnt really work now - I think I wore it too much on other non-feeling ill times and its magic wore off! I dont know why I didnt search for a site like this before for help. Im sure all your support and advice will be of great help. Its nice to know youre not alone!!

[Mamafear]

Hi mischief, I'm relatively new tooand this site saved me! The people are wonderful and I'm really enjoying getting to know them. I'm glad you landed here, you're part of something really great. I am exactly the same with toilet seats! I also say each night to each person "love you, see you in the morning" *whispers* "not before". lol

[Mischief]

Haha! Thank you! I feel like planning for it not to happen is a lot more sane-making than almost expecting it to and the sort of reverse psychology does start to work. Its almost as if youre brainwashing yourself not to worry and that it wont happen rather than brainwashing yourself to feel worse and worse and self perpetuate the phobia by taking steps to kind of harbour it. Its very difficult to do at first but the more you almost test yourself that its not going to happen and succeed and prove it to yourself the easier it gets to just not prepare for it as of course, we all know the chances of it happening are slim. I'm lucky as I havent gotten ill for over 10 years so I can take it as red im highly unlikely to get ill in the night! Doesnt mean Im still not affected though; I cant sit and watch just anything on TV or go to the movies without things being pre-vetted by someone trustworthy!! And I dont like going to parties and hate having to fly, as theres no where to flee to on a plane! Last time we were on a plane a girl a couple of seats back was ill, but I'd heard her saying she didnt feel well on the transfer bus to the tarmac so I was keeping my eye on her and kind of prepared for it, and I used my trusty aeroplane kit of earplugs and a eucalyptus-smelly hanky and got through it surprisingly unscathed from what Id feared about it happening on a plane for years. Doesnt mean im going to watch the Exorcist though! I think for me its a case of gaining confidence and strength in the areas I can control, a bit of avoidance of the very highly-likely things that might stand to set me back, and hopefully a blend of the two is slowly making me a bit better all the time to deal with the things that then do spring up and take you by surprise. I once had some really horrendous cognitive behavioural therapy which was a nightmare and I dont think did me a bit of good and I find that my way of managing it by not just avoidance but with taking small risks here and there and giving myself some credit when Ive been brave about something is meaning I can live a fairly normal life where it doesnt affect me too badly. I even now have two cats and I always hated cats thinking they always were ill everwhere all the time. I was frightened of them when we first got them and once when they were tiny kittens one of them jumped on my knee and burped after having its breakkie and I was so scared it was going to do you know what I pushed it off my knee! Felt a bit guilty about that (the cat is fine!) but now if I find some cat-yuk on the stair I can clean it up and it doesnt really fuss me that much now where at first I was petrified of them getting ill. And Im really chuffed with that! I do always make sure I walk round the house in the dark with slippers on though just in case. Its not quite as bad as leaving the seat up in prep, I think its just common sense as that would be yuk. My partner did that once but it more tickled me than made me run from the house in fits of screams. I think *trying* to laugh at the things you can also helps denature the fear. Sorry for rambling!

[Mamafear]

You could be describing Everything you mentioned I've done/do! It is so therapeutic to find little things you believe help, (I'm sure therapists would argue that! Lol