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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Should I Do For My OCD?

Hello, I want to thank you for putting my inquiry on the message boards WWW.WWWW.WW and I really do appreciate the response that I received from it. I apologize for being so late with my reply to you to acknowledge that I received your answer and that it was very reassuring and helpful to me, thank you so much. I am hoping to post my second inquiry to your message boards again. I have OCD(obsessive compulsive disorder)and it has progressed over the years and getting worse. I don’t know what causes it or why there is such a thing let alone why it happened to me? But I check certain things in my home before I leave the house whenever I am going anywhere. I have to have some things a certain way in the cabinets in the kitchen and in my bathroom. I want the laundry to be folded just right and to be put away just so. And it takes me such a long time to get ready to go somewhere, what I mean is it interferes with my personal hygiene routine. I wasn’t always like this and I can’t even remember how I used to get ready for anything before. I have tried medication for OCD before and it made little difference plus the medicine gave me headaches. I have been told by a counselor in the recent past that there really isn’t any medication to treat OCD. I have problems with depression, OCD, mood swings, anxieties, fibromyalgia, sinuses, allergies and I was diagnosed with a Vitamin D deficiency during the late summer of this year. I found out the hard way that I am allergic to Vitamin D pills or capsules because unfortunately for me it caused me to break out with hives and itching. Which I am still dealing with although it is not as bad as it used to be but that is another situation and story for another time later. I had been prescribed Buspar for anxieties and unfortunately it also contributed to the itching so I could no longer take that medication either. I was hoping to write to you about the problems that I have been having and experiencing with OCD and with personal hygiene. I have a very hard time convincing myself that I am clean, I cannot take a quick shower. It is taking too long for me to shave, shower and shampoo, therefore there are days when I am not even practicing personal hygiene. Because it is taking up too much time and I have other things to do. I really don’t have any place to go to on an everyday basis anyway so the only time I am getting cleaned up is for a doctor’s appointment, on a day I go to the store for grocery shopping and sometimes for taking care of some errands or for a family get together. Taking a shower and washing my hair should not be such a task or a hectic chore but sadly for me it is. I really don’t feel good about myself anymore, I can’t convince myself that I am lathered up with soap, that I am rinsed or that I am clean. Each part of myself from head to toe that has to be washed and cleaned to me it is as if it is mandatory to really pay attention to making sure that I am not scrubbing but going over myself with a wash cloth so many times. And it is the same thing when I am washing my hair and scrubbing or scratching my head with my finger nails and making sure that I am thoroughly rinsed, also what is taking up so much time is the shaving. The shower stall that I have in my bathroom is what you would call a telephone booth. I am used to a shower stall and bathtub combined with a shower curtain so that I have room to wash and shave my underarms and my legs. That is what I always had no matter where I lived up until I moved to in ’07. But when I am in the shower stall that I have where I live now I just feel like I am boxed in. I don’t know how many times I have accidentally busted either one of my elbows and since then one of them in particular doesn’t feel right when I have my elbow up on the table. I have tried so many ways to shower differently and it never works. I don’t think anyone here would care to read how long it takes for me when I am in the shower. If I shave in the shower then I end up with razor burn under my arms and cutting myself whether it is my underarms or on my legs. I have sensitive skin but if I shave before I get into the shower then I do so by filling my bathroom sink with water and getting the necessary areas wet and applying shaving cream. And then I have trouble convincing myself that I am shaved, I’m still feeling stubble under my arms and I would think that when a woman shaves under her arms. Well, then that part should be clean and completely hairless. And I shave my legs and I have to go over them again because shaving them just once apparently isn’t doing the job. These problems that I have been experiencing are a real pain and I can honestly say that I wasn’t always like this. I don’t have or more to the point can’t afford an alternate method to shaving. Such as being able to afford going to a salon or a dermatologist for hair removal. Wax treatments from what I have come to know and understand are expensive and also are very painful. And I am very sensitive anyway, my dermatologist has also told me when I consulted him about this that there is no such thing as permanent hair removal. That body hair can be removed but it is only temporary and eventually it will grow back. I have been curious about the “Try No No” or the “No No Plus” as well as the “Flash ‘n’ Go”. I would like to know if either one of them are legitimate? Are they genuine? Both of them do have a payment plan to pay for them although they are both expensive with a money back guarantee. And the “Try No No” does get advertised a lot. I talked to my family doctor about the “Try No No” during one of my previous appointments with her and she said that her husband had checked a website about it and he read the reviews. She told me that the reviews stated that the “Try No No” does not work. But I do have to wonder what do a lot of other people think? Does anyone here on these message boards have a different opinion about it? I hope that someone here can or will eventually post a response, I would really appreciate it a lot if a member and/or a doctor on the site could help me or at least could give me some helpful advice on what I should or could do. To make my life a little easier, I have tried counseling in fact I have been through counseling for several years. It has got to the point that I have just got sick and tired of counseling and getting up to get ready to go to a counseling session every one to two weeks or so. Talking to a friend or a counselor about my problems, worries, concerns, fears and sadness is really great and it helps but only for a short while. I apologize for going on into so much detail and for composing what turned out to be a very long message. But I felt I had no choice in order for me to explain my situation so that everyone here would understand. In hopes that I would receive a really good, positive and helpful answer to my inquiry. I hope everyone here has a good day, thank you and take care.
Mon, 14 Apr 2014
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Psychologist 's  Response
Dear
Welcome to HCM
We understand your concerns

I went through your details. I suggest you not to worry much. I do see your obsessive thoughts and anxiety and apprehensive attitudes. First you have to change yourself to a busy person. Obsessive thoughts overwhelms when we are idle. Obsessive thoughts do come when we are not that engrossed in our work. So the idea is to find a creative and interesting and engrossing work which helps to keep the thoughts at bay. This technique also helps combating anxiety and apprehension. Psychotherapy can help you.

1. The first therapy technique is to be busy.
2. Make sure that you always chant positive statements. Another option is to record the positive statements and listen to them every now and then.
3. plenty of Oxygen, water and exercise should help you.

Practice the above therapy techniques for a week and come back with a direct question to me in this website. Make sure that you include every minute details possible. I shall prescribe some more psychotherapy techniques which should help you cure your condition.

Hope this answers your query. Available for further clarifications.
Good luck.
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What Should I Do For My OCD?

Dear Welcome to HCM We understand your concerns I went through your details. I suggest you not to worry much. I do see your obsessive thoughts and anxiety and apprehensive attitudes. First you have to change yourself to a busy person. Obsessive thoughts overwhelms when we are idle. Obsessive thoughts do come when we are not that engrossed in our work. So the idea is to find a creative and interesting and engrossing work which helps to keep the thoughts at bay. This technique also helps combating anxiety and apprehension. Psychotherapy can help you. 1. The first therapy technique is to be busy. 2. Make sure that you always chant positive statements. Another option is to record the positive statements and listen to them every now and then. 3. plenty of Oxygen, water and exercise should help you. Practice the above therapy techniques for a week and come back with a direct question to me in this website. Make sure that you include every minute details possible. I shall prescribe some more psychotherapy techniques which should help you cure your condition. Hope this answers your query. Available for further clarifications. Good luck.