More ocd now?

5 years since stroke. Always been a bit ocd , particularly over thinking everything , worrying. Anybody else find this worst? Try best to avoid negative news etc . David.

Hi David3–I’ve always been a little ocd as well. Interestingly, this has lessened since my stroke. Not at first, though. At first I worried all the time that it would happen again. They say that ocd is an attempt by the person to bring what seems like a frightening, chaotic world under control, thus making the person feel more safe. It’s understandable that for many of us this need would increase after the shattering experience of a stroke. For me, as I lay in bed after the stroke I was visited by a feeling of peace, a feeling that I could control nothing, so why worry about it?–let it be. The world looked different. When I couldn"t lift my hand, what did it matter that the pen and pencil on my hospital tray were askew? After, I came home, for a while I went through those feelings of anxiety, worry, and depression, but even so, I had somehow lost the need to have everything be “perfect” or in " order". Grateful that I am here to even be able to observe a pen and pencil being askew is a feeling that has persisted. In that respect, my stroke came with a blessing attached. It is very freeing to “give up control”, to “accept”. I hope my words don’t make you feel worse, David. i still have my days when I slip back into worrying, like I used to pre-stroke, but then I give myself a talking to–tell myself to “just be”. :slightly_smiling_face: :heart:Jeanne

Hi Jean , yours is a good attitude, need to work towards it . Went up step ladders, this am , had to cling on tight, felt unusually unsafe? Then giddy & so to bed , rather strange. Good speaking David.