How It All Started

So how did I get myself embroiled in the world of OCD? And why didn't I run a mile!?

Well, my beautiful wife and I started going out ten years ago. At first her OCD wasn't noticeable, or maybe she kept it well hidden! Within six months of getting together, we moved in with each other. Well, why hang around!

As you can appreciate, you can't hide things nearly as well when you are sharing a house with someone, so her OCD began to suface.

I was at a loss as to what to do. How do I approach the subject? Do I just come straight out with it or do I be more underhand and subtly leave some OCD leaflets about the house or something like that?

Eventually, after she couldn't get the bedroom light off one night, I just came out with it. When I say couldn't get the bedroom light off, I mean it was flicked on, off, on, off, on, off etc etc.

I can't remember her putting up much resistance to what I was saying and she even made an appointment with the doctor. When she got refered to a community specialist, I thought we would have the "problem" sorted in no time!

The specialist, I don't know if he was a nurse or what so I'll keep calling him the specialist, came every week for about six weeks. Each time, I would leave them to it and do something else. Except towards the end, when he wanted a chat with me too. During this session, we were reviewing how things were going and my wife (we'll call her Mrs Hero) suggested that she felt she was getting a little better and the sessions were working.

To say i nearly fell off my chair would be an understatement. I was totally shocked because I was seeing no tangible results whatsoever. This was the first sign that things weren't going to go as smooth as I initially thought!

After the six weeks were over, the specialist disappeared, never to been seen in our house again and we were left to get on with things on our own! No planning, no follow up sessions, no program of action - nothing!

Looking back, I don't think Mrs Hero's symptoms (don't know if that is the correct term) were nearly as bad are they now. So the help I needed back then would be even more appreciated now!