Why do I feel such a strong urge?

Question

I feel such a strong urge to have my home spotless..I just get this urge to clean my house from top to bottom after seeing just one tiny speck of crumb on my floor I must vacuum,mop, and go on to other rooms in my home. It seems I can not even type this question without feeling this urge to clean the keyboard or computer screen..EVERYTHING IS SPOTLESS BUT I NEED TO CLEAN MORE! This has been going on since I moved into my new home. What is wrong with me? I feel if I walk away or go to bed without my home spotless that something will happen..I can't sleep until my home is spotless, I cant eat until my home is spotless! PLEASE HELP! WHAT CAN I DO TO STOP THIS URGE!!?

Answer 1

yeah...they are all right here on the OCD. I tend to be a little OCD on things like locking my door at night. I know that I locked it but I will check and double check and triple check that its locked. There are varying degrees on OCD and from what I understand it can happen at anytime.

You do need to understand that our houses are like our bodies. We have good bacteria and bad bacteria. Our good bacteria will fight the bad. Our houses are the same way. You can actually clean too much and remove the good bacteria. You could actually be harming your house more then helping it. They are all right, you do need to be seen by a doctor. Be careful on taking certain types of anxiety medicines like Effexor XR. I was on that for anxiety for 5 years straight and I missed those 5 years of my life. (Not to mention that the medicine cost the exact same amount as my rent every month...they are very expensive) It wasn't worth me being on them...plus you get things like brain shivers (you feel as if you are walking at a slant and get very light headed and nauseous) if you are late taking the medicine too. There were so many side effects, one of them being that I had no emotions other then anger or just plain feeling numb. I really don't ever remember laughing or even crying at all for those 5 years. We NEED to be able to express emotions! Once I finally got off the meds it was like being in heaven...I was a completely different person. When I laughed...I would laugh till I cried and let me tell you, it was something I missed, for sure. Before you are prescribed anything,if you ARE diagnosed with having this condition make sure you talk it over with your doctor very carefully!! I learned to control the anxiety (OCD is an anxiety based disorder)....you can too. Please learn from my mistake...it took me five years to figure out that it was better to be able to spend time with my kids and to be able to feel happy or sad...and to be able to relate with them on an emotional level, more so then just being a robot and going through the daily motions in life. Once I figured out how much better off I was off the meds, I finally realized that I needed to learn how to control my anxiety, one worry at a time.

Good luck ,hon...it will get better....there are mental exercises you can do to get through it naturally.

Answer 2

Try to decrease your cleaning bit by bit. It may just be spring cleaning or something. Ask a friend or family member queitly and see a psychiatrist or therapist. THIS MAY BE A START OF OCD. Dont let cleaning control your life. Online therapy (such as this) may not be enough. Ask freinds, family, or see a doctor if this worsens when you really cant sleep because of a wrinkle in a rug.

Answer 3

Consdering working on yourself first.
A) Ask yourself what you are scared will happen if you do not clean, and how cleaning comforts you from your fears
B) Confront your inner fears (seriously)
C) Try not to clean something when you have this urge ("dont fix it if it ain't broke", lol).
D) Write down how you feel in a journal when you get these urges. Keep telling yourself things can change and will get better.
E) If all fails, go to a psycaitrist

Much peace to you my sister

Answer 4

I really don't know but, my husband probably wished I had that urge! Was this a new house that you purchase or had someone preiously lived in it before............I had a friend that her mom said, " I can't be living with someone else's nasties,"She was halarious imitating her mom but, I know that it is probably not a funny issue with you considering you cannot rest or sleep because of the complusion to clean! All I can advise you to do is Thank God for such a lovely and clean home, invite him in to watch over you while you rest now that your work is all done! Rest well tomorrow is Sunday, a day to enjoy yourself and rest. What is your name and I will say a prayer for you! It will be okay and you will rest!

Tammy

Answer 5

you may have ocd (obsession copulsion disorder) its when u feel like you have to do certain thigns so either bad things wont or happen or so you can get it off your mind. I had ocd where i couldnt stop praying so i no how u feel. Just say I KNOW I DONT NEED TO CLEAN THAT real loud in you mind or outloud. If you feel like something bad gonna happen just think of the world it has dirt all around it nothing bad happens.

Answer 6

Didn't you have such urges before? Usually this strong a reaction to a new home is just intensifying of earlier urges. It's GREAT that you recognize it. Now do something about it. See your primary care physician and talk to him/her about this. Or go see a counselor, therapist. There are treatments and medications to counteract these strong urges. Untreated, they tend to get worse, to intensify. I know some one who wouldn't sleep in a motel room, and who took paper plates and plastic utensils to others' houses so she wouldn't have to eat off their dinnerware.
Best of Luck!

Answer 7

this is an obsessive behavior. one of two things is happening... either you have always been this way and you just began to recognize the behavior or you are working very hard to bury something. If the bahavior has not always been there and something changed in your life you are working very hard to distract yourself from something. has something happened recently that really upset you or perhaps should have upset you and you didn't deal with it? Your conscious self is not dealing with the issue and your inner self knows something is wrong...that's why it bothers you so much. Start with feeling the emotions that are coming up and not burying them...if you cry then so be it. Dealing with your emotions is much healthier than covering them up. This may be an attempt to maintain control while inside your falling apart.

Answer 8

If you don't keep your home ABSOLUTLY spottless, something will happen! Black mold, radon gas, roaches, Jehovahs Witnesses, etc. will just start seething up through the floors and out of the electrical sockets. Oh yeah , have you checked the electrical outlets, you wouldn't believe how much dust and dirt can gather in there. Cleanliness is next to insanity, so have a nice day and keep cleaning.

Answer 9

Sounds a bit OCD to me, but I'm not a psychologist.
You may want to make an appt to see one IF this cleaning urge is disrupting your day to day life.

Answer 10

You my friend have what they call OCD Obssesive Cumpolsive Disorder. You need to go to the doctor because this is a real disorder and it needs to be treated or else it could take over your life.