I was diagnosed with ocd in 1990. I was living with my boyfriend and we were having problems . He had a drug problem and ti was getting the best of him and me. I started having irrational thoughts.... Like if i drive down a certain street something awful would happen, or if i say a certain word that day, or a certain sentence, or mention a certain name something terrible would oocur. Then to food shop was a long task because everything had to be checked and rechecked for airtightness, or imperfections. It got to the point i started thinking his drug addiction was actually driving me crazy. I went to a therapist and she diagnosed it right away and had me sign up for gruop classes and therapy. It helped a lot to see that opthers had this condition, and it was able to be controlled. I refused any medication and used behavior therapy. I had to realize when i got those fearful irrational thoughts, that.................. thats exactly what they are......... fearful irrational thoughts , nothing else. I had to force myself to do the things i was ridiculously fearful of and realize that the thoughts were intrusive irrational thoughts, and had no merit. Now thsi worked for years TILL, i had massive hemoptysis twice. The first time i nearly died and the fearful irrational thoughts were no longer so irrational to me. I started having horrible fears of choking to the point where i would constantly feel there was something caught in my throat at all times while i was awake. I was afraid to swallow anything including food or pills. I didnt want to leave the house "in case something happened" It just amazed me how strongly the ocd had a hold on me at that point. One thing about ocd is...... it gets worse in time of stress or illness or anything bad going on in your life. Of coarse the fearful incident of massive hemoptysis made my ocd completely take over and made me a mess. I was having panic attacks on top of each other. I finally caved in and started taking Zoloft after my second embolization because i knew i couldnt live with all that panic and anxiety in my life any longer. That did it, now i feel like a normal person again. Whats funny about ocd is........ no matter how far it is out of your life it is never really completely gone. It crops up whenever you are in a weakened state so to speak.