Gemma Gladstone manages her 'secret illness'
EXETER now has a support group for people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) thanks to someone with the condition.
OCD is a serious anxiety-related condition where a person experiences frequent intrusive thoughts, often followed by repetitive compulsions.
It is sometimes called the 'secret illness' because physical rituals are often hidden, not on purpose but subconsciously, and mental rituals obviously can't be seen.
The illness affects as many as 12 in every 1,000 people from young children to adults, regardless of gender or social or cultural background.
It can be so debilitating and disabling that the World Health Organisation has ranked OCD in the top 10 of the most disabling illnesses of any kind, in terms of lost earnings and diminished quality of life.
The condition is something 34-year-old Gemma Gladstone, of St David's, Exeter, has lived with for 16 years. At first she had no idea what was causing her anxiety having never heard of OCD before, and it was only four years ago that she was finally diagnosed.
There are different types of OCD and Gemma's obsessions are a fear of contamination, perfectionism with compulsions of washing, cleaning, avoidance, checking, compulsive skin picking (CSP), ruminating and counting. In Gemma's case her checking is related to re-reading and re-writing words over and over again in fear of them not being perfect.
Stress is a trigger for OCD and Gemma has since realised that her trigger was becoming a student at the University of Exeter for five years and communally living with 11 other students in a shared flat with one kitchen, two toilets and one shower.
Gemma recalled: "The cleaning and checking became something I did for hours and hours. I also really struggled because when I was writing essays I would try and make them perfect by repeatedly checking them. I tried to go on to do a part-time master's degree but I was putting in so much effort to try to be perfect it was more like full-time and it became too much. I was awarded a post-graduate certificate instead."
The OCD continued and then affected her job as a lecturer in learning support at Exeter College, where she was an English specialist. In 2005, after five years, she decided to leave and has been unable to work because of her illness ever since.
"My OCD got steadily worse and worse and that's what happens because it just feeds on itself," said Gemma, who has since trained as a proof-reader and is currently writing a novel about someone who has OCD.
"For example, you might start washing your hands once or twice each time and then you do it more to the point where they're cracking and bleeding which means you're more likely to get germs. When I was diagnosed in 2007, my hands and forearms were bad but I've got that under control now."
The only recognised treatment of OCD, other than medication, is cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). Gemma now receives a specialist form of CBT called REBT (rational emotive behaviour therapy) on an intensive basis, via the NHS, from a private centre outside the county. It involves some intensive group therapy sessions in London and telephone therapy.
Gemma said: "My therapist, India Haylor of the OCD Centre, is excellent. She is the first person I have knowingly met with OCD and she is an inspirational role model."
Gemma, who came off all medication three weeks ago and is continuing with her therapy, recalled: "My first-line medication treatment was fluoxetine, augmented with risperidone and clomipramine, which both make you put on weight, and the clomipramine enabled me to make small but significant changes.
"I'm still not very good. I have learnt to understand that with OCD it's my brain misfiring. To become more rational is an ongoing thing.
"The main problem I'm still tackling is cleaning. I have to be strong and really push myself to do things I don't want to do, like using public toilets, which is really difficult."
When Gemma looked to see if there was any local OCD support groups she could turn to for help, the nearest was Plymouth so she decided to set one up herself in Exeter in April.
The group meets every fortnight on a Monday from 11am to 1pm, at a venue in Exeter, the next one being on Monday, October 3. The group is also starting to meet for social drinks in the evening.
Gemma, who hopes to start a family and one day wants to be in a job providing learning support to university students, said: "It's just amazing to meet other people like yourself and realise you're not alone.
"I will always be grateful to my GP David Bossano and therapist, and also my long-term partner.
"You have to learn how to manage OCD and that's what I'm trying to do."
For more information about the Exeter OCD Support Group call 01392 477899.
9 Comments
by GemmaGladston
Saturday, November 05 2011, 7:21PM
“Hi all,
My friend Joyce Salter has had the courage to speak out about her and her late son Martin's OCD on our local TV's BBC Spotlight news programme.
Please view the following weblink, which is only available until 6:59PM Thu, 3 Nov 2011:
http://tinyurl.com/6jgwpl8 (her interview is at 12.15)
She provides very convincing evidence for the growing scientific interest in the genetic predisposition to OCD.
She physically cared for her son Martin for only the first four years of his life, due to her own debilitating OCD.
Despite this, he still developed OCD at exactly the same age as she did (22)!
She has also spoken out yesterday on BBC Radio Cornwall's Laurence Reed show, which featured a long programme about OCD.
Despite her "fear of contamination", she allowed Laurence to visit her home!
Brave people with OCD phoned in and experts provided advice!
Please view the following weblink, which is only available until 3:02PM Wed, 9 Nov 2011:
http://tinyurl.com/3lkm6g7
I am so proud of Joyce for speaking out and want to share her courage with my contacts in the OCD community!
Thanks and best wishes,
Gemma”
by GemmaGladston
Thursday, November 03 2011, 12:22AM
“Exeter OCD Support Group
Hi all,
My friend Joyce Salter has had the courage to speak out about her and her late son Martin's OCD on our local TV's BBC Spotlight news programme.
Please view the following weblink, which is only available until 6:59PM Thu, 3 Nov 2011:
http://tinyurl.com/6jgwpl8 (her interview is at 12.15)
She provides very convincing evidence for the growing scientific interest in the genetic predisposition to OCD.
She initially cared for her son Martin for only the first four years of his life, due to her own debilitating OCD.
Despite this, he still developed OCD at exactly the same age as she did (22)!
I am so proud of Joyce for speaking out and want to share her courage with my contacts in the OCD community!
Best wishes,
Gemma
Spotlight: 02/11/2011
http://tinyurl.com/11w0
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by GemmaGladston
Wednesday, October 12 2011, 3:22PM
“DO YOU "SELF-MEDICATE" WITH ALCOHOL?
[From the Exeter OCD Support Group Facebook page - available to the public - see http://tinyurl.com/3ozgeok]
Hi all,
I am a big fan of the writer Jean Rhys.
She was a severe alcoholic with severe depression (and in my opinion OCD) who somehow survived to the age of 89 and was cremated in Exeter - she lived all on her own in a tiny bungalow ("Landboat Bungalows") in Cheriton Fitzpaine which I have visited.
She was in that cottage all on her own drinking herself to death.
Drinking that much could give you alcohol poisoning or liver failure.
If you cannot stop could you at least try to sip it? - I also urge you to see your GP.
To try to make you drink less alcohol, I would like to tell you about a short story I recommend: Rhys's SLEEP IT OFF LADY, whose autobiographical title story I always think of when drinking wine - an old lady emptying her "empties" in the village where she lives alone in a cottage, afraid of rats!
Alexis Lykiard says he really saw Rhys doing this once when he was a young writer who befriended her!
http://tinyurl.com/3tn8lle
Best wishes,
Gemma”
by GemmaGladston
Friday, October 07 2011, 8:55AM
“Hi all,
I am writing a novel about someone with OCD.
Does anyone have experience of being treated for OCD in a mental institution before the rise of Care in the Community?
If so, would you be happy for me to interview you over the telephone as part of my research?
(I guarantee confidentiality.)
The photo to the right (see http://tinyurl.com/3qf4dce) is of the old City of Exeter Lunatic Asylum, where I used to live after it was closed down and turned into housing.
Our lounge comprised the bottom floor of the old water tower on the female side of the old hospital!
"There they stand, isolated, majestic, imperious, brooded over by the gigantic water-tower and chimney combined, rising unmistakable and daunting out of the countryside - the asylums which our forefathers built with such immense solidity to express the notions of their day."
Enoch Powell, "water tower" speech (1961)
Best wishes,
Gemma Gladstone
gemma.gladstone@googlemail.com
01392 477899 (with answerphone)”
by GemmaGladston
Friday, September 30 2011, 4:28PM
“Hi ExMoosehunter,
Lucky-the-Cat died in December 2006.
With hindsight, he really helped me to keep it together during my five years of working at Exeter College!
There is one thing positive that has come out of me having OCD: when I had to stop work in November 2005, I was lucky that this enabled me to be able to spend a year full-time with Lucky-the-Cat!
The other week my partner and I visited the place where we used to live when we found Lucky as a stray.
A black cat ran towards us who looked exactly like a young version of Lucky - he let us stroke him, lied on the road, and followed us for a bit - I have learnt my lesson and will never make a big fuss of a cat apart from my own (as it's not fair on them - they pine when you go) so at the end I stroked his head and said "bless this cat" - this phrase is from a documentary about an exorcist vicar who blessed a haunted house and then blessed its cat! - it may have been a relation of Lucky's as we found him as a stray there - or it may have been his ghost???
Bless this cat!
Best wishes,
Gemma”
by ExMoosehunter
Thursday, September 29 2011, 8:55PM
“tell us more about "lucky the cat"”
by GemmaGladston
Thursday, September 29 2011, 3:24PM
“DEDICATION:
"For my partner Nigel, my family, and Lucky-the-Cat ("bless this cat") with love.
I will always be grateful to my GP, David Bossano: you have given me the confidence to accept and no longer be ashamed of my OCD - I could not ask for a better doctor."
GEMMA GLADSTONE”
by Purdydog
Thursday, September 29 2011, 10:12AM
“Good luck Gemma,
I applaud your bravery and honesty in highlighting what must be a very debilitating condition. One which is no doubt often overlooked and greatly misunderstood.”
by GemmaGladston
Thursday, September 29 2011, 9:37AM
“Hi all,
I wish to add the following comment:
"I will always be grateful to my partner and our GP, David Bossano. David has given me the confidence to accept and no longer be ashamed of my OCD - I could not ask for a better doctor."
Best wishes,
Gemma Gladstone”