I've made peace with the OCD. My peace stays with me every moment not matter how bad the OCD. I've had NO peace for nearly 10 years. And then I decided to take control of me,Jerry, and let the OCD take the back seat and stay there the peace didn't go away. How long is my flare ups? Well I've realized that when I'm tired and not sleeping well it's worse. When I'm not physically very well, I'm down. I can't say exactly how long, but for at least two weeks I'm down, and when I take control and change my thoughts to positive ones, it changes. When it's really tuff I force myself to do something different, like a hobby. That helps also. It all depends on what the trigger is, but as long as I stay positive it will be better at the end and I will be at peace with the OCD and with myself. J

stress definitely causes flare-ups. leaving my apartment causes flare ups, but not when i'm going to work because i have to do that every weekday and it's a comfort zone. leaving to go places i stress and wash my hands a lot before leaving. what if my shoe comes untied and i have to touch my shoelaces and there's no sink around? that sort of thing. in terms of a period of peace, i never have that. my ocd is constant. sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, but it's always present.

I think, if I just get this done, I'll be content. But, I think of something else I "think" just has to be done. I try to be "normal", but, it's just not me. I do have a great feeling of control when I have cleaned the whole house, or yard, but, it quickly goes away. I have learned to deal with it the best I can. My marriage suffer's at time's due to the crazy, clean freak I am. It's not germ's just neat and clean. The counting, is kinda my hid, it's not something someone can see me doing. The nail biting is so visual, and I hate the way my hand's look, but, my husband say's I wake him up at night, chewing my nail's or cuticle's in my sleep.

I agree, leaving my apartment for an extended period of time really stresses me out and I do way too much checking before I leave.

I've had two jobs in the last year and both of them really stressed me out and my OCD peaked at both places. Anytime I don't feel comfortable my OCD comes out.

Lack of sleep long with PMS and hypoglycemia contributes to flareups for me. My theory is that toxicity is a big part of my problem so I am working to help my liver health by eating lots of veggies and avoiding unhealthy foods. Ironically when my energy is high my OCD is worse.

I think getting sick is a big flare up for me and even now i have been very peaceful for the past year but a few days ago i fell sick and i can sense that my OCD is coming back. I just need to start going to work on monday and hopefully it will go away.

I call it a "setback' - i've had ocd for 14 years and my harming thoughts have come back really bad the last 2 months. Sux :-( I have plenty of good times still but it seems this time around it's harder to shake - my panic and ocd is really on high alert - good luck - you aren't alone