A mom has told of the warning signs she's had OCD for decades - including a fear of not knowing where to locate the nearest bathroom and obsessively planning her own funeral.

Ariana Lally, 37, was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder six weeks ago after years of struggling with intrusive thoughts, medical anxiety, and compulsive behaviors.

But the a talent acquisition business partner said the signs had been there since childhood - including an intense fear of illness and death.

Now, Ariana is on a journey of self-discovery, finding strength through faith, therapy, and a supportive community.

"It never even dawned on me that I would have OCD," Ariana said. "

"I've always been diagnosed with panic disorder and depression, so I just thought that just comes along with it."

Her OCD manifests in unexpected ways, one of which was an intense need to locate restrooms.

"I've always try to figure out where did that come from? Was I traumatized as a kid? Did I have an accident something? And I can't figure it out," she noted."

"It's been debilitating practically my whole life. I was a childcare director and going on field trips and everything three times a week."

"Having that anxiety where I'm bringing a hundred kids on a field trip everywhere and having tight time schedules and whatnot, it was just a weird personality quirk that everybody knew about it," she said."

"My mom recently told me, ‘You don't remember when you were little, you had to go into every single bathroom at every store we went to?' And she was right! "

"I didn't even have to use it — I just needed to see it, make sure it was there. It's been my whole life."

Working from home has also amplified some of her struggles.

"Because I'm home all the time, going out has become even more difficult," she explained."

"I try to push myself to at least go to the store a couple of times a week, but it's getting worse as I get older."

Another major trigger for Ariana is medical anxiety, which she traces back to the death of her aunt, Priscilla, in 2019.

"She was my favorite person, and when she passed away from lung cancer at 63, it set off this whole panic," Ariana explained. "

"I started worrying about everyone around me — my kids, my parents, my husband. "

"Then the anxiety turned inward, and suddenly, every little ailment made me think I was dying. I've planned my own funeral at least 400 times in the last three years."

Ariana first noticed a sharp uptick in obsessive thought patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic, but looking back, she realizes the signs had always been there.

"I've been spiraling into rabbit holes and negative thought processes for years, but I never connected it to OCD," she explained."

One particularly intense episode happened before she got pregnant with her second child.

"I went through this crazy four-month period where I kept second-guessing everything. I felt like I was drowning in my life. "

"I looked at my husband, who I've been with since 2006, and suddenly he felt like a stranger to me. It put a weird rift between us."

Ariana and her husband, Sean, 41, who works in maintenance, share two daughters: Harley Quinn, 10, and River Hope, two.

Ariana sought psychiatric help, and through therapy, she began recognizing patterns she had unknowingly lived with for years.

She is committed to working through her OCD.

"I recently joined a Facebook support group after a really bad experience at a bouncy house park with my kids," she said. "

"The support was overwhelming. It made me realize I'm not alone, I'm not crazy."

She has also found humor in some of her experiences.

"My close friends joke with me about my irrational thoughts, and sometimes, all you can do is laugh," she said."

"It doesn't stop the thoughts, but at least it makes them feel a little less powerful."

Now, with the help of therapy and medication, Ariana is determined to manage her symptoms and find a way forward.

"I just want to learn how to stop the thoughts before they take over," she explained. "Because as much as I know they're irrational, they just keep coming."