Howie Mandel’s OCD: Traumatized by childhood sandfly bite | Forward Progress

0:00Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks. If we knew more about our sleep, what would we do differently? Would we go to bed at a consistent time? Or take steps to reduce interruptions to our sleep? With Sleep Score, Apple Watch measures your bedtime consistency, interruptions, and sleep duration. Then, every morning it combines these factors into an easy-to-understand score from 1 to 100. So you'll know how to take the quality of your sleep from okay to very high.

0:40Know your sleep score with Apple Watch. iPhone 11 or later required. Hey, it's Thursday, which means we're coming at you with a short feel-good story from a past guest. Hope you enjoyed the clip. This week, Howie Mandel. You've talked about when you were growing up and the bugs under the skin. Your perspective as to the impact that had. I'm not a psychologist, but, you know, I do remember vividly the feeling I had when they discovered that, you know, I'd been bitten by a sand fly and it laid its larva in me. And when I had these itchy little bumps and you scratch them and then you watch that itchy little bump crawl away under your arm to another place.

1:36I mean, it's like a horror film. That you are the horror film. And the horror film didn't stop. So my mom took me to a doctor, and that doctor decided to put me on display. There was a dermatology convention in Toronto because we didn't know what the answer was, and they hadn't seen this in humans. I think cattle get it. And they put me on a table in my tighty-whities, on a table, I was a little boy, and the nurses would hold me down and then they would show them these bumps and then the bump would move and then he would take liquid nitrogen and put it on the bump. And liquid nitrogen is so cold it burns and I'd watch my skin sizzle and bubble and then it would open up and obviously kill the larvae and I was screaming.

2:28They did one. And then my mom, who didn't know what they were gonna do, took me, unstrapped me from the table and said, your animals don't do this and carried me out and I went home. And then every night we would pick one and then she would take a rough washcloth and alcohol and just rub it and rub it and rub it. First it felt good, but keep rubbing it until the skin broke and it would bleed and it opened until she got them all. So that was when I was, I think I was about six or seven. I don't know, I can't remember exactly how old I was. But that, even talking about it, holds so... Talking about it holds what?

3:09It's hard to, you know, traumatize. Even today? Sure. I had things living under my skin. So, and so I have like an ache factor. Your mom, too, was afraid of germs, right? Yeah, they were all, you know, and her mom. I remember her mom, I'd go to my grandmother's house, and my grandmother would be outside waxing and polishing the porch, the concrete porch. I remember my crib. Somebody would come over and touch the crib. And when I was a baby, I couldn't even speak, but I remember that when they'd leave, my mom would like Windex it or whatever she sprayed on it and wipe it. You know, all these things, not that this is her fault, I just, I have OCD.

3:55What would happen with the warts on your hands from? Well, I was the, before everybody knew about all these antibacterial things, I had, it was during the talk show, I had, I knew that on this talk show, no matter who came in, I had to shake their hand. So my friend is a surgeon, and he gave me, I had a tub of that, whatever the surgical scrub is, he gave me that. I had that under my desk. So I would, all day long, I would just have that surgical scrub. What I noticed is I started getting warts on my hands, and I later learned that I had disinfected my hands so much that I had actually killed the good bacteria.

4:39So I lost that, and that's how I got it. A wart is like a virus, you know? So I'm not negating the use of antibacterial, but in moderation. Not even moderation. Use it normally. I just soaked in it. You still have a particular scenario you go through when you get to a hotel room? Yeah. Yeah, in a hotel room, I'd have the comforter off the bed. I won't touch it or touch anything it touches. If there's carpet, I put down towels and make a path. I stopped using a blacklight. I used to use the blacklight. I know. I was using a blacklight, but it just makes me crazy. And you're okay with kissing and hugging, right?

5:27Certain people. Not everyone. Yes. Yeah. I have children. What about the Aviator movie scared you? Didn't scare me. I use it as an example. Howard Hughes was probably one of the most productive, brilliant. Eczema is unpredictable. But you can flare less with Epclyst. a once monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four month or longer dosing phase, about four in 10 people taking Epglyss achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. Epglyss, LibriKizumab, LBKZ, a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema.

6:17Also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. EBCLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to EBCLIS. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with EBCLIS. Before starting EBCLIS, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about EBCLIS and visit EBCLIS.lily.com or call 1-800-LILY-RX or 1-800-545-5979.

6:49New spring arrivals are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. Get ready to save big with up to 60 % off Rag & Bone, Marc Jacobs, Free People, and more. How did I not know Rack has Adidas? Because there's always something new. Join the Nordic Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite Rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you Rack.

7:18everything from aviation to filmmaking to creating the bra you know here's a guy that could do it all and ocd overtook him to the point where at the end of his life he's in the fetal position lying naked locked in a room peeing into a cup and i've said to people if you don't understand and how close I am to that. And that's what I fight every day. It's not... Do you really feel that way, though? Yeah. Yes. Yes, I could go down that little rabbit hole or wormhole and make myself not want to touch anything, anybody, and, you know, I get the comfort in retreating. from the world. And what prevents you from doing that?

8:13Terry, medication and therapy. And in what ways have you found the medication and therapy helpful? I wouldn't be on medication if it wasn't for Terry. I wouldn't have been diagnosed if it wasn't for Terry. And you resisted medication for a long time? I did because I was afraid that it would... I have a certain amount of success because of who I am. and medication alters who you are. You know? It can alter who you are. I am, I'll be honest with you, and my family makes fun of me. I'm kind of, which is easier for me to live. I'm numb. Rich told me 32 years, he's never seen you cry. No, I don't have fear.

8:55I don't have emotion. I don't have, I'm numb. I look for those. That's why I look for thrills, to feel alive. I love roller coasters. I want adrenaline. I want to feel scared. I want to feel something. I don't have that. So if you take the medication that I'm on, or at least the way it's affecting me, I don't feel anymore. But what's been good is it hasn't curbed my desires. I have enjoyment or satisfaction in creating something, in producing something, in making something happen, in discovering something that I've never seen before. Are you happy? That's a good question. I think for the most part, I'm content.

9:45Happy is a hard place for me to get to. I think it's a hard place for anybody to get to, depending on what your definition of happy. I have moments where I'm really happy, but those are flashes. You know, something happens, you go, wow, So I got moments of happiness. I spend a good amount of time in contentment. And I fight off darkness. Always. It's a fight. That's it for now. But if you're hungry for more In-Depth with Graham Bensinger interviews, head over to youtube.com slash Graham Bensinger. You can dive into our deep library, which includes more than 2 ,000 clips spanning 12-plus years.

10:29Thanks again for listening. you