Does anyone else with contamination OCD not know whether they touched something dirty or not? If so how do you deal with it?

Yeah, its the doubt. Our OCD “doubting disease”. You know you actually didnt touch anything but your brain is telling you that you did. Or you cant remember at all but you get a sudden wave of anxiety. I get this too, youre not alone!

Thanks for commenting! I never hear people mention this so it's nice to know I'm not alone! This has been one of the most difficult hurdles for me to overcome especially when it happens with truly contaminated things! My therapist said if I'm not 100% percent sure I touched it then ignore it, but then I spend a lot of time trying to figure out if I'm 100% sure and also sometimes it might be too light of a brush against something to really tell. What do you do when this happens to you?

Same guys! I feel like a drop of something dirty can spread everywhere and I have to try and clean every last drop or I feel like it's infecting myself and others! It's awful but if I don't clean I worry all day or even months and months later sometimes until I clean more.

yes, bad. i personally don’t really know how to deal with it yet soooo... almost everyday i come home from school and i lysol wipe my phone, laptop, laptop mouse, and occasionally my earbuds.

Use rubbing alcohol rather than lysol. Better for your skin and better if you have pets if youre using it that often.

Yes, just prevent intrusive thoughts by learning how OCD can affect your brain on a long run. So prevent compulsions or intrusive thoughts as far as possible

Sometimes if I touch something dirty, I get a compulsion (if i touch a door handle) but sometimes I don’t (when I touch my phone which is probably dirtier). To get rid of it, all I have to do it get my hands wet and dry them, mentally this helps me feel clean and I don’t need to use soap. If i’m on the go, I usually give in and carry around hand sanitizer. I try to not think about germs but if I do have to do a compulsion, I am aware of it, and I don’t hate myself for giving in. Changing habits and your brain takes time and effort and don’t hate yourself when you have small slip ups.

I mean does anyone get false sensations where they get a thought that they touched something dirty but they are not totally sure that they really did

When I first downloaded this app I thought contamination OCD would be a bigger topic but its not at all. Theres very few of us who post about contamination OCD. When it happens to me I try to focus on the bigger issue, which is why is whatever I’m touching is such a bother to me. If i try to focus on if I did or didnt touch it ill get lost in that thought for a very long time like you said. Its hard to ignore it but try your best. We all have good and bad days, just keep going! ?

Thank you for the encouragement! I thought there would be more contamination OCD posters as well! I'm struggling right now feeling like I really came into contact with something really contaminated and didn't clean enough. It feels like it's still on me and that I can't touch my face or I will infect myself further or others. This level of scrutiny sticks!

I know the feeling all too well ?. Its time consuming and mentally draining.

Fellow contamination person here. I have all forms of it from straight up stuff I think are gross to stuff that are gross but did not get to me and ocd just makes me paranoid that it’s all over me and I’m fully covered by contaminants now. It also makes me paranoid things on the ground like spit etc got to my foot even when I just saw it. The doubts are non stop and compulsions take so long.