- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
i used to wear gloves too. i often wish i still did as they are fashionable and keep you safe. but we are expected to conform. as for germs on paper, they dont live long there so don’t worry.
- Date posted
- 6y
I have this too. My contamination ocd is solely centred on all kind of warts for example worrying I’m going to get infected with the wart Hpv virus if I touch door handles in public or touch other people and also things like plantar warts/veruccas because these things are genuinely contagious so it’s hard to stop these ocd obsessive thoughts when they actually are contagious :( I hate the idea of all these contagious virus’ being all over my house and in public places!
- Date posted
- 6y
i have this too. i calmed myself down by educating myself on how delicate these things actually are in the environment.
- Date posted
- 6y
i was forced to be exposed working in a retail environment. eventually you just have to trust doctors when they tell you that these things arent super contagious. you’ll get better. i was really bad before and im mostly ok now.
- Date posted
- 6y
Did it work well enough that it made it better? I have tried this and I kind of feel like avoidance is my only working strategy... and as I’m sure you know ... that’s not a real strategy
- Date posted
- 6y
I’m a teacher and I have only just managed to stop wearing gloves when I mark their books (can only do this if I wash my hands a few times afterwards so I’m not sure if it’s actually progress)
- Date posted
- 6y
i know exactly how you feel. yes, it did get better. i sometimes still count off before touching or eating something bc most viruses die in 14 or so seconds. but i am able to live a mostly normal life, use the toilet at work, and let people eat in my house using my utensils. i can also eat at my mother’s and friends’ houses, although i have a little bit of anxiety about it at the time. i just try to keep track of what’s going into my mouth, dont eat with my hands, and trust that virologists are probably not lying
- Date posted
- 6y
I feel the same! I have cleaned my poor carpets so often ? Any ideas what sort of therapy might help?
- Date posted
- 6y
I’ve had ERP therapy and that didn’t help me really! I think knowing that these virus’ are contagious doesn’t help trying to get rid of the obsessive thoughts because we can’t just say ‘my ocd is making me think these are contagious things’ etc. Wish I knew what could help!
- Date posted
- 6y
the only thing that helped me was accepting that viruses survive very poorly outside the body.
- Date posted
- 6y
That’s exactly how I feel, the one time I tried therapy it stressed me out so much I couldn’t carry on I’m desperate to make a change but I don’t know how to go about it I seem to be anxious even when I know it’s unlikely
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w
Does anyone else have compulsions that mix in with each other and you have to end up picking what one makes you LESS scared or uncomfortable but it’s still overwhelming? Like rn I used all my hand towels, need to wash and dry them but no clean ones to dry hands with currently, a bath towel makes me feel like whatever was on my hair or body even after a shower is contaminated cause I don’t want it on my HANDS, but there’s one DRY and untouched towel but I think it’s contaminated by something else so I’m too scared to use it…. What do you do in this situation? It happens a lot when they intertwine and I dunno what to do ….. also what one is more or less valid…which one would help me more in the future. Regardless I’m sitting here thinking I have bleach or another chemical on my hands cause at the time I decided to dry my hands with the hair towel…
- Date posted
- 24w
For the past couple of months, I’ve had a really big fear of like my hand basically going down there or objects going down there and like being contaminated. This basically leads me to be scared of being on my own and doing things without people near (because if I do everything in front of someone they would tell me if I did something), also tucking my shirt. This started last October too and I remember crying for like hours everyday. Now I’m better but I do compulsions like tucking my shirt in a specific way so I know my hand couldn’t reach there. I’m scared to even get ready for the day, brush my teeth, etc with my shirt untucked because I’m scared those objects will be contaminated or I’ll do something to contaminate them. I’ve been trying to stop this compulsion of tucking my shirt in for a while but I’m not really going anywhere.
- Date posted
- 18w
(long read ahead, sorry lol) I’ve struggled with ocd for as far back as I can remember. I find that it gets worse with stress, and recently I’ve really been struggling with the contamination aspect of my ocd. I’m worried about it becoming unmanageable and negatively affecting my relationship with my partner. I’ve been living with my boyfriend since January (got kicked out of my house a week after I turned 18, it’s for the better though my house is toxic as hell) and I love living with him, but him and his family aren’t as concerned with cleaning as I am used to. My boyfriend and I have been together going on 2 years and there’s been many times throughout our relationship that his struggle with depression severely impacted his ability to keep up with cleaning his room. This is something I completely understand because I’ve struggled with it too so i’ve often helped him clean, and since i’ve moved in he’s done so much better at keeping up with cleaning (especially because he knows about my issues with clutter, mess, germs, etc.) He is really good at being accommodating towards my needs (not overly so, i’m aware that recovering includes accepting being uncomfortable), but it’s so hard for me to differentiate between what is the normal standard for cleanliness and hygiene and what’s excessive and unhealthy. I get so stressed out every single day over the thought of how dirty everything is. He has 3 cats that mainly stay in his room (he has a catio attached to his window/side of the house) and dogs which stay on the opposite side of the house and backyard, so there is fur everywhere constantly (i’m also allergic to cats but it’s not severe). I can’t stop thinking about how they are getting germs from their litter box all over everything. They also used to piss under his bed and in his closet when his room used to be a mess and it’s soaked into the floor so no matter what it stinks. It’s so hard to bring myself to walk around the house without slippers because my feet will get visibly dirty and my socks would get covered in hair. I always think about how my boyfriend sometimes walks on the rugs in the bathroom in shoes and all the germs that spreads. There’s so many more things but this is already getting long and I am shaking just thinking about how unclean everything is. I want to deep clean the entire house myself so I can get it to where It’s not like psychological torture everyday and it’s easier to maintain but I have been so busy I don’t have the time. I am worried about my boyfriend thinking I don’t like living with him or that I think that’s he’s dirty but i don’t. We have had several conversations about this and he’s reassured me that he knows none of my obsessive thoughts are personal but I still feel so bad about it. I would like to get therapy to help work through this but currently that is not an option for me. I know things will get better once I get through the main things in my life that are causing a lot of stress and therefore making my ocd flair up, but I need advice on what to do in the mean time. I keep having moments where all I can do is shake and cry and clean and I feel bad for my poor boyfriend who can only sit next to me and try to comfort me or help me clean. I also don’t want to make him worried that nothing he does is enough for me (i’ve also already talked to him about this and told him about how I can never even be clean enough for myself and that I don’t think he’s dirty). There’s been many times where I want to tell him to do things that I think might be my own unhealthy compulsions (ex. not wearing shoes in the house or in our room, not getting into bed with socks on, making sure to completely dry off before getting out the shower, put makeup and jewelry back where they belong right after using them, etc.) but i can’t tell if they’re reasonable or not and i try to not tell him unless it’s something that severely distresses me. I’m aware that everything is going to have germs no matter what and have been using NER’s to help manage my thought spirals/rumination. I know that I shouldn’t keep doing compulsions because it just offers temporary relief and makes the problem worse because nothing will ever be enough. I just feeling so overwhelmed and hopeless and exhausted and want some feedback.
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