- 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
- 23w
sorry this is super long i just wanna know if anyone else has been thru something similar bc i feel super alone 🩷 i have super bad contamination ocd. it was bad already but my house was like my safe space until a few months ago someone brought something into my house that i considered ‘contaminated’. and so then i felt like that part of the house was contaminated, then it spread to everything outside my room (since family is moving around touching stuff) and then somehow i got convinced everything in my room except my bed is contaminated and i need to wash my hands after touching it. in my mind its like the contamination just infinitely spreads to things after the tiniest bit of touch. idek what im afraid of anymore or even what the original thing was but i can’t let it go. when i have to wash off contamination i have to wash at least 4 times or until it feels right, or sometimes take rlly long showers and wipe down all my stuff. i even throw away food and clothes or just whole items sometimes because they feel so contaminated i don’t want them in my space. i can’t be super near people or have anyone touch me, and i also can’t bring anything new into my room since it had to go through the entry of my house which feels contaminated. i feel like all i do is lay in bed and then wash my hands and do compulsions so i can go eat or do other stuff around the house. also i never go out because i’m bc people outside make me feel dirty, and i hate thinking about how many people have touched stuff in stores or in public and stuff. so im just in my room worrying all day. i feel so trapped and the contamination/avoiding it is all i think about anymore i barely have time for anything else and im never present when i talk to people because im worrying about if i accidentally got contaminated. im starting erp next week and knowing that im going to have to expose myself to things is really freaking me out. does anyone else have this kind of ocd ? im exhaustedddd 🥲🥲💔
- Date posted
- 19w
I know I keep talking about this and I swear I’m not trying to be annoying but over the weekend I had gotten some new Clorox wipes because I was running low on some at home. I noticed when I came home I still had 2 half full containers left. When I got home everything was fine until I accidentally knocked my setting spray off my bathroom counter. Now mind you I had 2 warts on my foot about 4 months ago and my ocd makes it worse by making me believe the virus is still on the floor. Immediately when it dropped, I cleaned it with a Clorox wipe. This is where it went down hill and my brain started to spiral. After disinfecting my setting spray, I started second guessing if the Clorox I used on it was from the same container I used for the shower floor. I usually wear gloves before getting a Clorox wipe and sometimes I don’t. I was trying to do “ERP” and instead of washing my hands 3x… I just washed it for about 5 seconds . I then put my lipliner and gloss on and now I feel like I contaminated my lipliner. I threw my lipliner in my makeup bag and my makeup bag has a blush brush , hilighter brush and some other makeup stuff. I just wanna throw that whole bag out now. It’s exhausting and this might seem dramatic but I couldn’t get out of bed because all I could think about was everything being contaminated in my bathroom. I leave for Florida in 3 days and I’m freaking out because everything isn’t going how I want it to. I’m just exhausted. I just bought some new Clorox wipes from Kroger and one of the Clorox dropped on the floor and now I think that’s contaminated and now I’m confused which one fell on the floor and which one didn’t. They were next to eachother and I forgot that fast. 😞☹️ Before going to Kroger I felt like god was talking to me or my intuition and telling me don’t get another one. So now my minds making me feel like it dropped on the floor on purpose. Idk know if it’s god talking to me or my ocd. I was sleeping all day because I don’t wanna get up and go in my bathroom and I don’t even wanna put my makeup on because I don’t wanna take a chance of getting a wart on my face. I never did a deep clean after my wart but I have used so much Clorox in the bathroom to just to dinsifect. I’m still nervous to even do a deep clean because I feel like I’m going to pick up the virus or bacteria. Also if there’s any Christian’s reading this I would appreciate just a prayer bc I’m tired and exhausted which I know seems funny from being in my bed all day. But mentally I’m exhausted. I don’t even wanna go to Florida anymore. I know the only way to get a wart is to get it from skin to skin contact. Oh! I almost forgot I had a dentist appt today and this girl was shadowing my dentist and she greeted me and shook my hand. It happned so fast. I didn’t go home right away and wash my hands and I’m freaking out about that too. I’m just overwhelmed . 😞 I know this was long and I appreciate you reading.
- Date posted
- 16w
Do any of you avoid cleaning because it makes you more anxious? I haven’t worn any makeup on in awhile except for my eyelashes and lipgloss , but after keeping them in my makeup bag for too long I get scared. I dropped these Bobby pins on the floor the other day in my bathroom and mind u I haven’t done a full bathroom clean since I left for Florida on the 6th and I came back the 13th. The Bobby pins were still clipped on the paper package (if that makes sense) and I didn’t touch the floor fully but the side of my finger touched the floor. I don’t think I immediately washed my hands after but eventually I did. I ended up getting some lipliner from my makeup bag and I purposely didn’t overwash my hands bc I’m trying to be better about not excessively washing them. I feel like touching the floor and not washing my hands right away caused a flare up. I do wanna put on a full face of makeup but I’m scared that I’ll get a wart or an infection on my face. I know I’ve talked about this numerous amounts of times but I had a wart the first week of February and sometimes I feel like the virus is still on the floor. I haven’t soft scrubbed the floor but I’ve used a lot of Clorox wipes to wipe the floor. Like I said though, I haven’t washed my floors since Florida and I think it’s just anxiety. I’m trying to let my mind settle and doing the “maybe or maybe not methods.” I just feel like that wart on my foot traumatized me. I wanna empty all my makeup out … like all the brushes and even the bag. I know it’s such a waste of money but there are times I’ll go buy the same makeup brushes bc I’m scared to get it contaminated. Ugh and when I fo go out and buy them my ocd kinda flares bc then it’s saying “maybe someone returned this makeup brush and used it and your gonna get a wart that way too.” 😣 It’s like I can’t win. And then I think to myself, “am I gonna get punished or will something happen to me if I do get a new brush?” 😞 it’s very exhausting! Please any advice would help!
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond