- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Marsi - i have to use it for one of my jobs so anywhere from 3-4 days a week. It’s really rough since sometimes it’s ok and sometimes it’s filthy :( the sight of certain graphic things triggers me but I have no choice but use it. As a result, my routine is over an hour of showering and cleaning.
- Date posted
- 6y
No worries at all. Yes I’ve been trying to shorten it. It was an hour last night and that’s considered really good
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- 6y
I shortened it a bit today but today I didn’t see anything gross in the public bathroom. It should have taken me 15 min but it still took an hour and I still dread the day when I’ll see something nasty and feel contaminated and would want to shower for 1.5 hours again. It’s so hard to think that seeing doesn’t equal contamination
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- 6y
Good job Marsi!! I am so proud of you and really appreciate your advice. I too have a small victory to share. The stall I was in today was not fully flushed, let’s just put it that way, I flushed it, used it and yes I did feel like my entire being was contaminated. I sat with the anxiety and didn’t feel that stressed after some time. I still took a long shower but it wasn’t extra long so I’m glad I was able to kind of reason to myself that the water didn’t splash allover me or what not. All the typical doubts OcD casts.
- Date posted
- 6y
Marsi today was rough. Got the toilet water flush splashed in my arm. I obviously had to wash it 3x and the anxiety continues as I had to go on my day and touch other things despite the water possibly hitting my shirt too. It’s such bad timing as I’m exhausted from being on my feet since 8am
- Date posted
- 6y
Yes I’m over it now but it took washing my arm over 5x and a long shower to get there. Not to mention the clothes I wore all needed to be washed including my jacket which I normally wouldn’t have washed
- Date posted
- 6y
I push myself to use them but allow for adjustments like squatting over the toilet seat and washing hands thoroughly following. But still actively trying to use public rest rooms and face it! I also just focus on breathing deeply when I see things like fluids and others that really freak me out
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- 6y
I’m still struggling with washing. I have to wash and scrub 3x
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- 6y
It is SOO hard. I truly deal with this constantly and this past week we have been driving across the country and it has been HARD. You can imagine so I can spare any details. But the fact that people with OCD like us can just go through it and face it head on like this and just say ok deep breath let’s do this is huge. So many people go through life without facing many fears at all and here we are facing them every single day. That’s bravery and courage my friend.
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- 6y
That is absolutely amazing Lark!!!! That’s a wonderful win and shows how much you’ve been working
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- 6y
I am so so sorry. That is so incredibly hard. Are you alright??
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- 6y
I would’ve absolutely done the same. But the important thing is you didn’t let it stop you from doing other things in your life or your job. You needed to clean, as most people would, and you did but you didn’t let it make you hide away from it all like i know is so tempting. That’s incredibly impressive
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- 6y
Thanks marsi. You are so kind.
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- 6y
I’m scared of my own bodily fluids so if I can’t have a bath a squeeze water bottle helps
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- 6y
That sounds really really hard! I’m so sorry you go through that. Could you begin by shortening your cleaning routine every day or even just every week by a certain amount of time or one compulsive cleaning session (so taking out a second or third scrubbing of something)? I wash my hands and things around me very frequently but haven’t created a full Shower and cleaning routine to my knowledge so sorry if this comes off insensitive or off point!
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- 6y
Seriously tho shortening it by any amount of time is an incredible feat!! Focus on that because that’s huge.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
So I have pretty intense contamination OCD tied to Moral/Real event OCD, and I'm having a hard time with it because part of me does genuinely believe my logic checks out, and I was hoping to get some insight as to how to change the way I see it from other people who sort of get the mindset involved :). To sum it up as well as I can, I basically have a very souped-up version of the same item-event association most people have. For example, let's say you have a HORRIBLE, GOD AWFUL relationship with a person you can't even begin to think of favorably even years after the event. They had gotten you a stuffed animal for your anniversary at some point. You finally "escape" the relationship, and you throw away the stuffed animal. This is seen as a very normal and sound-of-mind action. Here's where things get tricky: For me, throwing out that stuffed animal wouldn't be enough. After all, it touched my table didn't it? And my table touched the floor right? And these things now carry that person's germs. And if I don't get rid of them, then they'll infect my future belongings. This logic isn't entirely flawed either, as even my OCD specialist said he believes in a "weaker version of what I do". How am I supposed to convince myself that what I'm believing is false when the literal psychologist confirmed that what I'm doing is just a more in-depth version of a normal experience? Ex: I have a new outfit, fresh and clean. I'm unbothered and happy, but I knick the side of a table. The table holds awful associations. I get this awful sense of dread. The clothes are now somewhat sullied, and I'll eventually have to give them away. I don't think I'm explaining this as well as I could, but I feel like those notions are there. Anyways, does anyone have any insight as to how to get my mind to genuinely believe that interacting with these things is "safe"?
- Date posted
- 21w
Hello, i have very severe contamination ocd, and as i am writing this i feel my hands are dirty lol, but anyways i wanted to know if there’s anyone specialised in Contamination ocd? No matter what type because i really need help and i looked up things but it doesn’t help please!!
- Date posted
- 21w
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 🥲🥲💔
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