- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
I also have contamination ocd and I am petrified of health professionals because I’m so scared I’ll catch something.. why can’t I just accept they know their job
- Date posted
- 6y
@jody1908 I’m a health care professional, I can assure you we’re all obsessive with washing and sanitising hands hunny because we’re all terrified of catching things from patients
- Date posted
- 6y
Thank you for your reply. I had 2 nurses who were lovely preforming a check on my cervix following a lengthy miscarriage ? and the one nurse sneezed on the back of her hand and used a tissue she carried on passing things to the other nurse but didn’t change her gloves. Now I’m petrified I caught herpes or something else worse
- Date posted
- 6y
Aww sorry to hear that, can imagine how distressing that must have been with contamination ocd, I guess it was a way of doing ERP but if does get too much don’t feel afraid to ask her to change her gloves, we don’t take it personally or take offence. I know sometimes people just forget ppe changes. Sorry to hear about your miscarriage also ?
- Date posted
- 6y
I can’t stop googling things.. do you think i cold have contracted something? Part of me thinks wow that’s really bad but then I think most people who think typically wouldn’t have noticed or been worried about it ever since.. I had already explained my ocd and asked her to change because she touched the lamp with the gloves she had on and she did but it was her assistant who sneezed etc and I just think I was in the moment then and didn’t act quick enough. I really do need help I was on medication that didn’t do much, I also saw a private therapist for cbt but when I had the miscarriage it all took a back seat. Thanks for support
- Date posted
- 6y
I want to answer you but I’m afraid I’d be reassuring you and we’re not allowed to on here because it encourages ocd, sorry hunny ? but I know exactly what you mean and how you feel! I once was at the doctors and they asked to look down below and I couldn’t let them because I was terrified of being contaminated, so you should be really proud of yourself for being able to let them and dealing with it despite being distressed, it’s good ERP for you in the long run! I’m meant to be on 100mg of Sertraline but I hate how I feel when I take them, I feel really like numb and like I don’t feel anything, I’d rather feel intense happiness and intense sadness in roundabouts than nothing at else. I have private CBT and that seems to be helping, I’ve just gone from weekly sessions to fortnightly now which I’m proud of. You’re more than welcome for the support hunny, and thank you for yours. Nice to be able to talk to someone whose going through similar
- Date posted
- 6y
Ok I understand. I had private cbt but I haven’t found it that helpful to be honest so I stopped x
- Date posted
- 6y
Yeah some are better with meds, others therapy, some even manage on their own. It’s whatever works best for you. I hope you can find what works for you soon x
- Date posted
- 6y
Now I read into words so much I think that by saying you can’t reassure me it means you think I’m at risk. This is also another part of my ocd I stick on words and often over think them
- Date posted
- 6y
I also used medication but I didn’t feel they helped and also I needed to come off them because of an ecg test that I had in a yearly review z
- Date posted
- 6y
I totally get what you mean about the thinking different to what people mean! No I don’t think you’re at risk at all hunny, it’s just I’ve had comments removed before because i’ve reassured or it’s been seen as I’ve reassured people and I didn’t want my comment removed and it looks like I was ignoring you hahah! So I will say what my therapist would say and what I agree with, if you were at risk of contracting something would the woman have sneezed in the room with you in? Would they have left you untreated for whatever disease you contracted or would they have given you antibiotics or some other medicine to get rid of it? To help you answer the questions and come up with your own answer to whether you have or not. It’s annoying how they trick you into saying the opposite to ocd but in a way makes you realise actually I obviously deep down am still there trying to fight this irrational fear and panic off! What medication was you on if you don’t mind me asking? As I’ve made an appointment for a review as I don’t know whether to try medication too just for my mood because if my moods low I noticed ocd increases but I don’t want medication that’s going to make me feel numb! What do you feel hella?
- Date posted
- 6y
*helps
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
(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.
- Date posted
- 22w
I never heard about people with OCD who have messy living conditions. Maybe this is why it took so long to accept my diagnosis. Although I really dont like how OCD is percieved at by the majority of people, I feel like Im weird or something because I dont fit into that stereotype. I understand that a lot of people with OCD have this issue, but why do I feel so different? If anybody else has/had this belief, what helps with feeling more comfortable? Everytime my mom points out my room, and how its messy- Its like I feel so lazy and useless. So then I often plan out everything I was going to do, step by step, always having a reasoning behind everything, because logic always comforts me. When I start tidying up my room, I go full out (Sheets, Laundry, Clorox, Candles, Vaccuming, Then I start going through the guinea pigs cage to rearranging all of their stuff) Yet always somewhere after doing a few things, I start feeling disgusting and almost shameful of myself. 99% of the time I end up laying on my floor sobbing, noting every little thing about my room. How my furiniture doesnt match, how i would rather have solid floor like hardwood or vinyl instead of the carpet, usually things i cant change… and then barely anything gets done in my room. I start to have a meltdown and often dont take care of myself even more afterwards. A piece of me feels like my thoughts are just me being a spoiled brat and wanting everything i dont have- meanwhile others dont even have a roof over their head. The other piece of me is just tired, just emotionally exaughsted. Please comment any thoughts or recomendations to maybe improve motovation and attitude towards doing long tasks.
- Date posted
- 15w
contamination ocd has really been messing with me the last couple of days. usually i only struggle when i can connect something to possibly throwing up, but this time it doesn’t matter. so earlier, i took a shower and i also use a wash cloth to wash my body. after i showered i cleaned up my dirty clothes and towels. then when i came back to grab my phone, there was a soap speck on my phone so without thinking i just wiped it on the back of my crewneck i was wearing. well that then spiraled into me thinking what if the soap was from my dirty wash cloth. i know most of you are probably thinking it’s clean since you use soap to clean ur body. well i clean every inch of my body, including my bottom so that’s where my anxiety is gravitating towards. this sounds so ridiculous saying it out loud, but i just have so much anxiety over it. i tried my hardest not to change but i did. at first i just changed my crewneck, but then i had to change my shorts cause my crewneck touches my shorts. but then i changed my shorts. and now i feel like my shirt is contaminated cause i was wearing it with my other shorts before changing. moral of the story, i just have so much anxiety over it and i feel like i shouldn’t because it’s really not a big deal. and i don’t want to change again because that seems ridiculous to me. plus now i’m connecting the contamination to my bed since i was laying on my bed before i changed. i hate life, this sucks.
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