Good evening, Does anyone has good tips on how to manage the handwashing because I try some many ways but I still manage to backfired. My problem is I don’t count right so I have to constantly start over
Think about this: experts recommend washing your hands for the duration it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice, which is about 20 seconds. This effectively removes 99.9% of germs. Achieving 100% germ elimination is impossible. let's say you wind up with 0.1% possibility of germs. So you think I will wash more to get to lesser percentage. Problem is, by you doing so, you damage the skin, increasing infection risk. So basically the remaining 0.01% have now far greater possibility to infect, because you eliminate the first line of defense against germs, which is your skin. Therefore, washing for the recommended time is optimal for hygiene without harming your skin is the safer way. Got it?
@hanysm@gmail.com Thank you.
@hanysm@gmail.com Any other methods that also works too
@Lisa_1698 Use time instead of counting. 20 seconds max.
@hanysm@gmail.com Thank you
This is one of my compulsions. Even if I count out loud, I somehow catch myself skipping a number and I have to start all over.
If you're dealing with contamination OCD, consider using a watch or alarm clock to help time your activities initially. Over time, your internal clock will adjust, and you may find you no longer need the timer. This approach can be useful for showering and bathing as well. It's also important to pay attention to how frequently you wash. Allow your skin enough time to rebuild its outer layer, the epidermis, between washes. This usually takes a few hours. Only wash again if there's a specific reason, such as using the bathroom or if you notice VISIBLE dirt. These should be rare exceptions. Even in these cases, try to keep washing under 20 seconds unless it's an extreme situation.
i have contamination ocd and i have a hard time knowing what’s normal- please help me get back to normal!! do you worry or clean under your fingernails when you wash your hands? do you specifically wash your thumb? if so how? do you pay attention to the pace you wash your hands at? do you ever feel the need to do things a certain amount of times or count while doing things? in the shower do you wash your hands at any time? especially after washing private areas? question for the girls!! how many times do you wipe after you pee? how do you all pee so fast?
I obsess constantly about my hands being dirty and feel like I can actually see the germs and bacteria crawling all over my hands if I can’t wash them as soon as I touch something. It’s really embarrassing since people in my life have noticed this “weird” behavior but it’s a huge problem for me and I don’t know how to make the obsessive thoughts stop.
This is a repost, only because the last post had no responses lol. Please if you have any advice share. I’ve been trying hard to sit with the feeling of anxiety. Actually that’s the problem, recently I’ve been trying to sit with the thought (and I’m able to for a few hours or until the next morning) and then my anxiety comes back so strong and it’s like I need to clean everything off. I see images of gross laundry getting on everything or my hand and then I need to clean everything off to un contaminate it. Sometimes the thought happens later at night so I just sleep through and the next morning I will wake up with intense anxiety about contamination. That happened yesterday and I had to clean everything off and since then I’ve been traumatized so I’ve been doing compulsions like avoiding the bathroom and being around people so I know I couldn’t have done anything wrong. Actually recently my biggest compulsion has been recording every time I get up to go eat, etc so that I know I couldn’t have done anything. Any advice or help???
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