Does anyone else have environmental allergies? My contamination OCD is specific to stuff I’m actually allergic to. So it’s been hard to treat since it’s hard to tell what level of avoidance of allergens is necessary for physical health vs what’s OCD. To top it off my allergist told me anxiety can lead to releasing extra histamine in the blood stream so I may be experiencing allergy symptoms due to anxiety as well. I was hospitalized recently and did therapy etc and was being brave and decided to do a carpool which I normally wouldn’t do since I’d be worried about a dirty car. I started feeling sick within minutes of sitting down but I told myself it was psychosomatic so I stayed for the whole ride home which was more than an hour. By the end I had lots of trouble breathing. I showered and changed soon as I got home but got sicker over the weekend and then was diagnosed with allergic bronchitis which lasted for weeks and I had to use an inhaler. The point is my contamination fears aren’t illogical. I do need to avoid allergens but it can be hard to tell how much avoidance I need to do. Anyone else in the same boat and has advice?

Yeah I’ve talked to my allergist many times. The problem is that she gives me super general advice on avoidance and then my brain takes it to OCD extremes. I’m allergic to dust and mold and pollen and pets. The mold part is the scariest for me since that’s what I’m most allergic to. And also mold left alone grows. My contamination OCD didn’t even start until I had been feeling sick for months after ironically moving into a newer apartment from an old building after getting diagnosed with allergies. I thought I’d be fine and then I kept getting sicker. Eventually the public health department found mold in our air conditioning ducts. So I’ve just been super into avoiding mold especially since then. The problem is how do I know which situations to avoid? I usually avoid older buildings but my university is a 150 years old. No issues coz it’s well maintained. Other places even more recently built ones can be super triggering. And because of the anxiety it’s hard to tell when I’m having a real allergic reaction vs a psychosomatic one. And as both my allergist and psychiatrist explained I’m still having a real allergic reaction but the cause may be stress hormones cascading into histamine release.

@astrogirl Wow I got so emotional reading this because Im in exact boat you are and triggered in same way. I would love to know if you have found anything that's helped