I believe I’ve developed a new theme about worrying about having contracted HIV. At least 3 if not 4 months ago my penis touched the rim of the bowl at my college dorm bathroom and since then I haven’t stopped worrying that I may have contracted the virus. No matter how irrational the fear is, and how unlikely that scenario is, I can’t stop reading on symptoms and WebMD. I donated blood recently and haven’t gotten an email saying they used my blood yet which has made me worry. I know they test for it

There’s just a level of embarrassment to that and I don’t want it to trigger my HOCD which I just finished up with. There’s really no risk for me I’ve never even been sexually active and yet have these fears.

@boilerup Getting tested when you have no risk is a compulsion. It would relieve the worry for a while, but increase it long term. Lots of people with this obsession get into a pattern of being tested multiple times. If you can prevent that from starting, you'll be all the better for it. You mentioned that you're reading WebMD repeatedly. Are there any other comoulsions you're stuck in? PS: I donate blood regularly and have never received an email saying when my donation was used. My understanding is that they contact you if there's a problem. Contacting every single donor to say there isn't a problem would vastly increase their operating costs

@NOCD Advocate - Katie I’ve just always been a hypochondriac. Looking for symptoms that says excessive fatigue and my immune system hasn’t been doing me very well recently. I got COVID and I don’t think I’ve been sleeping very well. I’m guessing the anxiety and stress has weakened it and i actually get less sleep because of the OCD, but during the day the mental battle makes me exhausted. I did get an email the last two times which is why I’m just worried I might not get one and it will perpetuate the fear. Although, I’m assuming that the machine the blood goes into tests for HIV, wouldn’t they tell me if they said it tested positive?