- Username
- Stealthhero22
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Sounds like some good exposure opportunity practice!
So far I can’t bring myself to do it. What do I do?
The best thing to do is to accept that it's a possibility that happened and do your laundry anyway. The point of the soap in the washer and the heat from the dryer is to get things clean and kill germs. I have severe contamination ocd and have to do my laundry in a communal laundry room that people leave a mess alllll the time so I'm not just saying this flippantly because I can imagine your anxiety right now. The best thing to do is not avoid the machines; instead, throw some laundry in and show your ocd who's in charge. Good luck!
I am worrried about the bug body parts spreading in the clothes.
@Stealthhero22 I understand. But even if there are, which you would probably notice if you checked the machines, they will wash out when they go through the rinse cycle! That's the whole point of doing laundry!
@Stealthhero22 I have found far worse things than bug legs in the machines I need to use ?? but the alternative is to not do my laundry...and that's not an option. It will be okay, I promise you.
I also have contamination OCD and laundry plays a big part of that. I’m very particular about laundry and prefer that I do it myself as a result. Given my living circumstances, I often have to use communal machines or shared family machines. I can’t say I know how you’re feeling exactly, but I can relate to the situation where a laundry/dryer machine suddenly feels unclean. There are some compulsion mechanisms I have used in the past to cope with this kind of situation but those are not healthy to give in to and just make the OCD worse. Like @ans87 said, don’t avoid the machines, try to accept the uncertainty, and show the OCD who is in charge. I know that’s not easy, I struggle with that myself on a more than daily basis.
Would you consider a towel just cleaned but was then laid on by a dog okay to use? This is for those who are much better than i, i wanted some opinions as to if I am being OCD right now because i am about to kill my mother. So what happened is I am staying with my mom right now. She did my laundry without my permission. I am a bit particular with how i like to do my laundry and she has a big habit of doing things i view as unsanitary and then taunting me with my OCD and telling me I’m psycho for telling her shes wrong. This time she washed the towels I use and then let our family dog lay on them while we folded them. Now i love our dog he’s my baby but that doesn’t change the fact that he runs around outside and goes to dog parks were I’m sure he steps in pee the whole time and she only gives him a bath maybe every 4 months. When i got mad and said i cant use them and i need to rewash them she basically told me that if i rewash them i have to leave and then mixed them with all the other towels which makes me feel like i need to wash all of them. So would you be worried about this? Consider it clean or not? Im trying to not go crazy or care but i cant stop imagining all the shit and pee on those towel and how I’m going to get a vaginal infection or pink eye from it when i dry off from a shower. Im pisst and the more i think about it the more i cant sleep and the more wholes i want to punch into the wall and her.
I washed clothes in the washer and put it in drier.. now i am getting thoughts were clothes washed? Its top load maytag machine and gets locked while washing. It gets unlocked only when done? Am I right?
I saw a bug in the house, downstairs, today. Now I am scarred to go down because I am afraid if it lands on me. I don’t want a dead or alive bug on me. That’s my constant fear everyday, but now I have seen a bug.
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