- Date posted
- 4y ago
- Date posted
- 4y ago
If that's a strange fear, then we're both strange ☺! I don't deal with it so much anymore, but I did when I was younger. Ultimately, your best bet is to live with uncertainty. Maybe you'll get pregnant, maybe you won't. Whatever life throws at you, you'll be able to handle it.
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Yeah I mean I’m 29 now so it’s not like I’m ignorant on how babies are made like I get that it’s not possible by touching something someone else did. But it’s like the fear of what if. And then him thinking I cheating on him
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@StefH "What if" is classic OCD.
- Date posted
- 4y ago
This rings so true omg I'm absolutely consumed by this fear right now and the advice I got was to not to view sperm like a virus - it can't 'infect' you, it's not sentient or intelligent and getting pregnant isn't like catching a virus, there's a huge amount of very precise and time-sensitive things that need to happen to cause pregnancy. Even though the what if's are ALWAYS BACK it helps to ground yourself in facts that are widely researched and medically backed up. Sperm is so so fragile and will not survive outside the body for long at all, and it's not resilient to being dumped on surfaces or moved around via hands onto other objects. But I'm still the same I'll waste so much time worrying and avoiding situations like even taking parcels from delivery guys, brushing past guys in a supermarket aisle or touching any door handle etc. I believe has been 'contaminated' by it. You're so not alone and I hope you're doing okay now!
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Comment deleted by user
- Date posted
- 4y ago
How did you overcome it? Especially because I’m 29 and I have been with my boyfriend for over 5 years and one day I do want to have a family but the fear isn’t being pregnant it’s ultimately getting pregnant by someone who didn’t wash their hands and then loosing my boyfriend because he thought I cheated on him or something which I would NEVER do!
- Date posted
- 4y ago
I have also had this fear. So I understand you. I dont know if your therapists have been specialized in OCD? The only way to tell your brain that this is false beliefs is to break the compulsions. You cant find the answer by argumenting, just by acting in a new way. You need help in that exposures. When you break the compulsions, stop washing your hands step by step your brain responds with a "okaaaay, she doesnt wash her hands in that exessive way any longer- well I dont need to send these ridiculous thoughrs anymore". You can do it?
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Thank you so much I know I have been trying to not give in but when I don’t and I try to not wash my hands it’s like the flood gates open and every type of worst fear comes to mind. How have you delt with that, if that’s something you have experienced? And did you do a hierarchy list and expose that way or I have also heard of another method where he used the analogy of just jumping right in the pool instead of feeling the water first and slowly getting in the pool. So basically ERP cold turkey..
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@StefH I dont think cold turkey is a good idea for the most of us. I have tried many times...I think the best is to work through the fears step by step, by that you get stronger. The mist important thing to me has been to make a plan for everyday and every week what to do. If we wait until the moment comes we start to hesitate. If you have decied beforehand what to its easier to make it I think. You will get anxious when you face the fear, but you will learn that you dont have to "fear the fear", its just emotions, not facts. If you cant find a ERP therapist you can try a workbook for OCD. It's not impossible to learn to manage this.
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@Estrid Yeah I do have an OCD work book and I just started reading Brain Lock. I like the idea of having a daily and/or weekly plan. The worst though is always when something happens unexpectedly. For instance (and you won’t believe how many times I’ve seen this in public) but boys or even adult men “adjust” themselves like it’s nothing! And a boy or young teenager did it (NOT outside his pants) and I was handed something right after this kid was handed his and I believe this trigger happened maybe a year ago and to this day I have this around my house I avoid because I either touched them later that day when I got home from work but still had my work clothes on (even though I washed my hands obviously). Like for example there was a lamp and I touched it and then it later hit me that now because I touched that lamp and I had my work clothes on that boys “private area stuff/germs” are now there so I moved it to our guest bedroom but now even though the lamp isn’t the same lamp in my bedroom I still walk past that area and have you make sure to pay attention that I don’t get near the area or the outlet the lamp was plugged into OR and this happens a lot, i don’t know if you can relate, but I will THINK I touched it/something but in reality I highly highly doubt I did or even was close enough to of touched it. Sorry for the novel!
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@StefH OCD friend, no worries about the "novel", I can relate to this very much. No problems at all...nowadays I'm afraid of other contaminants but it works the same. And I have had fears that I have been pregnant in very strange ways. Someone touched that, and then I touched, and then....yes. and it never ends. We have to break that loop. I know it can be hard to face the unexpected triggers, but if we work on the ERP, in the end we can learn to handle even these ones. I have read Brain lock, it is good in many way, but it doesn t teach ERP very well. I can recommend for example "The ACT Workbook for OCD", or "The mindfulness workbook for OCD" or check out IOCDFs webbsite for resources. I can also recommend ERP school by Kimberley Quinlan, a resource online (you have to pay for it), its very pedagogical and you learn the basics of ERP.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 16w ago
I don't know what to do, my hands have become so numb and bruised because of constant washing hands, i have started hating each and every furniture around me, beacuse i feel they are not clean although they are being cleaned regularly but i cannot stop these thoughts. I clean my phone, bluetooth, charger with wet wipes each day, i don't touch any object around me, i am not being able to focus on my studies or anything else because of my ocd ihave stopped going out, everyone around me is so fed up of me. I have consulted so many therapists and been taking ayurvedic supplements too but nothing works. It is getting worse and worse, please if anybody can suggest me how to overcome these thoughts!
- Date posted
- 14w ago
Hi, I’m new here!! I’m praying I don’t get judged for this. But, back in late May of 2022 ( literally right before I graduated high school), I added this one random girl from my school on Snapchat. She posted something about a graduation party , so I swiped up on her story basically saying how I can’t believe we’re almost graduated. She replied and we had a really short and simple conversation. The next day ( i believe) , we started talking a lot , and I just so happened to see her at the highschool when we were grabbing our graduation outfits and doing the rehearsal. When I saw her irl, I kinda got turned off ( I heard she was kinda crazy) , and on top of that , she was a little ugly irl. I remember seeing her Snapchat bio , and she was close friends with my female cousin ( a year younger than me) , who I happened to experiment sexually with when I was 10-11 years old. I remember going to work later that day and having sort of a lightbulb flick thought ( it wasn’t a good thought though) , what if my cousin told her about what happened when we were younger? So I started to kind of panic and immediately distanced myself from that girl. I also experimented sexually with one of my female friends when I was 10-11 , and from that day onwards, I’ve been pretty much living in paranoia and a little bit of guilt about someone finding out and my life being ruined . On top of that, It’s gotten worse to now sometimes I wonder if a girl I added off of quick add ( Snapchat) is underage even if they told me they were 18+ or had 18 and above in their bio, and I get so much guilt and anxiety about that. I even had a quick thought last February on what if I did something inappropriate with my younger cousin when I was 15-16 but I just can’t exactly remember when it happened , and it still eats me alive when I think about it, because I don’t know if it happened or not. I’m sorry for the long vent, I just wish I felt normal again. No matter how much I try to do things that old me used to do, life always feels “ off”. I always kept the top part about when I was younger a secret up until early (ish ) 2024, then I vented to one of my best friends and he told me that that’s a normal thing to do at a young age. Since then, I have told multiple friends and they all say they did similar stuff, but my brain just can’t accept that. Please help me, I quite literally overthink everything nowadays. 2021 was the last full year that I felt normal ( coincidentally, the best year of my life so far) . It’s not just about sexual related things either, sometimes I’ll wonder if I messed up something at work or hit a car while driving/hit someone and drove off. I just wanna live my life how I was supposed to live it after highschool ( carefree and happy) before whatever it is ( I think it’s ocd) hit me unexpectedly. Thanks to anyone who read this , I just needed to pour it out regardless of how negative I felt typing this, I hope someone can relate , because I feel so alone in my head at times.
- Date posted
- 12w ago
Sometimes I had some relationship OCD and then I didn’t qualify for contamination OCD however I know in relationships partners like to be close and drink out of each others cup. My partner was thirsty and getting very hot and he asked for my drink and I gave it to him he felt better and I am so beyound happy he did! I feel a lot of shame admitting this, he told me I could have my drink back and I said thank you! 😊 He noticed I didn’t drink it because in my mind it says it is contaminated and I felt extremely bad that he noticed so I got a piece of gum to distracte us I then had to spit out the gum because it wasn’t a good flavor then my brain told me well… ( Ms.OCD) said if I don’t drink it it will hurt his feelings and then that means I don’t like him and then I drink it then I spiraled from there lol 😂 I am so sorry it wasn’t a weird funny story I was wondering if anyone else can relate? I was wondering if there is any advice I can please have? Thank you so much!! Please write down something in the comments if you are struggling because I want to help you all as well!! Thank you!!
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