- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
i feel exactly the same way:(
- Date posted
- 6y
I also struggle with contamination ocd but I try to resist the urge of washing my hands by thinking about how I never used to wash my hands this much before all of this started, and nothing bad happened so why would it now - and I keep thinking about that and try to distract myself until the anxiety fades a bit. It’s hard and it doesn’t always work but it’s a great feeling that you get after you feel you have combatted a compulsion even if it’s just once . I hope this helps :)
- Date posted
- 6y
yeah i have tried to not wash my hands but i still don’t like how my hands feel and I just can’t move on with my daily life without washing them. It feels easier to just wash them and then not have to think about it the rest of the day rather than having them dirty and obsessing over it the rest of the day. @s0ph
- Date posted
- 6y
I know that feeling :( the only thing I could suggest is forcing yourself to do it, obviously you’re going to be incredibly anxious, but sometimes when I’m feeling less anxious than others, I almost play on the ocd, by like touching something when my hands feel dirty and then be kind of like oh well the germs are already out there now so there’s nothing I can do about it, if you get what I mean? :)
- Date posted
- 6y
what’s that @naeun
- Date posted
- 6y
no I have not done it, do u think I need it? @naeun
- Date posted
- 6y
I am 15 @naeun
- Date posted
- 6y
Hey @Emily25. Just want to let you know you’re not alone. I’m 15 as well and have had contamination OCD like yours for about 3 years. Also, normal is entirely overrated. Average won’t get you far (but I completely understand what you mean and what I said is extraordinary cheesy)
- Date posted
- 6y
I just don’t know how to not wash my hands after I eat something. I watch other people do it and wonder how. I hate the way my hands feel after I eat something and I guess it’s normal to not wash them. So what do I do? @sarai
- Date posted
- 6y
The only thing I can suggest is to just try to put up with the uncomfortable feeling for as long as possible, then try to grow on that time. If that’s 30 seconds, not a problem, because later you can do 1 minute. This is pretty much ERP. It feels a bit counterintuitive and painful, but it’s one of the few ways to practice being ‘normal ‘
- Date posted
- 6y
Normal doesn’t exist. See what the worst thing that’s going to happen would be if you didn’t use hand sanitizer and I’m sure you’ll be okay.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 22w
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
- 19w
all morning i have been feeling like there is dirt and grime on my skin. i showered last night. i washed my hair on tuesday night and i will wash it tonight. but i feel like there is dirt in my scalp and in my hair and i feel like i haven’t showered in weeks. i don’t want to feel like this anymore. every day i am anxious about how clean i am and its taking over my life. any tips?
- Date posted
- 18w
Im having a OCD specifically contamination OCD flare up all month and I don’t want to feel this way going into March, I’ve thrown out clothes, towels, stayed up for hours doing compulsions, washed my hands till they crack and bleed, I have washing pilling up cause I’m so overwhelmed by all the extra things I’ve added cause I thought it was contaminated. It’s completely draining me to the point where I’ve become sleep deprived and are avoiding part of my home because they are deemed contaminated to me…I only moved in a few months ago, I had a roach problem and using baits and insecticides really messed with my ocd too. anyone have any tips or tricks to make this easier? I wasn’t doing this bad in January :( thankyou in advance :)
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