Can you get a disease from touching a clothing item that someone else wore. I work in the returns section of target sometimes and have been wondering.

Well they wear these items in their privatr areas so i think its warranted

@Coul.C I suppose, but 1) Keep in mind people don't always wash their hands, or do it properly. You still go about your day and touch things they have touched. 2) Is there an epidemic of retail clothing workers getting diseases that you know of? Is it possible? I guess. Is it probable? Doesn't seem like it. Would someone without OCD be worrying about this so much?

@Ben84 I mean i have a coworker who brought up the point and said that was the reason why she didnt like guest service (returns)

@Coul.C Who's to say she doesn't have some anxiety issues of her own 🙂?

@Ben84 I mean everyone has anxiety in small part but to the level where it becomes ocd I don’t know.

@Coul.C I recommend finding some disposable gloves and keep at it 🙂.

Can you wear gloves or something?

@Ben84 Yeah. And we are still able to wear masks. I don’t wear them but I’m sure this person should be able to

@j Yeah ive been wearing gloves in that section . I got a rash though so i was wondering if it was an allergic reaction to something else or something i caught from working in returns...

@Coul.C If they were the latex gloves they pass out then it’s probably allergic reaction to latex. I get rashes from bandaids if I have them on for too long. So it would make sense. See if you can wear latex free gloves. There are also plastic gloves? I mean they are better than latex but I’m not wild about them being plastic. But at this point anything to divert your mind from this. Contamination ocd is so hard. Anything to find peace before it can potentially get worse.

Honestly I understand and appreciate this point but im not even sure this is a hundred percent ocd i think im just watching out for my health. Like i already have lots of ailments and an autoimmune condition so just because my body might be able to handle it doesn’t mean i want to make it go through this as well. Mentally i already get overwhelmed from the conditions i do have. I do appreciate the advice though thank you! I just want to stop things from happening before i do get something.

@Coul.C That makes a lot of sense to me. It still sounds like it’s rising to the level of OCD because other immunocompromised folks wouldn’t be so distressed by the possibility of contamination. Like they’ll take the precautions, wearing a mask, washing hands, wearing gloves, etc. and they feel satisfied with that level of protection & it doesn’t stress them out to think about it. You have a very real reason to be concerned about contamination since you do have a chronic illness. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you wanting to protect yourself when you already have a fragile immune system. The OCD part is when you can never feel quite satisfied with your level of protection from possible infection. OCD tells you that you absolutely CAN NOT get sick, and you need to spend as much energy as you can keeping yourself from getting contaminated. Immunocompromised folks without OCD take precautions, but understand there’s always still a chance of getting sick no matter what you do, and that possibility doesn’t distress them the way it does you, because they are confident that they have done what they could to control what they can control. OCD wants you to control EVERYTHING, no matter if it is humanly possible or abides by the laws of nature or not. You can only control your health to a certain degree. You are doing what you can to stay safe and that is enough.