- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Hello! Fellow nurse here. There’s at least 2 other nurses who use this app on here! There is no quick and easy answer. My contamination OCD decided to focus on the fear of giving my patients sepsis. Is your fear is getting or giving germs? What has worked for me had been finding a medication combination that works for me 200mg sertaline + 2mg aripiparazole and lots of therapy. Scripting in particular helped me. Also watching videos as exposure.
- Date posted
- 6y
That’s tough. Nurses have a tough job. Have you spoken to anyone about it?
- Date posted
- 6y
What are your triggers and compulsions? As a nurse I’m sure hand washing is tough as it’s already oftentimes necessary. Hang in there!
- Date posted
- 6y
Mine are both, giving (to my family) and (me) getting germs. It is very frustrating. I feel "infected" whenever I see my hepatitis B and C patient. Everything about them including blood is my trigger. I try to avoid them as much as possible. This is sad. It happened after my ward full of hepatitis C patients. It is kind of traumatic. Anyway, thank you guys for supports. I'll try my best.
- Date posted
- 6y
You must stop avoiding them. This is a compulsion. If this is too hard right now, try imaginal exposure. The good news is the Hep C is now curable through medication. Additionally, you are probably vaccinated against Hep B as a healthcare worker. A script could go like this: I am afraid I could be exposed to Hepatitis at the hospital despite taking standard precautions and become infected. If this happened, I would be horrified and feel like [insert feelings here]. If I became infected I could accidentally infect my family members and I would feel so guilty. [Insert additional catastrophic thoughts here]. Ex: I would be resistant to treatment and die a prolonged death from liver failure. Despite these concerns, I must accept the uncertainty and act according the facts and not because of my fears. Record the script on the loop player and listen to it until it no longer triggers you.
- Date posted
- 6y
Yes
- Date posted
- 6y
Well, nurse has something to do with patient, right? From IV to intubation assistance, it is for me very painful that I cannot perform what I used to do. It is a nightmare everytime when you have to think whether you will be infected after procedure or patients are hepatitis positive or not. It is really disturbing.
- Date posted
- 5y
This is my life!
- Date posted
- 6y
Thank you, worried driver. Thanks and thanks again.
- Date posted
- 6y
Wow, it occurred to me before to be a nurse but I did not due to the germ aspect/did not want to touch anyone. Were you recently diagnosed?
- Date posted
- 6y
Was it a recent diagnosis?
- Date posted
- 6y
By a psychiatrist, yeab
- Date posted
- 6y
Wait sorry, brain fart. I am curious, how much does it interfere with your ability to get to your job?
- Date posted
- 6y
Holy crap. I have contamination fears that I have worked on when they originated from 1992. I cannot imagine what your going through. Have you been advised to go though CBT or ERP therapy?
- Date posted
- 6y
I have tried ERP recently. Is it gonna be helpful? My psychiatrist said it takes time you have to bear with it.
- Date posted
- 6y
I am actually a psychology major for my masters and studying theories of therapy. It has great research behind it. I have been practicing on my own in small spurts and am having success.
- Date posted
- 6y
Thank you, rachel1979
- Date posted
- 6y
I am currently having a lot of problems not with contamination but with checking rituals. A lot. And realized today that I missed my doctors appt. For meds last month. Thank God the nurse practitioner can get me in today for my meds.
- Date posted
- 5y
Is anyone on this thread still here? I am also a nurse with contamination OCD.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 23w
Hello! I am really looking for some advice. I have been struggling with OCD for a few years now and it drastically affects my daily life. I am going to give a quick run through of my OCD, and then the current situation I am in now. So for almost 2 years now my most prominent themes of OCD have been getting sick with the stomach bug (emetaphobia) and watching someone die/ having to see large amount of blood or do CPR on someone (I just graduated nursing school). Last year I stopped eating out, wouldn’t touch any of my food with my hands, would wash my hands until they bleed every day, bleached everything I touched when I was in public etc… I would have these major panic attacks all the time and the thought of getting sick hasn’t left my head 24/7 for 2 years. I was unable to complete my nursing school clinicals due to panic attacks each time I was at the hospital afraid someone would die and get these terrible images in my head. I didn’t sleep ever, barely graduated. I did ERP after school and was able to make up the clinical days I missed. Got to a point where I was eating again, felt like I was able to get my hands clean just by washing them. I have been doing exposures every day, and have accepted that getting sick will probably happen at one point and I am okay with it as long as I am at home when it happens. So locking myself in my apartment for 48hr every time after I could have been exposed to the stomach bug is major progress for me and I have been overall doing much better. Fast forward to now: It’s time for me to start my new job on a med/surg floor in a hospital. This week I have made it through a few days of orientation with panic attacks day and night but I am doing it even though I am petrified. I don’t feel ready for this big of a step, being exposed to both of my biggest fears constantly. Today at orientation the girl sitting next to me told me she had been vomiting all day, and continued to run out of the room a vomit the rest of the day. I now am 90% sure I am going to get sick and feel as if I would rather die than continue this amount of stress and anxiety I have felt from just a few days of being on the job. This is my BIGGEST fear and it’s coming true and I don’t know if it’s worth putting myself through this every day at work to just be having constant panic attacks and be miserable. I know with OCD you have to face your fears but I have been pushing myself and trying so hard and I don’t feel like it’s worth it to work this job. I would also feel incredibly guilty for quitting on the first week, but there are a million other nursing jobs that are not in a hospital. I think this is too big of a step for me right now but I wanted to see what others think. Any advice at all is so appreciated!
- Date posted
- 23w
I need advice. I’m constantly washing my hands after going to the bathroom/touching something I find gross, but it doesn’t stop at just washing. I have to keep washing til I feel right (usually 3-4 times). It also isn’t just my hands, I go all the way up my forearms. I know in my head that once is enough. But I can’t kick this repetitive behavior. I know I should just start only washing it once but I don’t know if I can handle the panic that will come after. I need advice/tips if anyone’s gone through something similar what worked for you. Im just sick of this
- Date posted
- 18w
Recently, I’ve been struggling a ton with what I eat/put into my body? I’m a first year college student with a few different health issues (including IBS), and lately it’s been hard for me to find food on campus that doesn’t upset my stomach. I also have pretty severe emetophobia, and feel extremely anxious when I feel sick. The ironic thing is that being anxious makes me feel even worse, so I end up sticking myself in an impossible loophole. My OCD has taken hold of these fears over the past few months, and it’s been such a struggle. Especially since people have been getting food poisoning from various dining halls on my campus lately. My OCD has gotten so bad that sometimes I’m too afraid to eat food other than what I buy myself. I feel so trapped. I don’t want my OCD to affect my physical health or prevent me from eating, bc I love eating!! It’s the fear of getting sick that’s the problem. And it’s even harder when everything is so unfamiliar. Just wondering if anyone could relate. Advice is appreciated!
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond