- 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
- 24w
For the past couple of months, I’ve had a really big fear of like my hand basically going down there or objects going down there and like being contaminated. This basically leads me to be scared of being on my own and doing things without people near (because if I do everything in front of someone they would tell me if I did something), also tucking my shirt. This started last October too and I remember crying for like hours everyday. Now I’m better but I do compulsions like tucking my shirt in a specific way so I know my hand couldn’t reach there. I’m scared to even get ready for the day, brush my teeth, etc with my shirt untucked because I’m scared those objects will be contaminated or I’ll do something to contaminate them. I’ve been trying to stop this compulsion of tucking my shirt in for a while but I’m not really going anywhere.
- Date posted
- 24w
I just started my new job maybe a couple months ago and I’m officially off orientation. I had a couple shifts by myself but the anxiety I feel being alone is honestly beastly. I keep getting scared that I’ll end up giving my patients someone else’s medications, keep having thoughts of “what if I give patient A medications to patient C.” My hair keeps falling out, I get such bad pre work and post work anxiety. On my days off all I think about is work. It’s taking a toll on my mental health and my relationship with my boyfriend. I am mad and stressed all the time. I’m just so tired and I honestly feel like I’m getting depressed. I want to stick it out a couple more months so I can get a job somewhere that’s not in a hospital. I just feel so stuck and scared all the time. If anyone else is a nurse with OCD what did you do to help with your anxiety and OCD?
- Date posted
- 24w
Sorry if this is tmi. In advance, I know some germs are fine - I'm all for that, and it definitely does ease some contamination anxiety. But I have lots of anxiety surrounding going to the bathroom, specifically number two. Again I'm so sorry if this is tmi. I went yesterday, and obviously my hands were contaminated because well, they are when you go to the bathroom. But also because I accidentally brushed the back of my hand against myself. When you're done in the bathroom you obviously put underwear back on, and trousers or whatever, but I wash my hands before touching my trousers but not underwear. So I do that bit before I wash my hands, but my hand, the very contaminated part, touched like a bit of my skin at my waist. At the time, I brushed it off, thinking that my trousers will cover that anyway for the time being. But then today, I wore leggings that are kind of small on me and they weren't as high waisted. And then I got in my bed, and had a t-shirt on, and probably touched so many things. I changed my t-shirt, meaning it touched my hair as I took it off. So now I'm paranoid I have poop particles all over me. I'm convinced I need to have a full shower again and wash my hair. I'm okay with having a shower, but I barely have enough energy for that let alone washing my hair too. I don't shower every day, so with my schedule, I'm not due to have one until tonight. I just want to be able to get up, get dressed, and go about my day. But how do I do that when my bed feels contaminated and I feel like I need to change the bedsheets. How do I cope when it feels like poop particles are in my HAIR. And that could totally be possible. I know some germs are fine. But I just don't know what to do.
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