- Username
- rosecoloredgirl
- Date posted
- 5y ago
What a pain. So sorry. I was 21 when I first got lice so it does happen to adults. I remember how ashamed and embarrassed I felt. And it’s *super hard* telling your friends about it so they can get treatment if necessary. All you can do is just be straightforward, tell the truth, apologize and move on. You didn’t do anything wrong; your apology is more an expression of empathy. If they get upset with you just acknowledge their frustration and steer the conversation off blame and toward action. Best of luck to you. Btw, the 2 times I’ve had lice, none of my friends caught it from me.
Lice is generally treated easily
Find a therapist on the ocd foundation site, if none are in your area, call some therapists that are not close by and ask them to recommend someone in your area.
I also had lice when I was 23 or so. Remember it has nothing to do with hygiene or cleanliness. I don't know if you have to tell your friends though. Would it be a compulsion to confess this? Can you try to speak to your cousins so that they take the treatment seriously? Maybe explain to them that they need to do their part too, so that you can all get rid of the lice.
Accept the uncertainty: maybe you’ll get lice, maybe not...even the worst case scenario isn’t so bad, you buy the shampoo, I know the OCD can catastrophize things and make them seem impossible...I’ve been there, but lice are very low stakes so rest easy, I’m sorry you’re upset!
Having lice doesn’t mean you’re not a clean or hygienic person. (: maybe just be honest with your friends, I think they’ll understand!
I remember recently, I bought a hat at a secondhand store for Halloween. I washed it good, but my head was itching for days after it. I panicked I had life! I called lice treatment experts, washed all m stuff obsessively, etc. Turns out I used too much detergent and it irritated my head. No lice! It might be worth calling some experts though. I dont think that would could as reassurance. They might be able to point you in ways to treat it, have your cousins treat it.
I went to use the bathroom at work today before leaving. I went into one of the stalls and noticed what looked like dead skin flakes. I was just plain grossed out by it and went to another stall. 20 minutes pass, nothing till I get in the car and then a thought occurs, the dreaded "what if" question, which came at first from curiosity and devolved to obsession. I wasted 30+ minutes in my car going down a rabbit hole freaked out at the possibility that this person had scabies, following with more obsessive "what ifs"; like what if the previous person there did have scabies and one or more got loose on the floor with the fallen dead skin and some how latched itself to my shoe, and now my shoes and/or clothes are contaminated, and now my car probably is too. Exhausted from the associated anxiety, for those first 3 hours or so, I knocked out in my car for 2 hours while my girlfriend was working; and it helped clear my mind a bit, but I still can't shake the "what if" still lingering in my mind. I almost don't wanna go back in my house or touch anything, especially my books. I feel like an ass over this, especially since I used to work in emergency medicine, and ought to know better about this and not allow myself to be so irrational. And I have had patients who have had scabies and did not freakishly obsess then like I did all this afternoon...... Anyone else go through something similar? I feel like OCD may latch onto this for a while now. Thanks for listening/reading.
i was just looking in the fridge and there was some raw meat in a container but i didn’t know that it was meat so i opened the container to check what it was. and i don’t know if it was blood or if they were marinating it but a little bit of it got on my fingers and i wiped my hand on my clothes without thinking and then i just rinsed my hand in the sink, and thought it would be fine cause i only touched the container and i also wasn’t really sure if it was meat or not yet because i didn’t get a good look at it and i just kept doing what i was doing, but then i kept thinking about it and started realizing it wasn’t fine and went to wash my hands with soap and i didn’t know if i needed to change my clothes or not so i thought it was fine too and laid in my bed and stuff and now i realized that i should’ve changed my clothes and i did but now the bacteria could be on my bed and other places and i don’t remember everywhere i touched and i can’t think straight and im too scared to leave my room and wash everything in case of spreading it more and my dad and brother are drinking so they’re not gonna listen to me if i said to wipe everything out there and im just freaking out. i feel horrible for being so careless and i’m really scared that my pets and dad and brother will get sick because of me
I work in social work and today I went into a home that was infested with fleas. I immediately freaked out. Once getting back to the office I was freaking out, my boss didn’t understand and wanted me to go back. I ended up not listening literally stripping in the parking lot throwing my clothes away and going to a truck stop to shower. Anyway, I’m still stuck on feeling the need to shower every time I go near my car since I was in it before I could shower the first time. Obviously I need to go to work and use my car and I know it doesn’t have fleas but any tips on how to feel better about this? I’ve been too anxious to go near it and every time I do I feel the need to flea bomb the car, throw my clothes out, and shower.
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