Contamination OCD - Community

I've been considering moving for a while. I currently live in a decent area, but have been having difficulty maintaining it due to size/structure, and the level of OCD I experience (severe contamination type 2). The apartment also seems to be put together with glue. I found another apartment. The apartment is on the outskirts of a not so great area, but the area where the apartment is located is a bit isolated, but okay. It would also make my commute about 10 minutes longer. The other apartment is smaller and everything is brand new, but I might feel a bit isolated there. I already left a deposit (my dad left a deposit). I've been going month to month on my current apartment, paying through the ears because I wasn't sure if I was staying (with help from my parents). I have the option to re-sign a conract with my current building, but i feel like im drowning there. I need to make a decision one way or the other, but I feel I'm darned if I do, darned if I don't. I can't afford therapy right now, even on a payment plan, and my insurance is not accepted here.

This storm has been terrible. Thankfully my area didn't get the worst. But my ocd is obsessing over the boil water notice, even though it isn't for my specific area in the county. I am scared to wash any dishes to cook anything. I've been living on snacks for the past 2-3 days. I just know my ocd is getting worse and worse.

im currently in college as my first year and overall my fear of germs has taken a toll on my mental health so bad that I’m transferring next year to commute to a smaller school closer to home. I guess I never took it into consideration that me washing my hands, excessively cleansing and cleaning wouldn’t be enough to keep my dorm clean. my roommate is now sick and she’s not cautious about her health despite me openly talking about my struggles with ocd, and she coughs without covering her mouth and goes on my side of the room to look into the mirror and then coughs onto it. I feel bad telling her but I need reassurance that everything’s going to be okay and any advice would def help!!

I have been working for a few months now, still haven’t quite grasped my OCD. Hoping my ERP becomes more effective.

What do i do I feel like a failure I haven’t left my house since January due to contamination ocd I have just left school and I’m supposed to be at college or something but I’m just sat in my bed . I feel hopeless I’m never going to get anywhere in life :(

So we went camping in our tent in 2017. We all ended up with the stomach virus and my son got sick in the tent. I have avoided that tent since this happened. We haven’t used it since we unpacked it. (Would’ve thrown it away had my wife let me.)I believe this was the beginning of the cocoon of fear I have let OCD build around me. That began the fear I deal with daily. Fear of shaking hands, touching door knobs, disinfecting my cell multiple times a day, as well as obsessive washing of my hands… fast forward to now in 2022. The fears are still here, only know they’re affecting my 10 year old that wants to go on a group camping trip and I can’t even begin to be cool about it. So I find myself trying to get him to avoid activities he enjoys so that I don’t have to get outside my comfort zone. Anyone got any advice?

Title. I started my job some months ago now and it’s fine but I’d rather not work or work from home. I’m afraid of smelling bad around my coworkers and this has developed some compulsions. I think my contamination has gotten worse in some ways and better in others. since starting work (I was at home for two years because of the pandemic), I’ve developed this fear that i smell bad despite knowing for a fact that I do not. Idk it just sucks

does anyone else have celiac and ocd? i feel like i wash dishes 4 or 5 times if glutens ever touched it, and i’m the same with counters, etc. i’m in college sharing an apartment so i have my own gluten free pan and pot too. i just feel like it stresses me out so much

the skin of my hands doesn’t even feel like skin anymore. sometimes i find it hard to properly hold things, as if my hands are weak and slippery.

my ocd is consuming my life more and more every day. one of my rituals is 2 showers a day, each one lasting an hour of manically washing, washing and washing again. and then at least 30 minutes of my obsessive after shower routine. it’s so exhausting. it’s almost midnight and i am very sleepy and tired yet i haven’t even started my shower routine, so i have a long night ahead of me. i don’t know for how much longer i can do this. i hate this so much.

I haven’t been diagnosed but I think I had ocd start on arounds my age of 14 when around puberty can puberty be a time of onset? And is it possible to like have that onset last a few months then go away I’m now 21 and really haven’t had very much or intense ocd signs since then and I don’t know if it was ocd any body else?

I feel so triggered right now, I have an obsession with ants and I really can’t touch them or see them near my personal things and right now there’s a bunch of them in my room where all my clothes are and can’t stop crying about it, I know it sound stupid but I can’t do anything about it

Hello from Italy. I suffer of OCD for HIV. How do you cope with uncertainty? In particular I'm scared when I think that in a situation I can be infected (even if it has never happened in the world). Testing is a compulsion so I want to avoid it, but I think what if I'm infected and I will now in 10 years.

I Have so much Anxiety right now. I can barely sleep at night couldn’t sleep at all last night. Errrrr so Mad/Angry🤬 I need some help. I have been crying a lot lately I can’t do this anymore. I need to sleep 😴 Help dose anyone have tip or ideas for me PLEASE 😊😴 I need some love and support too.

Hi, I am new here, I have been reading the forum posts & replying to them when I can but this time I thought I would be brave and have a go myself so... I had my first tattoo last December I was excited & nervous. I thought I would treat myself as I had a horrible time in lockdown when I realised I had OCD and was officially diagnosed. I started to re-admire tattoos & became very interested in them. I did my research on vegan studios, I also watched many YouTube videos etc. When I found a local studio I had to go inside by myself, wear a mask due to covid precautions etc. It wasn't until I was sat in the chair waiting for my stencil to dry, that I realised the artist smokes and went out for a cigarette. I did my best to stay calm and not panic, but thoughts started bombarding me. I did not even think about their lifestyle choices😮‍💨.The artist did wash their hands, wore a mask, put gloves on (hygiene standard) but that still didn't comfort me (did they wash their hands with soap, long enough? Will particles of tobacco go through the gloves and their mask into my skin? Will I get ill and its all my fault?). I could smell the smoke through my mask. Then we had a break and the artist went out again to smoke; this time round the artist didn't wash their hands, instead they quickly used hand sanitiser and quickly put their gloves on. I was having a fight inside of me, my heart was beating fast etc and I just couldn't voice my opinion. The thing is I kept reassuring myself it was going to be ok, I don't think it would have been bad if they kept washing their hands after smoking its probably the fact that they did it once and that was enough 😥. I have recently been going back to this and wishing I said something but its too late and everytime I see my tattoos it just reminds me. I have been Googling to justify my thoughts for some scientific answer but its not helping. Questions like how effective is hand gel on cigarette hands, handwashing vs hand gel, if gloves really do protect and are they porous. I felt really contaminated and just wanted to leave but it was to late. 6 months later I had another tattoo by another artist in the studio, I had booked this appointment a long time ago and also regretted it as the artist also smokes. I thought she would probably have better hygiene standards but no, she used gel too and this time no mask. So I felt very sick , the smell was too overpowering, I felt (thought) like as she was talking, the tobacco and germs from her mouth would enter my bloodstream. I should have just cancelled the whole thing, and lost my deposit. The tattoo is really bad and it wasn't worth it as I'm now having laser on it 😵‍💫. I had horrible experiences but the 1st one wasn't as bad as this one. I wish I used my voice. I am never going back there! I really appreciate you for reading this and thank you 🙏🏼💚.

Is anyone going through the ERP process and how is going ?

Looking for people in my area to chat, support and share OCD resources info to help each other. I feel so isolated and i know there's so many of us out there i want to reach out. Hope to hear from you!!🙂

A workbook I ordered on Amazon a while back and just started to work with 😊 Stay strong everyone and keep at ERP 💖✨

I am so drained and I have so many things to do but instead I just do nothing and sleep. I feel terrible and lazy and worthless. I also fear so many of my intrusive thoughts which also take so much of my energy. I fear this fall will bring back my seasonal depression and it sucks. Last year I feared Covid, and now I just don’t want that fear to stop me from doing the things I want. I’m tired of this. I’m also tired of taking precautions. I just want to enjoy my life.

hello, we made a cupcake at school today and I washed my own plates well, the students leave the plates stained and dirty, but my cakes were not baked, so l have to eat my friends cupcake, I ate it, but he used his own plates without washing them, in the dish washer and hot water. If I brush my teeth when the evening is gone, everything will be fine, right?plz help

My OCD is really raging barely coping at this point. Im not on meds presently but open to trying, in past years meds didnt much help but again it's sooo severe i wana try again. I have mostly contamination" anxiety, repeat checking n constant anxiety something is wrong ALL the time im exhausted😭 anyone have any relief on meds they recommend?? What dose is best?? Any meds info helps there are so many and id appreciate any feedback. Thanks so much!

I wish i could be normal and do things without caring everything is so stressful and hard, how do i start to become better?

Does anyone get intrusive thoughts & obsessions around food. (Not ED) But where I’ll go to eat something, then I’ll have a bad thought & I can’t eat it anymore. Or I’ll get an intrusive thought/image about my food at home that someone contaminated & it’s bad now & I can’t eat it??

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"you touched this! now your hands are contaminated." "go wash your hands! it will get rid of the contamination!" "dont wash your hands? the contamination will find a way into your body and harm/kill you, OR your hands will contaminate other objects and possibly the contamination will reach other people and harm/kill them too, do you want that?" its irritating to wash my hands for this but im scared.

could anyone share how they recovered from ocd?

Does anyone get nervous if you receive a package that either clearly has been opened, or looks like it might have been (eg seal looks like it may have been partially peeled off to open the box and then resealed)? Because you wonder who broke/might have unsealed the box and why and what they did to the product inside…even if there is no visible damage to the product? If so, how do you deal with the anxiety?

I catch it every time. Sometimes I would catch the time with that number (12:12) and at work we have the hh:mm:ss format of the time, and so I would see 12:12:10 and I would quickly avert my eyes so I don’t see the 12 three times. But then there’s another time in front of me and I would end up seeing it. And now I feel I have to neutralize it. Even typing it doesn’t feel good. Why do I always see the number tho?

so over the past year or so i've been certain that i have some kind of disorder or something. at first i thought it was a number of different things and then i found out more about OCD and since then i've been very certain that i have it. i've always had really obsessive/vivid thoughts that give me really bad anxiety and i have to check over and over to get it out of my head - for example, i am terrified of my house burning down when i'm sleeping. before i go to sleep, i have to check every single switch in my house is off, and i have to stare at each switch for at least 10 seconds to get it in my head that it is definitely off. i also have to check that my alarm and ringer are both on each night before school mornings, and i have to keep turning my phone on and off and listen to the ringer sound multiple times to get it in my head that my ringer is on, and i have to stare at my alarm for ages to convince myself that it is definitely on. i also feel anxiety when staying at my friends' houses as they tend to leave their switches on and i can't sleep or stop panicking. i spoke to my mum about it, and she is very aware of my health anxiety/ self-diagnosing issues and she just ignores what i have to say about it and just tries to convince me that there is nothing wrong with me and it isn't any different from what other teens experience, when it is so much worse. eventually she gives up and tells me to get help, but she makes me feel really bad about it and makes me feel like it would be a waste of time and that i am just going through a phase, which i'm not. i also have an obsession with antibacterial hand wipes, and i have to take them everywhere i go and use one after i touch anything or before i eat. if i don't have any with me, i start panicking and get obsessive thoughts about the bacteria on my hands. my parents and i have had some conflicts about it as they are expensive and i go through them really fast, and that i should just use handwash and that germs are "fine". i just feel like people are making me feel like i either don't have OCD (my family and some friends), or they just try to convince me that it's just anxiety when it is far worse and they just don't understand. hopefully i get some support here ❤️‍🩹

I’m writing this post to say to myself that I won’t do any compulsions right now as I go to the gym. Hope this inspires anyone else who is practicing ERP. I know it’s going to be hard but I’m gonna do my best

I had a therapist that I was working on ERP with but she went on maternity leave and now I'm unguided with my OCD. I have mild OCD, mainly contamination-based with intrusive thoughts and things like obsessive hand washing. Things like having to get things in pairs sometimes. Mainly I'm self-guided in my journey but it was nice to have a therapist to lend me a hand when I needed it. I have trouble sleeping and she was helping with that too. I feel kind of lost without having guidance. I started a new job today and at the same time I've been dealing with PMDD, anxiety, a bit of depression, not wanting change, OCD about the change. I don't have anyone to talk to.

Anyone else feel like they make others feel uncomfortable unintentionally from ocd?

Hey Everyone, Over the past week I did a direct taper from Luvox to Zoloft. It has been a pretty smooth transition and I've noticed a dramatic increase in my energy and a huge decrease in cognitive fog. I've noticed though that I am having more contamination OCD. It's odd because I'm not having intrusive thoughts but rather my body just feels contaminated or I just feel anxious and want to use a compulsive behaviour. Does anyone have words or wisdom? I'm personally feeling anxious that I'm going to back track on my progress with ERP or I'm going to have to suffer with more OCD

I've had OCD for 37 years. It's taken a lot, but got me out of the horrible marriage that set it off. Maybe that's what I was trying for. Perhaps if they'd understood more about OCD, I'd be better now, yet I've survived and had many happy moments in life. The pain and suffering is real. I keep trying to get better.

Should we (family members, partners) give in to the compulsions to "show compassion love, support?" What do you do when triggered versus not triggered ? Any difference? Does smoking or absencemof smoking affect ocd ? Should a person be in therapy, remission from ocd before pursuing a relationship with another ?

I have OCD and work at a preschool. And now they are putting me in a room that requires me to change diapers. I’m freaking out!!! I’m working very hard on this in therapy and am still having trouble getting started. Any tips from anyone with Contamination OCD on what I can do? I heard chewing mint gum helps with the smell. Anything else? I am of course going to wear gloves. Double gloves even. Help!!!

Anyone out here actually over come their OCD? How did you do it, on your own with medication,therapy? What type of OCD? Mine is Contamination ocd. I’m trying so hard to ignore my urges and live a normal life. It has taken a toll on me in every way. Im tired of being exhausted and stressed and ready to back to my old life before I had this.

So... I was cutting my hair and I was all good but during shower time half way done I felt really dizzy I just couldn't keep stand I felt I was a gonna pass out, I wasn't done and I sure couldn't just get out and dry my self up and lay down cause of OCD "I'm not completely clean" anyways I got out cause I just couldn't and took a sit on the toilet cause I'll make sure I'll clean it later on today. Went back after some minutes to finish my shower I didn't clean myself as I would like (as my head would fell happy with you know what I mean" cause I just couldn't. I didn't want to just fall down in the shower. So my qs is, this past month and specially this past 2-3 days I've been exposing myself and practicing ERP, also yesterday I walked 10 miles and this past week this has been my sleeping hours 6AM- around 3-4PM Cause of the same reason, anxiety just couldn't let me sleep even tho I was sleepy I just couldn't get myself to rest so idk I think it was a combinación of all of it but specially all the tolerance I've been having the past month to no to fall into crisis or do a compulsion to stuff that trigger me.

Anyone overcome this type of OCD. Mine is horrible. I used to have checking ocd and now I also developed contamination ocd. It’s ruining my life, and relationship. I just want to be happy again. I no longer enjoy life it’s overcome by feeling contaminated and all my time cleaning showering laundry etc. I wish I could go back in time when I no longer had this but once it started about four months ago it seems to get worse.

Hey everyone, I’ve never posted on here but I just want you all to know that it’s okay to allow yourself peace. Keep practicing your CBT & exposure therapy techniques and you will succeed. I personally receive therapy from Private Therapy Clinic in London via zoom (I’m in California) please research Dr. Becky Spelman on YouTube. She’s amazing and so is her clinic.

I'm new here, this is my first post. And I want to share my story thus far. I've not been diagnosed yet, but I've been doing a lot of self reflection and research trying to understand my own brain. And I've shown signs of OCD my entire life. Mainly contamination OCD. I have to wash my hands or use hand sanitizer anytime I touch basically anything. As a kid I was made fun of for it and laughed at for "being OCD" by my family. I'm 26 now and realize now that there's so much more to my mental health than I ever realized. And the more I learn about OCD other than needing my hands to be clean in fear of getting sick or contaminating myself or others, the more I identify with OCD and am seeking more information and a diagnosis. Whether it is OCD or something else, my mental health has been on a spiral downwards the past couple of years. The more I learn the more I realize that things I've thought it done throughout my life may very well have been because of possible undiagnosed OCD. Before a couple of months ago I didn't even realize it was more than being clean and organized. In fact I've found that it makes cleaning harder because if I can't do it the "right" way according to my brain, I can't do it at all. And that transfers to so many things. I don't know what this post is supposed to be, I really just wanted to share some thoughts....anyone relate? How did you decide to seek out a diagnosis?

How do you know if a compulsion is justified or not? Like if I feel the need to wash my hands/shower, how do I know if it is actually a good idea to do these things at the time or is it just a compulsion and I should try to resist?

So i go thru my erp and people will ask me about the challenges and i get tigger about it because i remember what i used to do what should i

My girlfriend just got home from a trip and her clothes smelled like the dog she was around on her trip and she didn’t remember to tell me and her clothes touched my face and now even after I washed my face I just feel so gross. Dog smell is such a huge trigger for me and I can’t get the gross feeling to go away, I’m just rocking back and forth and crying, I don’t know what to do

Noticed a tiny spot on my mattress sheet and it still has some moisture. Wondering if it’s mine or someone else’s…? 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ so annoying My ocd today has been really hitting me with greater force. And I’ve been feeling homesick all of a sudden.

I've been doing the same compulsion for almost a year, it is so exhausting and I hate it so much. However, I cannot bring myself to break it, otherwise I start feeling really nauseous and overwhelmed, and I get really bad intrusive thoughts. However, I have to break it because it is impacting my life so negatively and it is so mentally draining. But I just can't bring myself to do it.

Made it through my trip to California. Back home, working on adjusting back to ERP at home.

Hi everyone, I’m located in Michigan and am looking for a therapist that specializes in contamination OCD. If they also have experience in grief that would be great. My contamination OCD involves bodily fluids (mostly blood), and running over things with my car (if it’s gross i feel my car is gross and i freak out when anyone/pet touches it). Any recommendations or even anyone that can relate would be great. TIA :)

I went to our state fair today, and I went out of my way to expose myself in lots of different ways. I made it through all 6 hours without washing or using hand sanitizer. So cool to see therapy working!!! 🌭🎡☀️

Some daily motivation 💖

I want to unfollow a fling but because I have contamination ocd, I won’t. Him and I had unprotected sex a long time ago but I did get tested three months after my paranoia with HIV is holding me back. So I don’t want to unfollow him just in case something happens to me and I need to trace back to who could’ve given it to me even though I already went to go get checked.

Is it OCD when I want to know if I saw the right thing and I have the need to look back even if I do have a way to rewind? Like I have this obsession regarding someone else, and he used to be a football player years ago with a red jersey in HS in Florida and on the tv screen during our newscast, I think I saw a footage of football players with RED jersey and that might be his school??? I work in a news station WAY FAR FROM FLORIDA (I’m closer to the west coast) and we’re reporting about our own university’s football team which colors are blue and orange and I know it’s very very unlikely that they will air that school because 1) it’s not even the same state 2) this is college football not high school 3) there is no significant connection whatsoever to air that unless they’re talking about high school football in Florida which again.. very unlikely I wasn’t sure, maybe it was orange and not red but I have the need and means to find out. How can I forget about this compulsion every time I’m at work? The computer is just staring at me and my mind is telling me to DO IT because I need to make sure it wasn’t his school, or that it wasn’t a red jersey.

I don’t know how to stop it and refocus. Any tips?

This is a crazy one, buckle up and get ready to read. I have an account on a website called Nationstates. It's a text-based browser game where users create their own fictional countries. One of the more creative things you can while managing your country is creating a Factbook, which is where you put written lore for your nation in so people can learn more about it and be entertained. I was writing a section in my nation's history where a civil war ended with a final battle in a big city that was being torn apart by explosions, fighting, and shooting. With all that chaos, it was conjuring imagery of similar fictional events like the Purge, or even real events like the 1970s NYC Blackouts and stuff. My OCD kicks in right here, by trying to associate my writing inspiration with real life events that had horrible outcomes or lots of deaths, therefore making it "bad taste" or "cursed" for me to be writing "something about those events", even if they have no connection whatsoever or we're not inspired by such things at all. My OCD be like, "Oh, you're basing it off of the (insert violent riot event in real life with atrocities being committed), your work is now cursed and allowing it to exist will invite bad things to happen to you." OCD: "So you have to delete your work, and anything you created after it to protect yourself." As someone who wants to go into graphic design and other creative work, this type of OCD is DEVASTATING. Especially when your brain decides to randomly connect your current project with something that is already rumored to be cursed in real life, like the unreleased Beach Boys song about fire that supposedly caused a building to burn down after it was played. My brain associated THAT for some reason just because I was writing about a city in chaos (so presumably there'd be fire involved, I guess.) So my brain told me that if I posted the work without editing out the city battle sequence, I'd risk my house randomly catching fire because of the curse between now and even to the distant future. I tried to ignore it and post the work, then I went on and posted more works. I told myself that if the nagging got unbearable and I was convinced that it was a "real omen", I'd delete everything I made after it as well as the OG work. Unfortunately, I'm in school now, and the manifestation covered my schoolwork. Thing is, once I turn in schoolwork, I can't retract it for obvious reasons, unlike my art. I don't want to delete my art since I made some really good content and I'm trying to set a benchmark against my OCD. I don't want to destroy my work again like I did on my birthday. And no, my OCD says I'm not allowed to copy the text and paste it later, it must be obliterated completely and redone from the ground up, and that stuff took me HOURS to write. But I need to turn in my schoolwork, and the paranoia is hitting hard. Even if I turn it in and nothing happens shortly afterward, the curse has me thinking that it will follow me around my entire life. My brain is convinced that it's an omen. I distract myself by procrastinating and playing video games or something, but it hurts me with anxiety. I'm in pain and I need help. I can't tell what's real and what fake anymore.

I struggle with contamination ocd. I went to a bar earlier tonight, and I always check the toilet paper and make sure there’s nothing on like blood or anything weird since I am afraid of catching hiv. TMI but when I used the toilet paper, I don’t remember checking thoroughly and I have a fear that there was something on the toilet paper which I know it’s not true but I’m trying really hard to sit with it and no it’s my ocd.

I'm from México and I live with OCD since 2019,it's really awful, I feel like erything is dirty and I can't go out with my family or friend, I can't even touch them.

I’ve recently moved into my partner’s parent’s old house (they’ve just moved) and I’m really struggling with balancing sorting everything out, keeping things clean and tidy without caving into my OCD. For info, I’m not so much scared of getting sick, but mostly struggle with feelings of disgust if something is dirty. It’s the first time I’ve had to properly look after a home and be one of the people responsible for all of the cleaning. The house hasn’t been cleared out at all, so it doesn’t help feeling like I’m living in other people’s ‘mess’ - I’m finding the kitchen the most distressing, it’s quite old and with or without OCD it objectively needs sorting and cleaning. Does anyone have advice for staying on top of necessary chores as an adult without letting OCD flare up? It’s hard when I feel like tasks I ultimately need to do like hoovering are also triggering and strengthening my OCD - if it was anything else not giving in would reduce the anxiety over time, but I also want to live in a nice environment!! Any advice would be so appreciated.

What if, one day very soon, we all feel so much better?

I got out of the shower and I'm convinced water from my feet splashed onto my arm. Trying to just keep going, and managed not to reshower, but this anxiety is terrible.

I was starting to manage some things and work through them until this morning. My husband did something that is at the very top of my hierarchy and it has spiraled me out of control again!

I’ve finally been able to manage my contamination ocd which has been great! My hands aren’t dry and bleeding anymore but they’re still red. It still has that red pigmentation that goes up to my wrists from when I use to hand wash compulsively. Does anyone else have this?

I go back to school on the 5th of sep and i was wondering if anyone had any advice I've barely been at school for a year and this is my last year at secondary school, i was wondering if anyone had any advice for it My cleaning compulsions and things have got really bad recently, despite the fact i won't be in lesson it will still be difficult to cope I was wondering if anyone has any advice on hoe to deal with it and tell the teachers about it:]

I’m afraid to catch HIV and give it to someone. I avoid a lot of things like shaking hands but I’m doing better to set one example. I’m afraid that people will have cuts or I always think that there’s going to be blood present or a syringe present. I’m afraid that if I touch anything in public that there is going to buy some chance be a syringe or that’ll step on a syringe or that I’ll stick my hand somewhere at work and there will be a syringe hidden. So it’s like this obsession of like thinking there’s going to be a needle anywhere and everywhere. I know it came from Having experienced people around me who got poked by accident and a public bathroom or in a hotel room so now that has stuck with me and it freaks me out even when I go to a public bathroom now. Does anyone go through this? I hate it

I have false memory OCD and earlier tonight I was leaving my job and I look on the floor and see a napkin. I keep walking and then I think I’ve touched it or there was a syringe in there by some weird coincidence and that I grabbed it and infected myself. So I go back and I get out my phone and I take a photo of it just to make sure that it’s only a napkin and there’s no blood on it because my fear is getting HIV. Now I’m at home and I’m thinking that I did touch it or I did grab it when in reality, I would never do such a thing but my mind loves to think that it’s real. Does that happen to anyone?

Does any other woman that deals with contamination ocd have fears of certain bodily substances/ germs? Mine focuses around discharge, I’m so afraid to somehow spread those germs. It’s gotten so bad that today I cleaned my cats water fountain out and when I went to go to the bathroom I noticed I had some discharge on my underwear and now I’m afraid that somehow those germs got in the cats water and I somehow harmed her. This is hell why can’t I just be normal

How can you sit with uncertainty if there is a possibility of actual illness if there truly is contamination?

Does anyone have tips on how to date with contamination ocd? I’ve been struggling to even give a quick kiss post date.

I was running to my car in sandals and my foot slid off the sandal and touched the pavement. I know in my brain knows it felt the little pebbles from the street. But my OCD in my brain thinks that I stepped on a needle and that my skin got punctured and I’m hiv infected even. I know it’s mostly false memory OCD. I had to go back and look the whole way back to the car to make sure there was nothing there. Does anyone go through this as well?

hi, so I always start my posts by saying I haven’t been diagnosed with ocd but I’m actually 100% sure at this point that I do have it and I’m planning on getting assessed for it. I was just thinking abt my new theme which is contamination ocd and I realized it makes no sense how it just crept up on me one day. I shower twice a day whenever I go out or am in the living room because people sit there with clothes that have been outside, I can’t wear certain clothes because I fear they’ve been contaminated (even though they’ve been washed) , I don’t use certain blankets because I’m not sure if they’re clean, I was planning on making my bed for weeks but couldn’t because I didn’t know where I’d put the blankets because I didn’t have a “safe” spot that hadn’t been contaminated by outside germs. I don’t know where or why this started. I don’t know why I do all of this, it’s just with my bed and my things and I don’t know why it’s such a big deal to me, I feel like I have to do these things or can’t do things because if I do or don’t, my space will be contaminated by outside germs. I’ve always been sensitive about my bed, I never usually let anyone sit on it or touch it and when my friend was on it a month or two ago I freaked out but that’s a different story. I hate this and I don’t know how to stop. Someone please help.

Sometime i don't listen to my intrusive thoughts and i feel like i am recovering but then suddenly the thoughts come in my mind. Although i resist to do compulsions but i am fighting with these thoughts in my mind and arguing with them. I feel like i cannot control these thoughts and it makes me feel so depressed. I cannot live with this OCD 😭😭😭

My brother brought bed bugs into the house and now I’m freaking out I feel a panic attack coming on anyone ever deal with bedbugs and the anxiety about it

If you’re unable to accept that your fears could possibly come true, will ERP still work to help you recover? This is what I struggle with the most. I can do response prevention for small things that I’m able to rationalize and mostly convince myself they are safe. But I don’t know how to accept the bigger picture of uncertainty, if that makes sense? I just started the therapy process and I worry that this will hinder any progress I might make with ERP.

When you have OCD contamination, how do you know if harm could come from the uncertainty that you are asked to sit with?

Can Intrusive thoughts cause/trigger or turn into false memories(or the other way around) and can they also cause urges to do things(like check something or do something to test it)

So ive struggled with many compulsions and am working on them with my therapist, this was one we havent really looked at cause a few weeks ago when i saw him my cleaning one wasnt to bad, but now irs horrible, my hands are sore, red and peeling from how much ive been cleaning them, i have like 4 bottles of hand sanitizer with me at all times Its got a bit out of hand i can barely touch anything without freaking out, at this point this is starting to become my worst compulsion and is making everything dificult Im not even back at school yet and i dont know how i will be able to cope Any advice is really appreciated

I just did an exposure. My exposure given to me by my therapist was to touch the outside of the garbage can. I get really bad anxiety that I’m contaminated when touching it because of things in there like tampons. I just did it though and I’m finding it really hard. Any tips? I feel like my fear is so rational and don’t understand how other people touch garbage cans knowing what’s in there. But I guess if my therapist makes it an exposure it must be irrational??

I went to pick up pizzas and I had left them in the car for 10 seconds while I went back to the store to see if I had dropped anything on the floor. When I got back to the car started thinking that because I didn’t lock the doors that someone came in and either put blood or put poison in the pizzas. I’ve had these intrusive thoughts for a long time and I hate it. I don’t feel like eating the pizza now :(. Anyone else go through this?

Do you still offer virtual support group sessions?

Why do i have anxiety attacks on like consecutive days. Exposure is not too difficult though but thinking about it gives me anxiety. How to stop thinking about everything. I just don't want to think about anything anymore. I want my brain to get relax at least for some moments. I can't do this anymore. I feel like it's too hard to live with this OCD. It's breaking me inside and outside. I feel extremely depressed every single moment of my life....😢😢😭💔💔

I’m currently having a panic attack over possibly contaminating all the food in my families refrigerator. So to give some context my contamination ocd mainly centers around bodily fluids especially vaginal discharge ( sorry if that’s to much info). So after changing my pants I noticed that somehow some discharge had gotten on my leg. I immediately started freaking out and eventually cleaned off my leg with a rag + soap and washed my hands. I then went to go get food and touched the refrigerator seal / door witch made me freak out so I spent 15 minutes compulsively cleaning the area which I touched with paper towels and a spray can of antibacterial spray. Now I’m afraid that maybe I sprayed the spray on or near the food and contaminated that too, I’m freaking out I don’t know what to do.

I really need therapy. I need someone to talk to about this. I’m so alone. 😭

Attended my first Support Group today. Everyone was so supportive of each other. It was encouraging to see. ♥️ Sending hugs to everyone today. If you’re having a hard day, you are not alone.

Is OCD genetic? I mean will it transfer to our kids and so on? And they will also suffer like us because we have OCD?

My coworker and I were talking about something, and he said “right decisions or wrong decisions” and I had images or thoughts in my mind that popped up when he said those and I wasn’t satisfied, I felt guilty, I think about why that thought popped up when he said wrong decisions, what does it mean, etc so now I kinda want him to say those words again and make sure I think the right thoughts for the words “wrong decision and right decisions”

It’s so wild to think that just 3 months ago, I was ready to end it or at least wanted to end it because of my OCD. Relationship OCD, Contamination OCD, Pure OCD. It’s wild to think that now, I just…can kinda do things? I used to be so paralyzed by my fear that my partner would break up with or cheat on me that I’d want to actively track or ask them for reassurance. But now I can just sit there with my thoughts after recognizing them and it’s just? It’s really nice. It’s really nice and it’s been a hell of a lot of work but things really have gotten better and I’m forever thankful for the things that NOCD and ERP has done for me. Just…wow… I don’t know, I’m just really thankful for how this has been going so far.

Hey y’all my anxiety is sky rocket and i have the urges to perform my compulsion and ritual to relieve this but i don’t want to but my anxiety is killing me what do i do !!??

I am suffering from contamination ocd and self practicing ERP but what should i do with those negative thoughts that are always on my mind? I can't free myself from these thoughts even for a second . When i first started practicing ERP, i thought i will get better but after consecutive days, i feel like i am having anxiety attacks. Sometimes, i feel like my mind really need some rest from those thoughts as it cause pain in my head and neck.

The whole day I’ve been trying to do ERP. I haven’t done some big compulsions but I’ve done small ones because I think they’ve become habits now. But just tonight, I was triggered really bad and I gave in to a compulsion. How do I recover from that? Because now my mind or OCD is telling me “well you failed today. You have tainted your mind and your streak. You might as well do everything else. You cannot neutralize this. You did not win today, just look at your evidence. But don’t worry you can restart again maybe tomorrow, but not tonight.” 😣

I was giving my two month old baby a bath and a mosquito landed near her. I killed it and blood from the mosquito got into the bath water. My brain then convinced itself that the mosquito must have had hepatitis/hiv blood in it which my baby then absorbed somehow and is now infected with a virus.

I was just dosed up to 80mg (a lot) of prozac and im still feeling EVERYTHING. Anxiety, depression, etc. ive talked to my psychiatrist about it and they keep giving me different meds to go with prozac but im starting to show signs of too much serotonin. So frustrating but its really helped with stabilizing my emotions, specifically my anger, and my reactions so its doing more good than bad. I just wish OCD didn’t exist<3

ok so this is may be kind of gross/tmi so i always pick at the skin on my fingers so i usually have a few open wounds but nothing too bad or deep. and sometimes my dog licks at them but i usually don’t let him too much. so anyways tonight he was sniffing this small dead mouse or something i don’t think he ate or licked it though just smelt it but then i completely forgot he did that and let him lick my finger and now i can’t stop washing my hand and i’m so freaked out and scared i’m gonna get some infection or something. i’ve cleaned it super well and like i said it’s not huge and it’s barely an open wound but i’m so scared i don’t want to get an infection

Is it me or does ur mind keep tryna persuade u to do one last ritual/ compulsion and it will be done and ur anxiety tries to push you to do it ? Is so what do y’all do

Who else got a nicotine addiction and feels like they can’t live without it..

Can anyone please tell me how to cope with contamination ocd. When i see someone who cleans their bathroom. Then i need to distance myself from them as i feel their clothes are dirty. If they touch me or my clothes, i feel like i need to take a shower and change clothes amd if they touch something in my closet, i feel like i have to eash the entire clothes in my closet because they might have touched those. I feel like it spreads everywhere. I am so depressed.

Motivation for resisting a compulsion?? Tips??

Does anyone else feel irritated or short tempered when doing ERP after a big exposure?