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I have been going over how my ocd will affect a future relationship. The things I struggle with in my OCD is cleaning and contamination. There are times where when I feel at my worst, I have to wash any cooking or eating utensil/dish/pan/pot multiple times. I think the max amount of times I have washed a single bowl alone in one wash is 17 times. That's just a bowl. I also when cleaning use gloves that they use at doctor's offices and/or hospitals. It helps me to feel like I won't need to wash or complete a compulsion(s). So my question is would I be enabling myself or no because I am constantly going over in my head what I should be doing or not being doing and it's always so exhausting.

I’ve only taken two showers in the last month because I can no longer take cleaning the hair trap and the hair and scum and pooh particles out of the tub. I’m afraid of the germs on the walls, shower curtain, floor mat, and grab bar. I can’t even use the main toilet because I’m afraid of what I’ll sit on. I heater being dirty, but I hate the thought of other peoples hair and germs touching me.

Hello everyone, I struggle with believing I washed my hands the entire time I counted for a specific time such as 20 seconds. I guess I doubt that my hands were moving the entire time. I sometimes feel I need to have my partner watch me when I count and wash and that makes me believe I washed for the entire 20 seconds. Does anyone struggle with this? I don't want to count anymore as I know this is a compulsion. This started during COVID. I don't feel I know how to wash hands normally, without thinking about it and worrying if I did it enough. Any advice on how to fight this would be very appreciated. Thank you!

Over the last two or three years I experienced many life changing events. First, I graduated college after taking 11 years to complete my degree due to having dyslexia and processing and developmental delays. Second, I finally garnered the confidence to get my driver's license in my early thirties and eventually bought my own and my first car. Third, I was lucky enough to have enough money saved up to buy my first home. It had not been long before my family noticed that I was taking longer in the shower than maybe I intended. I found myself washing my body and hair four times each and still not feeling clean. This evolved to being ultra sensitive to smells and germs regardless of if they were on my body or not. I wash my hands till they are red and raw. I have avoided going outside or even going to my house and garage. On top of that, if anyone mentions me needing to go outside, whether in my car or not, I get this stinging and tingling feeling all over my body that feels like my skin is burning or on fire. After a rough conversation with my mom, I now can get a hold of it and only feel clean if I run through a checklist of convincing myself that my hair, body, hands, and feet are all clean after a shower and before I get into bed at night. I have never done this before in my life but I feel like its gotten to the point that I have an anxiety attack and my skin feels like it is burning from the inside if I think about even just sitting outside with my dog. I have never been diagnosed or even treated for OCD, but I'm hoping through an OCD therapist, I can get the help I need.

I can't keep feeling this way

My problem sounds kinda silly in comparison to others here, but I must say it plagues my daily life so so much that I just need to share it. It would be great if I could get a few advice here. I was diagnosed with OCD a few years back, although the symptoms started quite a few more years back. It’s nothing too serious, but it takes me almost an hour to use the toilet (not bathing). What takes so much time? Cleaning myself and washing my hands mostly. I repeat a set of…what the doctor termed as ‘rituals’ I perceive as ‘necessary’ to wash my hands properly. If I do not complete them, the back of my mind screams “You’re still unclean!”. Even if I manage to avoid my compulsions for one day, on the next, it doesn’t become any easier. A brutal cycle of obsessions and compulsions that needs to be broken every day, but I can’t. I can speed up my ‘rituals’, but not avoid them entirely. This means the time I need in the toilet is still around 45 minutes to an hour. On my worst days, it has even gone for two and a half hours at a time. Although I can continue like this at home, but soon I need to move to college. I know college and dorm life won’t be any kinder to me with this disability of mine. Neither will I be given so much time inside shared washrooms, nor can I avoid the vicious bullying that may come with it. The latter is mostly my assumption, but even normal students face ragging in college; it’s a fact. I would be really glad if anyone with similar conditions who has spent life in dorms alongside peers could share their experiences. How to manage the demon of OCD and how can I survive dorm life? I’m already scared of rumours of ragging I heard from my seniors, but this disability of mine makes life so much worse. I’m really afraid of what the future holds for me.

I think I have contamination OCD based on what I’ve been able to research. It’s debilitating and I just want my life back. I have to wipe down or clean everything that comes into my house. Yet there are “clean” and “dirty” areas within the house, which logically doesn’t make sense.

Does anyone else feel completely consumed and controlled by their OCD? I have constant fear, panic, and anxiety now 24/7 around contamination OCD. I have tried ERP, but it feels like it doesn’t help with the daily issues I am having. It feels like I can barely get through the day.

me when I hear “virus or bacterial illness”😨😰😱 me when I hear “common cold” 😯

Hello! I know I have contamination OCD in some sort of way. I cannot use or touch things that are “dirty” is a big one, whether there is a stain, crumb, or if it had been somewhere I deemed dirty. I cannot put outside clothes on my bed, I cannot use certain utensils, and there is so much more. I get so much physical anxiety from these things. However, I cannot figure out what the obsession is. I cannot do certain things but I don’t know WHY. I don’t know what the fear is if I do it. I don’t think someone will die, I don’t want to get sick but I also don’t think getting sick is the obsession. Just wondering if anybody else has ideas or what their own obsessions are with it!

Do you ever get hung up on the fact that at one point in time, you did not have detectable symptoms of ocd? I literally did not have contamination ocd until Covid. I used to lay on the ground with the dog, go out and come back home and lay on the couch in the same clothes, put my phone and keys on ground etc. Now I can’t even walk in my socks in house because it’s going to contaminate the couch when I put my feet up. Now I can’t sit on my couch unless I change my clothes, and now if I even have to touch my phone when my hand is “dirty,” I have to wash my hands, wipe my phone, and wash my hands again. This really sucks. I wish I can go back to a time where I wasn’t like this.

I've been getting carpet beetles (i saw 2 over the past few days) and I read online that they can lay eggs all over including in clothes and now i'm paranoid that all my clothes are contaminated and i have to rewash all of them and I just feel so gross and it feels like carpet beetles are all over me.,

What can I say to my 30 something daughter when she says she won’t go in my car because my bag touched the floor near where a ladybug died and I put my bag on the passenger seat. Now the seat is contaminated. She is living with me right now and not driving.

One of my themes is HIV fears, and I was just at Walmart picking out a shirt from the rack that they have them all folded up on. I was reaching for one from the bottom shelf and my hand brushed against the underside of the shelf above and they're was a sharp part that cut open my thumb. I panicked and took a picture of underneath and it was just the shelf was sharp where it looked welded but it made me bleed a lot and now I'm freaked out thinking it could have a disease

Hi everyone, I’m new here and this is my first post. For about a year now I have not drank any tap water (not even filtered). Somehow I became convinced a while back that my tap water was not safe to drink straight from the tap, and shortly after that I became convinced that filtered tap water was contaminated too (and that the filters themselves are somehow contaminated). Logically I know none of it makes sense, and I’m not even sure what I am afraid of happening if I do drink it. It doesn’t feel like a fear of getting sick, just an intense sense of dread at the thought of drinking the water. I also have some problems with drinking bottled water especially if I feel like I can taste the plastic. So I have almost exclusively drank canned sparkling water for a year now. Has anyone dealt with similar contamination fears?

My mom has hurt her leg and is struggling to use it as of now. With me dealing with overwhelming contamination thoughts this scares me as I may have to help her to use the restroom or shower until she’s able to maneuver. I feel like a bad person for being overwhelmed by this because I don’t want to be selfish but I feel so scared that i’ll have to deal with this fear I have if she ends up needing help from someone else in the house other than my dad. I am super afraid of my own bathroom germs so this is just extremely overwhelming and scary to me. Has anyone ever dealt with anything similar?

Before i went to school i bought a juice for the day and it looked sealed well but when i opened the cap it came off really easily and i got anxious that it was already opened before i bought it even though it looked sealed.Today was gonna be the day i was going to ignore all my intrusive thoughts but im so scared to drink it because my brain is telling me someone opened it before, but im really thirsty and have to be in school for a long time 😪.What should i do?

I have contamination OCD which I’ve had since 2016. Does anyone have any steps or plans to start to overcome it that I could try? I’m on medication and have had long term therapy.

I have two main contamination themes and the other day I had a major win over one of them and felt pretty good. Today I had a terrible terrible turn back into my other theme. I can't handle the back and forth and now I feel in a really bad place

So a week ago a dog licked the side of my lip quickly, I don't know where the dog came from and he was very calm and playfull and friendly and didn't show any signs of rabies. And after he licked me I cleaned my face multipule times. Later I took the oppinions of 3 doctors and they all assured me it's fine But I went into a spiral and couldn't stop thinking about it and started googling it and google says other wise.... So should I let it go and trust the doctors or should I get tested.