Hi everyone. I'm a new sufferer. self-diagnosed.

[Guest warmlight0712]

Hi everyone. I have an irrational fear of rabies. It started last year when I went for a walk in the park and saw a dog running towards me. since then I've been afraid of dogs, even seeing one creeps me out. Then since I knew rats and bats could transmit the disease too, and saw them several times in my school, I started being afraid of them too. I'd go home compulsively check for scratches and bites. Even the smallest scratch freaks me out. Now I always wear combat boots and keep my hoodie up every time I walk out the door for fear I'd step on a sick rat or some sick bats would unexpectedly touch me. My eyes are fixed on the ground to make sure there aren't any such thing on the ground. I close all windows and check my bed like a dozen times before I go to bed. Sometimes I'm fine and my life feels good. But increasingly the images of bats and mice and rabid dogs surround my mind, exhaust me. I don't want to live this way. I want to be the old me. I want to have a pet dog and wear shorts and walk comfortably on the street. Please help me!

[Guest PJM]

Hello,

Coming to the forum is a good first step. There's lots of us on here who have OCD.

Have you been to see your local GP yet or talked over your fears with a friend?

[Guest warmlight0712]

I haven't seen a GP yet, but I've talked to my close friends and boyfriend several times. And though they try hard to sympathize and listen to me, I think they're losing their patience. Many's the time I think, they don't deserve to hear a bunch of nonsense like this after all. It's just my thoughts, all in my mind, matter only to me. So I stop telling anyone. Hopefully here I can write down everything and receive real sympathy.

[taurean]

Hi thjere

OCD does this to us. It can take a seeding event like yours and then bed in as yours has.

You need some help along the path. if you are able to share your fears and get some support with a significant other, a self-help OCD workbook may be the way to conquer it.

Have a look at the shop on the main OCD-UK website.

[PolarBear]

You don't need sympathy. What you need is some empathy (we have loads, we're all OCD sufferers) and some advice.

All those things you do, like putting your hood up, wearing combat boots, looking down at the ground, and on and on, are compulsions. You do those to try and stave off anxiety. The problem is, they don't work. They might make you feel better temporarily, but inevitably the concern over rabies (the obsession) comes back and you have to keep going with the compulsions. It's an endless cycle until you make it stop.

The core of the basic therapy for OCD is to stop performing compulsions. It's not easy. it's hard work. You have to live with the increased anxiety caused by not performing compulsions, but it is the best way out of this disorder.

[Symps07]

Hi Warmlight0712, welcome to the forum

[Guest warmlight0712]

@PolarBear: thank you so much for your advice. You already gave me incentive to stop those compulsive actions :original:

[Guest Princess👑Panic]

Hi I know excactly what ur going threw day in day out because I am the same as u but my fears is "AIDS" I even struggled to write "it"cos it's terrifying to me!?! And u find yourself retreating

from the world cos they might have "IT" sad

but true x

[Guest Princess👑Panic]

Alls am tryin too say is ur not Alone! Am sure Thats a song ??x

[Guest Princess👑Panic]

Alls am tryin too say is ur not Alone! Am sure Thats a song ??x