at the lake house and the shower has low water pressure

[Guest MFortunato]

To top it off it's a very small shower but I'm really trying to not let it get to me. I'm having problems feeling clean because of the really low water pressure. I can't clean my butt as well as I usually do and that's my biggest concern in the shower. I'm back to using anti bacterial wipes after my shower because I'm so anxious. Idk what to do. I need to just understand that if I soap up the water just needs to get the soap off but it doesn't need to be that much water. Anyone else ever have this issue?? And if so what did u do to calm down

[Guest Annabel]

If the shower floor isn't too dirty could you make some foam from some shower gel soap at the bottom of the shower, then sit in it with the shower on to help you feel cleaner?

I have contamination OCD and our shower has low water pressure but I'm ok as long as I re-wash areas a few times.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Annabel

[Guest MFortunato]

The problem is I'm sharing it with my family and I dont really like the shower floor and I use a ton of body wash as it is and I did rewashh more then I usually do. I wish I could be normal Annabel it's so hard to deal with this day in and day out. I find myself sleeping a ton just so I can escape from it all.

[PolarBear]

You might not get as clean as you normally do. That's life.

You need to take your focus off the slow shower and onto your reaction to it. What are you doing to overcome this irrational need to be that clean?

Edited August 29, 2014 by PolarBear

[ohdear]

Can you not treat this as exposure therapy? When you have spent your time with this slightly primitive plumbing and you are still here to tell the tale, it may help you to reduce your intensity of washing when you get back home.

Look on it as a success if you can just shower for your normal time (which I expect is more than most people would take) in this situation.

Good luck, try and get a positive spin on it.

[Guest Annabel]

Poor you! I know how stressful it is, I struggle with contamination OCD a lot despite hospital treatment.

What is it about being contaminated that worries you most? One of the things I find helps when I'm worrying and ruminating about whether or not I'm still 'contaminated' is to think 'So what?'- it's very unlikely that anything will happen as a result of being a bit less clean, it might feel uncomfortable or very scary but it's very unlikely anything will happen.

Could you maybe try keeping an exposures notebook/record? Every time you manage to shower normally in the lakehouse shower (without extra washing or more compulsions) you could record the exposure, how you felt and what happened. After a while you will see that nothing happens

[Guest MFortunato]

Thanks guys iv been getting used to it and that's a great idea Annabel. My worries mostly revolve around the amount of bacteria I have on my skin because they are the culprits of smelling bad and to me that's what outcome I fear. I also obsess that I'm going to get someone sick because I didn't clean enough and I might kill someone. Then what makes things worse is when I use slot of body wash and feel clean I start obsessing that people can smell that I used an abnormal amount and I keep obsessing over that. So overall I'm always obsessing over something. I also use a lot of deodorant but I switched to unsented ones and that helps. I'm also starting therapy with a New doctor that focuses more on doing the work then talk therapy and I think that's what I need most

[Guest Miss Lemon]

I think changing your doctor and trying something different sounds like a really good move. :original:

If you want to cut out that side-worry about people smelling your body wash, then why not just switch to an unscented body wash as well as deodorant? Getting rid of a side issue like that might help you focus more on dealing with the main issue of your anxiety about hygiene / odour.

[Guest warriortigerheart]

This is like pot and kettle here, coming from me, but I suggest you don't feed the monster.

It would do you soooooo much good, as Annabel and Ohdear suggested, to use it as an opportunity to say "NO!!" Tell the OCD monster to **** off, and when nothing happens, use that as a benchmark to beat it when you leave the lakehouse. This is an amazing opportunity for you, but that is easy for me to say, as even though I have contamination OCD, this would not bother me as long as I have had the shower.

[Guest MFortunato]

You might not get as clean as you normally do. That's life.

You need to take your focus off the slow shower and onto your reaction to it. What are you doing to overcome this irrational need to be that clean?

Thanks PolorBear I like this line a lot. its getting me thinking that I really try to hard with getting clean and I got to accept the fact I will never be as clean as i want to be. Thanks Miss Lemon I have switched to unscented deodorant but its not as good as the one I used to use sweat wise. warriortigerheart im back home now but going there next weekend so I will try my hardest to not feed the monster.