Reality Versus Obsession

[BigDave]

Hey guys,

I hope all is good. 

I wanted to run some stuff by you as I put together some exposure practices for me to try and I guess one that I’m most concerned about is feces. 

As I have a bowel disorder, I am constantly at odds with my stomach. Sometimes also inadvertently, when I’m on the toilet, I can get feces on my hand when I’m wiping myself (gross I know). The issue is really whether I’m putting too much of a significant worry over this. I’ll wash my hands with cold water, then wash my hands with hot water (stupidly, I have a separate hot and cold tap so getting warm water is next to impossible so I usually have to choose cold or risk getting my hands burnt which I sometimes do to be honest. Obviously feces is not sanitary but tonight for example, I had an accident and I washed my hands multiple times, then showered and yet I still feel contaminated. What is worse is that if I smell my palm, I’m almost convinced I can smell it. NOW, I know that with OCD, often your smell becomes overly sensitive and that things you smell aren’t often there. Which is more, it would be unlikely that after all the washing that there is anything there. I do still worry the cold water washing isn’t enough. I guess my question is where to draw the line. For example, exposure would be to prove that a bit of poop on my hand isn’t going to kill me. That doesn’t sound sanitary so I don’t want to do that. But I could say that going on with life after washing my hands once (with cold water?) and then getting on with my life is sufficient and basically just seeing how that goes is good enough exposure therapy. 

I am not really looking for reassurance here, I know doing that is essentially like a compulsive action. But your advice for what you think would be good would be helpful!

 

cheers,

Dave

[PolarBear]

What do you think other people would do in that given situation?