Jump to content

Food poisoning worry- would you worry about this?


Recommended Posts

My parents both drove back from my Mum's work place, which is about a 90 minute - 2 hour drive away last night. Just after leaving my Mum's workplace they picked up some stuff from Waitrose including a couple of packets of (extra large) scotch eggs. 

I ate one of the scotch eggs for breakfast. However I've just remembered that my dad only brought the bag from the car and put it in the fridge about an hour or two after they got home, which means that it was out of the fridge for between 2.5 hours and four hours. This was late-ish at night as they only got back about 9.15pm so not in the heat of the day. I'm freaking out that I'll get food poisoning from this- is it inevitable or very likely? or unlikely? Has anyone eaten anything similar with no consequences? 

 

Edited by BelAnna
Link to comment

Hi BelAnna,

First of all- take a breath. This is just another trigger for you- treat it like you would any other trigger. You're looking for reassurance- no doubt Google will be next. Try not to engage with it.

You don't need an answer to this- what will be will be. I know that's a daft thing to say to someone who is clearly anxious about becoming ill but that's the way to look at it I guess.

Stand firm.

Binx

Link to comment

Thanks Binxy, I've managed to calm down about this one and hopefully won't get sick either. I've been a bit better about accepting risks recently but just had a panic earlier! 

Hope you're ok! thanks for your help :) 

Link to comment
3 hours ago, taurean said:

There's risk and there is exaggeration of nil or minimal risk by OCD. 

Your mission "should you wish to accept it"  is to spot the OCD in your day to day living :)

 

Thanks Taurean :) Sounds like a good plan!

Link to comment
On 15/08/2018 at 12:13, BelAnna said:

My parents both drove back from my Mum's work place, which is about a 90 minute - 2 hour drive away last night. Just after leaving my Mum's workplace they picked up some stuff from Waitrose including a couple of packets of (extra large) scotch eggs. 

I ate one of the scotch eggs for breakfast. However I've just remembered that my dad only brought the bag from the car and put it in the fridge about an hour or two after they got home, which means that it was out of the fridge for between 2.5 hours and four hours. This was late-ish at night as they only got back about 9.15pm so not in the heat of the day. I'm freaking out that I'll get food poisoning from this- is it inevitable or very likely? or unlikely? Has anyone eaten anything similar with no consequences? 

 

This might not be too much help but to put it into perspective; as someone who has contamination OCD, I am SUPER careful when it comes to food. Even more so because I have gluten intolerance. And yet, yesterday, despite my best efforts, I had a bad stomach. The point I'm making is that you can make every good choice in the world to try and avoid something negative happening and it can happen anyway. However, today, I am fine and my stomach is back to normal. So even IF the worst does happen, the effects are very short term. So, essentially, the amount of time and effort you are giving this issue is far more than it's actually worth. Of course, I am not saying that you should lick food off the street. But the reality is that the risk is far less than you're thinking and actually the amount of time you're giving this issue you could likely be doing something more enjoyable and being happy. 

Of course, I know this is easier said than done and I am sure I will have many many lapses in my time but it's a good way to think about it I think.

My thoughts are with you and I hope you have a wonderful day :)

Link to comment

You say these new thoughts seem like they're coming from you and not OCD. Reality check. Where do you think OCD thoughts come from? They're all your thoughts. They're nobody else's. 

These new thoughts are just a new type of intrusive thought. They pop into your head, they cause distress and you no doubt do compulsions because of them.

It's still everyday OCD.

Link to comment
17 hours ago, BigDave said:

This might not be too much help but to put it into perspective; as someone who has contamination OCD, I am SUPER careful when it comes to food. Even more so becausTe I have gluten intolerance. And yet, yesterday, despite my best efforts, I had a bad stomach. The point I'm making is that you can make every good choice in the world to try and avoid something negative happening and it can happen anyway. However, today, I am fine and my stomach is back to normal. So even IF the worst does happen, the effects are very short term. So, essentially, the amount of time and effort you are giving this issue is far more than it's actually worth. Of course, I am not saying that you should lick food off the street. But the reality is that the risk is far less than you're thinking and actually the amount of time you're giving this issue you could likely be doing something more enjoyable and being happy. 

Of course, I know this is easier said than done and I am sure I will have many many lapses in my time but it's a good way to think about it I think.

My thoughts are with you and I hope you have a wonderful day :)

Thanks BigDave, you are definitely right and there's no point wasting so much time worrying about things that are not that terrible or long-lasting- just need to get my brain to fully accept that! Hope you're doing ok and feeling better from the stomach virus!

16 hours ago, PolarBear said:

You say these new thoughts seem like they're coming from you and not OCD. Reality check. Where do you think OCD thoughts come from? They're all your thoughts. They're nobody else's. 

These new thoughts are just a new type of intrusive thought. They pop into your head, they cause distress and you no doubt do compulsions because of them.

It's still everyday OCD.

Thanks Polarbear, sometimes it's a little more tricky when there is real risk involved (e.g. perishable food left out of fridge for more than 2 hours) but then OCD massively inflates the tiny risk as Taurean mentioned and causes distress, occupies my time etc. so definitely need to stop giving in to it. 

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...