My contamination misery.

[daja]

When I got back from holiday there was an insect killer aerosol can on the wooden chest outside my room. I asked my brother what happened and he said my other brother had a cactus plant in his room which became infested with ants. If you look on top of the wooden chest you can see tiny dead ants.

Insect repellent I can just about deal with but insect killer fills me with dread. My brother must have put the plant on the chest and blasted it with the spray. Now I am fearful of the chemicals spreading and me brushing past it or anyone putting stuff on it (like when someone goes in the loft or puts a cup of tea on it) like my washed clothes which were going on there.

[taurean]

Now the interesting thing here is that your brothers see no dread, no alert, no alarm. 

You see fear, threat, spread by connection to any and everything. 

Are your brothers reckless, fearless?  Are they simply reacting normally - whereas your contamination OCD is doing its thing and creating fear and dread? 

What do you think is the way forward here that can make a big stand against what your OCD is telling you? 

[daja]

My brothers are 15 years younger than me so more carefree. I don’t think I can make a big stand against what my OCD is telling me - at the moment.

I have brushed past it (or imagined I did) a couple of times today and refocused avoiding changing clothes when I initially wanted to unlike at the weekend which was hell.

The only good thing to this is that it’s put other fears much lower down on the hierarchy.

 

Edited October 15, 2018 by daja

[lostinme]

Roy as given you some great advice daja, the anxiety will soon fade away and the storm will pass, hang on in there 

Well done for keeping yourself on top of it, your doing great 

[taurean]

Being younger doesn’t necessarily make people more carefree. That would be like saying as we get older we see more fears or threats around us - which would be an overgeneralisation. 

All of your hierarchy of triggers are threats/fears because of what OCD is telling you. When you listen and believe, your reaction is anxiety. 

[daja]

Yes I agree. It’s late. I’m tired. Will sleep on it.

Thanks Roy and Lost. 

[Flipfix]

I could worry about this too but I am convinced the human body can typically handle such one time "exposures" easily.

[taurean]

If it couldn't, don't you think the product would be withdrawn from the market? 

[Flipfix]

I agree. The point I was making was just that a permanent prolonged and continued exposure to such chemicals might be a cause for concern but a single "normal use situation" less so.

I try to have confidence in my organism that it can handle a lot of stuff. This thought helped me get over such fears in the past. Similarly, rather than excessive cleanliness I learned, rather to trust and indeed (I hope) train my immune system to protect me.

Having said that, I am not sure how helpful rationalizing in OCD situations is in general. Certainly helped me from excessive concern about germs etc. but not from allowing the OCD to then "move" to a different domain.

 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Flipfix

[daja]

35 minutes ago, taurean said:

If it couldn't, don't you think the product would be withdrawn from the market? 

It comes with all sorts of warnings on the spray can. My fear is it spreading on stuff that touches it. If the power of the residue faded that would help.

[taurean]

1 minute ago, daja said:

My fear is it spreading on stuff that touches it.

Of course it is.Unfortunately this is a key element in contamination OCD - the chain of spread from one thing to another.

It's something non-sufferers don't tend to fear, or indeed believe.

And it's not because we aren't careful or cautious - we just don't believe it  to be true. And, of course, we do know that OCD lies and/or exaggerates. 

So that's something for you to work on Daja