What should I do?

[BelAnna]

Hello,

My Dad had severe angina/chest pain earlier so went to our local minor injuries unit and was taken by ambulance to A&E at a our nearest major hospital. It sounds as though he had an episode of unstable angina rather than a heart attack as he is now being discharged after 7ish hours.

I realise this is selfish but I'm now worrying about contracting Norovirus from his admission. He was lying on a trolley for four+ hours and my guess is that there would have been people vomiting close to him and in the toilets, which my Mum would have definitely had to use. Usually after a hospital outpatient appointment myself and family members change our clothes but I know that he probably won't be feeling up to that. I also usually clean the toilet sink extensively after it has been used when someone has returned from a hospital appointment. I know that I need to try to be kind and compassionate and not let my OCD be the most important thing here. I'm only just recovering from a very long-lasting, nasty upper respiratory virus but I am completely terrified of Noro due to my Emetophobia.

What should I do?

 

Edited January 20, 2019 by BelAnna

[dksea]

First, I'm sorry to hear about your fathers situation and I'm glad to hear he is doing well and that it wasn't critically serious.  I hope he is able to heal and recover soon.

In all honesty, the best thing you could do for your OCD recovery is to do nothing.  I don't know if changing clothes after being in a hospital is common practice in the UK, its not something i've heard of before in the US at least, but it sounds as if it might be somewhat of a compulsive response.  Still changing clothes once after a hospital visit isn't likely to be an out of control behavior so that alone isn't a big deal should you decide to change your clothes.  Cleaning the sink also seems a bit compulsive as well.  Of course cleaning the sink (and the toilet) should be done on a regular basis, so its not the ned of the world if you do it now rather than later, but be careful that you aren't feeding an intrusive thought.

But the part that really seems to be the problem is this:

2 hours ago, BelAnna said:

I am completely terrified of Noro due to my Emetophobia.

I can appreciate first hand this kind of anxiety.  My initial OCD anxiety, and the one that was primary for about the first 10 or so years was emetophobia.  I used to worry so much because of it, avoid so much because of it.  Even simple things like riding in a car for more than a short distance was anxiety provoking for me (for fear of motion sickness, which I've never had from vehicles mind you).  It was awful, and I hated it.  Fortunately I also am (mostly) over it now thanks to a lot of real life exposure, having to ride transit, fly in planes, and be in situations where I was faced to sit with the anxiety and ride it out.  I used to avoid any and all media that might mention being sick and now I just don't care when it happens, most of the time i barely notice.  It took time and effort but I got there and you can too.  The thing is, while its unpleasant, its also not the end of the world.  All the anxiety and avoidance I suffered worrying ABOUT being sick was worse than actually GETTING sick in the end.  

So what should you do?  Take the same reasonable precautions everyone should take.  Wash your hands after using the toilet.  Wash your hands before eating or after preparing food.  Make sure you cook your food to the appropriate temperatures and follow basic food safety rules.  Other than that?  Don't give in to compulsions.  Don't dwell on the possibility of getting sick.  Don't feed the OCD.  Work on accepting that you might get sick, and it would be unpleasant, but not the end of the world, that it would be temporary and you'd get over it.  That life would go on, and that avoidance and anxiety due to the fear it MIGHT happen are robbing you more of life than if it DID happen.

Good luck and hang in there, you can do it!

[daja]

Great advice dksea  

[BelAnna]

Thank you so much Dksea!  This is brilliant advice and it's great to know that you've recovered from your Emet as the majority of my contamination fears result from my Emetophobia and fear of contracting stomach viruses (then there are all of the other strands of OCD to contend with but the contamination fears are still a major problem!). 

I managed to calm myself down a bit by deciding that I have very limited control in this situation and accepting that we contract a stomach virus however I'm still thinking about cleaning the sink! 

 

[taurean]

I echo that BelAnna. 

And over the last few years my wife and I have made a number of hospital visits for various reasons. 

One hospital near our previous home in London had experienced Norovirus so there was a high level of cleanliness and all were encouraged to use the free handgel.

What did we / do we do?  We obey instructions/common standards re cleanliness and otherwise give no time at all to worrying about it. Same as anyone else who doesn't have your obsession. 

I didn't answer before because you have I think posted before about these obsessions and really the answers then still apply. 

But Dksea's excellent post gave me an intro so I took it. 

Now, going forward, it doesn't matter what new circumstance occurs that triggers these obsessions - the way to deal with them is unchanged, and you don't need to post another topic - just learn to apply what you have already been told.