Jump to content

GP Practice infection fears


Recommended Posts

I'm living with my parents. My Mum has a GP appointment today and I'm panicking about her potentially picking up Norovirus from the Practice. 

I realise that non-OCDers don't even think about these things and know that I need to do some compulsions to cope but I also really think I need to challenge my faulty thinking about this. 

I just wondered if anyone had overcome similar fears and whether you challenged your thinking or just completed ERP?

Thanks!

Link to comment

Well the fact you have it labeled as faulty thinking is a good start.

I worry about my mother getting an infection, or falling, (she's 90), but I worry more about her becoming isolated from her friends and interests.

I try to view it as something I can't control, so not to worry.

It's in the same category as "I might get hit by a bus tomorrow"

Link to comment

Hi Belanna,

I think that's a good step to know that it is faulty thinking and that it is your ocd that is having you do compulsions around this rather than rational concerns.

I also have contamination issues around doctor offices and hospitals and am still in the place where i need to change and shower after each visit.

Some things that help me in challenging the thinking is observing other people (when I observe other people in my family going to the doctor and then coming home not changing/showering that is a good thing to remind myself that that is what normal behavior would be.) Of course when we do erp, we don't want to constantly try to reassure ourselves that our fears are irrational. We need to learn to sit with the possibility and uncertainty and the anxiety we feel around that, not do our compulsions even though we feel anxious, and get on with our day. . We do that in little doses working our way up our hierarchy of fear.

As you know it isn't always possible to just jump to a higher spot on our hierarchy and not do the compulsions, so the other really good steps toward overcoming this is to be consistently challenging your contamination fears through working on a hierarchy, starting with the easier stuff first but working on that daily. Little by little we learn how to deal with the anxiety.

 

Link to comment

Thank you so much Leif and ClosedforRepairs. I do need to start copying other people- that's good advice Leif! I've been re-writing my Hierarchies for ERP this week- there seem to be so many elements to my OCD. Also I'm torn between trying to find evidence that I massively inflate the risk of everyday activities VS. trying to just accept that there are risks.
Unfortunately Closedforrepairs- although I do worry about my Mum's health RE. more serious health stuff; I was only selfishly worrying about her picking up Norovirus because I am terrified of catching it myself and of being in the house when someone has a contagious D&V bug! (I have emeto(vomit)phobia!).

My Mum changed her clothes and washed her hands (I would shower like you Leif but do accept that my family won't) and I pretty much engaged in all of the normal rituals (dispensing the liquid soap; cleaning the sink after she had used it ;wiping the door handles) as I normally would so that's definitely something to work on next time! 

 

Edited by BelAnna
Link to comment

Hi Anna

Sorry you're still struggling so badly with this.....but sadly you will :(

Where are you at treatment wise?  Are you having any, is any in the pipeline?  You really need some help with this from someone who knows what they're doing.  And are you ready, are you in a place where you start to deal with this effectively?  So many years are passing by and you're still stuck.  What's your plan for fighting back?

Link to comment

Thanks Caramoole. 

Yes I definitely am struggling. I am 31 so not ancient but yes I have lost 24 of those years to OCD and obviously should be living in my own place, in a relationship, work, family etc. and I have missed out. 

I am still seeing my Psychologist weekly but I have asked to switch from EMDR to CBT at the moment. This week I've set tasks from an ERP hierarchy but I've found that I've had to write multiple hierarchies for ERP for each symptom-type/type of OCD so not sure if it will take a while!

Link to comment
15 hours ago, BelAnna said:

Unfortunately Closedforrepairs- although I do worry about my Mum's health RE. more serious health stuff; I was only selfishly worrying about her picking up Norovirus because I am terrified of catching it myself and of being in the house when someone has a contagious D&V bug! (I have emeto(vomit)phobia!).

Fair play,

But 

1) It’s not that selfish, no one wants to get norovirus.

2) It still falls into the “ might get hit by a bus “ category.

Link to comment
13 hours ago, BelAnna said:

Thanks Caramoole. 

Yes I definitely am struggling. I am 31 so not ancient but yes I have lost 24 of those years to OCD and obviously should be living in my own place, in a relationship, work, family etc. and I have missed out. 

I am still seeing my Psychologist weekly but I have asked to switch from EMDR to CBT at the moment. This week I've set tasks from an ERP hierarchy but I've found that I've had to write multiple hierarchies for ERP for each symptom-type/type of OCD so not sure if it will take a while!

I'm pleased to hear you've asked to swap to CBT.  EMDR is used (I'm told) effectively for PTSD but I don't think there is any hard and fast evidence for its success with OCD, as yet.

Quote

I've found that I've had to write multiple hierarchies for ERP for each symptom-type/type of OCD

Whilst there can be an element of this it wouldn't normally be procedure to do this, dealing with each element as a separate issue.....the different issues could be infinite given how the fears change, leading to an endless, treatment-based coping mechanism rather than dealing with the all-encompassing problem, which is OCD.

Is the Psychologist one you've been referred to via the NHS?  I'm just a little puzzled why they've chosen EMDR as the first line of treatment rather than CBT

Link to comment
6 hours ago, Caramoole said:

I'm pleased to hear you've asked to swap to CBT.  EMDR is used (I'm told) effectively for PTSD but I don't think there is any hard and fast evidence for its success with OCD, as yet.

Whilst there can be an element of this it wouldn't normally be procedure to do this, dealing with each element as a separate issue.....the different issues could be infinite given how the fears change, leading to an endless, treatment-based coping mechanism rather than dealing with the all-encompassing problem, which is OCD.

Is the Psychologist one you've been referred to via the NHS?  I'm just a little puzzled why they've chosen EMDR as the first line of treatment rather than CBT

Thank you, I'm hoping to have more success with CBT this time. I think that the reason that my Psychologist (NHS through the Community Mental Health Team) chose EMDR is that I have Emetophobia and there's some evidence for using EMDR to treat phobias where there were traumatic triggers to its development. 

With the CBT, I am setting the tasks myself but a little unsure of what to work on first. In lots of ways the different aspects of the OCD are completely different- so for example the tasks for dealing with my Norovirus contamination fears (moving from being able to open doors/ do laundry without gloves on through to being able to get out of the house and then to use public toilets/go to GP appointments) are completely separate from dealing with the responsibility and checking aspects. I don't want to wait to complete ERP for one type before moving on to the next though- how should I go about that? 

 

 

Link to comment

Time to make a big list. This is your homework. What you can do is make a list of all the compulsions you do to make yourself or others safe. Then rate them. Take two and compare in your head. How much anxiety would you experience if you didn't do A vs B? Put the more anxiety provoking one on top. Now look at the next one. How does it rate on the anxiety scale vs the first two? Place it where it should be. And so on.

It's not perfect so don't try to be. Some will be equally anxiety provoking. It's okay. Do the best you can. 

Now you have a heirarchy to work with. You start at the bottom of your list, least anxiety provoking.

Later you remember another one? No problem. Squeeze it on the list where you think it should go.

By the way, this is empowering! You get to do something about your condition without causing too much distress. 

Link to comment

That is so good to hear you're back doing CBT!

4 hours ago, BelAnna said:

With the CBT, I am setting the tasks myself but a little unsure of what to work on first. In lots of ways the different aspects of the OCD are completely different- so for example the tasks for dealing with my Norovirus contamination fears (moving from being able to open doors/ do laundry without gloves on through to being able to get out of the house and then to use public toilets/go to GP appointments) are completely separate from dealing with the responsibility and checking aspects. I don't want to wait to complete ERP for one type before moving on to the next though- how should I go about that? 

I know for me I had 2 different themes. One involved checking, the other was contamination so washing/cleaning and avoiding. I did 2 separate hierarchies for these. Then I chose to work on contamination first as it was the one that was most interfering at the time.

Also when I started out with contamination, I did do further breakdowns of compulsions I was doing for each task, and how to start eliminating the compulsions from easiest to hardest. 

This was when taking a shower took me 7 hours, taking the garbage out took me about 3 hours etc. So I just broke each of those down into all the compulsions I was doing and worked on eliminating them.

 

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...