Rubbish OCD

[Flower girl]

Hey everyone, I’m feeling so incredibly low today,

(brief background. I’ve had OCD for 20 years, I was a frequent user of the forum many years ago, until I became well enough to live again. My OCD is overall 95% under control.)

I guess I’m living in that 5% at the moment. I have in the past few weeks found myself continuously googling coronavirus (sorry I know another thread was closed but this isn’t discussing the virus as such but my obsessions)I  not worried for myself, the contamination fears were never really about me but I am very worried about my Daughter who suffers with asthma. The advice from officials is ‘wash your hands’ now I’m sure that is good advice for many people but to me it goes against everything I have worked on in the past 9 years. I’m beginning to not know what is sensible and what is obsession (a place I’ve been too many to,es in the past).

Now I’m not here for reassurance, I know I don’t need that. I think I just needed somewhere to offload this before I spiral into the depths. I just feel a bit broken today

Thanks for reading

Flower girl (I was 12 years younger when I chose that name...maybe now I’m flower old gal! )

[PolarBear]

STOP GOOGLING CORONAVIRUS!!! You've got to know that will take you down the OCD rabbit hole.

If there is not a cluster of cases in your area, wash your hands after going to the washroom, before preparing meals and after you've been out, like shopping. That's about it. If anything more needs to be done, your local health authority will advise on the news.

[Lollipop]

So hard isn't it?

I'm currently in therapy and getting so confused about what to do.

[Flower girl]

Thanks PolarBear, Yes Lollipop it is so incredibly hard especially when ‘wash your hands’ is the advice and I’ve spent 9 years telling myself I don’t need to wash my hands. So far I haven’t done anything different but I’ve thought about nothing else and am exhausted by it.

[Closed for repairs]

Also remember, when people with out OCD say they wash their hands they mean;

When they remember

When it's convenient

They have waved a hand under a tap and then wiped it down the back of their trousers!

[Lollipop]

7 hours ago, Closed for repairs said:

Also remember, when people with out OCD say they wash their hands they mean;

When they remember

When it's convenient

They have waved a hand under a tap and then wiped it down the back of their trousers!

That made me laugh out loud so thanks for that

[Lollipop]

9 hours ago, Flower girl said:

Thanks PolarBear, Yes Lollipop it is so incredibly hard especially when ‘wash your hands’ is the advice and I’ve spent 9 years telling myself I don’t need to wash my hands. So far I haven’t done anything different but I’ve thought about nothing else and am exhausted by it.

Sounds like you have it under control though and have recognised it so well done you!

I am concerned it's going to set me back on my recovery journey. I was reading the articles as not reading them felt like avoidance but now I can't stop reading them and stupidly I read the comments on an article comparing hand sanitizer and hand washing and another about ten places it's lurking (to be fair some of that was useful and has made me less scared of coins!). I just want it to go away!

I am also concerned that if I'm not reading them then that is negligent and ignoring the risks.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Lollipop
To add a final sentence

[Flower girl]

3 hours ago, Lollipop said:

I am also concerned that if I'm not reading them then that is negligent and ignoring the risks.

My thoughts exactly!