covid

[OPTIMISTIC]

hi

im new here so please bear with me    i expect everyone is fed up with talking about covid on here but i need some advice    it may seem a little late to ask for this advice  but i asked my daughter who doesnt live with me to let me know of anything which was important happening such as rule changes etc as i found the news was scaring me    

Please would someone tell me exactly what im supposed to be doing    I was told last March to wipe over food which i have home delivered,  also to wipe over anything delivered such as from Argos, also to change clothes even if just gone out to walk my dog, to wipe over dog with wipes made for animals, to clean or spray shoes after being outside, and to wash hands after being outside the house.  Now im feeling a bit braver i have looked on nhs and gov sites and it doesnt say do any of these things apart from wash hands after you come home and work surfaces    Im so confused and now im finding it hard to do things.  i cant even sit down outside on a bench and even the thought of going for a coffee and sitting down or touching the cup is so stressful    please could someone just tell me what im supposed to be doing    i know people will say im after reassurance which i am in a way but this is because of what i have been told to do in the past   thank you   sorry for the essay   

 

[Gemma@OCDUK]

Hi Optimistic,

Welcome to the forum

No need to apologise for the length of your post

It's natural to feel worried about going out for a coffee, particularly if you have been used to taking quite extensive precautions against Covid-19 since the pandemic began. You're right that for the general public wiping things you buy or changing your clothes is beyond what the government recommends. We do have some resources on this topic that you might find helpful, our member's magazine from last year https://www.ocduk.org/april-compulsive-reading/ has loads of tips on coping during the pandemic.

We also have a couple of presentations from our online conference on coping with OCD during the pandemic here https://www.ocduk.org/conference/conference-map/main/ocd-in-the-time-of-covid/ and https://www.ocduk.org/conference/conference-map/breakout/ocd-and-coronavirus-themes-and-survival-tips/ 

Gemma

[OPTIMISTIC]

Thank you for replying Gemma   Im going to read the links you suggested   Im ready to fight this!   ive had my OCD under control for over 10 years but covid has thrown me into confusion  Watch out OCD im going to get you under control again 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gemma@OCDUK]

17 hours ago, OPTIMISTIC said:

Watch out OCD im going to get you under control again 

Love this! We are definitely all behind you!

 

[OPTIMISTIC]

Thank you  Gone into battle today

[BelAnna]

22 hours ago, OPTIMISTIC said:

hi

im new here so please bear with me    i expect everyone is fed up with talking about covid on here but i need some advice    it may seem a little late to ask for this advice  but i asked my daughter who doesnt live with me to let me know of anything which was important happening such as rule changes etc as i found the news was scaring me    

Please would someone tell me exactly what im supposed to be doing    I was told last March to wipe over food which i have home delivered,  also to wipe over anything delivered such as from Argos, also to change clothes even if just gone out to walk my dog, to wipe over dog with wipes made for animals, to clean or spray shoes after being outside, and to wash hands after being outside the house.  Now im feeling a bit braver i have looked on nhs and gov sites and it doesnt say do any of these things apart from wash hands after you come home and work surfaces    Im so confused and now im finding it hard to do things.  i cant even sit down outside on a bench and even the thought of going for a coffee and sitting down or touching the cup is so stressful    please could someone just tell me what im supposed to be doing    i know people will say im after reassurance which i am in a way but this is because of what i have been told to do in the past   thank you   sorry for the essay   

 

Hi Optimistic, 

Current advice is 'destination handwashing' (when you get in from outside) and 20 second handwashing at points in the day e.g. after opening a package or handling the post in addition to the usual times (after the loo, before and after food prep etc.) but no need to wipe groceries and packages.

Fomite (surface) transmission is actually less of an issue with Covid than originally thought and most often it's caught from person-to-person droplet transmission so you should be fine sitting on a bench too. If you do go for a take-away/outdoor coffee you would keep 2 metres away from others, wear a mask and use hand gel so that should be fine too but obviously some people are more comfortable with that kind of thing than others. 

If you were told to shield by your GP then you might want to take additional safety measures but if you're otherwise healthy then it's just mask + 20 second handwashes + [2m] space.

It's great that you're working on your OCD!

Edited April 22, 2021 by BelAnna

[Lollipop]

This is a really helpful summary thank you @BelAnna

[OPTIMISTIC]

Hi thank you for your advice     My daughter has just dropped our dog off at groomers    At first my initial reaction was panic i wont be able to cuddle her   So I sat on my bed and thought it through    The groomers were wearing aprons, masks and gloves  They are disinfecting all surfaces and tools also using screens between grooming sections    Sooooo on reflection they are taking all precautions necessary so im going to ride out my aniexty   i cant wait to see how she will look 

[Handy]

There is a Covid topic about what to do. But it’s called Coronavirus in the topic. Coronavirus is a huge group of viruses.  

[BelAnna]

8 hours ago, Handy said:

There is a Covid topic about what to do. But it’s called Coronavirus in the topic. Coronavirus is a huge group of viruses.  

This will just be because early on in the pandemic (until about May/June last year) Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) was generally referred to as 'Coronavirus' in the UK. 

 

[BelAnna]

20 hours ago, OPTIMISTIC said:

Hi thank you for your advice     My daughter has just dropped our dog off at groomers    At first my initial reaction was panic i wont be able to cuddle her   So I sat on my bed and thought it through    The groomers were wearing aprons, masks and gloves  They are disinfecting all surfaces and tools also using screens between grooming sections    Sooooo on reflection they are taking all precautions necessary so im going to ride out my aniexty   i cant wait to see how she will look 

That's brilliant Optimistic! Hope your dog looks lovely afterwards!  

 

[OPTIMISTIC]

Hi thank you for the support everyone      My dog (Boo  a Yorkshire Terrier) came back from groomers   She looks lovely and fluffy but now she has her fur cut I can see how much she has put on weight     So I need to step up the walking in the park and letting her mix with other dogs again  -    Thats the next goal.  Was anxious at first but she sat next to me on the sofa and managed to sneek up onto the pillow next to me last night    I remembered all precautions were taken at groomers so im not giving my ocd any wriggle room to grow.

My granddaughter had to see the heart consultant today so my daughter took her into the clinic whilst i sat in the car.   I was a bit anxious about her not having a shower when we got home but i remembered something about not needing to shower as soon as you get home in one of the ocd.uk online conference links which Gemma recommended.  So i have faced my aniexty and not giving in to it    Feeling ok now       

[BelAnna]

4 hours ago, OPTIMISTIC said:

Hi thank you for the support everyone      My dog (Boo  a Yorkshire Terrier) came back from groomers   She looks lovely and fluffy but now she has her fur cut I can see how much she has put on weight     So I need to step up the walking in the park and letting her mix with other dogs again  -    Thats the next goal.  Was anxious at first but she sat next to me on the sofa and managed to sneek up onto the pillow next to me last night    I remembered all precautions were taken at groomers so im not giving my ocd any wriggle room to grow.

My granddaughter had to see the heart consultant today so my daughter took her into the clinic whilst i sat in the car.   I was a bit anxious about her not having a shower when we got home but i remembered something about not needing to shower as soon as you get home in one of the ocd.uk online conference links which Gemma recommended.  So i have faced my aniexty and not giving in to it    Feeling ok now       

That's really inspiring to read Optimistic! well done for coping so amazingly with two anxiety provoking situations! 

[OPTIMISTIC]

Thank you for the support   Not having a great day today   Just feeling low and unable to move forward    Im just going to accept not everyday is going to go well   Never mind  Tomorrow is a brand new day  

[OPTIMISTIC]

Hi everyone    I hope everyone is doing well    I forgot how difficult it was to deal with ocd once it gets a hold of your thoughts    Finding things tricky with covid contamination issues    Any advice please 

[BelAnna]

On 24/04/2021 at 12:09, OPTIMISTIC said:

Thank you for the support   Not having a great day today   Just feeling low and unable to move forward    Im just going to accept not everyday is going to go well   Never mind  Tomorrow is a brand new day  

I'm sorry to hear that Optimistic! Remember that you are making forward steps though- you did brilliantly on Thursday and Friday and it's normal to have blip days. 

I have contamination fears too and have struggled with the fear of Covid contamination through the pandemic although my contamination fears are focused on stomach bugs most of the time. What are you most fearful of re. Covid at the moment? Have you had any vaccinations yet? 

 

[Angst]

I think the best way to protect yourself and others is to take the jabs when offered. You are not alone in having increased anxiety. Researchers in the U.K. and US have identified something they have called COVID anxiety syndrome which has many of the symptoms of OCD.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Angst

[BelAnna]

I'm not sure if this would be classed as providing reassurance- if it is then apologies BUT the rates of Covid are now very low in the UK Optimistic!

I don't know about your local area but in mine the rate is 1 in 10,000 of people infected so that means about 1 person in my large town will have Covid!

The death rate is so low that deaths from any cause (so including all sorts of illnesses) right now are actually lower in the UK than the five year average of all-cause deaths. Yesterday there were fewer than 20 recorded deaths from Covid. 

If you took no safety measures at all to prevent you from catching Covid (so no mask wearing, handwashing etc.) then luckily your chance of catching Covid is very very small at the moment. The reason we need to carry on with these measures is that the figures could increase with new variants. However with a vaccination (and better still with two) then the chance of becoming seriously ill is very small.

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by BelAnna

[OPTIMISTIC]

Thank you all for support     My mum who is 84 lives with me and my daughter 32 who is on the extremely vulnerable list lives with me too   So i have been worried about them   i'm 56  luckily healthy    They both have now had their second jabs and i had my first about 7 weeks ago   Also we all,  including my 12 year old  granddaughter who lives with us but is educated at home contracted covid mid January    We were extremely lucky only to have it mildly    So taking all this into consideration I cant work out why im still finding it so difficult to move forward from the extreme precautions (which i wrote about in my first writing on here)which i was  taking to stay safe.       I know its ocd putting the doubt into my mind and the what ifs   However i watched other people yesterday whilst sitting in the car waiting for my daughter and thought if they can get on with their lives normally - well as normal within guidelines, then so can i   So with that in mind and the support from people on this site im feeling braver today     Managed to wash hands within 20 seconds and then carried on with something (putting anti wrinkle face cream on seem to be getting quite a few now )  Thanks again for support it really helps

 

[OPTIMISTIC]

Just had to have the engineer in to service boiler   Sprayed carpets and handles etc after he left    Now to ride out ocd which is trying to annoy me with what ifs    Feel strong today    

[Ashley]

1 minute ago, OPTIMISTIC said:

Just had to have the engineer in to service boiler   Sprayed carpets and handles etc after he left    Now to ride out ocd which is trying to annoy me with what ifs    Feel strong today    

I have been there and was spraying things midway through last year, I am glad you feel strong and you're doing so well to survive this awful pandemic with OCD, we all are I guess! 

You have sprayed now, so tell OCD to F right Off if it tries to send you more 'what ifs' 

I struggled last year and OCD got the better of me for 3/4 weeks. Thankfully a pep talk about my OCD and I know how to challenge this from my colleague in the office helped me get back on track. I am lucky, as I have had success in tackling OCD previously so the pep talk was enough to help me.  I don't know if you have had any treatment for OCD in the past or currently?

Even for those of us with good insight into OCD, the pandemics been a challenge in knowing what is appropriate to clean and what is OCD fueled, sometimes the lines have been blurred for some of us.

So I think we do what we need to in order to get through the day, but be mindful of what could be OCD so we can come back and address at a later point. 

 

[OPTIMISTIC]

Thanks for the support    I have had my ocd under control for over 10 years but covid just set it off again     i'm Keeping positive and doing things to keep busy so ocd doesnt get a grip and start the what ifs    However still wiping over groceries and deliveries but this will be a big challenge to change    Just now tackling smaller issues such as 20 second hand washing and not letting ocd question if things are clean enough  As you say take each day as it comes    

[Ashley]

You are doing amazingly well Optimistic. I must admit, only in the last couple of months have I stopped wearing glove on the supermarket basket hand.  So it's been a challenge but I am getting there and like you I looked at where I was letting OCD get the better of me and challenged it bit by bit.     

The 20 second hand washing is perfect challenge, keep going with it, OCD will tell us it's not enough, we don't have to listen to the lying bully!  Keep fighting! 

[BelAnna]

56 minutes ago, OPTIMISTIC said:

Thanks for the support    I have had my ocd under control for over 10 years but covid just set it off again     i'm Keeping positive and doing things to keep busy so ocd doesnt get a grip and start the what ifs    However still wiping over groceries and deliveries but this will be a big challenge to change    Just now tackling smaller issues such as 20 second hand washing and not letting ocd question if things are clean enough  As you say take each day as it comes    

Yes, stopping the grocery wiping is a big challenge after a year of it! I was doing it early on in the pandemic but luckily my relative who was wiping the shopping with me decided that it should stop in July last year when the Covid rate was fairly low and then we decided that it was too much stress to start it up again (it was taking 2 hours after each shop and fuelling my OCD). I know that the risk of there being Coronavirus particles on grocery items is very low at the moment so that helps but even when the Covid rate was much higher (e.g. October to February) the risk of Fomite/surface transmission was quite low.

It's great that you are trying to stick to 20 seconds for each handwash and challenging worries about things not being clean enough. 

 

[OPTIMISTIC]

I am so pleased i found this site the support is amazing    Thank you all again