Increased contamination fears with lockdown easing... what should I do?

[BelAnna]

The rate of Covid where I live is just 7 in 10,000 so although I'm a little concerned about the Delta (Indian) Covid variant, it's not my biggest concern at the moment. 

Instead I have noticed and heard that there are a lot of other viruses in circulation at the moment (more of the Winter ones seem to be circulating) and with restrictions easing and people becoming more lax with their personal (particularly hand) hygiene, I am getting more and more anxious about family members leaving the house and about trying to visit places myself. 

Is anyone else finding the same thing? How are you challenging your OCD with this?

Thanks

[OPTIMISTIC]

Hi sorry to hear you are becoming more anxious.  

I have come to realise that i cannot control what other members of my family do.  Which on reflection is good, as i see that they are not worried about for example touching letters coming through post, or picking up a shopping basket when there is nothing to wipe the handles with.  

I am at the stage where the thought of covid contamination on items  does cross my mind and then i think 'yeah and!' 'maybe we will get infected maybe we wont'.  Are others worried about this?  Then i move my mind onto something different.   Yes, i still have a wobble but i have noticed that i am getting bored with the worry and uncertainity.  

I avoid reading or watching the news.  I used to check the numbers nationally and local more than once a day.  If I do read the news I scan headlines for positives such as vaccination numbers and avoid other types of news.  Anything major i need to know about i  have asked my family to inform me about.  I have found this has really helped me as i can concerntrate on fighting my ocd without adding to the worry.  

Maybe you could ask a family member to inform you of anything in the news which you really need to be made aware of.  

[Angst]

As I didn’t have contamination issues prior to COVID my concerns are still COVID related but more active in public spaces now after two jabs. I do watch and read informative stuff about the virus rather than sensationalist stuff which have in their headlines a lot of ‘coulds’ -‘ Delta variant could reduce vaccine effectiveness’. The use of the modal verb ‘could’ is frequent in these types of headline. Anything could happen when you use the modal verb could - the end of the world tomorrow! It could happen but at a very very very low probability. I look at the data from the COVID app based at Kings College and their YouTube videos for example. Interestingly, with people and the mass media focused on COVID and travel and lockdown I am concerned about the loss of patient confidentiality which has received minimum mass media coverage. Unless you opt out by 23rd all your medical records will be available for a price to any company willing to pay. Check on the NHS Digital site. I am opting out. Personally I like to follow newsworthy events.
  

Edited June 4, 2021 by Angst
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[PolarBear]

BelAnna, seriously, stop reading about other viruses. Your radar is attuned to any news on Norovirus or any bug that causes stomach problems. I bet you get alerts when keywords are present in news articles.

STOP!

It's a compulsion and is doing you no good. All it does is keep you in a heightened state of anxiety.

Now I suspect you could say that being on guard and reading stories about stomach bugs and outbreaks has kept you safe all these years. Wrong! It's kept you in prison.

I have a normal life with a normal wife. We don't care about norovirus or any of that stuff.  Just like billions of others. We get along just fine. We don't live in constant fear. We live. 

Start living. Tell Norovirus to screw off and start living.

Edited June 4, 2021 by PolarBear

[daja]

Do nothing BelAnna. x

[BelAnna]

8 hours ago, OPTIMISTIC said:

Hi sorry to hear you are becoming more anxious.  

I have come to realise that i cannot control what other members of my family do.  Which on reflection is good, as i see that they are not worried about for example touching letters coming through post, or picking up a shopping basket when there is nothing to wipe the handles with.  

I am at the stage where the thought of covid contamination on items  does cross my mind and then i think 'yeah and!' 'maybe we will get infected maybe we wont'.  Are others worried about this?  Then i move my mind onto something different.   Yes, i still have a wobble but i have noticed that i am getting bored with the worry and uncertainity.  

I avoid reading or watching the news.  I used to check the numbers nationally and local more than once a day.  If I do read the news I scan headlines for positives such as vaccination numbers and avoid other types of news.  Anything major i need to know about i  have asked my family to inform me about.  I have found this has really helped me as i can concerntrate on fighting my ocd without adding to the worry.  

Maybe you could ask a family member to inform you of anything in the news which you really need to be made aware of.  

That's a good idea to just think that I can't control what my family members do and to try to just observe their lack of anxiety in situations that cause me OCD. 

Also that's a great approach to think 'maybe we will get infected, maybe we won't. It's good that you're just bored of the worry now rather than overly stuck with the anxiety. 

Picking and choosing what you read sounds like a helpful strategy! and like you say family members will keep you informed of anything important. 

 

4 hours ago, Angst said:

As I didn’t have contamination issues prior to COVID my concerns are still COVID related but more active in public spaces now after two jabs. I do watch and read informative stuff about the virus rather than sensationalist stuff which have in their headlines a lot of ‘coulds’ -‘ Delta variant could reduce vaccine effectiveness’. The use of the modal verb ‘could’ is frequent in these types of headline. Anything could happen when you use the modal verb could - the end of the world tomorrow! It could happen but at a very very very low probability. I look at the data from the COVID app based at Kings College and their YouTube videos for example. Interestingly, with people and the mass media focused on COVID and travel and lockdown I am concerned about the loss of patient confidentiality which has received minimum mass media coverage. Unless you opt out by 23rd all your medical records will be available for a price to any company willing to pay. Check on the NHS Digital site. I am opting out. Personally I like to follow newsworthy events.
  

Yes I do the same with Covid. I am much more sensible in my approach to Covid now than I am about other viruses! I think I've managed to put it all into proportion (I did struggle for the first year!) and now that my parents are vaccinated (I was most concerned about them) I am coping better with it.

It sounds like the strategy to only read informative stuff and not tabloidy stuff is working for you too! 

Thanks for the info about the medical records- my family were discussing that earlier- I'm definitely going to opt out too! 

4 hours ago, PolarBear said:

BelAnna, seriously, stop reading about other viruses. Your radar is attuned to any news on Norovirus or any bug that causes stomach problems. I bet you get alerts when keywords are present in news articles.

STOP!

It's a compulsion and is doing you no good. All it does is keep you in a heightened state of anxiety.

Now I suspect you could say that being on guard and reading stories about stomach bugs and outbreaks has kept you safe all these years. Wrong! It's kept you in prison.

I have a normal life with a normal wife. We don't care about norovirus or any of that stuff.  Just like billions of others. We get along just fine. We don't live in constant fear. We live. 

Start living. Tell Norovirus to screw off and start living.

Thank you Polarbear- I found the idea of my fear keeping my imprisoned really helpful and you're right I need to choose to live, rather than to avoid Norovirus/stomach bugs! 

In this instance I didn't actually go looking for information about viruses or look up articles about it- I just heard about it whilst watching a TV programme! 

59 minutes ago, daja said:

Do nothing BelAnna. x

Thanks Daja! 

Edited June 4, 2021 by BelAnna

[Handy]

Use common sense & there is a big topic on this as coronavirus.

OCD picks up on what society has going. Remember HIV OCD? That was a big one. 

 

[BelAnna]

8 hours ago, Handy said:

Use common sense & there is a big topic on this as coronavirus.

OCD picks up on what society has going. Remember HIV OCD? That was a big one. 

 

Hi Handy,

No sorry, my OCD here isn't about Coronavirus. 

On 04/06/2021 at 13:32, BelAnna said:

Instead I have noticed and heard that there are a lot of other viruses in circulation at the moment (more of the Winter ones seem to be circulating) 

I think because I mentioned the Indian variant (and not being particularly worried about Covid at the moment) that some of the discussion on this thread has been about Covid but my question was about coping with an increase in other viruses (particularly Norovirus but also flu and other viruses) with Lockdown easing and people becoming more relaxed about their hand hygiene (which increases the spread of viruses). 

My main contamination fear for most of my life has been of Norovirus. Usually it is in general circulation (with increases in the Winter) but cases massively decreased during Lockdown as people weren't mixing, weren't using public toilets (and sharing faecal microbes inc. norovirus) and were washing their hands more. Now that normal activities are resuming, the rate of Norovirus (and other infections) is increasing!

 

[Angst]

Hi Belanna

Is your concern that you family will be bringing in other viruses? I seem to remember that you don’t venture out much apart from the odd bit of dog walking. As mentioned, it does seem a pity to place yourself under more or less permanent house arrest.

It could be that more viruses are being transmitted as lockdown eases but of course there is now uncertainty about the pace of the easing of lockdown with the exponential rise of Delta and the concomitant decline of Alpha. Fortunately with this variant the vaccines are working.

I doubt whether there is a vast increase in the spread of other viruses - I wonder how the figures would be calculated. And, if a rise, probably back to around average for summer?  Who knows? Pure guess work on my part. I doubt if the reporting mechanism is as sophisticated as for COVID.

 I think your major problem is the fear of vomiting which has troubled you for some considerable years. I think you need to expose yourself to the risk. I think you are grossly overestimating the chances of getting the vomiting bug as well as grossly overestimating the consequences of being sick. 
 

How are you doing with your new therapist? Hope it’s going well. You had plans to resume your studies. Have you thought about the OU as a half way measure?

[BelAnna]

On 08/06/2021 at 11:22, Caramoole said:

If you were to pick up a bug and spend 48 hours  being sick, what is it that frightens you?  Yes, vomiting is very unpleasant but not something that creates this level of fear in the majority of people.  What are you telling yourself, what is the script?  Are you ready to face up to this phobia......because you can do if you decide to but you have to make a definite decision that this is what you want to do.

As PB says, you've been kept in prison for decades because of your OCD/phobia.........the fear you live with on a daily basis creates a Hell that is far worse than if you suffered a bout of Norovirus twice a year, every year.

Are you ready to get better.....because you have to make that decision first despite it being a scary prospect.

I'm not sure at the moment. I thought I was ready to face it but I feel a bit lost just now! 

I experienced some traumatic events at a young age involving vomiting and choking so I think that formed part of it but I can't define exactly what it is that I'm so scared of! I find sickness bugs overwhelming, revolting and the nausea fairly all-consuming (i.e. you can't think about or do anything else when you're overwhelmed with nausea). I can cope better with other forms of (mild, short-lived) illness but find sickness bugs unbearable! 

I do realise this is ruining my life though so I do need to face it. I'm writing my exposure hierarchy at the moment so I'm going to try to go ahead with ERP but not feeling great about it just now! 

 

20 hours ago, Angst said:

Hi Belanna

Is your concern that you family will be bringing in other viruses? I seem to remember that you don’t venture out much apart from the odd bit of dog walking. As mentioned, it does seem a pity to place yourself under more or less permanent house arrest.

It could be that more viruses are being transmitted as lockdown eases but of course there is now uncertainty about the pace of the easing of lockdown with the exponential rise of Delta and the concomitant decline of Alpha. Fortunately with this variant the vaccines are working.

I doubt whether there is a vast increase in the spread of other viruses - I wonder how the figures would be calculated. And, if a rise, probably back to around average for summer?  Who knows? Pure guess work on my part. I doubt if the reporting mechanism is as sophisticated as for COVID.

 I think your major problem is the fear of vomiting which has troubled you for some considerable years. I think you need to expose yourself to the risk. I think you are grossly overestimating the chances of getting the vomiting bug as well as grossly overestimating the consequences of being sick. 
 

How are you doing with your new therapist? Hope it’s going well. You had plans to resume your studies. Have you thought about the OU as a half way measure?

Thanks so much for your help Angst. Yes it's mostly that and I am very restricted to our house because of my fear.  

I don't actually have figures or anything for infection rates for different viruses at the moment. The ONS has stopped reporting on Norovirus figures because of Covid (not that I should really ever have looked for that!). From other peoples' accounts, including one from a GP and from recently having had an upper respiratory infection (not Covid) myself, it sounds like more of the Winter viruses are circulating at the moment. I honestly felt so much safer during lockdown and when nearly everyone was practising good hygiene. 

My contamination fear is definitely connected to my Emetophobia/phobia of vomiting. I know rationally that there is no serious or long-term risk from Norovirus but I feel incredibly distressed about it. In the past I have tried to get out of a moving car to get out of the way of someone vomiting; another time I left the house in the middle of the night in January, in freezing cold weather wearing a tshirt and shorts because someone in the house has been sick and I couldn't touch my coat, which I felt might be contaminated- I was outside in the freezing cold for more than an hour but it was preferable to being in the house listening to someone being sick and tracking their contamination of the house. Generally I just feel the absolutely terrified of it. 

My therapy sessions are going quite well- thank you! I have a place at a University for this September (I've deferred for two years) but it doesn't look like I'll be able to go. I was hoping classes would be online again this year but it sounds like they are aiming for face-to-face teaching unfortunately! 

Edited June 11, 2021 by BelAnna