Ah the irony of health anxiety. I had an appointment with my GP today. I was horribly ill all of December and into the first week of January. So today, I had to catch up with my GP to start up my IBS meds. My GP is so lovely. But was running half an hour late. I am a real germaphobe. The longer I sat in the waiting room, the more anxious I became. By the time I got home, the hand washing rituals began and now my skin is red raw 😕. Had to take one of my diazepam to calm down. Then I had to take my daughter to her dermatologist at the hospital and I could feel the panic rising the entire time. Back home and the hand washing, phone washing etc began.
It’s exhausting 😕😕😕😕😕
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weegmack
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I carry hand sanitizer every where, I wipe down grocery store baskets, if I touch something I just saw some one else touch I immediately wipe hands on my pant (if the sanitizer isn’t at reach). I get home I wash my hands like a surgeon getting ready to go into the operating room.
I’m just a germaphobe by nature. I always worry I’ve touched my face before I washed my hands. I hate this, but I haven’t been sick in years, so maybe it’s worked keeping illnesses away from me.
I hate it too. It’s so exhausting. It pervades everything I do and I’m sure you feel the same 😞. My husband can’t stand it and we argue about it all the time. I’m also terrified of food poisoning, so I ams paranoid about food too. Sigh. I want to run away
I feel the same way with food and germs and hospitals/doctors office. I get so much anxiety when I feel sick, I think because I feel more vulnerable and helpless and not in control. I have emetophobia (fear of vomiting) too so makes life really hard. I just avoid getting sick as much as possible and the obsessing about it gives me more anxiety that some days I just want to be put out of my misery
Bless you, I totally understand how you feel. I don’t think people understand how distressing this is. And how exhausting. And how it never stops. I’m terrified of getting ill. I’m recovering from a really awful flu that I took on December 10th that also gave me horrendous upset stomachs. It took till the first week in January for it to settle. It’s given me such a shock that I’m worse than ever now with the OCD 😞
Omg you sound so much like me right now. I am so ill. Make my self feel so much more sick and then I'm scared of being sick. I have been ill since beginning of December and still am now. Been ill on and off all this time. It really is horrible. I feel like hibernating through it all.
I can sympathise massively with this as I’m the exact same way just know how strong you are for even going into those situations and doing that kind of exposer because it can only help you in the long run. Are you in therapy at all if you don’t mind me asking?
Thank you ♥️. I had about 10 weeks of talking therapy, mainly CBT in the middle of 2019. I live in Scotland, and the waiting list is 12 months. It’s just awful. I was suicidal when I saw the psychologist last year. The problem is, I was referred to them for Health Anxiety and that’s all the psych was willing to deal with. But, unfortunately, in the 12 months I had waited for that appointment, several terrible things had happened and I was really at my end. She “allowed” me to talk for a couple of sessions about these things and she decided that, on top of GAD and OCD, I now have Complex PTSD. My marriage is a mess, I’m a mess. I had flu that turned into gastric flu over the holidays and was ill for 4 weeks (my worst nightmare). So I’m just a wreck and have very little support. 😢
This is the second time i am attempting to type into this website; i got too wordy (typical, for me).
Weegmack, thank you for your post, because, as another germphobe, most of those words make me feel lucky that i don't feel the need to wash my hands as much as you wash yours.
I'm sorry that they've gotten raw, as a result, even if it doesn't help much. My bigger prob-
It’s good to know I’m not alone. It’s so exhausting. I don’t think anyone can pray too much - are you finding yourself praying constantly, out of fear? Xx
First off: i'm sorry if my response attempt about the hand-washing came off as rude, stu-
pid, or ignorant (which i've learned is being willfully stupid), but i was feeling partly nervous
about "going on" this website, and partly grateful that i do not feel the need to wash my hands to that extent. (The punctuation is one reason i feel regretful.))
This is to anyone who reads this: I've been a nervous person most of my life. If i have met
anybody who is shyer than me, i have not yet realized it. I've "had" depression since i was a
little girl --but it wasn't diagnosed until i was fifteen (a very fun year -- particularly in high
school -- by the way). The obsessive-compulsive disorder "surfaced" seven-to-eight weeks before my twenty-third birthday (decidedly over twenty years ago). Problems about my
hands being clean (enough) -- or not -- and supersticions (don't know how to spell the word)
were there (here) from the beginning. What i meant by praying too much is that, in the last -- close to ten years -- it has taken so much of my time, and has made me late for "things' i
need to go to. (The cleaning/germ -- stuff hasn't been just relegated to hands.)
This is to L1994, KittenMittens22 (think you've got the cutest name; my birthday is on the
twenty-second [of July]; and cats are usually my favorite animal), and Weegmack: Even if
one or more of you do not believe in a Higher Power, God bless the three of you so much, because of the problems with your digestive tracts! Like people who have any bad and/or chronic emotional suffering in the heads need a chronic and/or bad physical problem. Have
a history of classic migraines, since i was thirteen years old, and one of the common, since i
was nineteen. I experience some kind of irritable bowel syndrome, but seldom (so far) have
had the d-word with it. (This is too long already.) More and more, have been getting pains in
the vicinity of my stomach, when i'm emotionally upset. But that could be explained (some-
times/) by the fact that, officially, since by 13 or fourteen years back, i had had an infection in each part of my urinary tract. (Has this gotten too personal/) I do not experience any ill-ness on even a semi-regular basis that makes me throw up, and -- definitely due to what i read of three of (grammar question) each of your posts -- i am grateful and rather glad that i
don't....Because of a little of KittenMittens22 (had that number in my 'name' the first time anybody tried to get me into Gmail, also -- if it means anything. I learned something pretty
good about being born on that date and the eleventh, from a 'piece' on numerology.), post, i now
know a name to another one of my phobias, which, thankfully, i have only a few. There is
nothing i have hated to do more than vomit.
Sorry if i have printed anything offensive, or that hurt someone's feelings; i get hurt very easily. I'm sorry if this was long-winded; most of my emails have been lengthy.
Hey there. Please don’t worry - nothing you’ve said has offended me in any way at all ♥️. Thank you for telling me a bit more about you and for sharing your experiences. I’m so sorry for all that you have gone through and continue to go through. It’s really exhausting, isn’t it?
I am a Christian, so I pray a lot and I have times when I just can’t. It’s a challenge to maintain my faith on the hard days. Xxx
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