OCD over skin diseases

[Celestialbird]

I’m literally spiraling out of control at the moment. I suffer with very bad OCD, mainly health related, and the one I’m hyper focused on now is herpes. I know it’s extremely common, and most people don’t even know they have it, but when I see someone with an active outbreak, I’m terrified I’ll get it if I touch anything they’ve touched. If I do touch it, I worry about cross contamination and clean my hands/objects right away. I hate this. It’s ruining my life right now.

I’m sick of my brain focused on this crap. I’m constantly worrying about it and every ache and pain I get, I immediately go straight to a disaster.

I don’t want to continue on like this. It’s really making me considering self harm. What do I di? I’m already on medication, and getting back into therapy is taking months. I almost want to go to a dr so they can educate me on the myths of these illnesses, but I can’t just do that either. Would I really believe them? Forgot googling it

I’m at my wits end

[Natureloverpeace]

This Wednesday is the IOCDF livestream called Research Roundtable . The topic is OCD Truths and Myth Busting. There is a chat feature where you can type in a question. It is at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on various social media platforms including YouTube and Facebook. You can just type in IOCDF in the platform search bar to find it. You can watch the recording later if you can’t see it at noon.

[TomFed]

What compulsions do you do in relation to this obsession about herpes infection? What you CAN do today is stopping any compulsion/safety behaviours, including mental compulsions, like reassuring thoughts that you don't have the virus. Better repeat it loudly or in silence - maybe I have herpes, maybe I don't, there is no way for me to know for sure. You mentioned you avoid touching things - that's the compulsion to start with. No need to kiss people with active herpes outbreak, but I would say touching things other people touched (even if they have herpes outbreak) is fine for ERP.

[beth196]

I have the same thing but different health fears. I upped my dose to40mg and was put on some clonazepam. Happy again . I also joined a support group for ocd. Its under the Fairfield county ct division and meets once a month with top psychologists in the field. You have to stop going on google or asking for reassurance since it never works. good luck

[beth196 in reply to beth196]

I'm now on 30 mg and refuse to give into the compulsion. I have to stop this crazy disorder. I plan on being back on 20mg and living like normal people I looked at the side effects of lexapro and I have to cope since there are cardiac at higher doses. You need a therapist and a support group to help with your OCD thoughts.

[deValentin]

When you say “I don’t want to continue on like this”, it reminds me of an argument used by a person with OCD to justify, in her eyes, giving in to her rituals: “You really won’t do this one thing that will take you two seconds, save your parents and end the pandemic”. Why the need to set such a short time limit to perform her rituals? Is it because it would be intolerable if they continued indefinitely? If that’s the case, there are two ways to make the present situation tolerable: hurrying up, so you reach your elusive obsessional goals (risk-free environment) before your worries consume your entire life (doomed from the start), or prepare yourself to the possibility that you won’t settle the issue that’s presently disturbing your mind before the negative consequences of your time-consuming compulsions catch up with you. The second option may make OCD lose its grip on you because you realize there is another hope to feel better than hurrying up to appease your mind before things get out of hand: getting used to a reasonable degree of uncertainty in life (Exposure and Response Prevention or ERP).