How many of you with contamination obsessions feel you have to wash your hands after handling dirty laundry, trash, and dirty dishes?
Contamination: How many of you with... - OCD Support
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Contamination
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LuvSun
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Me, for a start! I've just been getting the garbage ready for collection and have had to wash my hands after handling it all. Dirty laundry the same. Dirty dishes go straight into the sink so they're not so much a problem.
I didn't have this sort of OCD until several years ago, when it suddenly started up. That's the nature of OCD: it can shift its shape. I've managed to cut down on hand washing, but my hands still get dry and sore. I try to do as much 'dirty' stuff as possible in one go so I only have to wash them once.
I do the same- try to do all the “dirty stuff” at the same time to save the hand washing!
I can so relate to this. I thought how does someone just put the dirty bins out not wash their hands before sitting down. I doesn't bother non OCD people but people with OCD this is anxiety, stressful, mind playing exhausting until hands are fully washed properly on both sides I feel about if relief before I can sit down and even think to relax. What I would do to live a normal life for even one whole day without any OCD. We are
Hi - I have OCD and those times you mention washing your hands sound the same as when a person without OCD would wash them also, unless you're trying to scrub the skin off your hands.
LuvSun in reply to
Thanks for your response but most of the people I know and observe do not feel the need to wash hands after taking garbage out or throwing a load of laundry in washer. To me it makes sense to do so but I have OCD and feel it is irrational thinking. I was just interested to know if I was the only one who felt this way??
in reply to LuvSun
I can see men thinking it is normal to not wash hands after gathering the trash. 
I'm just trying to be honest.
Sallyskins in reply to
Or after going to the lavatory!
Sallyskins in reply to
It feels different, apart from anything else. It isn't just to get normally clean. It's more about washing off mental contamination. And it certainly isn't normal to wash as much as I do, including whenever I touch the fridge door handle and take something out of the fridge!
in reply to Sallyskins
Hi Sally - I'm sorry it goes past normal. I hope you find relief from the fears.
You are not alone!
Omg I so can relate to this practically anything fridge door, light switch, kitchen cupboards, remote control I feel to the urge to handwash immediately otherwise I can't still and relax until I have handwash. Yes if a piece of laundry touched the floor I have to reload the whole lot again especially if hung outside on the Wash line an it fell, most people would shake it and hung of up but not me I would most definitely rewash it twice for my mind relief. If I see it it bugs me but I'd someone else has an didn't tell me j wouldn't have known. I hate to touching my kitchen or bathroom bin almost use my feet push it along instead of my hands. I never put the bin outside my husband does it otherwise I'd handwash for over an hour until my hands felt just right or comfortable with the evenly counted ritual preforned on both hands washed equally on both sides. It interferes with cooking, spending any time with the 2 children who get tired of waiting for my OCD to be done and my husband is exhausted by it all that we have distanced alot in our relationship we hardly spend any time together at all. I relate to your post how exhausting if is when you touch anything basic. I've forgotten to know how to feel normal.
It is interesting, because I don't believe my OCD is about contamination, but I always wash my hands after handling dirty laundry, trash and dirty dishes. However reading the thread below it is not to get rid of contamination, but just because I perceive those things as being dirty and so wash my hands. I think the feeling around what you are doing is important. I have no anxiety attached. I can't sleep without doing my teeth - literally can't - and I have to have clean feet before going to bed. That has more attached. A ritual I suppose.
I actually have to shower when I put a wash on for 30 mins then I put it on for an hour and wash again before putting it in the tumble dryer and either ill have my final shower and wash my hair before taking it out when its done or I'll quick shower before and then shower fully after
I wash my hands on those occasions but I’d consider it good practice and it makes sense to me.
Thank you all for responding! I really couldn’t believe that I was alone in this thought pattern. From all the information I have heard, read, etc there are only certain occasions where one needs to wash their hands such as after using toilet, before eating and preparing food and if they are visibly dirty. I just think it is hard for me to accept the fact that it is not necessary at other times even though for me it seems sensible. It’s a big hurdle I have to get over if I really want to conquer OCD. I just feel like this is what holds me back from practicing ERP.
Some therapists get you to do extreme things, such as putting your hand down the lavatory bowl and then not washing it, just to get you used to feeling dirty and letting the feeling subside.
That's one I haven't tried!I try to avoid washing my hands unnecessarily when I can, but it isn't that easy because I'm afraid of touching things while I feel 'dirty' and then having to wash the things I've touched.
There's a character in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations who is a hand washer. He is a lawyer and washes his hand after dealing with a client. I think it likely that Dickens actually observed such behaviour before he put it in his book.
Me! I rinse my hands after dishes because the soap is still on them.
Me! I just rinse my hands off after dishes because the soap is still on them.
I do the same types of handwashing as you. You are describing me. My brain tells me that my hands are now dirty so I feel like I have to after trash and dirty laundry. I have been trying to cut down some but to no avail.
Good post!
When my OCD was much worse, if I was transferring the clothes from the washer to the dryer and dropped an article of clothing, I would have to rewash the entire load. I have had some really weird contamination rituals over the years. I could never purchase an article of clothing from the store if it appeared to have been tried on previously, or if it was hanging on a rack that allowed it to hit the floor. I love online shopping because the clothes look like they have never been touched. I realize how irrational all this sounds, as I am quite sure all OCD sufferers do, but we just can't stop. OCD hit me as a teen, probably 45 years ago. I did not know what was going on. No one had ever heard of OCD back then. I could write a book about all the things my mind has convinced me I had to do. Somehow I have lived a really happy life despite this disorder. I never realized it was anxiety until I started having panic attacks in the last 4 years.
I can definitely relate to what you are saying. Sometimes if an article of clean clothing from the washer falls on the floor I have to rewash it. I too prefer online clothes shopping. Like you I have managed to live a pretty good life in spite of the Disorder ( over 30 some yrs). I have just learned how to live “ around” it. I am a bit tired of it now that I am getting older and am really trying to work on it however old habits are sometimes hard to break. Thanks for your reply and keep in touch as I feel we have a lot in common as far as our thought patterns go 😣
Yes it does seem like our OCD has been quite similar. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? I am 60 and like I said before, OCD struck me in my teens. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I had an older sister who had just started going out and dating. For some reason I worried so bad about her safety. My mother was a worrier and I may have picked up some from her. Anyway, I had this feeling that I needed to pray a certain prayer a certain number of times or something bad would happen to her. I would pray and pray and pray. Now if I messed it up, I would have to start all over. Now how crazy is that? Then I started counting every step I took, I still do that to this day. It is just automatic, if I walk, I count. Then the handwashing, oh my that was awful. I would wash them until they were almost raw. Back then I had never heard of OCD and while I realized all this was ridiculous, I had no control to stop. It really wasn't until almost 4 years ago that I was told OCD is anxiety. One night I woke up and the room was spinning, I was so sick I honestly was sure I was dying of a heart attack or stroke. That started my ER visits, I went 10 times in one year. Every time convinced I was dying. Every test and every procedure was normal and I was diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and panic disorder. It is so frustrating because I lived a wonderfully happy life for 57 years, OCD and all, and them BAM a random panic attack scared me so bad I could not let it go or believe that I wasn't dying and it was only anxiety. While I am much better than I was, I still struggle most days with intrusive thoughts, anxiety, and depression. I am so hoping that this will finally lift and I can just go back to plain ole OCD. That was nothing compared to the hell I am in now.
I just turned 59. I think my OCD really kicked in when I became pregnant with my first child. I’ve heard that this is fairly common. All of a sudden I felt this tremendous responsibility for another being other than myself. I felt I had to do every thing right and not take any chances on risking any harm to my baby. I probably had OCD tendencies prior to this but nothing that interfered in my life and the choices I felt I had to make. I did see a Psychiatrist at the time and was dx with OCD. It was such an eye opener for me to hear that what I had been experiencing and thinking actually had a name and wasn’t just “ my problem” as I used to refer to it as. Anyway, OCD has definitely interfered in my life all these years but I was able to raise 2 beautiful daughters who I am happy to say are both happy and healthy adults. I also have a wonderful husband who has stuck by my side which I am forever grateful for. I’ve never suffered the panic or anxiety attacks that you described so I’m sure they must have been awful. We are all fighters even when it doesn’t seem like we are fighting at all. My thoughts to all of you suffering with OCD- we are unique ☺️🤝
I know that the bin men have handled lots of other bins and may have picked up stuff that has fallen on the floor, we don't know what it is they have handled! And then they have handled our bin... To me it is just basic hygiene, wash your hands after; anything with bins; handling dirty laundry; handling dishwasher tablets etc. Also I know I had some issues before I had my daughter but I thought it was just because I had had a strict upbringing that made me doubt choices etc but after I had my daughter it gradually morphed into my 'anxty stuff' as I became aware of more 'dangers'. My husband sad to say isn't very tolerant of it and gets cross and will often say 'it's fine', or 'just get over it' I know he is only saying it because he thinks it is always just my anxiety when half the time it is a genuine 'something' that I have mentioned. For example I won't have wiped the sides down and I know empty containers etc from products will have been there, he will come in and start chopping unwashed potatoes on the un-wiped side. To me that is not hygienic, the side should be wiped before food preparation. When I mentioned it and asked if he doesn't wash the dirt off the potatoes first anymore, he said 'give over, I'll be washing these when I've cut them.' The only way this sort of stuff wont happen is if I do it myself but I don't always have the time. I sometimes feel I am improving and do do the CBT stuff that I learnt but sometimes it's a war in the head!
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