Looking for fellow OCD support

[katlac32]

I have severe germaphobia--washing hands constantly after touching anything, affects my social life, I won't eat at restaurants or use restaurant silverware, I avoid crowds of people, touching things, the list goes and on. I have had this for several years and it has gotten worse over time. I also have some checking tendencies and the need to repeat things until "they feel right". The germaphobia is what I struggle most with, however and I actually took a huge step yesterday and saw a psychologist for the first time! I am really satisfied with how the appointment went and am nervous, but ready to get this figured out. My husband is quite insensitive to the whole germaphobia thing and he doesn't even understand the half of what I struggle with in regard to this. It has caused a lot of tension/stress in our family and I really wish I could talk to him about this. I wish I could feel support/sensitivity toward the issue--but I don't, so I tend to hold it up inside and get mad at him even when he knows he's doing things that bother me. I really am going to need support as I do the work that my psychologist will recommend. Husband does not even know that I'm seeing a psychologist at this point. I'm hoping to find someone on this forum that struggles with germaphobia or any type of OCD, just as support emotionally for each other. I felt a huge sense of relief just talking to the doctor about the things I do and why I do them and how stressful it is, and being met back with sensitivity and understanding about the issue by my doctor. I was amazed at how much I needed to unload all of this stress and just tell somebody all of these things. If anyone struggles with any issues similar please let me know. I would love to chat more with you about your struggles. My doctor said it helps to talk to someone who faces similar issues--no one can really understand (even the psychologist) whats its like, what goes on in your head all of the time unless you do/think the same things yourself. Prayers to all of you struggling with this disorder.

 

[Dead_on_Arrival]

Hi Katlac, welcome to SPW. I suffer with OCD but am not germophobic. I consider myself lucky in that sense. I, however, suffer with Exestential Nihilistic thoughts which I then control with my compulsions in sorting, listing, cleaning the house, bike building and other manuel tasks to rid my mind of the thoughts. There are loads of things that trigger me off like, for example, kitchen being untidy. I am here for support and to support others in any way I can. A look at my background on me the thread in personal stories 'So here goes...the story of me' pretty much explains how I ended up the way I did. It took a lot to write it but was worth it as it gave me a huge sense of relief that I felt I had found somewhere to finaly let go of my demons.

If you do need to talk just leave me a message and I would be more than glad to speak to you to help or reasure you.