My germaphobia has gotten completely out of hand. I have never been formally diagnosed with OCD, but I obviously have it very severely and I am scared to go talk to someone. I have had tendencies and rituals about certain things for a long time, but the germaphobia thing started real bad a few years ago when a young patient died of influenza in our town. Ever since then I have been obsessed with germs. I think it stems from a fear of dying or those that I love dying, so I think if I clean my world, I feel better about things, but I am damaging my relationships in the process. It is really out of hand--I Lysol my daughters library books off, I make her carry hand sanitizer to school--she is only 6. I make her wash her hands constantly, as well as washing my own hands. Everything in my house is "dirty" in my mind. I have also seen those Lysol commercials where they show the germs on phones and keyboards--and that has made it worse to where everything is dirty. I touch remotes with blankets, I touch doorknobs with paper towels. When I am preparing food I wash my hands after I touch anything in my kitchen. My husband and I are also going through infertility and now I have become truly obsessed with his genitals, I know that is crazy--but I make him shower with me at night just to make sure that his genitals get washed properly and if they don't to "my standards" then I get mad at him and I won't do anything with him. It is so out of hand and it only keeps getting worse. I am scared to talk to a psychiatrist because I don't want to go through the behavioral modification--I don't want to expose myself to germs, when I know that they are a real threat. But I feel like it will keep getting worse--it may ruin my marriage and I don't want my daughter to think this is normal behavior as she grows up. Someone please help if you've had a similar obsesssion with germs--how did you ever get over it? Is there hope?