Hey guys and gals! I'm new here, so I'll tell you my long story. It all started late in high school after a terrible bout of some kinda horrible bug. No one knows about my phobia, not even my husband. He just thinks I'm some kind of germaphobe with OCD. If he only knew the darkness inside. For some reason, in which I'm not really sure of, I'm embarrassed of anyone finding out. I can't sleep most nights and I feel that dreaded awful feeling at some point every day. Some how, only God knows how, I managed to survive pregnancy without the dreaded awful. So I want you guys to know that it IS possible. I still felt the yucky feeling, but I don't know if that was pregnancy or my normal anxiety. I thought surely after surviving that, I would be better...WRONG! My baby is 3 months old, and I've become a hermit. I don't even let people touch him in fear of what they may be carrying. My hands crack and break as a result of constant washing, bleaching... You get the point. I figured here, I wouldn't be judged an someone would understand. I've spent too many nights crying and certain that I was going to just die from that yucky feeling. I hate public restrooms and resturants. I will not go near a daycare and in no way in hell put my child in one. Luckily I'm able to stay home with him. Having a hard night tonight, lying here with a bag of ice cubes on my face trying to make it go away. I'm not familiar with the levels of severity here, but I'm ranking pretty high tonight. I know we all have our little tricks of quelling the feeling, so y'all feel free to share!