Oh no.

[jab788]

I'm obsessive and paranoid.

I made a banana/peanut butter sandwich about an hour ago. I got a knife out of the silverware drawer and washed it with dish soap before using it. I noticed teeny tiny little smudge marks on them, so I wiped them off with a paper towel. Then I used it to make the sandwich.

While I was making the sandwich, the tip of the knife tapped the counter. For barely a second, but it still touched the counter. The counter appeared to be clean, but who knows.. since I don't know when it was cleaned last. I continued to make the sandwich. I spread on the peanut butter and cut up pieces of banana.

I started eating my delicious sandwich when I started wondering if I hadn't been careful enough with the knife. Was the knife clean enough? What were those little smudge marks? Was wiping them off with a paper towel not good enough to make it safe? Did germs get on the knife after it tapped the counter?

I told myself I was being paranoid and kept eating. Then eventually I stopped because I started feeling obsessive and worried. And that's when I came here.

Ugh. I hate when I'm like this. I just want to eat my sandwich.

[jab788]

I just realized I probably should have put this in the Question and Answer forum.

[sage]

I always suggest for folks who are obsessive, as you describe, that you begin making a journal. Write down, for instance, that today you made a sandwich and the knife touched the counter. Later today when you are NOT sick, write down in a column next to it that you were not sick! Then the next time a knife has smudges, or touches the counter, you need not be afraid. You can remind yourself that you're not in any danger. You're just afraid, is all...but you're ok.

It may not help much today, but it will eventually. Cuz eventually you'll have a whole journal full of things you did that made you afraid...and a lot of notes about how none of them made you sick.

Just go ahead and eat the sandwich! No one ever got sick from a knife with smudges, or from a knife touching a counter!

[jab788]

Thank you I will do that, that's a really good idea. Plus journals are fun. Its weird how often this obsessive stuff happens and yet I never remember how many times it turned out to be nothing at all! Which is every time.

[shootingstar]

OMG peanut butter & banana???? I've never tried that! [img]smileys/smilies_04.gif[/img]

Is it really that yummy [img]smileys/smilies_12.gif[/img]

I'm sorry.. I'm no help to you at all I'm too busy spinning out about a peanut butter & banana sanga [img]smileys/smilies_04.gif[/img]

[jab788]

LOL that's okay.. yes peanut butter and banana are delicious together. It sounds weird, I know! I just spread the peanut butter on two slices of bread, then cut little slices of banana and stick them on each side. Voila, peanut butter and banana sandwich. It's awesome.

[SimplyMe]

YUM I love peanutbutter and banana sandwiches mmm!

But about the knife lol... the smudge is probably just a water spot from when it dried. You washed it w/ dish soap so it was clean. My mom puts her food directly on the counter all the time and I freak about it lol but she would have made her sandwich ON the counter and she's always fine. A little tap from the tip of the knife is nothing lol.

Hope this helps and that you enjoy your yummy sandwich! Now I want one and don't have any pb or bananas LOL!

[jandub]

I will often slice a banana down the middle (like a taco) and put peanut butter in it and then whipped cream on top and oh my gosh. It is the best thing in the world and its not even that bad for you. Well, not like chocolate cake. Anyway, you know for being emetophobic I really don't take as much care about silverware touching stuff, and just rinsing something off when it lands on the floor, etc., and I've never gotten sick from it. I actually think it improves your immunity! Mmm, I have peanut butter on the brain now.