Need help calming down.

[Madeleine]

I can't stop crying. I'm feeling really bad. Last week my therapist told me I'm the worst case of OCD he's ever seen. I started on prozac yesterday, and I'm on a waiting list for yet another course of CBT. Our next door neighbour's son had a minor operation on his foot today, at the local doctors surgery. My mum checked on him, used their door handles, and didn't bother washing her hands when she returned home. She brought in the washing, folded it, put it away. She used the remote. She used our door handles. Around this time I made a sandwich and because I didn't know the family next-door had visited the surgery, I was careless; I was nowhere near as careful as I normally would have been. I have this feeling of impending doom. I'm sat in my claustrophobic bedroom, crying, and too afraid to leave. I feel as though every inch of this house is contaminated, myself included. Someone please help.

[Madeleine]

... anyone?

[andee]

Awww...so sorry you're going through this. Well, that wasn't a very nice thing for your therapist to say! He should never make such a comment! Take the prozac as directed and it does take time for it to kick in, like 3 weeks sometimes. Try not to worry about being careful or not...odds are very good that you all will be fine. We are exposed to soooo many things everyday and our bodies and immune systems handle it all without us even knowing. Trust your system to take care of you. Hope this helps...take care!

[Ana Bellini]

Who's your therapist? He's awful! My therapist says things to make me feel better, not worse!

Our friend andee is right, we are exposed to many things everyday and we are alive! I'm emet but I don't worry so much about clean things, I mean, I use gel alcohol on my hands when I can't wash them before eating, but that's all, and I stayed almost six years without v* and when it happened, it was because my father had gotten it before and I spent a lot of time with him, not knowing he had a rotavirus. He only told me after I had v*.

What I mean is that it's not because he had a surgery. My grandfather used to have many surgeries and all his daughters, including my mom, would help him. My mom would back home later and act as always. She's never caught anything.

If you were on, I'd go to chat to try to calm you down. I'll be online for the next half hour, if you still need help enter and let's talk a little. It always works.

[Madeleine]

Thank you for the responses. No one appears to be unwell at the moment. But my sister visited the surgery herself earlier today, so the cycle has just restarted.

[TryingToBeBrave]

A lot of times, they won't let you have surgery if you are sick. My kids have unfortunately had to have a lot of minor surgeries, and we have never seen anyone sick while there nor have we caught anything. I think that place would be much less risky than an actual doctor's office or an ER.

[Madeleine]

Over here (in the UK) we call a doctor's office, a doctor's surgery. It's the office he had the minor op in, and my sister had a doctor's appointment herself earlier today.

[TryingToBeBrave]

Oh, got it. That would def make it more stressful. If none of them have been feeling bad, then that probably means there was nothing to expose you to. Try to distract yourself with music, your favorite movie, etc, and see if that helps. Sorry you are going through this.

[nagisa]

I can imagine what you are going through, and it must be terrible I think your therapist made quite an insensitive comment. But I don't think you have to worry about getting s* because of that. I'm often at the doctors office - used to be twice a week to take blood tests, and would always touch the door handle there. Sometimes I would go out to eat right after having been to the doctor. I've never gotten ill once.