Pregnant, OCD, and emetophobia. HELP.

[dreamer7828]

I am about four months pregnant. I have OCD which is mostly based around the fear of vomiting. I have been dealing with this for a few years now, and have gone through intensive therapy. Since becoming pregnant i had to stop taking my anxiety medication as well as my mood stabilizer. That alone has made my OCD a lot worse but to make things even worse than that i was in my anatomy class yesterday and a lady who was sitting at the table next to me ran to the bathroom to throw up. She was telling us all about her daughter who had the stomach flu over the weekend. Now she went and threw up as well as came back in the class room and continued to run out of the room for over an hour. Finally she went home about two hours after the first time she got sick. I protected myself the best that i knew how. But ever since then i have been having very bad panic attacks and just waiting for my turn of the stomach flu to hit. i been reading about the incubation periods being 12-48 hours so im assuming after tonight ill be in the "clear" but then some websites have been saying up to TWO WEEKS. im losing my mind over here, and if anyone has any advice for me it would be greatly appreciated. i know its not good to be panicking while pregnant, but i cant control it. every time i feel the slightest bit of a stomach cramp i run to the bathroom thinking now is the time. i dont think i can live like this for another two weeks, let alone i dont know what im going to do if i do actually catch up. HELP!

- a pregnant desperate woman!

[Murder-my-soul]

Try to think logically. I doubt you have it or will get it. Logically speaking, did any of her vomit get ingested inside you? Most likely not. As a parent, when a child comes down ill, parents hold the child's head when they vomit, clean it up, and don't wash their hands or the surfaces with bleach. Therefore, they contract it. My mother hasn't had one in over 20 years.

I am OCD as well. Stopping anxiety meds is hard, I had to do it an April cold turkey. Plus being pregnant can make your moods up and down, they did with mine. Just eat healthy and practice good hygiene and you will be fine!

[dreamer7828]

Thank you for the reply! Thats what i have been trying to tell myself as well, that i didnt ingest her vomit, i didnt even go near that bathroom since the moment i found out that she threw up in there. i just hope she was caring and washed her hands after she was done not touching everything around the classroom. i did wash my hands and everything every chance i got that day after touching anything, i just hope i did enough! some people are so careless to come to school or work in public in general when they are sick. it was literally within ten minutes of class starting so you know she felt sick before hand. ugh some people! and yeah the stopping cold turkey thing is so hard, especially if you have been on it for awhile. im just hoping that i can get through this, and relax for mine and the baby's sake!

[spilled_milk]

I know it's really scary, I went through a similar thing last week (a man got sick in my office and couldn't leave for a while). You are doing all the right things by keeping yourself clean and not going into the bathroom until after the janitors have cleaned it. Murdermysoul is right, she probably caught it because she was in such close proximity to her daughter when she was sick. You were not doing that while the woman was sick!

[dreamer7828]

yeah i finally calmed myself down, then when i went to class again yesterday she was there again! telling everyone how much she threw up after she left school on monday and how she still feels sick but doesnt want to miss another day. im not sure if she went and got sick during class, i dont think so but its still SOOO RUDE of people to come when they just had a sv a day prior. you are still contagious, and no one wants to hear about how sick you were. i have washed my hands so much that they are bleeding now because they are so dried out., i know i have to stop doing that but its so hard when you feel contaminated. i want to talk to my boyfriend about it, and he does listen but i know he can only take so much of hearing about it till he gets sick of it. hes been with me for over five years so hes seen all my ups and downs with this fear but i still feel bad. ugh.. hope i didnt catch it. im so scared it will hurt me along with the baby.

[allie11]

I completely know what you are going through! there was a co-worker sick last week and he came to work the very next day! my hands were being washed and sanitized every 10 minutes, and I lysol everything in my office...door handles, the printer....etc! I have not gotten it, thank god! when I was pregnant I got the SV and actually V'ed for the first time in over 10 years..I just want to assure you that it will not hurt you or your baby. Actually now that I am remembering it, it really was not that bad after all. I hope you feel better soon, I know how though it is, and people really are very rude, they don't think of those who may be sensitive.