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Morbid fear of germs

By: Stacy
Mood: Other
Date: Apr 08, 2007
Music: None


My germophobia has really peaked. I'm terrified of public areas. And at work (I know I've already wrote this, but I'm writing it again, 'cus I cant stop worrying about it) I have several papers that the doctor writes on and gives to me. They are diagnoses and CPT codes for each patient he sees. My germophobia has reached a point where I can't even do my OFFICE job. I think about the peice of paper, and did the doctor right on it right after he visited with the patient in the nursing home? Did he touch the patient before he touched the paper? Did he wear gloves? And if he did, did he touch the pen with the gloves? If he wore gloves, washed his hands and then touched the paper, what pen did he use? If he got the pen from a cup of pens, was the pen touching other pens that had been touched by other nurses that might not have washed their hands before touching the pen? What if the cup has NEVER been cleaned and held several dirty pens? And what did he right on? Was it a dirty desk? Was the desk touched by unwashed hands? Did he touch any door knobs before touching the paper or the pen? And here I am sitting at my desk at my computer, all I need to do is type in what he wrote on the dumb peice of paper, but instead I sit there like an idiot going over those questions. So I put on latex gloves to touch the paper and enter the info. Then I stash away the paper in an envelope, trash the gloves, and sanitize my desk, mouse and keyboard. This is just getting out of control.


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From: greg745
April 9, 2007, 8:34 pm
Ugh...you must be so frustrated!!!

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April 9, 2007, 5:13 am
I know how you feel and it really stinks. My therapist would say to touch the paper and feel the anxiety and feel your suds level, eventually it would go down. It's really hard doing erp, but I do think it works. I hate feeling the anxiety as well. I am not going to tell you that I do it all the time because I don't. It's so much easier to avoid it. Do you see a therapist? The therapist can help you you with cbt and erp. I hope I helped you out. I have ocd germ/contamination and I wash my hands so many times in a day, so I know how you are feeling. That is one thing my therapist wants me to cut down on, but I have a really difficult time with that. I also have a fear of getting laundry detergent on me and I used to always wear gloves when putting it in the washer machine, but now I do not wear gloves anymore. I know that it was irrational to wear the gloves but doing erp has helped me. One day at a time. Take care! Your Friend, Jezz

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April 9, 2007, 2:06 am
Oh sweetheart - you sound so upset. I got that bad when I was obsessing about something a few months back. Are you having therapy? I can't remember. Obviously work is very important, but if your germ phobia is running away like this woring in a doctors office is causing you a lot of pain. Do you think working in a different environment would help??

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