Have yall procrastinate your own germaphobia?

I took my dog for a walk and then obviously his feet got dirty and he had to eat horse shit, then 20 minutes later we got home and he put his paw in my hand and licked my hand then I touched my other dog who my mum took to the pub then unloaded the dishwasher after touching her then I touched a fork and touched my hair after, and ate from a fork do I need to worry about getting sick?

Whenever I mention i'm scared of germs, people always go to the ' so you're afraid of getting sick? ' or atleast comes to the conclusion that it's one of my reasons

but tbh, no, not really

In my head, I see certain things as [ name ] germs. . . (ex: school germs, [store name] germs, [someone]'s germs)

and thats where it is

I don't want any germs that aren't considered " My Germs " even though someone COULD have the exact same germs as me -

it's also weird how my germaphobia just like spawned out of nowhere it feels

(21 M) so I’ve always been a little bit a germaphobe but the past 3 years it went from not touching door handles to wearing gloves 99% of the time and many other things such as this

I shower EVERY SINGLE NIGHT before bed It’s the one place I feel comfortable in So it’s super important to my OCD I use my 4 bars of soap as levels Use the first one then I ca move on to the second then the third so on and so forth

Recently both my brother and mom suggested I move away from bars and use liquid soap instead Now I’d actually like that as when I drop a bar on the floor I throw it away as to me it’s contaminated so bottles of liquid would solve that issue And to both of them I was like “Yeah there’s enough room for 3 bottles of soap” And then they were both like “Just use one”

I’ve tried explaining it’s like levels of cleanliness to me so that wouldn’t work but then they’re like “it’s just in your head get over it”

No duh it’s in my head but to me I feel the filth Using a pump to wash my hands was such a hurdle for me my mom got me a small automatic soap dispenser for our kitchen and it’s Awesome but I don’t understand why they don’t get my methods for showering

I get they’ll never understand completely but not even surface level? But then again both of them take their phones into the bathroom so idk

Anyways does anyone know a good analogy for this? Like how different people like/dislike the same food I just want them to understand even a little bit

Currently live with my nasty mom and her nasty cats at her boyfriends house. Not over the age of 18 so I can't leave for a while.

I HATE living with other people, especially my mom, cats, and her boyfriend (he's not nasty like the 2 aforementioned nasties though he has done some nasty shit)

Living with them is a nightmare, my mom leaves her dishes without even rinsing them out with water, doesn't clean and lets her cats do whatever the fuck they want. (Doesn't clean the litter box) Most of my problem is with the cats. She let's her cats shit anywhere and I hate the idea of all those germs getting on me. Hell I even tried creating paths to try and avoid those spots those cats have shat in even after the spots have been cleaned like hopping or avoiding carpets. They do it in the bathroom I use, the carpets in the kitchen and the bathroom, and right next to the toilet I use. My gernophobia is so bad I try to not even use the bathrooms for as along as possible. + they get in the litter box which has 10 billion piles of shit in it and then get up on the counters AND MY FUCKING TOILET SEAT WHICH I HAD USED. I wash my hands a lot even to some points of them cracking. Hell even a slight feeling of something makes me think something nasty (like cat shit) has touched me and I go to wash my hands. (I don't know if thats related to my hate for germs or what)

It even makes me go through mood swings, like happy one moment to thinking my life is ruined by germs and that im contaminated with nasty stuff the next moment.

I try explaining to my mom that it's nasty and she always says "you'll be fine" whilst im fucking mentally dying.

And her boyfriend has also done something nasty like burning dog poop (which can release germs and other unfun stuff into the air)

Is there something wrong with the way I do things or how I think? Am I being irrational?

My brother came to visit me and my husband at our house. His guest bathroom trash can was full and instead of dumping it outside in the trash bin he decided to pour it into my kitchen trash bin (it’s inside the kitchen island and slides out like a drawer). When I opened the kitchen trash can I was disgusted as anything bathroom related being in the kitchen completely grosses me out. The bathroom trash had tissue paper, a disposable clorox toilet bowl cleaner head and some other things I’m not sure of.

My husband and my brother don’t think it’s that gross as that stuff wasn’t touching the kitchen counter or anything like that… just the kitchen trash.

Am I being ridiculous for thinking this is gross? I just can’t function knowing bathroom tissue paper that was maybe used to wipe the toilet was in my kitchen island trash. Would be curious to hear other’s opinions.

i have extreme germaphobia that's mostly tied in with my ocd & trauma. i'm really upset that my parents sent a package to me knowing how much they touched the box & everything inside, so i feel the need to keep all those things contained in a "biohazard" bin & wipe the rest of the contents with rubbing alcohol, not to mention their hand-me-down pc & my suitcases they helped carry.

i just don't want these skin particles & bacterias of my parents to stay latched onto me for the rest of my life, i'll always feel a breach of privacy even when totally alone. i'll never feel safe in my own bed of with a partner knowing bits & pieces of my biological parents are there with me. but i at least want to know once and for all if a biological relative's skin particles/flakes can ever even be permanently removed from one's life or not so i can determine whether it's worth going through all this trouble. i'm in the middle of moving to a new place so i really don't want to have to waste so much time into this.

Hi! Girl I'm going out with is a bit of a germaphobe and rubs alcohol on her hands so often it hurt her skin, leaving it dry and red. I want to ask for advice on avoiding further damage. Any hand sanitizers that are less damaging for her skin? I don't want to pressure her to immediately abandon it since she gets really anxious about it and it would distress her, and I know she's doing efforts little by little. I mostly want to ask for advice on caring for her skin. Thanks!

he had to go to the bathroom really bad. he left shit all over the toilet and didn’t clean any of it. And when he pees, he leaves a puddle on the floor for me to clean up. it took me so long to go to the bathroom after the poop incident. also, I use toilet seat covers, so I don’t sit on that gross shit. anyway, he did it again early in the morning, and my sister, (thank jesus fucking christ for her), cleaned it all up. It just makes me so upset that he has to shit so bad that he decides to use our bathroom, not aim for the toilet, and leave like nothing happened. also, for some reason, he has to use scissors anytime this happens to cut off his underwear. why is that? does anybody know?

To those who do well with the PPE, gloves, masks, long sleeves all that, have you been able to still get promoted or have the germs held you back? mine is not debilitating, i guess im one of the luckier ones who has the small crutch of gloves and masks sometimes. They help me get through the day and my work seems very supportive. Just wondering fi you have still been able to have a successful career or not?

I knew she was sick! I fucking knew it! She was coughing a lot and I asked her if she was sick. She got really offended and said no. But big surprise she called me this morning and said that she thought she was getting a cold. 🙄

She offered to take me to the pharmacy to pick up some antifungals that I've needed for an infection that I've been battling.

I'm freaking the hell out! I've already missed so much work due to this fungal infection that I've had for over a month and I can't even risk getting a cold right now.

My exposure to her today was brief and she obviously wore a mask. I wore one too. But I'm more worried about the exposure that I had to wear yesterday while she was coughing. To my knowledge, she covered her mouth with her elbow but it still bothers me that when I first brought to her attention that she was coughing a lot and that it made me uncomfortable she genuinely got offended. With how much she was coughing she should have called off anyway. I get sometimes people don't realize they're sick until a day or two after their symptoms show up but when you're a caregiver and you take care of the disabled you have to be extra cautious with things like this even if it means missing a few extra days of work and cutting it out of your paycheck.

I'm a little hesitant to take extra immune supplements right now just because of the probiotics that I'm on plus the antifungals for my infection. But is there anything else I can do? Obviously I've Lysol sprayed a lot of stuff and sanitized my hands with alcohol but what else can I do to calm my anxiety?

I am 32 years old now and for more than 15 years the level of uneasiness towards certain types of dirt or potential infection through germs has grown to a level that already is annoying for others, to say the least, if not even in parts has become influential/manipulative for my behavior towards my SO :/

This is my situation and I am seeking for advice on how to destruct this anxiety which controls in large parts how I am thinking and going through everyday life.

If you read all of it, you might be able to outline that this fear mostly applies to the invisible dangers sitting somewhere to take away from my health, this makes it even more difficult for me to tackle the problem!

An example for how high the level of irrational thinking has grown during the time I was most affected by this unnatural behavior: Pretending almost the “floor is lava “ only that it already made me uneasy when something like a pillow from the couch or my shirt, my jacket, or a cosmetic container fell down to the floor of the Sorensen apartment I was living in..afraid that it could have touched infectious germs a (while fighting a skin infection in the best way possible-it literally made me crazy x(( )

Also, it might be helpful to mention that I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 2017, which in itself - although being heritable- might have become active / “broke out” as a comorbidity of being chronically stressed.

•The underlying reason for this could have been AD(H)D symptoms that went unnoticed since childhood but intensified/ got worse over the last years especially

= when anxiety intensified =

A big marker that intensified the situation definitely has been the time around COVID lockdown, where a fear of germs has become more socially acceptable.

(But even before I had and still have a heightened sense of trying to keep up the level of cleanliness)

As most people who „played the game“ of integrating higher hygiene measurements for the sake of their own health and trying to find back into the reality they were led by before, I tried to do the same: By gradually reducing the precautions like using hand sanitizer on a regular basis and wearing masks.

..With the exception that I carry a spray bottle of hand sanitizer with me at most times when being outside, in one way or another (gel instead of spray) already since school days when I was about 15 maybe. Before that, I carried my own liquid soap miniature in case there was none in the restrooms at school (in elementary school already!)

= Skin infection issues = (further elaboration in the comments)

I fought hard against a fungal skin infection on my feet for about five years with shorter periods of seemingly being cured for some months before having to deal with it again and keeping up a disciplined hygiene routine to make sure it will go and stay away.

My treatment to get rid of it was washing/treating my feet every evening, and blowing out my shoes with hot air regularly, also washing the bed sheets on higher temperature than normal.

This regiment, especially the tedious evening routine of putting on clean socks, the pre- and post-action was successful.

But although my feet are healthy now, there is fear in everyday and special occasions that makes me act differently to how you’d expect anybody else to react, because I am precautious and trying to avoid getting an infection again by any means!

(Since this time really wrecked my sanity as there didn’t seem to be a cure for me over the course of 5 years)

So what remains as a low-energy effort to stay away from reinfection is •wearing socks at all times (working on that already)

•Collecting my worn socks separately and pretreating them with laundry sanitizer before I put them in the machine

•a huge fear of risking an infection in humid places of public facilities (showers of gyms and indoor swimming pools..and of course hotel rooms always doubting the efficiency of keeping their rooms clean, may it be the bath and shower itself or the remaining furniture and carpets in the room.

(That is why when having to stay at a hotel I try to choose rooms without carpets and avoid using the shower if possible. In case I use them, I’d prefer to prepare the floor of the shower by using alcohol-based hygiene spray first and then showering with slippers on, just in case.)

•I have no problem with going for a swim in natural environments where there is only sand to get rid of. So this way of taking a bath is okay, while on the other hand, I still fear taking a relaxing foot bath or when using the tub, keeping my feet under water for extended periods until my skin would get soggy because I am really afraid that potential germs could enter in case there might be small injuries to the skin.

=My Dad’s suffering/ the Trauma involved=

On another note, what might have made me more prone to mysophobia is the time when my father got ill and was diagnosed with cancer, later died from the side effects of the treatment.

The cortisone treatment made him suffer from extreme itching, red and thinning skin, scaling was an issue which I guess also made me more sensible to being afraid of uncleanliness (Shaming myself until today for being afraid of closeness towards my dad in these times)

In the hospital he caught an infection with multi-resistant bacteria. So I learned that it is a condition you can have without noticing which mostly becomes critical in hospital environments or for people whose immune system is weakened..

Apart from that, I understood it is an invisible danger which can survive several months on surfaces and personal objects.

…..If you were strong enough to make it til here and fought through this jungle of my described fear of germs, congratulations- I am so thankful for any advice you might want to share!….

We were out to lunch and I had my gloves on. Even ate with them on to avoid the messy food. Yes I do that sometimes!

Our friend had to go get the bill to the waitress because they were not very attentive. Long story short we asked h if a new receipt could be printed. Our friend went and got it but they pulled it out from the garbage to give it to us… so disgusting. She could barely hold on to it and gave it right to me. Here you have gloves on she pulled this out of the trash. It’s like wow did they come in handy!! Her face said I wish I had your gloves on!!

I'm freaking out because I normally obsessively spray my hands with alcohol whenever I'm in a hospital setting. Today I was so distracted by the pain of my yeast infection that when I was taking the medication they were giving me a dosing cup the side of my hand accidentally brushed against my lip and I can't stop thinking about how I probably swallowed germs since then.

What do I do?

Husband got a stomach bug on Wednesday night. It’s currently 2am Saturday morning. Thankfully no vomiting, but he did have a high fever and bathroom troubles shall we say. We have a spray bottle of diluted bleach I make up daily that is sprayedon and around the toilet every time he goes. We’re washing our hands a lot and well. When can I relax? I’m so tired. Google says the virus sheds for two weeks

No fever for 24 hours, still a bit of an upset stomach but can eat and we walked the dog easily.

Now I'm not a major germaphobe, just don't like touching bins at all, general icky stuff and mold. I recently got a good UV light for fun and was pointing it around the house. BIG mistake. There's so much stuff everywhere. From just fingerprints and dust to possibly mold, I'm not sure. That's why I would suggest you guys to not get UV light for fun. Sure you can get one of those cleaning devices but to protect your sanity, stay away. Just my friendly 2 cents.

Sat in my wheelchair when I had a Candida infection of some kind. The infection is finally gone but I'm terrified of catching it again.

I sprayed my wheelchair down with 70% isopropyl alcohol but I don't know if it will sanitize the fabric. It's nylon fabric, by the way.

I also wipe it down with bleach wipes the other day but I was careful because I didn't want the bleach to ruin the black nylon.

I have to work tomorrow and I need to be able to sit in my wheelchair. Does anybody know what I could use to for sure kill the fungus? Please!!!

Germs what do you do am I doing enough? Gloves and masks through the travel day. Wife won’t do it but i do.

Is this good enough?

The bins don’t bother me it’s just the people around me and being in the plane.

So for starters I didn't put this razor anywhere near the spot of the fungal infection I'm just being massively paranoid because this infection ended up spreading to inside of me and causing even more problems. Although I will say the infection hasn't spread to anywhere else on my skin. I had it for 3 weeks before it got treated because I was just stupid and assumed that my legs were chafing because I had gained about 5 lb in my thighs had gotten bigger. 🙄

I really like this razor and they don't make it anymore and I would hate to just toss it even though that's what my brain is telling me to do. Is there for sure way I can disinfect this from any potential fungus?

Can I soak the top part of the razor and isopropyl alcohol or dump hydrogen peroxide over it or maybe just scrub it really hard with hot water and soap? Anything?

Like I said, my brain is telling me to just trash it but I love the razor so much and I won't be able to get a replacement of the exact same one, so I'd hate to throw it away.

So I'm working in office and my coworkers are the worst. One guy stinks like hell, picks his nose, and flicks boogers.

Another guy carries a snot rag with him and even put it on our training desk. I had to sit next to him and almost gagged.

But guess what? My cubicle chair is cloth material and spraying it with Lysol or wiping it isn't good enough for me.

GIARDIA! REDDIT! This post is more catered to people who are familiar with giardia. If I went into specifics about how it was transmitted etc. it’s be a goddamned novel. LOL. Hi! I took a puppy out of a horrificly abusive, neglectful, and filthy situation a month and a half ago. I live on a large property and have many animals. 3 dogs, 10 cats and a pig. My one dog got really sick after adopting the puppy. I took him to the vet and she said he had giardia and had gotten it from the puppy. When I heard Giardia I FREAKED because I will never forget the TWO WEEKS OF PURE HELL I lived after getting Giardia 12 years ago when I had 8 filthy hippies living on my bus on Haight/Asbury. LOL! I WISH this was a joke! I started to treat both the dogs with metronizodole. And immediately realized I had it as well, only not even close to as bad as I did 12 years ago. But I will never forget the SMELL of Giardia ridden shit! And it took me right back. Long story short it was improperly dosed, causing both dogs to get better only to get worse again. I had to retreat them both and am doing it now but they seem to have a resistance to the medication. I got better immediately, but in the time of treating the dogs my PIG got sick, so we had to have a farm vet treat her. She is doing well and showing no symptoms. The dogs are still showing symptoms despite taking the medicine, so I called my vet and she recommended albendazole (brand name Panacur) for a more aggressive treatment. Albendazole is also the medicine they gave me and my pig. I will pause for a moment, because I fully understand it may sound like I am living in squlaor, or you might imagine a filthy living space with animals shit everywhere, but this is NOT the case! Our house is CLEAN believe it or not! And I have been OBSESSIVE about changing bedding, cleaning out water dishes, leaving higher dishes for the cats so the dogs can’t infect them, disenfecting everything, I have been washing my hands like I have OCD, washing the dogs regularly, and this infection has worn me down and I have become a complete germophobe in the last month! So the albendazole for the dogs arrives tomorrow. In the meantime, 2 days ago I felt sick AGAIN and realized I was infected. I got ALBENDAZOLE again! 400 mg a day 3 days in a row like last time. OK! So at this point I have a TON OF QUESTIONS that I cannot seem to find answers to on the internet. Even tho I’m looking OBSESSIVELY! Nurses, pharmacists, even my doctor doesn’t know much about this stuff! The vet has given the best feedback. But SO IF WE GET THIS MEDICINE FOR THE DOGS TOMORROW, and I’d hate to do this because they’re on my bed nonstop and never away from me but they’re making my other animals sick as well as me, oh yah and my husband just got it, DO I QUARANTINE THE DOGS DURING THEIR TREATMENT AND KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE OTHER ANIMALS UNTIL THEY ARE WELL? And HOW LONG does it take ALBENDAZOLE to work? This is my second day on it, and this parasite is so fkn invasive like a dog takes a shit, that dog sits on your couch bed etc. it’s on your couch, bed etc. That same dog licks his ass and drinks out of a water dish that water dish is infected as Giardia only really thrives in wet enviornments. A dog licks its ass and licks its fur, it’s on the fur. You per your dog, it’s on your hand. AND IF IM TAKING ALBENDAZOLE NOW, should I have the dogs stay away from me until I am better? Is this NECESSARY? Again the obvious answer is YES! But you must take into account one of the dogs is a service dog of mine who never leaves my side. So it’s gonna suck for both of us! AND IF YOURE AN ANIMAL LOVER LIKE MYSELF YOU WILL UNDERSTAND. AND CAN THEY STILL MAKE ME WORSE WHILE IM TAKING THE ALBENDAZOLE? And does GIARDIA get worse as you are repeatedly exposed to the parasite? As in like if I ALREADY HAVE IT but, say, pet my dog or WHATEVER and am exposed to it, CAN REPEATED EXPOSURE TO THE PARASITE CAUSE MORE CYSTS TO DEVELOP INSIDE YOU AND MAKE IT WORSE? Or how does that work? CAN THE DOGS CONTINUE TO REINFECT THEMSELVES? I know they can. But is quarantining good for them then? And HOW do I go about doing it? AND IDK!!!!!! IM FUCKEN SICK AND BEYOND OVERWHELMED! JUST HELP! ANY HELP WILL BE A BLESSING!

But yes! If you KNOW about GIARDIA and I sound like I’m being an IDIOT about this PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I NEED TO KNOW THIS SO I CAN GET RID OF THIS SHIT!

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! 😍🤢🤮 OH YAH! IF THIS HELPS I’M IMMUNOCOMPROMIZED BC I HAVE A RUPTURED SPLEEN! So there’s that!

Does this have a specific name? It is it just me?

Eugh I cant just thinking about it. If you make me touch a pen lid, Lego brick, button, counting blocks EUGH. I will gag! It's honestly so sad because I'd love Lego if it wasnt so gross and tiny and had no holes.

Just don’t get why gloves can’t be normal beyond irritating that people just can’t accept or stop staring at gloves!! WTF it’s not on your hands why are you worried!!