How many times a day do you wash your hands?

[BAT]

I wash my hands about 40 times a day.
I try to put things in their place, exactly correct, between 20 and 40 times per day.  Most times I check to make sure I've done it right.

At the end of the day, I try to make sure that everything adds up perfectly, to the penny.

I am really careful to keep the office clean.  I disinfect things all the time.  I check on them all the time. I want it to be clean, all the time.

If I touch someone, before I touch the next person, I wash my hands.

Is this normal?  Because I took a test, and found out that I really do have OCD, because of what I do everyday.(except Thursday, Saturday,Sunday.)

Brent

[summer007]

I do this alot too Brent, and more so if working with the public. Sort oif a germaphobe thing. Cleanliness is next to Godliness! Alot of this comes from me working in surgery and having to practice sterile technique, its hard to shake off when I'd get home. What is clean and what is contaminated. You really see the assm in this especially BG and all her hang-ups...No Dought...Summer.

[summer007]

P.S. Brent just don't lock yourself in that filthy hotel room, if you start walkin around with kleenex boxes on your feet I'm sure someone will call for help!

[Joe Sperling]

I go through 40 bottles of Liquid Soft Soap in a month, but I feel pretty normal.

--Joe

[editor]

I do this alot too Brent, and more so if working with the public. Sort oif a germaphobe thing. Cleanliness is next to Godliness! Alot of this comes from me working in surgery and having to practice sterile technique, its hard to shake off when I'd get home. What is clean and what is contaminated. You really see the assm in this especially BG and all her hang-ups...No Dought...Summer.

I'm learning more about my condition, OCD, and how to live with it.  A lot of things are going to have to change now that I know I have OCD.  I'm focusing, like a laser beam.

Working hands on with the public has always meant that I needed to wash my hands frequently, because I was worried about germs.  I also found myself disinfecting furniture that people would lie on..several times per day.  Well, it turns out that my job was actually making my OCD worse!  So, there are going to have to be some changes there. I'm going to need to find work where I don't touch anything and there are no germs.....unless I can treat my disorder effectively, by focusing like a laser beam.

The same website where I took the test PROVING that I have OCD also had treatment regimes outlined.   One of them is called,  "behavior modification."  The example they gave was to have a person with OCD---me---do something, or touch something that would normally make them want to wash or disinfect. Then, DON'T WASH FOR A FEW HOURS.  That helps them get over it, by modifying behavior, and focusing like a laser beam on dealing with OCD.

So, I'm trying it.  After touching someone, and getting skin oils, make-up, hair product, acne juice, whatever, on my hands....I don't wash and just move on to the next patient.  I'm not cleaning the tables either.  It's working wonders, I am losing my compulsion to wash!

If I go out of business, or quit my job, I won't even have to worry about it any longer, and will be able to really focus, like a laser beam, on my illness and the best way to learn to live with it. 

I should be a different person in a year, if I keep this up, and get serious about learning as much as I can about living with OCD.

Suzie is going to take some classes on how to cope with living with a person with OCD.  She is focusing like a laser beam. All this time she made it worse, because she would tell the kids,  "Wash your hands!"  Well, you can imagine to pressure that put on me, not to mention the way I would pressure the kids to wash.  I am pretty sure that two of them have OCD as well.  Our teenage girl is acting weird too.  One minute she's sweet, the next she gets irritated.  And she fights with her friends sometimes, and then makes up the next day!  She makes a big deal about things. So, we're focusing, like a laser beam, trying to figure out what's wrong with her.

Hopefully, I can qualify for some long-term temporary assistance.

Brents

[editor]

Brent, I really can't tell if your serious or not. I don't remember you being this compolsive.  I dated a Christian woman who has this disorder. She washed so much  her hands were constantly dry and chapped. She would rub cream on them all day!  Her house was a museum!  If anything was out of place she would have an anxiety fit. Forget about sex it took me six months to hold hands with her!  Needless to say she is still not married and she continues to drive everyone around her crazy!

No comment.

the main point I'm trying to make is that I would be a different person if I pursued help.
Also, please be assured that my patients are NOT getting substandard care in any way.  I'm just trying to show how my new-found OCD could have an impact on my work.

[summer007]

This is how I found the cure. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" really were composed of earthly matter, the fruits and veges are grown outside in the ground with of all things some sort of fertilizer, gasp, unless your organic?, then fish swimin filthy rivers and oceans loaded with pcb's and other toxic matter, cows, milk, chickens are loaded with growth hormones so really everythings contaminated in some way. I do double wash if somethings really bad like a hand-shake from a stranger, and I have some dis-infectant in the car, just in case I touch something gross. Thank-God I'm no longer around blood products. But did you know most germs reside on keyboards, so be sure to clean yours effectively, really alot of people get sick sharing keyboards. Summer. p.s. Joe I hope your using the type that kills germs on contact!

[editor]

This is how I found the cure. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" really were composed of earthly matter, the fruits and veges are grown outside in the ground with of all things some sort of fertilizer, gasp, unless your organic?, then fish swimin filthy rivers and oceans loaded with pcb's and other toxic matter, cows, milk, chickens are loaded with growth hormones so really everythings contaminated in some way. I do double wash if somethings really bad like a hand-shake from a stranger, and I have some dis-infectant in the car, just in case I touch something gross. Thank-God I'm no longer around blood products. But did you know most germs reside on keyboards, so be sure to clean yours effectively, really alot of people get sick sharing keyboards. Summer. p.s. Joe I hope your using the type that kills germs on contact!

Here's the thing I keep thinking about, over and over and over and over and over...

If we try to kill all the germs, won't they just get stronger?  That's why I use soap. It just washes them away, which is even more important now that all the germs are so much stronger.

I was going to post about 10 posts on this, but instead, I decided to focus like a laser beam on just making this one post perfect.

That's what I'm learning now.  Just stop and ask yourself, "Is what I am doing really important right now?"  I think that pretty much says it.  I cancelled my patient load for 2 weeks in order to de-stress and get some time for myself, to focus like a laser beam on getting well.

I'm starting to get anxious about how I'm going to pay my bills, so I may have some other problems developing. Ativan is a good anti-anxiety drug I hear. Layer upon layer. You must peel them all back and get to the core, the thing that really starts the problem. Focus like a laser beam, get to the core.

I have help and support, so even if I can't pay my bills I know I'll be OK.  Thankfully, no one has told me to do anything different.

I'm reading "The Attributes of God."  I think I will post some of the chapters for everyone to read. 

Brents

[summer007]

I forgot to mention I was at a friends recently, and I was of all things washing my hands and he quickly warned me that one sponge was for the counter, and one for the dishes and not to mix them up, beleive me I would'nt of touched them, then he went so far as to show me how he sterilized it in the microwave. Wow I was really impressed, this is my type of guy, I was glad he cared about such things. And yes the house is a Museum....Summer p.s. B you do have all the signs: checking, counting, washing, and dis-infecting, and posting compulsively.

[editor]

I forgot to mention I was at a friends recently, and I was of all things washing my hands and he quickly warned me that one sponge was for the counter, and one for the dishes and not to mix them up, beleive me I would'nt of touched them, then he went so far as to show me how he sterilized it in the microwave. Wow I was really impressed, this is my type of guy, I was glad he cared about such things. And yes the house is a Museum....Summer p.s. B you do have all the signs: checking, counting, washing, and dis-infecting, and posting compulsively.

The funny thing is, at first I thought this was a joke.  Someone said,  "Brent may have OCD."

I thought to myself,  "Yeah right."

Well, I took a test online, and it turns out I almost certainly have OCD.  I wash my hands all the time, as i mentioned below.  I check to make sure things are in the right place, and then I re-check.  I do this many times per day.  I also post compulsively.

In focusing like a laser beam, I learned that I have a disorder.  The more I learn, the more I find out that my life must change, and those around me change in order to support me. 

Suzie is going to have to go find a job, and we're focusing like a laser beam on getting her one.

You never know when something like this could happen to you.  Last week I was fine, and then I find out I have this problem...well, you want to take care of it right?  Well, taking care of it means not doing certain things that make it worse, or that stress me, and that means work.

I need to focus and find a job where I don't touch things or people.  Because that is not good for a person with OCD.  I'm just not ready for that now.  I talk to other people who have this, and some of them haven't worked in a long time, so my case is actually quite mild.  If I focus like a laser beam, I may be able to make some progress over time and learn how to live with this.

Brents

[editor]

Another friend of mine use to call me three in the morning, "Do you think I have AIDS?"  I would go over and over with him that he didn't have AIDS because he didn't do anything that would contract AIDS. But this wasn't good enough for him. He just kept obsessing over and over.This went on for over a year. Finally he got some help!  He went through this program similar to the Charles Solomon stuff. But before this he managed to ruin all the friendships he had.

That's interesting.  He didn't have AIDS at all, but he thought he did.  Does he still think he has AIDS?

Is he still your friend?  Do you still see him?

I have a theory that when people think there is something wrong with them, and someone comes along and convinces them that there really is something wrong...things go downhill from there; IF in fact, there is nothing wrong to begin with.

I had a patient like this. He/She used to come in every day, worried that they "messed up" their adjustment.  Well, that is a Chiropractors dream, the same patient coming in over and over and over and over...paying each time.

However, I felt really bad for him/her, and didn't charge them for the visits that weren't needed.  I kept telling them to knock it off, stop acting crazy, if there was something wrong I'd tell them. A couple times she/he threatened to go to another Dr.  I said,  "OK.  Do you think they will tell you you're OK, or will they take all your money?"  (She had one do that before)

Long story short, she only comes in about once every two months now, and she/he no longer thinks everything is getting "messed up." 

I had to contradict her repeatedly, and "get tough."  She/he thanks me for it now.

Brent

[summer007]

Brent, I'd beenwanting to say this is all in your mind your imagining things!  So snap out of it, its part of your job everything your describing, except for compulsive posting. Maybe Suzie should take the computer away from you. How'd ya like that?  Summer

[editor]

Brent, I'd beenwanting to say this is all in your mind your imagining things!  So snap out of it, its part of your job everything your describing, except for compulsive posting. Maybe Suzie should take the computer away from you. How'd ya like that?  Summer

There's no way you could understand.  Who are you to tell me?

I thought you were supposed to be a Christian?

Brents

[summer007]

Please grab a paper bag if you start to hyperventilate. It's my duty to tell you the truth! Maybe you should go off-line for a while, ei that or a plastic-bubble, sorry I know the Truth hurts.  Summer. p.s. guy I really feel mean doing this.

[moonflower2]

There's no way you could understand.  Who are you to tell me?

I thought you were supposed to be a Christian?

Brents

She's a fair-weather friend, Brents.

Summer, back off. You will cause an OCD episode, an OCD trantrum. You are NOT being a friend to him.

You want to be his friend? Buy him a ticket to the ARAAC conference. You know he's going through a difficult time right now. BAAAAAAACK OFF!!