Has anyone overcome OCD?

[iwonder24]

I think I have OCD and it's all based around fear of contamination of asbestos. I am worried that fibres have contaminated my home from my old house (where I scraped artex - before I realised the dangers!) and my friends house where they also removed artex. I worry it is everywhere, I change clothes, my children's clothes, I worry about my car as it's an enclosed space so more likely to breath fibres in. I'm scared to Hoover and avoid areas of the house. I NEED this to stop and to continue my life as it was before. Im waiting for CBT but it's taking ages and for various reasons I don't want to take medication.

Is it best to just ignore all concerns of asbestos and continue with life? I worry if I do this I'll be being an irresponsible parent and putting my children in danger. I constantly worry the things from my old house will have contaminated my new house. Is this possible? And if I vacuum will it just spread everywhere? Should I worry about this or should I just get on with life normally, forcing myself into anxious situations so that I don't reinforce behaviours? Or is it a real concern and anyone would think like this?

Bump

My son (16) has OCD and is having therapy but it's early days. He sees a clinical psychologist once a week, I think we are quite lucky though, she is new and actually had spaces. He is also going to go on a trial of medication. His therapy seems to a be cbt based. Sorry I can't be more useful and I hope you get some help soon.

Ps I don't have OCD but I do have anxious obsessive thoughts - I find sometimes trying to avoid the thoughts can be counterproductive and so I almost flood my brain with them at times in order to try and make them have less of an effect (if that makes any sense!)

Yes. I have overcome it. It's AWFUL, I sympathise hugely. But it gets better. CBT really works, as do the meds - Seroxat is recommended. Why are you scared of pills? I ask because I was, then I just swallowed one in a leap of faith and kept going for a fortnight, then there was no going back because I felt so much better.

You need to be exposed to an awful lot of asbestos for a very long time before it could do you or the kids any harm, so there's no need to worry about it. (Like me telling you that could suddenly stop the OCD...) You're not at risk. Try to carry on as normal.

Have you read up about asbestos? There are three different types and vary in danger.

Some Artex has low level asbestos, other artex is asbestos free depending on the date.

I once read a study years ago about men who worked in asbestos environments and the ones who smoked and breathed in asbestos were the ones who developed lung cancer.

There are a lot of asbestos removed companies that have made a living from removing the stuff. However I would bypass these and talk to the councils environmental health team as they should be able to offer advice.

5-htp for anxiety will help too.

Thank you for the replies. I've read up on asbestos a lot which is the problem Too much info!

Ashtray I hope your son overcomes it. It's also good to hear from others that have suffered. It's absolutely seagull and I never thought I would be so consumed by something like this.

What is 5-hpt?

By seagull I mean awful! Weirdest autocorrect ever

Look on amazon for 5-htp.

Asbestos has to be removed by a trained professional however art ex is different in that because it's lower grade, you can remove it yourself but need to take steps to protect yourself. I understand it's worrying that you have been exposed but you must remember that you haven't been exposed to the worst stuff.

Also the amount and duration of exposure was pretty low. We are surrounded by the stuff now and have safety knowledge. However in the 60's 70's no one had any knowledge of its dangers and some children and adults were daily (for decades) working in heavily asbestos dust environments.

Morning sweetheart. Is your anxiety highest in the mornings? I ask because that's typical. Ways to beat it include eating breakfast and going for a brisk walk.