OCD and fears of salmonella

[Blackcountryman12]

I have suffered from OCD for years and most of the time I am able to control it, but I have had a fear of salmonella for over 30 years, ever since the nationwide egg scare in 1988 when I was 9. I often get concerned about pubs and restaurants if the haven't got a rating of 5 on the doors.

I'm not concerned about getting a milder, 24 hour type of food poisoning, just salmonella (as well as e.coli). What really triggered it for me was that there was a boy a similar age to me (who actually lived a few miles from me) who died of blood poisoning caused by salmonella at the height of the egg scare. Is salmonella often serious? I am frightened that if i got it I would end up in hospital.

I have rarely suffered from diarrhoea (or vomiting), apart from one or two 24 hour bugs as a child, and I understand the diarrhoea and stomach pains from salmonella can be very bad. I have heard of people with salmonella going to hospital, so this really scares me.

Hi @blackcountryman12 don't know if you are reading.
I could reassure you that salmonella mostly isn't a major problem, but it will not help you. I don't know if you have had any treatment for the ocd, but what is typical behavior, is to seek reassurance, then you have a few moments where you feel better and you start to ruminate all over again or find something else to obsess over.

Please ask for cbt, someone specialized in ocd preferably. A lot of psychologists do online consultations.

(Aaand as long as you stick to normal hygienic rules, salmonella isn't a problem. Lots of people have had it, it's only the worst cases you hear about .)

Best of luck, it's a bugger.

Hi @ladyhummingbee, thanks very much for your reply. I haven't had any treatment for the OCD, but I have managed to control many of the thoughts, often using my own strategies. It is more or less only the salmonella fear that I have had difficulty controlling.

I might ask for CBT if the problem starts to frustrate me more, but what you have said has really helped, and as you said it is the worst cases you hear about and i just fear that I will get the worst case. You have made a good point about how salmonella wouldn't be a problem as long as you stick to hygienic rules