What is ‘normal’

[Rach7291]

Can anyone tell me what your normal life is? I have health ocd and am trying to get my life back together. I clean my hands after touching anything (lifts, shopping, petrol pump, utensils in a restaurant etc) basically anything that anyone from outside my house has touched. I need to know whats normal. Like when you go out, how do you act? This may sound really silly so i’m sorry, but i’m really desperate for a normal life! Do you get ill alot? My ocd is centered around myself and my baby getting ill.

I would say it’s normal to wash your hands before you eat and after the toilet or when your hands are soiled.

It’s very effective to just wash hands at these times.

100% as previous poster. After the loo, before eating, after any food prep or if you get mess on your hands.

If I am on the go and get a croissant to eat on the train I use a squirt of hand sanitiser beforehand.

i would let really say I got ill often.

Usual times would be before eating/food prep, after using the toilet.
asking if people get sick often is a form of seeking reassurance and won't help, reassurance fuels ocd.
you need to accept that you might touch germs and get sick, you can't eliminate that possibility but you can learn to not let the anxiety over it ruin and control your life. The main way to overcome ocd is to tolerate the uncertainty and anxiety and with time it will lessen.

There is a really good book that my therapist recommended that's been so helpful for me-
Break Free from OCD: Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with CBT
By Dr. Fiona Challacombe, Dr. Victoria Bream Oldfield and Professor Paul M Salkovskis.

I agree with these, though I would also add after using public transport.

You have my sympathy though, as my DD is recovering from this.

I agree with the previous posters, but add that I do always wash my hands when I come back home if I’ve been in public places touching things. Probably a throwback to lockdown but I’m more aware of catching colds etc and I think it’s a sensible thing to do.

I had OCD for years (not handwashing) and it’s often tough to know what’s a ‘normal’ amount of times to perform an action. Sending hugs, and reassurance that you can overcome this awful condition.

I very rarely catch viruses - I wash my hands after using the toilet, before/during cooking or eating, if they're dirty, and as soon as I get to work/home if using public transport (that's the one I've noticed make the biggest difference - I caught more colds my first winter commuting in and out of London on packed trains than I ever have before until I started washing my hands and face as soon as i got to the office before making tea or touching anything at my desk).

The only time I'm more likely to use hand sanitizer is leaving the GP surgery or moving around a hospital, or if for any reason I can't wash my hands after using the loo e.g. only freezing cold water available and no soap.

Yeah- hand sanitiser when leaving public transport and then a handwashing at first opportunity after that.

I'm quite relaxed about germs but rarely get ill. The odd sniffle, maybe one or two colds a year. I watched a documentary when DC was a baby about the importance of bacteria for our immune system and how much healthier the gut bacteria of people who had a pet in the house or who spent a lot of time outdoors were. We didn't evolve to live in a sterile environment. I am probably a bit over the top the other way in wanting us to be exposed to bacteria.

I wash my hands every time after using a public toilet, most times at home (sometimes rushing between Teams calls and don't have time for anything other than the quickest of pees, and I don't wash them in the night if I get up to pee). Always before preparing or touching food for anyone else but that's more about not wanting to spread my hrt gel around, or other yuckiness as I've a tendency to touch my face a lot. Other than that I don't really bother.

I only wash my hands after using the toilet and before cooking. Not before eating or after coming home. And I never ever get sick. But I'm not sure that helps you, because I just never think or worry about hygiene at all, and that's obviously very different for you. Could you try to reduce hand washing a little at first and see how it goes?

Germs only get in to you if they can enter.
Skin is a good barrier.
So as long as you don't suck your thumb and you wash hands before you eat you should be fine.

In everyday life I wash hands:

1. after the toilet / nappy changes /vomit
2. after touching something visibly mucky, like gardening, painting, making pastry.

As I wash my hands after the mucky things, the rest of the time there is just 'ordinary' bacteria on my hands, so I don't see the need to wash them again before eating, or before biting off a loose fingernail, or scratching my lip etc. But I would acknowledge that many people do wash their hands before eating (but for some reason not before biting off a loose fingernail, or scratching their lip) so I would say that is normal too.

This is how I was raised. I got sick less than normal as a child and recovered quickly. As an adult I have a very good immune system and have had flu once in the twenty years of my adult life. I get a mild cold once a year.

One thing to bear in mind OP is what you wash your hands with. You have colonies of beneficial bacteria all over your skin, including your hands, and you need to look after them. If they're healthy then they crowd out any nasty invader bacteria that come along, which stops you picking up every bug you come across. But if you keep damaging/killing your native bacteria with masses of hand sanitiser you are actually damaging your natural defences. For that reason it is best to use ordinary bar soap, or a liquid soap which is definitely not antibacterial.