Toxoplasmosis from garden dust/grit

[charmak]

HI Ladies, I have OCD and Anxiety. We are moving house in 2 weeks and I am 19 weeks pregnant. I always seem to have flare ups when big changes are coming. Today I was washing my daughter's paddling pool as it was covered in dry soil/grit from last summer and then went onto blow it up. I wiped the valves with the same flannel I had cleaned it with but it was still a tiny bit gritty. I just blew it up anyway and spat and cleaned my teeth afterwards and now I'm gripped with fear I may get toxoplasmosis and pass it onto the baby. I called the midwife and she reassured me it was fine but my OCD needs certainty and now I want to ring GP to ask for more reassurance and some antibiotics to be on the safe side. I have only seen 'animal' mess in the garden once in nearly 3 years even though we have badgers, foxes and such like passing through after dark. I feel so cross for doing it now when I should have left it for my husband to do when he got home. Anxious mummy who can't switch off!!!

OP you really have nothing to worry about the risk is minimal. Many people who are pregnant work in gardens, farms etc etc and have perfectly healthy pregnancies.

If you feel you need further reassurance call your GP and they I'm sure will say the same xxx

Don't worry. I'd be more worried about taking antibiotics. They're good when really needed. But when not needed, they can do more harm then good.

You won't get toxoplasmosis that quickly.

The worst place to be is in the toilet. Far more dangerous bacteria and other stuff over there. Most important thing to protect yourself is to wash your hands after you went to the loo and before you do anything with food.

Also keep a your toilet and kitchen clean is very important.

Washing your hands also goes for others around you.

That's why I sooo HATE people who don't wash there hands. I'm also like you very worried about my health and my baby's.

When I go to a public toilet and someone just walks away without washing their hands.......... I feel like I'm going to explode!

Because then I think like:
Everything this person touches could be infected with this and this and this....

I don't think you can take antibiotics for toxoplasmosis? You certainly shouldn't take antibiotics just in case.

My cat caught toxoplasmosis when I was pregnant with dc1 so I had a blood test. Why are you particularly concerned about toxoplasmosis? I have a friend who caught it from something she ate and I didn't catch it from gardening or my cat, so unfortunately you can't have certainty unless you get a blood test.

Hi Charmak. I too an pregnant with OCD/anxiety. I was worse in the first-second trimesters and have started to relax a little in the third. My OCD focused on toxo too, particularly the washing of vegetables , cooking of meat and anything cat related. Though I've had a lifetime of living with cats and I did love a rare steak pre-pregnancy so am likely immune anyway. I personally didnt get a blood test as there wasn't any incident in particular that was risky enough to justify it. And even if a test was negative I'd want another test a week later, then a week after that. Then I'd be "pandering" to the condition.

Here are some things I used as tools in my armoury against OCD:

A counsellor/therapist. Speak to your midwife and GP. Get them both on the case for some talking-therapy and see who comes up trumps first!

A good self-help book specifically for OCD. Something that contains CBT techniques.

If you can work on relaxation techniques, it should help. I bought a prenatal relaxation CD and downloaded calming water sounds to my ipad. So that when things got too much I could take myself off somewhere quiet and try to calm down. If you like yoga then perhap there are pregnancy-yoga DVDs you could try also.

A supportive partner. My DH has struggled with my OCD almost as much as I have but once he understood it a bit more he realised I wasn't following him round asking him to wash his hands all the time for the fun if it! He got onboard and if he can see I'm getting stressed over food preparation etc he'd usually send me off for a bath or something to relax while he continued to make the dinner.

It's not totally gone for me but its definitely better than it was and more manageable. Do PM me if you'd like any more info.

syl1985 do you think your post is particularly helpful for someone dealing with OCD and anxiety? OP will probably worry about going to the loo now

OCD is very misunderstood. Often people think its about enjoying housework in a comical Monica-from-Friends type way. It can be seriously debilitating.