OCD Handwashing

[PurpleCurtain]

Has anyone else had this? I'm making myself wash my hands after touching pretty much everything - packaging, surfaces, door handles, clothing (including my own). I'm rejecting cutlery unless I got it out of the drawer myself. Avoiding finger food wherever I can.

I only fully noticed how bad it had got today - I completely panicked about having eaten some mini eggs with the same hand I'd been using to use my phone, without washing it...and my husband flipped at me and said I was getting ridiculous and showed me how much soap I've used in the past week and that he thinks it's unrealistic to always wash my hands after using my phone let alone the rest. A lot of the time I'm doing it absent mindedly - though I do get upset if I slip up.

Did anyone else go through this? Did anything help? Did you just snap out of it? I'm 26 weeks so still a reasonable way to go!

I won’t eat anything with my hands unless I’ve literally just washed them and haven’t touched anything since. I’m 23 weeks. I’ve always been a bit of a germaphobe but I think Covid made me hyper aware of of bacteria spreads etc, and now being pregnant makes it worse too. I’ve always been a bit like this and think it’ll probably calm down again after the baby is here and Covid-risk is on the way out. I’m not too worried and it makes me feel more at ease knowing my hands are squeaky clean before I eat. I guess you need to keep an eye on it and check it doesn’t get properly out of hand, but right now with Covid, is wanting to have just washed hands before you eat really that over the top? I wouldn’t avoid ‘finger food’ though, as long as I know my hands are clean I’m happy x

@PurpleCurtain oh another thing I will say though as it’s probably quite important to get it under control when baby is here - I definitely am a bit paranoid about germs because my mum was similar and was forever getting me to wash my hands as a child. Obviously leaning good hygiene is important, but don’t want your worries to rub off onto little one 💕

Thanks @MintGreenLife - yes agreed some aspects probably are more positive than over the top, but not sure that extends to the not being able to eg touch my own clothing without re-washing them. I eat a lot, so it makes things quite tricky! My husband is concerned that I'll ruin my immune system and make both me and baby too susceptible by over-washing my hands.

@PurpleCurtain are you washing your hands after touching every single thing? Or just before eating? My hand washing is more of a precautionary thing before eating, but I 100% wash my hands a lot more than necessary. Is this a fairly normal thing for you in terms of your personality? Or has something triggered it? X

This is me!!! And I’m also 26 weeks so it’s as if I wrote this. My hands have cuts all over them and they bleed I wash them so much :(

I have OCD and I wash my hands way too much. I find that pregnancy and covid have made this much worse than usual and I struggle to fight the urge to wash/clean/sanitse things. I also have thrle issue that I don't trust just washing once so end up doing it several times and get through so much soap. Last time it calmed down after my DD was born but didn't completely go away, but thats due to me having ocd before pregnancy.

@KHR1 I’ve started this recently - I double wash in one go as I feel like the first hand wash hasn’t 100% done the trick 😕

I just started this two weeks ago. My hands never feel clean but are now dry and cuticles are a mess. I seen a soap (on Dragons Den believe it or not!) that was made for nurses as they wash their hands constantly. I'm going to give it a go. Not sure of the name will have to look it up.

Sorry I know it doesn't help with the OCD part, I can't control mine either, but thinking this is at least maybe a short term solution for the after effects?

I've switched to Dr Bronners, hoping that reduces the impact on my hands. It's not just before eating, it's before drinking / applying lip balm / generally moving my hands near my face. I didn't have this before pregnancy (or until a few weeks ago really), so I'm hoping that it will go when baby is born if I can't sort it sooner.

Might be worth mentioning to your midwife at your next appointment, if you feel comfortable doing that . I felt so much better this pregnancy admitting I have anxiety and ocd, last time I didn't say a word, and my midwife has been really supportive about it. Things like offering appointments at my house instead of the doctors (huge covid anxiety) and taking more time to talk through things (doesn't help with the handwashing but did with general anxiety). She did give me the info to self refer to perinatal MH services but hasnt pushed this at all when I decided I didn't want to at the moment.