If it's affecting you this much, you should probably take some meds to calm you down. Your anxiety is probably causing you to look for sensations that aren't there, and in the process of doing so can probably make you think you felt them, when really you didn't. Look at other people on the bus. Do they analyze each seat before they sit down? No, they just sit. I have the same irrational fear, and I have to fight against it every day. However, my fear deals with unidentified liquids and fluids, which my OCD identifies as HIV-infected bodily fluids. Meds are definitely helping.
As for things you can do without meds to treat this, you can do exposure and response prevention (basically, forcing yourself to face your fears without performing your compulsive response). Next time you sit on a bus seat, don't analyze it for needles. When you get up to leave, don't look at it again. Walk away. This will certainly cause you a lot of anxiety, but you have to do it if you want to be rid of this. Once the bus drives away, the situation is out of your hands. It's gone. Eventually your anxiety will come down on its own and you WILL forget about it. Also, wearing dark clothing (especially in a situation where you won't be able to go home to change) can be another way to exposure yourself to these fears without performing your compulsive rituals.
You have to remind yourself daily that your thoughts are a direct result of extreme anxiety. If you remove anxiety from the mix, OCD isn't OCD.
Also, it wouldn't hurt to educate yourself on the ways in which HIV is actually transmitted.
HIV is transmitted through unprotected vaginal, anal, and oral sex. Non-sexually, it's transmitted through shared injection equipment (like injection needles for drugs). It can also be transmitted via occupational exposure, the latter of which is especially rare.
It's important to note that in your case, EVEN IF you were pricked by a needle, the chances of you contracting HIV from it are extremely unlikely. There are 0 cases of people becoming infected with HIV due to needle sticks outside of the healthcare setting.
Read this post by a MedHelp doctor, who explains why HIV is hard to transmit. Scroll down to Dr. Handsfield:
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV---Prevention/Vaginal-fluid-on-hand-touched-inside-of-condom-and-head-of-penis/show/1119533
Thanks man I Really appreciate this....Thanks again!!!
i have the same as you and it's very hard to live with this. ocd is my enemy in my mind.
I used to walk down the street (in a small seaside town in Ireland) and worry that every thing on the ground was a needle. It got to the point where everything i saw became a needle in my mind. My Dad told me chances are it would never be a needle and if I get the 'vision' of the needle I should ignore it. At the start it was hard but after a few weeks it died down and I felt less stress and didn't 'visualise' needles as much. I realised if my dad was willing to take the 'risk' that i'd miss a needle (mistake my imagination for the real thing) then I could take that 'risk' too. The same with sitting on train seats, I'd be so worried about sitting on a needle that I'd visualise one on the seat, and later any sensation on my body I felt it could be a needle. But it never was. And again my family said there is never going to be a needle on the train so just ignore it and eventually I imagine it less.
I used to think every little sensation I felt while sitting could be a needle! It seems our OCD just becomes more aware of regular little muscle twitches and such. Best of luck in getting better :)
Thanx a lot man....I hope you will be get rid of OCD as well.
Sorry I thought you were a boy.......thats why I called man..
Sorry I thought you were a boy.......thats why I called man.
No worries, hope you feel better ! :)