May I have OCD

[Andylu_vn90]

May I have obsessive compulsive HIV and infectious diseases.
Actually, I'm still obsessed with this issue even though I haven't had sex with anyone for many years and haven't injected drugs at all. But the thought of this problem kept lingering in his mind. When I go out, I'm afraid of stepping on a needle. When I went for a health checkup, I was afraid the nurse would forget to change the blood needle. When I go out to eat and use toothpicks, I'm afraid that people will reuse someone else's old toothpicks. When I go to get a dental filling done, I'm afraid that the tools won't be clean, so I just think about this problem all day long. When you go to work or have something to do, you don't think about it. Every day you take a day off from work and stay home, you start thinking again. In the past two years, I have been tested for HIV nearly 50 times to the point that the nurses thought I was mentally ill. I went to a psychiatrist and was given medication, but it only improved my sleep, but my thoughts kept lingering in my head. No matter what I did, I saw the risk of HIV. Watching movies or news about people with HIV makes you start to worry about whether it was a warning from God or not. I was so obsessed that every time I went for a test, I had to wear the exact same outfit to feel secure

[specialmom]

Staying away from hiv and going to the topic of this group, ocd. OCD can be characterized by intrusive thoughts. "I have hiv" or "Maybe I have HIV".  Plays in your head. Can't quiet it and it makes you very uncomfortable. You may have had a risk assessment in which people said no risk or you may have had a risk but been told that the risk is very low and you may have had a negative test. But your  brain still tells you "I have hiv" or "maybe I have hiv".  And the only way to get rid of the comfort is to find reassurance. Asking others, talking to the doctor, taking a test, researching, using logic. And you may temporarily feel better but then it comes raging right back. How do you get over the cycle? Well, stop doing the second part of looking for reassurance. Stop looking stuff up, stop asking, stop testing. Disengage from the topic.  Sounds hard? Only because mental health makes you think that. Medication and a therapist can help.

[Sara_MHModerator]

Please note that this forum is ONLY for discussion of ocd and we do not allow HIV risk assessments here. thank you