fear of snails and snail germs

[f_b]

i have a huge fear of snails. i freak out that when my kids go outside they will accidently touch a snail and bring the germs inside. i am so scared everytime someone is outside they will touch something a snail has touched or they will step on a snail and all the germs will be walked through the house and will be on everything they touch. everytime this happens i go through the house and scrub everything and then i have to have a shower in case i got snail germs on me. how do i stop freaking out about this, it's rediculous, it's taking over my life. im already on citalopram for my ocd. is this fear rational? can some get sick or die if some else has touched a snail or something a snail has touched and then come inside and touched door handles, fridge, food etc?

[Jerry_NJ]

Checking I see f_b has had only two recorded action on this community, on MedHelp in general.  Both are in this thread, back March 2012.  If you want to communicate with her specifically you might try using the "send message" service. If you want to share your experience with other here you might have more success if you make a new post with your choice of "subject"..

Good luck,

[JoeyThoughts]

I have similar issues with germs.  It's hard to do this but it helped me:  I decided I'd 1) rather get an almost impossible to catch disease than live like a nervous wreck and 2) that if all the things that would have to happen in order to catch this disease actually happened, then perhaps I was meant to go out of the world as such and I just can't possibly control something so improbable like that.  (In your case, I might conclude that if someone who happens to touch a snail, and that snail happens to have that disease, and that disease lives long enough on that person's skin to be then transferred to a door handle and again lives long enough for the neighbor to touch it and then she touches my refrigerator door and then someone else touches that door and takes an apple from the fridge and rubs against another apple and I eat that other apple later and therefore catch this disease - all of which is much more difficult than winning the lottery eight times in a row - then I guess I was meant to have the disease or at least that taking that chance is more favorable to me than running around cleaning everything like a lunatic.)  Everyone's different - but that helped change my thinking.  I'm still somewhat compulsive, but I keep thinking of the above and also of all the ways in which humans have survived so much more worse conditions than my kitchen and the perspective at least eased off some of the irrational behavior.  Good luck.

[RubyWitch]

Since you are already on medication for OCD, you surely have a strong understanding of this disorder. You know your fear of snails is irrational, but the OCD has the upper hand. For now.
It's my humble opinion that the medication is not working very well for you. Perhaps upping the dose or changing meds might help, but they will just mask the symptoms. If you REALLY want to get your life back, I suggest you invest your time getting therapy to deal with and hopefully overcome  your OCD. Nobody can criticize you for having OCD.....you certainly didn't choose to suffer with it, but do consider what effect it is also having on your daughter.
The program you watched about the snails with ratlungworm.......was that about the snails specific to where YOU live? If not, then you've been freaking out for nothing. Call your local extension service and ask them about this disease, ask if it IS in your area, can it be passed to humans and what you can do to protect your family.
I am very sorry for your intense fear, but could I ask you a huge favor? I DO understand your wanting to destroy these creatures, but when you say that your fear keeps you from getting too close to them, so you just "chuck" the poison bait from a distance..........PLEASE be aware that cats and dogs find slug and snail bait very attractive and it CAN and DOES kill them as well.
Please consider therapy. You deserve a better, happier life.
Peace
Greenlydia  

[f_b]

i just wanted to say also that when i walk i constantly look at  the ground to make sure there is no snails to step on. when my daughter goes to get in the car i freak out, she has to walk right with me and wait for me to open her door so that i can make sure she has not stepped on a snail or that i any part of her or anything she is holding (like a bag has touched the ground or anything a snail may have touched. It takes me about 10 mns to wash my hands and i wash my hands everytime i touch something like a door, the fridge, a table etc just in case a snail has touched it or someone has touched a snail and then touched it. this fear started about 1 month ago when i saw a programme about snails and ratlungworm disease. a 8 month old baby had did after consuming a snail and a 21 year old man now has brain damage after consuming one. i think what freaked me out is that the health professionals do not know if it is only caused by consuming a snail or if it is also from touching one or the slime from one or eating produce that has not been washed properly, they just don't know. What is making it so bad now is that we seem to have a infestation of snails in our garden now and they are crawling up the fences and everything, i have put snail bait out but it's not doing anything and im too scared to go right up to the fence to put the bait out right where they are so i have chucked it there from a distance. it's so bad now that i have to be at my mums house tonite for dinner and am freaking out already and i don't want to go because it will be dark and what if when i get home there is a snail somewhere and i don't see it andi step on it or touch it. this is ruining my life, i don't even want to leave my house anymore because im so scared. id like to point out that i have suffered these weird frekouts for the past 3 yrs. whenever i hear something i completely fixate on it and work myself up like this about it but then i hear something else and the last fear seems to go and the new one kicks in. before the snails i was hugely scared of raw chicken because of the salmonella germs. please someone please help me i don't want to live like this anymore, i don't want to have to think about every single thing i do and think about the what if's when i do something, i just want to live my life.