Exposure to blood in bathroom

[meant2beme]

Hi, I’m really hoping to meet someone here to talk to. I do not have hep C and I do not wish to frustrate anyone here that is infected. I’m reaching out for expert information because I have a terrible blood phobia. If you’re a person that is frustrated by “what if’s” read no further. If you’re someone that can help me calm my fears, please help.

I’m triggered by the site of blood and always afraid I’m going to be infected by a blood borne virus. This has lead to OCD behaviors. The OCD behaviors, like washing my hands too much, lead to cracks in my skin, and then I’m afraid some microscopic trace of blood will get into those cracks.

Today I was triggered by this fear of being exposed to blood because I had a guest that used the bathroom in my home. She was bleeding when she used my toilet and then flushed the toilet with the lid open. I’m under the impression that when you flush a toilet with the lid open that particles in the toilet can aersolize and land on other surfaces in the bathroom, like toothbrushes.

So, there it is. I’m worried that some microscopic amount of blood may have aerosolized from the toilet and landed on a toothbrush that I later used. I have a missing molar and fear that this space may provide access to my bloodstream.

I know this sounds very irrational….but that’s what phobias are…irrational. I’m in therapy every week, trying to figure out why I worry about these things that no one else I know worries about. I’ve tried medications to calm myself from phobias, but nothing really stops my fearful thoughts.

I realize this is a forum for people with Hep C, not phobias. It’s not my intention to offend anyone by saying I’m terrified of an illness that you have. If I have offended you, I hope that you will understand that I am just looking for someone to talk to that can help me rationalize.

[flyinlynn]

Wow I really appreciate your perspective and honesty about your situation and OCD issues.

Not sure how we could assuage your fears as you seem to already understand they are basically entirely unfounded.

The best I can say is that as you probably already know it that hep c is not easily transmitted. The virus has to be pushed into your body. Most are infected through being injected with the virus through IV drug use and needle sharing, or possibly blood transfusion prior to I believe 1990 when blood testing for the virus became available and the blood supply was secured. There have been some instances of extremely poor medical practices or  unscrupulous medical technicians stealing drugs that have resulted in potential transfer situations.

But even in the case of a medical worker who experiences an accidental needle stick involving a patient with known hepatitis C the odds of transmission are only about 1.8%  

So if you did not have a situation where blood was pushed into your blood stream I am sure you logically know this is not a risk. You would need at minimum an open wet weeping wound. Cracked skin unless actively bleeding would not qualify.

So anyway you know you don’t have hep c hopefully you understand that the situations you described are not a risk. If it were many more people than about 1% of the US population would be infected. Basically, your odds of randomly encountering someone with hep c is 1 in 100 and if you had a penetrating injury with a sharp implement is only about 1% so if you did have such an injury with a random person your odds are 1% of 1% or about 0.01%

Also bear in mind even if you should ever somehow contract hep c in your lifetime, hep c is now a very curable illness with a better than 98% cure rate. Hep c takes decades to cause serious injury if it ever does. For most with hep c the greatest concern is infecting others.

Bottom line you are not at risk of this slow acting very curable illness.

I wish you all the best in working with your counselor and they can help you with your illness of anxiety and OCD

I hope this is the best I can do to try to ally your fears I hope this has helped at least a little.

Best reguards