My hands are so damaged from washing them , any tips from anyone I wash them so much because they don’t feel clean enough or I don’t want certain germs from something I’ve touched They have gone dry and sore with cuts and are bleeding
You could use Carmex for the cuts, plus a good lotion. Ultimately there needs to be a breaking point. When is up to you. For me it was being unable to move my fingers because the skin had gotten so tight.
@Ben84 I just feel like I can’t wash them less because I don’t want germs to spread to places in my room but yes I need to try Carmex
@ambermayx I understand. You're still going to have to decide which is the bigger risk. If you wash, you certainly damage your hands and are still exposed to germs. Wash less and you don't damage your hands and maybe expose yourself to a relatively few more germs.
@Ben84 It’s just so hard because I get so stressed when I feel like there’s germs and I feel like I’m not clean just not sure how to stop
Find a therapist if you can. Remember, you're stressed right now too because your hands hurt. OCD didn't keep its promise of getting rid of your anxiety. I imagine anybody with basic knowledge of biology will tell you it's not keeping its promise of keeping you safe from germs either. Having cuts in your skin can easily lead to infection. I don't say this to scare you, but to point out that you're not accomplishing your stated goal.
@Ben84 I’m on a waiting list for therapy but it may not be for a while. And yes a lot of soaps apparently have chemicals too which just damage your hands
@ambermayx There's some soaps for sensitive skin that might help a bit.
I deal with the exact same thing. You should get lotion that is specifically for eczema and also find a hand soap that has glycerin, which helps with not drying out your hands so much.
@Anonymous Thankyou this helps
My Dr suggested emollients when I was washing mine until they bled.
@NotSoNewb82 What is emollients
@ambermayx Moisturisers I think.
@NotSoNewb82 Ah okay Thankyou
AQUAPHOR!! or however you spell it. My hands were always cracking and bleeding but aquaphor helps so much, especially if you put it on before bed. When you wake up a lot of it will be healed and it won’t be as irritating
@whatever. And I know that the handwashing gets really bad, I wash my hands after almost everything I touch and I wash them with borderline hot water over and over and over again. So I know that re-applying lotion can be annoying, but try to apply a nice lotion after each time you wash your hands <3
@whatever. Thankyou! What is aquaphor and where can I find it
@whatever. I definitely need to get more lotion I just run out quickly and never know which ones are best
@ambermayx i’m constantly running out of things too.anyways tho, aquaphor is like vaseline and im pretty sure you can get it almost anywhere (if you live in the states like i do) you can get it at walmart, target, amazon and i just saw that ulta even has aquaphor HAND MASKS which i didn’t even know until now. so yeah, whatever you prefer tbh 🥰 also i always try to tell myself that i deserve to have healthy, soft skin. it helps me take care of myself even when im mentally exhausted from all the handwashing. good luck <3
@whatever. Ah okay, I live in the uk so I will have a look on Amazon for it as we don’t have a Walmart or target if not I will find something similar to keep my hands moisturised as my skin was getting bad Thankyou <3
As a short term solution, could you use nitrile gloves (like the ones doctors use) some of the time? That way, if you feel contaminated, you could just toss the gloves and put on a new pair. Just to buy your hands some time to heal.
@Delaney This is a good idea thankyou
I use gloves often for things I feel are contaminated. I still wash my hands way too much. The best lotion I've found for them is called "Helping Hands" from Lush. Works the best and doesn't burn.
@NashvilleB I really should get some gloves and thankyou
I’ve been struggling with this for the part year and it’s been horrible I hate my life and I feel like nothing works , please help or feel free to share tips or your own story
I have contamination OCD that causes me to excessively wash my hands/clean items with disinfectant wipes. I know I just need to start with small exposures but how do I do that without spiraling? I tried a while back by just touching the outside of my dishwasher and not washing my hands after and it led to me being unable to even exist in my house. I basically lived on my couch for three weeks as it was the only 'safe' space that I had not touched with my dirty hands. I had to take a week off work to clean my house to make it somewhat liveable. I still haven't got round to cleaning everything though so things like my kitchen are still no-go zones that I don't enter. I just don't know how to start ERP without it making everything worse. Any advice would be appreciated. I am not seeing a therapist at the moment due to financial constraints.
I’m having a big OCD relapse and would like to hear anyone’s tips on how to be present and healthily deal with these intrusive thoughts and the “need” to preform compulsions. Thank you!!
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