FORUMS

Connect with people who understand what you are going through, seek advice and surround yourself with support. We're free, anonymous, and professionally moderated 24/7.

  • 47,612Members
  • 1,358,869Posts
  • 1,400,000Visitors
Our stories

Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Hi, I have just joined. I have a few mental illnesses, but am especially interested in hearing if there are any diagnosed germophobes or people with hoarding disorder on these forums?

I don't know any germophobes in real life, and would be interested to know how any of you pre-Corona germophobes are doing. Can you find enough sanitiser? If not, what are you using instead? Has your germophobia gone sky-high in this pandemic? Do you find it less or more lonely now that nearly everyone is a self-confessed germophobe?

My germophobia is quite bad - I can't have anyone in my house, and need lots of sanitiser when I go out. E.g. I use it after leaving my house and before I get in the car; again before I touch the steering wheel, again after touching my purse, again before putting my seat belt on, etc. I am struggling to find enough sanitiser. If I run out, I was thinking about diluting some disinfectant and putting it into an old water bottle to take out with me. I had one really bad panic lasting 3 days that was debilitating, due to COVID-19, but after that thankfully my germophobia came back down to normal levels. I guess normal levels are not that great but at least I am used to them!

I am strangely finding it more lonely as a diagnosed germophobe now, and would really like to meet some other germophobes online and hear how you're going. At least I had a friend tell me that I was in a stronger position than him, during this health crisis, as he had trouble remembering to wash his hands, whereas I wash them a hundred times a day already!

6457 replies

4,221 - 4,230 of 6,457

In response to: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

I’m pleased your SAD is still away and I hope Melbourne has a sunny winter just for you @NatureLover

🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🫂🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞

In response to: Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

With the cracks in the health system between private and public @tyme its not the $ fazing me atm it was noone accepting responsibility for half-done procedures and inadequate information and nonprovision of essential medical supplies. Seems on the way to being resolved via a private admission to a hospital many kms away to fix what the public hospital ED started and didn't finish. Medical I might add not MH.

@NatureLover no it's not eyes or back it's a problem my former gp didn't acknowledge. It will indeed need surgery, likely to be late August.

@NatureLover I'm thrilled at your progress with the house and overall, and that you've not yet suffered this season's SAD. I trust you can hold it at bay with your light box

In response to: Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Oh dear @Dimity ,

I thought it was just the $$$ that was the issue! It's as though you are a guinea pig moving between services. I can hear how frustrating that can be. Thank you for clarifying.

Have there been any developments since?

In response to: Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Thanks @tyme the hospital and specialist say they've booked me in for next week but I haven't had confirmation yet. The public hospital sent me a patient experience survey today so I gave them some negative and some constructive feedback over my experience and the discharge procedures.

I'll catch up more sleep tonight (I was in ED overnight Tuesday and am still tired).

I'm thankful I have private health insurance but there's a lot out of pocket... I'm lucky to have savings.

In response to: Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

My experiences have only ever been in public, so I can't really compare. @Dimity . I'm hearing there is a stark difference.

Please rest up. It sounds like you've had some pretty big days.

In response to: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?


@Dimity wrote:

@chibam have you considered DIY therapy with a workbook - they're available for CBT, ACT and maybe other modalities? Then hiving off the "fixing your life" personal help to user-pays services in the commercial realm? Completely bypassing the therapy impasse of disinterested but actually uninterested therapists? Just a thought.


If there were reliable/meaningful "user-pays" services in the commercial realm, @Dimity , I think I'd just jump straight there.

The problem with DIY books is they lack the all important specifics. Where do I go to meet my future wife? Like, specifically what's the street address, and what time do I go there? If it's a public place with many people, how do I identify her? A book published in New York, or London, or even Melbourne isn't going to contain those essential specifics. Same goes for employment and a new home.

I really need someone who is familiar with the people and environments I'm looking for, and is willing to deal in specific details.

@NatureLover I just didn't have a way out. Or at least, I couldn't see one; and believe me I thought about very little else for most of that time.

I couldn't even tell my GP about how terrible she was; because I had to sign away my doctor-patient privelage to get the medicare discounts on the therapy! So I had no guarantee that if I told him what a monster she was, that he wouldn't pass those insults right on to her!

Of course, the irony of the whole thing was that I really did have a way out the whole time; I just couldn't see it because I was more obsessed with getting the outcome I wanted, rather then paying attention to what she ultimately wanted.

All she cared about was money; she made that abundantly clear throughout my treatment. Money equals wellness in her ideology. So, if I'd only made up some lie about winning Powerball, or inheriting a large amount of money from some dead great-aunt, or something, I could've satisfied her immediately that I was "cured", and that I no longer needed therapy.

I gotta tell you, when I finally realized just how close I was to escape that whole time (which I didn't realize until a fair while after I'd actually been let go), I nearly pulled my hair out.

It was just one of those things where you get caught up in a problem, and you just need someone else with impartial eyes to come along and spot the bloody obvious thing that you've just got into the habit of overlooking, you know? If I hadn't been so emotionally wound-up over the situation, I probably would've found that solution myself.


In response to: Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?


@Eve7 wrote:

I’m pleased your SAD is still away and I hope Melbourne has a sunny winter just for you @NatureLover

🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🫂🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞


Aww, thank you so much dear @Eve7 for popping in and for your good wishes when your world has crumbled around you ❤️

In response to: Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?


@chibam wrote:

Money equals wellness in her ideology. So, if I'd only made up some lie about winning Powerball, or inheriting a large amount of money from some dead great-aunt, or something, I could've satisfied her immediately that I was "cured", and that I no longer needed therapy.


This is terrible, @chibam ! 😮

How did you escape in the end? (I'm thankful you did!)

In response to: Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?


@Dimity wrote:

@NatureLover no it's not eyes or back it's a problem my former gp didn't acknowledge. It will indeed need surgery, likely to be late August.


Oh gosh @Dimity ! And that previous GP was a horror. I'm sorry to hear 😣

So the admission next week isn't for the surgery? The surgery is in late August? Does that clash with your eye surgery?


@Dimity wrote:

@NatureLover I'm thrilled at your progress with the house and overall, and that you've not yet suffered this season's SAD. I trust you can hold it at bay with your light box


Aww, thank you, this warmed my heart dear @Dimity ❤️

The handyman came unexpectedly yesterday and built my 2 tall thin storage cabinets/shelves plus the outdoor storage trunk. So now I have to disinfect them inside and out, squeeze them in to the 20cm wide spaces, then I can start using them.

I hope you've been able to catch up on some sleep last night?

Good luck tackling the papers today 🤞 Sending care ❤️

In response to: Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?


@NatureLover wrote:

This is terrible, @chibam ! 😮

How did you escape in the end? (I'm thankful you did!)


She just pronounced me cured one day, based off the fact that she believed I had enough money!

It was really strange, because I don't think I ever spoke to her about money or my financial situation. I come from a family where money tends to be treated as a very private matter: we don't talk about how much money we have, and we don't ask others how much money they have or how much they get paid. So I wouldn't have mentioned my financial situation to her

If I had told her about it in detail, she almost certainly would've considered it to be problematic.

Still, I didn't stop to ask questions. I was just glad to finally be rid of her.

4,221 - 4,230 of 6,457