Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

@NatureLover Sometimes it's not worth the effort 😂 that's why I work on getting the numbers down.

I couldn't watch them take the stuff away... too hard. Doing the hard stuff has been worth it though and always will be. It's just never fun at the time.

I know - it's so hard to get rid of stuff @Escaped_Goat . I had someone helping me at one point who actually took the Opp Shop boxes away with her when she left, which was fantastic. It was hard enough making the decisions about each little item. It's draining. But it feels good afterwards, as you say.

i can understand that the time and effort of leaving the house must be daunting. The person I know with the checking thing used to take hours. 😞 I really feel for you.

@NatureLover I was smart when I did the conversion here. Minimal power points! 😂 😂

It sounds like you're able to make strides as long as things get removed once you've made the decisions. That's huge! You should be proud of yourself.

Aww, thank you, @Escaped_Goat ! Yes, I have got rid of sooo much stuff that had followed me around for decades. Now there's clutter but just inside the house, a little bit piles up on the floor in bags sometimes but then I deal with it, not like before when I had huge piles of junk outside under massive tarpaulins. That's all gone now and I feel really good about it. 🙂 I still have the desire to hoard and the difficulty in letting go, but I've worked hard on it over the last few years. I'm heaps better at not bringing stuff home, it's just the stuff that I've always had that's hard to give up.

You did the conversion yourself? So you minimised the number of power points...that's brilliant! And I guess you knew how much space you were going to have, then, and how much you needed to get rid of. It's encouraging to hear.

P.S. I've got rid of my "one thing a day" already. Thank you for inspiring me.

@NatureLover Very impressed how far you've come!

I think the urge can be with you for a long time... I guess like anything that someone gives up... smoking... whatever..

We just become stronger than the urge especially as we start to enjoy the spaces we have created for ourselves.

I'm so excited and proud of you... one a day done today! ⭐️

It decided to rain here today.. which is lovely and needed but meant I haven't budged. 😂 I'm sure I had plans to try to do some things today.

Thanks so much, @Escaped_Goat 🙂 I appreciate it.

I agree in thinking of hoarding as a bit like an addiction. You have to keep on working at it. Although it sounds like you have pretty much overcome it - yay!

I've been walking and tidying in between posting and reading here so it's been a good day. I am certainly enjoying talking to people who understand.

Can you relax and just 'be' today? Some days I do that. I guess if you're anxious about your friend it would be hard to relax.. 😞

Hey @NatureLover and @ Escaped-goat, @Shaz51, @Faith-and-Hope, hope everyone is doing well in these uncertain times. Not much has changed for me, still using a lot of hand sanitiser and washing my hands a lot. Thankfully in a lot of states the curve is flattening so that has helped with anxiety levels.

I was going to start a new thread, though I think I have raised this issue before without much response. I have been on meds for years and they have controlled my symptoms pretty well, however, I seem to have a suppressed immune system. Not sure if is the illness or the meds?? The problem seemed to coincide with when I started on medication. Further, I find I can't sleep at night if I haven't eaten enough carbs during the day or had at least two glasses of wine. Does any of this resonate with anyone?

feel free to start a new thread with this...I only have access to my phone for this site and it is not very user friendly with phones. Thanks, Fee1.

@NatureLover Yeah... worrying about him and beating myself up aren't the most relaxing hobbies. 😕

@Escaped_Goat I hope you can be a little bit kind to yourself while you wait. Easier said than done, I know. 😞

Hi @Fee1 , happy to hear your anxiety levels have come down a bit. I did see you mention before that you think your suppressed immune system might be due to MI meds...I didn't respond as I know nothing about it, I'm sorry. I have never heard of that before. I wonder if other people might know something about it...but you might not find a wide variety of people on this thread, that's the problem.

I definitely need to eat carbs during the day to function, although I take a sleeping tablet every night so can usually sleep. Not sure about the wine although I have heard that before. Maybe you might have to start a new thread? Hope you can get some answers...what about your GP?