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Man being sick in gutter in town centre, OCD spiralling out of control

Hope

A man was sick near me up town today, with projectile vomiting. I crossed the road very quickly. Now my OCD and contamination fears are getting out of control and I am worried in case I have inhaled the germs. Any advice on how to eradicate the image of the man being sick from  my mind would be much appreciated.

  • Thanks everyone. Nothing happened to me, and I did a CBT exercise in my journal after the event, using logic and evidence, and this helped me.

  • I find it difficult to cope with people being sick.  My head does start racing: Why were they sick?  Could it happen to me?  How do I stop it?  But, after some CBT I realised a lot of the thoughts appear because of the anxiety so I think through the facts.  Do I know why he was sick?  No, but it could be something as simple as he drank too much alcohol, or has a stomach problem specific to him, so it's not contagious. How many times are people actually sick?  Not very often, so because it is happening to him it doesn't necessarily mean it will happen to you.  Did any sick go on me?  No, and inhaling sick vapours is very unlikely to do anything (and you would have to be very close to it for it to do anything to you).  Then after a couple of days I see that nothing has happened so I manage to forget about it.  Most of the time.  But, without that logical thinking I would find it more difficult.  Unless he was sick on your hands and you didn't wash them then I think the prognosis is good for you :)

  • Thanks Paull. He did not cough or sneeze and contact was extremely minimal. I was about to cross the road and suddenly heard a splashing sound. I turned round to see a man being sick in the gutter, so I quickly crossed the road and heard him being sick again. It was outside, not in an enclosed space, and it might not have been contagious anyway, at least I hope not!. But your words of wisdom are reassuring.

  • I think even if the man did have any contagious germs then the chance of you catching them is highly unlikely unless he coughed or sneezed in your vicinity or you had contact with bodily fluids. Most people I have seen being sick in the street are just drunk so maybe he was too.