If HIV concentration in lymph fluid is 1000x more concentrated in lymph fluid than in blood, why isn’t it listed as an OPIM for HIV transmission?
Started Luvox today for OCD. I’m scared because I’ve had a major increase in anxiety with all the SSRIs I have tried. Has anyone taken Luvox and had a good experience?
Can HIV survive transfers to multiple surfaces in infectious amounts? I.e from counters to clothing, or from counter to hand to other counter, etc?
HIV OCD and work at a hospital. My livelihood. I can’t do this anymore. I want to give up.
I work at a hospital and I don’t remember being in contact with any blood that day. My sweater that I wear in and out of patients rooms touched my water bottle at the end of the day and then I drank out of my water bottle. There was no visible blood on the straw.
Can I get HIV like this?
I read conflicting information about HIV infectivity on surfaces. At times I read that it loses 90-99% infectivity in a few hours once dried, I’ve heard nurses say it loses infectivity “almost immediately” when it leaves the body, I have also read it can last days in laboratory settings.
I guess I’m looking for the most accurate answer on how long HIV survives on surfaces or after drying.
I see conflicting information about how long HIV can last on surfaces or exposed to air. Sometimes I read that it inactivated almost immediately after leaving the body, I read that it dries and inactivates over a few hours, and then sometimes I read it can actually survive days.
I’m confused. Can someone explain to me the actual amount of time HIV lasts on surfaces?
Hey everyone,
I developed severe OCD surrounding blood borne pathogens after a low risk exposure to blood at work.
Now I am in a cycle of constantly getting tested, looking for symptoms, and replaying moments of my day where I’m afraid I might have been exposed.
For example, one day I moved a patients blanket and something hit my eye (I’m sure it was a cracker or some antifungal powder) but convinced myself it was blood. Flushed my eyes for 15 min and cried my whole way home.
Another day I was removing a patients tray from their room and something splashed onto my lip. I wiped it with alcohol swab but then convinced myself it was blood or urine with blood in it.
The anxiety is so debilitating I’m considering leaving healthcare all-together. I used to love my job but now I’m miserable.
I have genuinely considered going on PreP or wearing safety glasses all day at work because I am so fearful.
Is there anyone that has experience with this struggle?
EDIT: I want to respond to everyone individually but I want to say thank you now for all of the empathetic and helpful responses. It’s been a very stressful 6 months, thank you all for responding with kindness.
Hello everyone,
I have let OCD run me around for the last 6 months. I am really desperate and ready for recovery.
I don’t know how to respond to my obsessive thoughts. I try “maybe it did happen, maybe it didn’t” I’ve tried rationalizing with myself. I’ve tried sitting with the discomfort. The panic I experience when a new intrusive thought arrives is distressing.
What have you all found effective??
I got a blood draw at a labcorp. She was laying out her supplies and put on gloves. Then she noted what looked like possibly blood on the table. She wiped it off with an alcohol swab then changed her gloves and got all new equipment and put it on a different surface.
She briefly touched the surface where the blood may have been at one point and then used that hand to put gauze on my puncture site. I am also worried about the gauze having touched the armchair surface knowing now that there could have been Incompletely cleaned blood on it.
I’m also worried the gauze had microsopic amounts of HIV blood on it that contacted my puncture site.
I tested negative for HIV 40 days after this episode.
Someone be brutally honest with me, is this insane?
Got my blood tested two times at labcorp. First for HIV and HCV. Then for Hep B because of a work exposure.
The tests came back negative but now I’m worried that the phlebotomist might have re-used a needle on me. I have no evidence this happened, but no memory of whether she opened a new needle or not.
I tested again at 40 days following my last lab draw and was negative but understand this is not conclusive.
I think about it all day long and it’s incredibly distressing.
I called labcorp and they said that particular employee had been with them for 20 years and she was a rule follower and assured me all parts of the equipment were single use. But I am terrified.
I keep imagining she’s fed up with the company and felt malicious toward me and wanted to infect me.
I developed contamination OCD after a health diagnosis. It is stealing everything from me. I work at a hospital and have panic attacks regularly. I can’t enjoy my partner or my child. I’ve completely lost touch with who I am.
I had health anxiety as a child. But this is a whole new beast. And I don’t know if I can beat it.
Has anyone done intensive outpatient programs for OCD?