is my fear "valid" or not?

I'm not sure if i really have OCD or not, but this much i know is true:
about two months ago I was in a science lab and had some sticky apple on my hand which i may or may not have partially wiped off on my jeans. I was paranoid that maybe a metal gas-valve was not really shut-off properly so I quickly pressed it in to make sure it was off and then released my fingers and suddenly it hit me that because my fingers were slightly sticky from the apple, the valve may have stuck some and in fact still not be properly shut off! i am now miles and miles away from the situation and cannot do anything about it (that i am aware of). For the past few months since "the incident" i have woken up with a really nausious stomach and I have felt super depressed and not at all like my usual gregarious self. Social situations scare me now because I am afraid of feeling less-than-adequate and all i really want in the world is to get over my fear, or at least DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, because i hate hate hate being helpless and forlorn. does anyone have a suggestion? Is my fear worth wretching over?

heya hun!

i'm sure your fears are valid to you and that's what's important! i'm sure that the valve was fine and there's no worries over it, so try to relax a little, i know it's hard though. think about it- if anything had gone wrong you would have heard about it. and by now loads and loads of other ppl would have used that valve and so even if it wasn't switched off it sure would have been after the nect person .

also, apply stickyness isn't enough to make a difference! you didn't have super glue on your hands!

i know sometimes its really hard not to obsess about something, but try think about it logically and as if someone else was telling you this, and maybe your fears will subside a little. if all else fails, why not call the lab and find out if anything went wrong that day and they will prob reassure you immediately that it was all ok! and think about it- there are things we do in the past that we cannpt change so stressing and freaking out about things only serves to further destroy our mental health.

hope you can get some peace of mind!!!

take care and try to let it go.

Hi,

I actually went through something similar, but I wasn't awake when mine happened. I was asleep! I had a REALLY strong nightmare. I was a witness to a sexual assult. Never in my life have I seen or imagined anything horrible. Talk about fear and anixety, I was so afraid to go outside. I blamed myself for something that didn't make sense. In the dream I wasn't the attacker or the victim, but I sure felt like it when I awoke. After some help and lots of research I learned that everyone in our dreams are representations of feelings within in ourselves and our brains use images/people/situations to get the messages across.
Because I had so many meanings and ideas to choose from I really over analyzed everything.
My stomach too was hurting just like yours. I was nauicous, as I worried about my dream for months. I was afraid that might do something or someone was going to harm me. For me it was mass paranoia, but I didn't care. It was fear and it was real.
It was the first thing on my mind in the morning because of the fear, depression and anixety. It was on my mind all day.
From then on I had nightmare after nightmare that all pertained to horrible disasters and incidents. I know everyone has their own defintions for normal, but I'm about as boring and normal as you can get. I've never had anything so crazy in my waking days come across my mind. Then one night BAM!!!! So I too worried about it, it's been a year now. My advice to you is to confront your fear, like it was suggested earlier, give the lab a call. For me, I really had to do a lot of work as to why I was having such nightmares. I found the source of my nightmares, I've confronted it. At the same time, it's hard some timest to carry on because I can feel the fear still when I see somehthing in the waking day from a dream I had, that triggers the fear to come into my head. At that point my stomach falls, and I make a face now, whereas I'll start to cry and try and run. Now, it happens and I go on with my day after. I know I didn't do anything, it's tough to get over. I've learned to trust myself and people again.
I did get help from a therapist who used hyponothearpy on me, and it worked. It took away my flashbacks for my dream. But, I had to go to four different doctors to learn what was happening. Of them all only one said I had OCD. So I went to an OCD specialist. She diagnosed me with OCD. I quickly started treatment. And the way the treatment worked and the theory of how one gets OCD didn't make sense to me. I understand the implosion therapy, exposing someone to something they fear. But, how one gets OCD is what bothered me.
They know OCD exist, but I didn't have any symptoms. I don't wash my hands 20 times a day, I'm not afraid of numbers, or any other symptoms. Plus, OCD is bad thoughts and is usually triggered during the day, as mine was at night, I wasn't too sure I had OCD. So I sought another threapist, I left the OCD therapist. I was misdiagnosed according to the therapist I have now. He said I have a case of just PURE FEAR and I was scaring myself to the point of paranoia on everything. I wasn't the only person who has done this to themselves. Millions of Americans suffer from nightmares and suffer from the aftermath of fear. Plus, the therapist that I have now says everyone has something they worry about or obess over from time to time. And it's completely normal. But, what makes OCD is that if it interupts living for a certain amount time.
I REFUSED to believe I was sick with OCD. I had depression just because I thought I was sick. I didn't want to continue life thinking I was sick. I REFUSED to believe I was ill. I'll tell you why, like I said before I never had any physical or mental symptoms of OCD. Usally there are other mental illnesses associated with the disease.
The specialist diagnosed with with Pure-O. I asked if there was a test for it, she said NO. But, she was sure had OCD. I said, it doesn't makes that I have OCD. I don't buy it since there's no test for it. She told me that it was a imbalance of chemicals in the brain. I asked to be tested on the imbalance, she said there was no test available to test for the chemicals. Based on the series of questions that I anwsered yes to, I was sick and had OCD. I REFUSED still and used the example of cancer. I told her it's like they're telling me I have cancer, but they can't test for it, they can't see it, but they're telling me I have it and I'm sick. I'm sorry that just doesn't cut it with me. So I have been great since I left that threapist. Lesson learned is that be choosy on therapy. Do your research! But, at the same time don't over analyze, that is what I did and I completely got in trouble by jumping to conclusions and diagnosed myself with all kinds of mental illnesses.
However, I've learned it's part of the process I had to go through to find some peace of mind. After talking with some people about therapy, they told me that many therapist are quick to diagnose a patient and give drugs which I totally agree. I have a great threapist.
So that's my OCD story. Good Luck and let's try not to worry too much.