not health anxiety but maybe can help

[Rachel W]

Hi,

I suffer from health anxiety and posted here frequently, however I also have OCD but know that the ICD forum is not visited as much and also they tend not to answer such questions. However this issue is causing me A LOT of anxiety (and palpatations).

As someone with OCD I tend to take longer showers and wash my hands more frequently (although it probably averages once per hour or even longer so not that badly and only one soaping then rinse rather than 15 times or anything like that).

The issue is, over the past 7 months we were having issues with the shower going down in pressure and my showers were sometimes over 30 minutes as i had to wait for the pressure to go up. This is when I first noticed what I am going to describe below. However even when taking shorter showers now it is still happening:

After only a short time my skin feels like it has a powdery feel and you can see a white coating, mostly on my hands. When I wet my hands without soap they are waterproof (i.e. the water runs off) although when i add soap it still lathers and covers completely. However as soon as I rinse the soap off it goes back the way it was and it causes friction when trying to finish rinsing.

I think it is soap scum on my skin as our water is very hard but now I fear that I have dirt trapped on my skin and then when I get my hands dirty the dirt is grinding into the scum, or when washing the dirt is getting trapped within the scum, leaving my hands contaminated even after washing. I flew the other day and the contamination of airports, planes and such is very scary to me and the idea that I am washing my hands after touching my case and such, or taking a shower after touching these things may not be removing the dirt. I feel so contaminated right now but have no out because I live in an apartment and can't add a whole filtration system.

I plan on trying a shower filter but this will be a week away and there is still an issue of the sink. I use dove soap (as I hate liquid soap as it always seems to leave suds however much I rinse). I use shampoo on my hands at the beginning of my shower which I hope is getting rid of the older scum, but I cannot go on like this.

Please help. Do you think the dirt is being washed off even when my skin and the scum seems so impenetrable. Could the forming scum be trapping the dirt?

Thank you so much for helping me.

Rachel

[anxious owl]

I can't quite tell whats going on but sounds like your washing so much your taking away your natural oil defenses away from your skin.

The power might be soap, it might be your skin drying out!
I think you need to try and combat some parts of your OCD.
Are there any services that your GP might recommend? It might really help. I know its a big step but inside might partly know you don't need to wash for so long. But it unimaginable not too also!

[Rachel W]

I am working on my OCD. I do a lot better and don't wash that often but it seems to happen after about three washes even if they are over a period of 6 hours. I only soap my hands once then rinse thoroughly. I was at my parents house which has soft water and it didn't happen once in all that time although I was washing my hands as much.

Scrubbing with a detergent (i.e. shampoo) seems to do the trick but by the time I am finished with my shower and wash my hands later, the waterproofing is back. :(

If my hands are still getting clean then it wouldn't bother me so much, but it is just that if the suds aren't able to work properly and also if when the scum forms it is trapping the dirt that was in the suds with it then that is what is bothering me.

I plan on starting acupuncture soon and going to therapy as it has been getting worse, but this is just adding to my anxiety and not helping me relax which I know has helped me slowly get well in the past.

Thanks for taking the time despite it not being health anxiety.

[Anxious_gal]

It's not soap it's a build up of dead skin cells.
It happens me too, use some thing scrubby in the shower, I also use dove shower scrub with the grains scrubby bits in it.
Use baby oil too it's great for adding moisture after a shower.