Crazy high anxiety about my home!

[ady1779]

So for the last few months I've been really good, going to cbt and really able to make some accomplishments with my OCD. My OCD and anxiety, for the most part, center around health, disease, illness....

Well it's back and bad! I turned on my ac yesterday for the first time since last summer and within ten minutes a awful smell filled my house. The only way to describe it is that it has a similar smell to weed, maybe....sweet but very unpleasant smell. After an hour I had to turn it off and called our property manager. Now I'm waiting on an HVAC guy, but that could take forever. I turned the whole unit off at the thermostat but now I'm worried there could be a leak or toxic gas lingering in my air ducts slowly poisoning us! It been 24 hours but I can't stop compulsively ruminating on it, googling it, I'm making myself sick with!
Side note...our basement flooded this winter and that's where the furnace and parts of the ac are. Could that be causing the smell???

Sorry for the long windedness! I need to reign this in!!!

[annie.hall]

I understand what you're going through, I think I'm being poisoned with the food I eat, the air that I breath or any kind of medication I take. It's hard to convince yourself there's no danger when the anxiety is pretty high, but I guess time and practice help.

For the smell, I think it's normal considering that it had not been used for so long. Maybe there's some dust in there or it could be some humidity locked in from the flood.

Just remember that it is not dangerous and that you're only having intrusive thoughts. As real as they seem, they're only thoughts, they can't harm you.