Talking to a Therapist about Pregnancy Fear

[Sam W]

Hi Josie,

You mentioned you'd been in therapy to deal with these anxieties. Has your therapist recommended any strategies to help you calm these fears?

[JosieM]

Hello,
Thanks for this. They have taught me breathing techniques and mindfulness techniques and helped me understand Ocd better. However I am still in the same situation as there is still a very big part of me the believes that I could be pregnant IF I had used a dirty piece of paper to wipe up semen that was left on a toilet seat and then accidentally used that same bit of paper. My doctor told me it's not impossible but as close to it as you could get...like 0.001 percent or something like that...
I hate myself for feeling this way as rationally I'm pretty certain I would never to that but my ocd thoughts keep telling me I'm pregnant. My period should be coming in the next week or so but I am worried that even with a proper period I will still think I'm pregnant

[Sam W]

Hi Josie,

Okay, so in the interim until your period comes it sounds like you can use those techniques you've been taught, along with some other self-care to help you get to a place where you feel calmer.

My other suggestion would be to check in with your therapist and tell them that you're finding you're still having major difficulties shaking these fears, to see if they have some other approaches that you could try.

[Heather]

Josie: there is also a national hotline specifically for mental health I'd suggest you try in the interim, while you're waiting to talk with your therapist.

It is: the National Alliance on Mental Illness hotline, at 800-950-6264.

[JosieM]

Hi,
Well my period came (of course) on the exact date it always does which is 12 weeks approx after my last one..
But my fear is no less. I've read that people can still get a period whilst pregnant due to not having enough hormones initially.
This is such a fustrating thing to deal with because I can see how irrational I am being but I want to be 100% certain but I can't be...
My doctor knows I have OCD and he found this very funny (I can see where he's coming from) and he wouldn't give me a blood test. Is the reason no one will give me a blood test because I can't actually become pregnant the way I described? or is it because everyone else knows that rationally I would never use a dirty piece of paper and there wasn't even any semen on the airplane seat to begin with and this is just my ocd messing with me?
I'm jus beginning to loose faith in my ability to overcome this because it gets worse each time. First time I could trust a home pregnancy test, next time is was only after multiple, next time I would only trust a blood test, and now I don't even trust my own period as proof because I've read that it's not 100%....

[Sam W]

Hi Josie,

I can't say for sure what his motives were, but I'm willing to be that part of your doctor's reaction was him trying to not feed the anxiety beast by giving you a test that he (and you) know you didn't need. Did he offer any suggestions or people you could talk to about the OCD around this?

(as an aside, people who are pregnant do not get their period.)

[JosieM]

Well I saw him when I went home (to another country) as I am currently studying overseas. Here I have a councillor but he doesn't specialise in OCD and his techniques don't seem to be helping much. I have bought workbooks which I am currently working on and I am trying to talk strongly to those voices in my head and acknowledge them as OCD and not my reality.
I've read so many things on Google (which is another compulsion of mine) of people saying they had what seemed like normal periods throughout their pregnancies and that triggered my fears to get much much worse- I guess I've learnt Google is not good for me and only makes my anxieties worse. I guess part of my problem is I don't know who to trust. The Internet has told me many things that make me scared such as it is possible to get pregnant in ways I mention above, and you can have what seems like a period (breakthrough bleeding) whilst been pregnant. How do I know what's true and what's not? There's so much info out there but my ocd always catches into what scares me the most that I read and I then believe it's true and is happening to me. Thank you for the support of this site- I know you have a policy about these types of issues and I can understand why. Do you have any reliable sites/helplines that may help me get over this?

[Sam W]

I'm glad you've found some workbooks to help you out and give you some tools. Can the current therapist refer you to someone who does specialize, or is that not an option?

As far as tools, these two articles can help you sort good information from bad:
Legit or Unfit? Finding Safe, Sound Sex Educators & Support Online
http://www.scarleteen.com/article/etc/l ... s_detector

Beyond that, I'd suggest finding ways to resist the google habit. You could try going for a certain period of time (like a day) without googling anything related to pregnancy.