Doesn't sound like the Prozac is working that well for you. How many other meds have U tried? Any anti-anxieties like Benzos' (ie Xanax, clonazepam, etc)? Ever add anti-psychotics to your SSRI (ie Zyprexa, Seroquel, etc)? They help some people.

The best thing to help me was ERP (exposure and response prevention). Have you ever been to a psychologist that specializes in behavior therapy? A good one would have you write out that tape worm fear you have (btw, tape worm is easily diagnosed and easily treated but you do NOT have it). Then make it worse, meaning scarier than in your mind. Then you would record it and your "homework" would be to go home and listen to it every day as long as you can until it does not bother you anymore. Would repeat that procedure with other fears of yours. In the short run, your anxiety should go up but then go down as you are desensitized to that fear. The therapist is there to guide you thru it and support you thru it.

If all else fails and either you have great insurance or your family has some extra cash, check out the OCD Institute at Mclean Hosp in Belmont, MA (just outside Boston). They have helped so many people. OCD is all they do. Can stay there or if can afford it, nearby in a hotel.

Good luck.

You don't sound crazy at all. I have 4 dogs and 2 cats and OCD. I also had serious fears about rabies for years (I know it sounds ridiculous! rabies! but seriously, I was convinced that an animal was going to bite me and give me rabies). I had ERP to get over this obsession. It's not hard and you can get over this. I used to be terrified of rabies and now I've got all these pets!:)

I also meant to add, DO NOT GO AND BUY THE OTC dewormer. That is a compulsion. You are doing it to make yourself feel safer, not because the animals need the dewormer (if I'm reading your post correctly). You are right, after you do it, you will still be worried. You might feel relieved temporarily, but then your OCD will start making you doubt again.

Thank you both so much for your replies. I have resisted the urge to go out and buy the medications so far, but my anxious thoughts aren't going away. It's so frustrating to have this fear turning around and around in my head constantly. It's so tempting to just give in and do the compulsion, in hopes it will provide some relief.

@lostandinpain: I have not tried any other meds except the prozac. I'm not really sure it's helping much either. Actually I think it's messing up my sleep because I always wake up around 5 AM and can't get back to sleep. My Dr. wanted me to try Klonopin, but I was too concerned about the potential for addiction.

@ChattDana: Thanks for the reassurance that I'm not crazy! It's great to hear that you're doing better nowadays, and have all those pets! That gives me hope!

Wildflowers,

Prozac did nothing for me either but I am sure it has helped many. As we all know, meds are a crap shoot as they affect us all differently.

I have tried 12 meds in my OCD years and the only one to help me was and is Clonazepam (Klonopin). I have been on it for 14 years. It is potentially addictive and some will abuse it but I was not told about these pitfalls until I saw the next psychiatrist who informed of that. But I was so desperate at the time, it would not have mattered to me. Plus, I have no history of abusing drugs or alcohol.

I found clonazepam calmed me down with little or no side effects. But I still feel the best therapy that helped my OCD was going thru ERP 2x with 2 different therapists. The 2nd one was better than the 1st. I also 2 behavior therapists that did not help me at all. It has been a long road.

Lastly, this may sound strange, but when I was first diagnosed, I started to read all I could about OCD. Bought several books, joined the IOCDF (back then called the OCF) which used to put out 6 newsletters/yr, read articles and joined inperson and online SG's. All that education helped make the OCd feel lkess powerful in some small way and as time went on, I felt I had some knowledge over it instead of the reverse.

Anyway, I hope you keep trying and taking risks (the opposite of OCD) and try new meds, new therapists and read as much as you can about OCD. Support groups can help a little as can talking about OCD, but for long term relief, the combo of meds and ERP are the best, IMO.

Good luck.

I know exactly how you feel as I had this obsession in 11th grade. I was getting really stressed out about going to college and that it when my first severe obsession was triggered. Before that I had a fear of getting parasites and I guess you'd call it an obsession. In seventh grade we learned about parasites and uncooked meat (different classes). I was terrified of getting worms. I used to look into the toilet closely after every time I went to the bathroom. From 7th grade til this is embarrassing til 12th grade I would make my mom come into the bathroom when I feared something was wrong. This is so embarrassing to admit but I was so extremely terrified. My mom of course would do it but at times was really mad at me.

Well, the major obsession stemmed from the stress of college coming. We were watching my grandmas new puppy who had tapeworm. She was gated in the kitchen. I one morning ate cereal in there. Of course later I read that you could get tapeworm by ingesting a flea and she had fleas and tapeworm so BOOM, the obsession started. For 1.5 YEARS I walked around thinking I had this huge worm inside me growing. I couldn't consentrate on anything. I remember mostly going into the grocery store and looking around at all the people and feeling so jealous that they didn't have a tapeworm inside them. I felt so alone and terrified. I could feel the worm inside me moving. I could also feel it when I pressed down on my stomach. I could feel it come up my throat too. I would barely eat as I was terrified I was feeding the worm and making it bigger and bigger. I heard stories from people about people having to pass the large worm and I was terrified of having to do that one day. Each time I went to the bathroom I would look and see if there were tapeworm segments. I was completely terrified to go to the bathroom as I feared a segment would come out.

I used to look down my throat all the time to try and see the worm coming up cuz there was something there. I also made me mom look. I used to make my mom feel my stomach too. At night I would lay there feeling the worm move around and I was so terrified. I ended up losing 15lbs in a week and a half and as I was barely eating. Every time I ate my stomach would hurt and I would feel so terrified and I knew I was only making the worm bigger.

I was tested for tapeworm 3 times and it always came back negative. I did not believe the tests. They just missed it. I KNEW that I had it!!!

The last time I went to the doctor for it I felt it coming up my throat and I made them look. I was so terrified and I just wanted them to believe me. This time I had seen a different doctor. She told me that there was only a 1% chance that I had tapeworm. For whatever reason when I walked out of that office the tapeworm was gone. It was no longer inside of me. 1.5 years of growing and poof GONE!

In reality there never was a worm. The feelings in my stomach that I felt was digestion. The solid stuff that I felt in my was waste. The thing coming up my throat was my larynx. For whatever reason I can see it too when I look in my throat. And my stomach hurt after eating cuz I had convinced myself there was a worm in me. Our brains are so powerful. We can convince ourselves of anything and it will phantomly come true! (sorry that is totally not a word I don't think)

I know exactly what you are going through. I still fear parasites and I don't touch my dogs near there back end and I wash my hands after playing with them. I fear getting a bf and him having a dog as some people let the dogs sleep in bed and be every where and I don't want to get parasites from them. Also our dogs are on leashes always they do not run loose. So I am terrified that I will get a bf that allows their dog to just wander and get into everything including poop. If I end up getting with someone who has a dog I may be back in the position I was in the past but lets hope not!!!

I hope that you can feel a little less alone now. And I hope that you can feel maybe a sense of relief in knowing that you really don't have tapeworm. Do your dogs go in every year to get tested for parasites? Maybe if you'd like you could go into the doctors to get tested, but then again all three negative results didn't convince me. You never win against your ocd. For me severe stress causes my obsessions, is there something you are stressed about as in reality that it the CURE for the obsession! Most of the time what we are obsessing about isn't what we are really stressed about!

I know I posted this about a month ago, but I just wanted to thank everyone here that replied. You all are so supportive! I am definitely going to try to read more about OCD...my mom actually just bought me a book called "The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing." She said it's a really good book about OCD, so I plan to start it soon.

And BabyMonkey, thank you SO much for sharing your story. It sounds like we have experienced such similar things. I've always felt like I was the only one with these kinds of parasite fears, and sometimes I feel quite down about it. But it really does help to know I'm not alone in this.

Thanks so much, and hope you're all well :-)

Wildflowers,

"The boy who could not stop washing" by Judith Rapopport, MD was the 1st and best book I ever read on OCD. She was one of the 1st psychiatrists in the country to be researching OCD and working with OCDers at the NIMH.

Another good book is "Stop Obsessing!" by Dr. Edna Foa and any articles that you can read online for FREE by Dr. Fred Penzel would be very helpful (just google his name).

lostandinpain,

Thank you so much for the recommendations. I've had OCD for 16 years, and haven't once read a book about it. I guess I've always figured I know all there is to know because I live it everyday. But I can totally see how it would be helpful, and I am actually excited to read up more on it.

Thank you again for all your support. Hope you're well.

Just wanted to let you know that I used to have this fear too.
When my now adult German Shepherd was a puppy, he had worms and I was convinced I would get them too. You are definitely not crazy. Its just an OCD thing. Just try to tell yourself that there is no point in worrying about it until you actually have some symptoms of having it yourself. And its not something you ever really hear about happening to other people. If it were, it would be talked about all the time by dog owners and vets. That helped me a lot when I focused on that. I agree that reading is one of the big keys to getting your life back. Read everything you can on OCD. Knowledge really is power and it really helps desensitize you to your obsessions and compulsions. Good luck to you!

Lilygirl,

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. I guess this parasite fear is more common than I thought! You are completely right that there is no point in worrying about it unless I have symptoms. I will try to remind myself of that. I also just try to make light of it, and think "what is the worst that can happen?" At least worms are treatable, you know?

I am definitely going to read up more on OCD. The more knowledge I have about it, the better. Thanks again!

I've struggled with OCD for a long time. I realize I'm being over the top with a lot of things and am able to laugh at myself and function pretty well. I volunteer in dog rescue. Recently, we had my own dog, a foster cat, plus a foster mama dog and her puppy. The puppy pooped a tapeworm and I flipped out. Ever since then I've been convinced that I have a tapeworm because I'm the one that did all of the flea baths, cleaned up the poop, etc. I know that my kids and friends think I'm just being my usual nutty self, so I play it off that way, but I'm forever checking my butt to see if it's hanging out. I named it Jesus because I got it from a Chihuahua so I thought it should have a Hispanic name. I already have a therapist and psychiatrist. My therapist told me I'm not allowed to spend any more time looking up info on tapeworms, but I had to do it- gestation, signs and symptoms, etc. I considered taking my own personal fecal sample to the vet to have it tested since they're used to testing for that stuff anyway. I'm embarrassed to call my own doc. I called her last year to ask if I could become infested with fleas from my dog. I told her that "No, that's your own crazy" was a reasonable answer. She told me that I should call my psychiatrist and discuss my unreasonable fears. That meant no.I just want to take whatever the medication is that will rid me of tapeworm regardless of if I have it or not. I'm so relieved to see others on here with similar concerns. I have to say, that therapy scares me to death!