So many great tweets in #BreakOCDStigma on the reality of OCD! But I do think it's important to remember that for some of us, it does manifest mostly in cleaning/checking and that is also traumatic. It's not "OCD lite" just because it fits some of the better known aspects of OCD.

For months of the pandemic I couldn't touch my own face for fear of infection. I never leave my house and yet wash my hands until they bleed. Sometimes I have to go right back to the sink because I didn't do it "right", even though I sang happy birthday 15 times & cried in pain.

After my food shopping is delivered I leave it in the hall for days, bleach it all, and still have to wash my hands every time I touch something "new" once it has been put away. Sometimes I wash my hands up to 20 times just making a meal.

I can't eat anything fresh/uncooked because I cannot either bleach the packaging or cook the contents to destroy germs, so I live off canned food. The only exception is lettuce and cabbage because I can peel off layers and layers that people might have touched.

I'm terrified about how I go back to normal life even once the pandemic is over because now the thought of just... going to McDonalds and eating something someone else has breathed near or touched feels utterly impossible. I can't imagine touching another human being.

I haven't even gone into the hour it takes me to go to bed, checking everything is really switched off again and again! So yes, OCD is much more than just cleaning and we need to talk about that - but germ-focused OCD is all-consuming, terrifying and life-destroying too.