sensitive subject (not for the squeamish)

double_mummy

there are some disgusting photos going around facebook (which i have now deactivated) one of them a picture of a nipple and one of an armpit both with larvae that have eaten away at the flesh both come along with an equally disgusting and distressing story (the armpit one is on a child)

i dont know why but these images have really gotten to me i find myself checking my body whenever i get an itch and whenever i can especially my nipples and arm pits. i dream about waking up to find that it has happened to me i am in a cold sweat and sometimes shaking. i am paranoid by everything that i am touching and wearing everything fabric that i come into contact with is being boil washed and all the windows are closed so nothing can get into my bedding

i have researched these images (i thought it would help) and they have both been proven as fakes and that they are absolutely untrue and that it could not happen but they are still really getting to me even now sat in bed im worrying and scratching because hubby left the window open a tiny crack. i have also talked to friends in the medical profession and they agree that they have never heard of or seen aything like these images show.

i am normally a perfectly rational person but this for some reason has gotten in my head. can anyone suggest anything that could help? or any ways to stop thinking about these images constantly

i will not be posting the images as they are disgusting and i cry every time i see them hence why i deleted my facebook as they kept coming up on my feed no matter how many times i reported them

Person_one

I assume you mean the picture where somebody photoshopped a lotus seed pod onto a breast and tried to claim it was some sort of infestation?

It does look horrible, but that's almost entirely because its completely unnatural. Things that look 'uncanny' like that always look more jarring than real, organic images. I've seen some pretty epic wounds, and I still found that picture really creepy and didn't want to look at it, even though I knew before I even saw it that it wasn't real!

Have you ever done any reading about CBT? Its very helpful for dealing with unwanted thoughts.

double_mummy

yes its that one

and im going to have a google on cbt now

Person_one

double_mummy wrote: »

yes its that one

and im going to have a google on cbt now

If you google 'unwanted thoughts' or 'intrusive thoughts' you might get more tips. Lots of people suffer from this sort of thing more persistently, and have come up with ways to deal with it.

Dazedandconfused

I have some irrational phobias too. My niece told me about deadly spiders being found in supermarket bananas and I googled it thinking it wasn't true. Anyway it was. I haven't been able to have a banana in the house since. My logical mind tells me it's a one off freak occurrence and I'm highly unlikely to have them in my house. But I had dreams about spiders for weeks after reading it.

double_mummy

thanks its making for some good reading

im the same as you person one i have seen some truely terrible injuries including infected ones and they dont bother me its just this one for some reason i cant get out of my head

i keep telling myself it isnt real but i dont think i understand why someone would want to make something like that up which is why there is that tiny seed of doubt that it could be real

Person_one

double_mummy wrote: »

i keep telling myself it isnt real but i dont think i understand why someone would want to make something like that up which is why there is that tiny seed of doubt that it could be real

My bet is that somebody thought the lotus seed pod looked cool, maybe they were considering it for a tattoo? They played about with photoshop, realised that it looked really grotesque when superimposed onto an image of skin and decided to hoax everybody.

Who knows what people are thinking when they try to fool others, why do people start chain letters/emails/facebook posts that are blatantly not true, but they've been doing it for years and they will probably continue!

notanewuser

Those pics have really affected me too. It's linked with a common phobia (tryptophobia - fear of small holes) plus as P1 says, it's an unnatural image. I've found myself thinking of them several times a day to the point where it actually turns my stomach - and I'm not usually bothered by stuff like this. Gross.

(There's an article about it on snopes but it includes the images so I won't post it here.)

Georgiegirl256

Ok, so just googled that....wish I hadn't now! I can see why it's affected you.

Person_one has given some good advice. The only thing I can add is to remember that's it's not real, this can't happen to you, and that it's just something some weird person has made up.

I hope you manage to shift these horrible thoughts and manage to get some sleep.

double_mummy

sorry georgie

i dont have the phobia of the small holes thing it doesnt both me

i just googled some more images like it and some of them are so ridiculous that it has actually made me laugh

looking at some more info on the picture raises more logical questions that my brain might be clicking with such as if it was real why wouldnt the skin be inflamed or red or sore at all.

looking at the flower itself for a bit and im absolutely fine with that think its starting to unravel in my head i just needed that first kick to deal with it IYSWIM

hazyjo

Half the time on these things people forward, if they bothered opening the actual thing that was forwarded, someone will say 'it's fake' or 'they've been found now' or 'scam'.

I nearly fell out with a work friend the other day when she forwarded something on to all her friends and I left a (nice!) message saying 'proved to be fake x' She went ballistic saying things like how she wanted to forward these things, and I shouldn't have left a comment on her FB (and later added how it belittled her) and told me I should have PMd her. I usually keep my cool and take it but OMG I cannot tell you how much it riled and I bit back.

Why don't people google these stupid things before forwarding to all their friends (who then forward to all their friends(/sheep) to forward to theirs, etc) just cos that's what the message tells you to do (ie the idiots that start it want to block FB with crap).

Baaaa.

So annoyed.

I did see the message on FB saying this flower one was crap - and I'm bloody glad I didn't see the initial one that went round cos that too would have freaked the hell out of me. I can only imagine. Had an awful dream similar to it once which will probably stay with me forever. I don't want reminding.

There are genuine things that benefit from being forwarded. But even then people don't bother checking/reading the latest comments. Some things are just so obviously fake/done for the benefit of causing grief, panic or filling FB with rubbish.

Jx