dear Hardy, welcome to this site, and I can understand all you are going through as I have had OCD for 54 years as well had depression for over 20 years, maybe much longer.
OCD is generated by anxiety, and by having this anxiety creates OCD, but not everyone who has anxiety develops OCD, but as you can see one affects the other.
It's an illness that allows us to worry about the small things in life, just as you have, the fear of having some sort of illness or disease, so we do some habit and/or ritual believing that this will stop but more so satisfy our fear.
It's very difficult for us to justify our behaviour to someone who doesn't have this illness, but it's OK on this site, because we all suffer from some sort of depression so there is no criticism at all, and only people suggest ways to help any of us.
However in the real world people think that we are crazy, we can't stop them from believing this, and that's why I hide my OCD so that nobody knows I have it, because we can't justify to them why we have to check the lock 4, 5, or 9 times.
It seems to be abnormal to them, but to us it's natural to do this, so that we can get on with life.
Your fear of getting a stomach bug is of no concern for me, because it's part of our illness, and I presume that there are other worries that concern you.
There are a lot of people who have OCD on this site, and then some who maybe are too frightened to mention it, which they shouldn't be, because it's a huge problem, and all of us have our own different ways of how to cope with it.
I hope that you can reply back to us. L Geoff. x
