My main symptoms are restrictive eating and avoiding people who might be sick. Both have been bothersome, but it's the first one I'm most worried about.

I started limiting my diet a few years ago. At first, I only stopped eating beef (mainly ground beef). Chicken was fine if it was properly cooked, and I still believed both restaurants and my mother knew what they were doing. Then one night, my mom left some cooked chicken sitting on the stove and insisted on eating it the next day. I asked an online community if that was safe, and one of the repliers mentioned that cooked chicken that hadn't been left out can make you sick too. That scared me, and I haven't eaten chicken since.

I already wasn't eating enough fruits and vegetables, but with all of these recalls lately, I've added those to my list of "dangerous foods."

Those were really the only foods I wouldn't eat until February this year. I caught a stomach bug for the first time since grade school. It wasn't anything serious -- just unpleasant for about twelve hours. Ironically, I told my mom vomiting wasn't as bad as I remembered. I thought getting through the bug might curb my fear, but it only intensified it. I became desperate not to get sick again.

I started reading a lot about food. I'm consistently on the Internet, learning about recalls and bacteria. Now, almost everything is on my danger list. Rice used to be my backup until I read about bacillus cereus, a germ associated mainly with cooked rice. Now I'm scared to eat anything with rice in it, including rice cereals like Chex.

I'm mostly living off dry foods now: crackers, some cereals, tortilla chips. But after I eat, I count the sickness-free hours that have passed to determine if the food is "safe."

I don't want to live like this anymore. My co-workers have noticed I'm losing weight. One of them said I look "puny." The thing is I used to love eating. Food was wonderful. Now, I'm always thinking in the back of my mind, "What bacteria might be in this? How do I know it was processed/cooked properly?" I don't trust anyone anymore -- food companies, my mom, myself -- to make sure food is safe.

I want to enjoy food again. But I'm afraid to get treatment because I think I'll be exposed to vomit. All I know is if I don't do something, I could die.