GENERAL OBSERVATION

[neesy]

I was thinking the other day about how long it has been since I have been sick which is 32 years, and I was thinking about why it has been so long.


When I was younger, I didnt really know what the phobia was although I knew I didnt like being around people being sick, so I never took the precautions that I take now with all of these cleaning products etc and I probably didnt really go overboard with handwashingand definitely not cleaning toilets (because I wouldnt have done that until I had my own house which was when I was about 26) and definitely not being careful when going in public toilets and I dont even remember really staying away from someone like I do now if they have been sick. I know I couldnt be near them whilst they were doing it but didnt steer clear for days!


SO my point is - how comes I never got ill then when I didnt even try? I personally think that some people are more prone to SV's than others. My family are not really sickly although they have had bugs over the years.


Any views anyone?

[cloughie]

It has been 32 years for me as well. I wonder how many hours of worry that is compared to 48 hours of a bug.

[neesy]

That is very true! I am going to keep telling myself that every time I have a panic![img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img] How do you think you have managed 32 years?

[daffodil]

I have wondered this, too. I haven't been as long as you two, but I didn't used to be as paranoid as now, and rarely caught anything.

[neesy]

I would be interested to know how you have got through 32 years Cloughie? [img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]

[japa]

Two things -


I think that there is something to the idea that some people may be less susceptible, have stronger immune systems and so on.


Also, I'm sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but I just don't think that they are all that easy to catch because they are not airborne. Think how many colds you've had versus stomach viruses. I bet there's quite a difference. They are not as easy to catch as our anxiety would try to have us believe, nor are they as ubiquitous as our anxiety would have us believe.

[cloughie]

I have no idea why i have never been sick. i admit that i'm not always careful, sometimes when out shopping i might go to a cafe for a cake and use my unwashedhands. I always wash my hands at home when cooking but not when i'm out. When the bug is around in febuary-march i tend to stay in more although i do go to the january sales. Maybe a bug is not that easy to catch.

[neesy]

Where abouts in the UK do you live Cloughie?

[cloughie]

Where abouts in the UK do you live Cloughie?

I live in Worcestershire

[neesy]

If that's true that they are difficult to catch then thats good enough for me!![img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]





But it does seem some are more susceptible than others.

[samara's on tv]

Well I know that when my sisters were sick while I was growing up I avoided them like the plague. I wouldn't use the same bathroom, or even be on the same floor of the house as them. But I didn't go overboard and wash my hands or clean anything. I've only been sick with a stomach virus 2 times *Knock On Wood* and neither of those times were because I caught it from my sisters. I don't know where I got them.


~Monica

[suze]

I think this is a really interesting topic. I'm coming up to 24 years without v*. In those 24 years, I survived living in halls at Uni, have drank myself to oblivion, eaten all sorts of crap from street vendors, travelled to far away lands and drank the water (i would NEVER do that now!), gone through pregnancies, kids with virulent sv, two bad bouts of fp, but still no v*. Yes, I've had bad d* and n* is a frequent visitor, but actual v*? It just doesn't seem to happen.


I'm also not overly fussy about handwashing - I will if I can of course but if I'm out, and I can't, well it's just a risk I take. I think viruses that make us v* are not that widespread, or not that easily caught, but I also think some of us are just less likely to v* than others. I have caught bugs from my family where everyone else has v* but I have just had d* so there must be something in our make-up which means we don't v* as easily.


So yeah Neesy/Cloughie. why on earth does it occupy our thoughts so much?