Random but Am I the only one afraid to sit in the lobby of a doctors office???

[Sam_]

I don't mind going to the doctors office, but I am so scared that while I'm waiting to be called from the lobby someone will be sick near me. Recently my boyfriend was very sick and scared so I took him to the immediate care center, and while we were waiting, there was a little boy laying down across a few chairs with his mom rubbing his head saying "you'll be all right" repeatedly and I'm thinking "what if he suddenly v*????" and another time I was in the waiting room there were two people and one had a huge container in their lap with a couple of random things in it like a purse and a book and I'm just like please don't tell me that is a puke bucket. It seems like everyone is always coughing and running the bathroom or breathing deeply but I just keep trying to remind myself that stomach sickness is not the only reason peopLe go to the doctor. It's just another one of those things that worries me haha

[Maribel.75]

That is exactly how I am. You are not alone. Last time I had to go to the hospital I sat around the ER looking around to make sure everyone was ok. I kept thinking that someone was going to v*. Then when we actually went to get a room the worst thing happened....they placed us on bed in the hall because all the rooms were taken. Some guy kept v*ng in the room in front of me. I sat through what seemed like an hr of that torture with my ears covered. I asked a nurse for a room but she looked at me like I was crazy cuz I was covering my ears. After about half an hour more of that I walked out of there.

[Sam_]

That sucks bad I've never actually witnessed someone vomiting at a doctors office or hospital but I've seen people run to the bathroom or look very sick. When I was n high school I spent a lot of time in the nurses office for low blood sugar and it always seemed like there was someone vomiting but I usually just heard coughing from the bathroom.....so gross

[Sam_]

I always feel really bad for other people when I'm around it

[lilwng]

I feel the same way. I always assume someone's going to be sick. In fact, it's been my daughter who was ill in the waiting room not once, but twice! First time in the er waiting room when she had noro a d second time in doctors waiting room because she was crying so hard.... Awful.

[Puppydog]

I sit outside the waiting room. Someone has to come get me when my name is called. Pathetic, I know.

[Sam_]

Actually I don't blame you at all puppy dog. How does one vomit from crying so hard?

[Sam_]

I hope that doesn't happen to you or your daughter again that's aweful

[lilwng]

She just gets so worked up. She starts choking on spit, snot and phlegm which makes her cough which makes her gag.... Vicious cycle!

[punchbuggy]

Wow I am the exact same way ! I always stare to see if ppl look ill or not and I always assume that stains on the floor are v* even tho I kno they are probably coffee or something else

[Sam_]

I know I was at work the other day and there was a stain on the carpet and the first thing I thought was omg who puked here even though everyone at my work always has food and drinks and coffee. I also freak out if someone coughs too hard or if someone has their hand over their mouth or anything.

[jennjt]

I feel the same way about dr office waiting rooms. It's awful when I take my daughter, because she's just a toddler and VERY curious-- wants to touch everything. Freaks me out!!! I go crazy with hand sanitizer while I'm there and always wash my hands (and hers too) in the sink in the exam room several times... And it's funny you all mentioned stains on the floor-- I was at a restaurant tonight and was convinced that every wet spot on the floor was v* (prob logically from spilled drink or water / cleaner from wiping tables). I realized while I was there tonight how much eating out really scares me-- I lysoled my freaking shoes after I went to the bathroom! Then I watched the girl next to me washing her hands & all I could think was, "She didn't wash them long enough!" THEN, I had never even paid much attention to the fact that I always do this, but I didn't want to touch the menu and even wiped down the salt shaker with wet ones!! This is insane! Normal people don't live their whole lives like it's the movie "Contagion!!" sorry I got off topic-- needed to vent I suppose :/

[gumdropper1]

No, you aren't, and with good reason. One of the things they tell you during cold and flu season is to avoid sick people. Going to the doctor's office is going near sick people. You never know what people in a waiting room have. Me, I go to a large medical practice so it is a huge facility where the waiting areas are smaller than the actual spaces they're in. I like to sit at the far perimeter of the room, away from the designated waiting area but where I can still hear when I'm paged.

If I must sit near patients, I like to pick someone who seems to be there for a broken bone, etc. Never, never near somebody holding a plastic emesis basin.

Doug

[punchbuggy]

Jennjt - I'm like that in restaurants and I work in one! It's such a dirty environment I u think about it but the good part is you can wash your hands and be fine! I will say a few things about the restaurant environment tho! Ok first off don't ever ask for lemons. They are cut by serves or bar tenders who touch them often without washing their hands and after touching money and the screens to punch in food. Also, straws are also gross for the same reason,I have seen many servers who are really busy touch the straw on the part we put into our mouth even tho we aren't supposed to do that. We are supposed to grab it under the mouth part but above the part that touches the drink. In reality when you are so busy it just doesn't happen ! Salt and pepper shakers are gross because they only get washed once a week when thy are emptied and refilled. The reason they are so gross is you don't kno how many I the ppl that touch them value washing their hands like we do. On a good note I haven't seen anyone get sick at the restaurant and I've been there for 4 yrs ! We even have a bar an I've seen many many obnoxiously drink ppl but never any v*

[wanted]

I'm so lucky, my mother is a doctor so I don't need to go to doctors office.
I don't want to imagine what would be if I have to go there.

[KRKRKRKR]

I don't really think about sickness whenever I enter the doctor's. Just think to yourself: "I've been to the doctor's many times. Even when I was little and my immune system wasn't great and I still didn't get sick."