Noro in the UK...

[MinnieMac]

Arghh! It's on the news just now and in tomorrows' papers that the cases of noro in the UK are up 50% on this time last year... hospital wards being shut left right and centre, people on twitter and facebook saying they're getting it... I'm definitely going to avoid going out as much as possible until this thing has past! Thank God I work from home and live alone haha! I obviously do need to leave the house at some point but for the next week or so it's going to be minimal. I'm wondering if it's peaked early, maybe it means that it'll die off sooner? Doubtful but just trying to find some sort of silver lining...

[Nesstabbycat]

I am the Same...live in the uk And I am FREAKING out right now...not a good look for a mum with kids at school! I think because of twitter, fbook and the media in general there is more advance notice where the problems lie....but what confuses me about Noro is basic good hygiene can help avoid the virus....so how come hospitals are rife, when they are supposed to be ultra clean?? Lol

[MinnieMac]

Ha, I know Cynna, I've been doing so well for the past while but when I hear on the news that it's an epidemic, it just fills me with the dread. But then I try and be rational, there's 1600 cases or something and in a country of 60 million that's not alot. I know alot of it goes unreported because people stay at home and deal with it there. I think the problem with hospitals is that the alcohol hand gel does nothing, and alot of people are so ignorant with regards to hygiene. It really annoys me! As does people going into work with it because they say they can't afford to take a day off?? COME ON!!! ARGHHH!!!

[lukeward23]

So true I'm new to this site today also live in the UK. My niesce and sister had it the past few days.. And because of this I've hardly eaten even though there not here, I antibach everyting and always use the hand stuff, I hate people who are ill in gernal n stil go out, work, etc coughing n snezzing all over the place spreading it rather than keeping It contained sorry prob sounds really mean of me but I think it people quatined themselfs. Illnesses would be a lot fewer than they are just my point of view but having this spercific fear doesn't make it any better. Esspcically like you say been doing really well, then see on news or someone uve been incontact with is ill this fear just comes over you, and that's where the anitxty comes in fear etc. Just wish I didn't have this.. Bt hey tommorrows a new a day, postivie thinking

[cuhley70]

I must ask, why is the noro so high in the UK? I read about all these wards being closed. I rarely hear that in the US. I'm just curious

[AoD]

Maybe it's because they report it more in the media in the UK and less in the US? As for hospital care outbreaks, well, people do their best to stay clean but it is difficult to contain when you have so many people kept close together like shared bedrooms. And most often it happens because visitors who were sick and are still contagious decide that it's fine to go see grandma in the hospital even though the kids spent the night v*... so they end up contaminating the whole place. And when patients get sick, well, it takes only one person in the staff who is careless to contaminate a lot of others. Doctors are usually pretty good about hygiene but sometimes the rest of the staff just doesn't really understand why it is SO important to disinfect and wash hands and everything and they don't do it properly...

[cuhley70]

Thanks for the response AoD. I have other questions but it is late here. I'll ask tomorrow

[bex]

I must ask, why is the noro so high in the UK? I read about all these wards being closed. I rarely hear that in the US. I'm just curious

I think one of the main reasons for this is people prescribing anti-bacterial wipes/gel as a way of combatting/avoiding noro. Take the Daily Mail website, for example - the number of people preaching about using hand-santizers is unbelieveable. They could learn a thing or two from us emets, eh!!

[bex]

It's very easy to get swept up in the media-scares (I for one have spent the past 40 minutes reading through every single comment on the DM website) BUT I found a lot of comfort in this website last year..not only do the newspapers sensationalise everything for the sake of sales, they get A LOT of the facts wrong. Try not to shut yourself away from the world for the sake of avoidance - I've experienced this every year for the last 5 years until now, and it's a miserable, lonely existance - and it doesn't mean you'll stop thinking about it! All things in moderation - I'm not saying throw yourself into packed-out nightclub or make your weekly shopping trip on a Saturday afternoon 2 weeks before Christmas, but this phobia is so destructive I find it's important to try and retain a little normality

[MinnieMac]

I've been on the Daily Mail (or Fail as I like to call it) website and reading the comments too. I can't believe the amount of people who say "our employers will discipline us if we don't go into work!" So, then you're going to go in and infect everyone else then?! Ridiculous!! It is sensationalised, only 2000 confirmed cases since July, of course many, many more don't get reported, so it's hardly an epidemic. I think what bothers me most though is the people saying it's the most horrendous thing they've ever experienced and the most ill they've felt in their lives. If it was just a normal sort of "tummy bug" maybe I wouldn't be quite so worried but the fact that these people are saying it's so horrible and violent has my anxiety sky high! With regard to hospitals, they are not as clean as they were back in the days of matrons, there are endless reports of the states of hospitals, the lack of hygiene by visitors and staff, next to no cleaning... it's hardly a wonder hospitals are a breeding ground for this thing. Also the stupid people who go and visit sick relatives and infect them...
Anyone want to move to Mars with me? It'll be a noro/stupid people free zone!!

[lukeward23]

Totally agrree with that! Mars it is! Can't stand people who do that, no1 in my family has this phobia so its superhard to explain to them how dibilatating it is n how it controls yourlife

[LouiseR]

I really wish the news didn't report norovirus, it sends me on a downwards spiral! This is my first visit to this site since last winter. I had been doing so well apart from the odd scare every now and then, but none of the consistent fear I felt last winter. That was until I heard that one of the girls in my class couldn't make uni today because she had norovirus and I proceeded to go home and google news search norovirus, and like others on hear sat and read dm's article and all the comments! I don't help myself.

As others have said, don't lock yourself away! Keeping busy will provide you with a distraction if anything. The media, and the dm in particular sensationalise everything, and i'm not denying that norovirus affects a lot of people, but i've not known anyone in my family, nor anyone I live with at uni catch a sick bug in a long long time. A lot of what makes up the figures newspapers come up with is people in hospitals and care homes.

[LouiseR]

Also I do not understand how people are physically capable of going into work with this bug! If it's so bad that you spend half your time with diarrhea and being sick and running a fever how on earth do they make it into work in the first place and then how do they get any work done. Surely a boss would much rather you stay at home than watch you running off to the loo and sweating out a fever looking horribly ill. I just don't get it, on the one hand you get people commenting on these articles saying they were bed ridden or spent a whole 24 hrs in a bathroom and were too weak to do anything and then others saying they strolled into work with it. It doesn't make sense

[bex]

@ Louise - I don't get that either. Perhaps people mean they'll go into work feeling ill, before the virus has really set in, knowing full well that they're unwell. Either way, it's a horrific concept - why would anyone in their right state of mind actively choose to be at work when they're coming down with/have an sv*?! I think if the media spent less time 'scare-mongering' and more time writing researched articles that actually explain how best to avoid the spread of this vile illness we'd all stand a far better chance of a/ not feeling terrified by the 'statistics' and b/ helping to prevent the spread of noro. People just need educating on the facts, that's all

[karajayne]

Hi, I've not been on the site since last year but as with others, this business of Noro being on the news here in the UK is starting to knock my confidence in my ability to get though either of my young kids getting sick, or even me (god forbid). The school that my children goes to has Noro doing the rounds, and it's doing me in that my friends are sending their kids in the day after they stop being sick, rather than the 48 hours asked by the school. I spend the whole day with mild anxiety because I am just waiting for the phone to ring and it be the school asking me to pick one of them up due to them being poorly. I am keeping everything crossed that the children follow their usual pattern of not normally getting stomach bugs, and the same for myself. I could just cry all the time at the moment.

[hairyfairy]

I think that employers have a lot to answer for when people come in to work sick. Iv`e heard that some have been threatened with the sack if they don`t come in when they call in saying that they have a sv. Apart from that, I think that the british have lax habits when it comes to cleanliness in general, which is why people in this country get sick so much. They just don`t seem to grasp the fact that a little soap & water goes a long way to keeping bugs at bay, they`d also smell better too!

[MinnieMac]

Ok, what I said about avoiding people as much as possible... I live in my own flat, and my dad lives in the house 5 mins away. He was on holiday this week and as he keeps the family dog, I said I'd stay in the house for the week to save putting him in the kennels. SO after washing my hands and mostly avoiding people, my dad text me to say he'd be home tonight instead of tomorrow. I didn't think anything of it. He came home and I asked how it was and he said "well it'd have been much better if I didn't have the sickness and diahorrea". I was like "WHAT?!" Then the questions started as I was packing my bag to get out. He said it wasn't that bad, his last BM was yesterday, he feels fine now and was making dinner. I'm assuming it's noro and he's still infectious for 48 hours. I had to walk past the toilet and he said he'd been in to use a few minutes before (didn't ask but think it was a no.1!) but I tried to hold my breath and now I'm back in my flat and have washed my hands several times already... ARGHH!! SO typical! Spend the week avoiding, then he comes home and he's had it!! What do you think my chances are? I didn't touch him and was mostly in my room packing my bag, the only dodgy moment was going past the toilet if the droplets are in the air... I hate this.

[LivelyLucy]

Im from the UK too,it is fucking terrifying! Espically since you could just feel poorly then empty your days food over the floor wherever you are
Noone in my house has ever had it which is a relief,my close friend caught it last year but she had little kids that had the noro poking and prodding her face making her eat stuff :/
Only 3 people out of my department of work have fell with it,one has a child and 2 are my age,but i havent caught it since i am very diligent in work,and office workers normally wash their hands regardless :/
What panicks me is today a family friend started feeling ill IN THE MIDDLE of her meal,it was scary because she was burning and feeling queasy,which i notice as the noro more times than most,now im sat here panicking thinking ill get it...
Help...?

[LivelyLucy]

Also im panicking because i touched the bar,then ate garlic bread with my hands

[bex]

How're you feeling today? I agree; it IS fucking terrifying
Where're you from in the South West, by the way? If it's any consolation, last I heard it's not so bad around here

[shell361]

I've not heard much about it so far but I don't watch the news or read the papers, only seen 2 people on Facebook saying they have it but we did have one girl at work come in with a sv* when I went mental and asked why she said she might as well be getting paid to be ill even if I wasn't emet it would still piss me off why should I have to lose money because I won't work if I catch it just because she would rather come to work

[soph]

I've just stayed up for ages also reading that awful DM article and reading all the comments. It's terrifying how all those people who have contracted norovirus and don't have the phobia are saying it's the worst thing they've ever experienced. I'm lying in bed and freaking out, feeling seriously tempted to blow off socializing and shut myself indoors. My bosses at work both have 2 small children each and I'm so scared of catching something from them. It's so stupid, all these "what if's", but I can't stop myself from thinking them. Absolutely hate this phobia.

[JennyS]

Oh god, I am in the UK... read all about this... then at lunch drove past a car pulled over with a child outside being you know what!

Terrifying isn't it???

Just read on another post that chlorine can kill norovirus, or deactivated... think i will be getting me to the pool!

[Rls1994]

I know how you all feel! I have SEVERE emetophobia and this sv* is on my mind practically every single day now, and will be until it dies down... I guess I'm very lucky that I don't work/go to college nor do any of my family (due to illnesses) so chances of us catching it are very low, but I still worry about the possibility. Especially when my parents are shopping and touching trolleys and stuff, ugh. It's gotten so bad that I ask them to wash their hands as soon as they get in, otherwise they won't.

I also agree with the posters that wonder why the hell people come into work/school with it when they're just going to be off to the loo every 20 minutes or so anyway lol, it angers me because they're just going to spread it every where, UGH!

Thank GOD I haven't had this awful sv* since I was 10 years old, (I'm 18 now) nor has anyone else in my family.
Funny enough, it was ALWAYS ME that kept bringing that stupid virus home from school.. Not anymore thanks to this phobia!

[Seremonia]

I hate the media when it comes to this, they make it sound like you just need to touch any surface and it will immediately absorb into your skin and within a couple of days you'll be blasting out of both ends (sorry!) With regards to the daily mail, they had an article yesterday about how to "prevent" norovirus, with a paragraph stating if you havent caught it yet then you probably will soon! Scaremongering much!

[Whisper447]

Jesus christ! What is wrong with people!?! Am terrified of this because the media have made it sound so bad. Is it really as bad as they make it out to be?

[R1ch1973]

Well it isnt nice but......It proberly isnt as bad as our minds think as we fear being s*,but....part of me hopes that i catch it.Because one of the ways for us to get better is to try and face our fears and being s* is doing that.Catching something like Norro could possibly be one of the best things to happen to us.We will find out that while being s* isnt nice,it isnt as bad as we think :-)

[Whisper447]

I got some kind of bug last year in October and was sick 3 times over the night. I felt awful and panicked a bit and my mum had to look after me a little (getting me water and the like) and at the time I fully realised that actually being sick wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Your body takes over. What was abolutely horrible was waiting the next day to see if it was over, trying to eat dry toast and drink water to keep things going. By the end of the week I was feeling fine but my anxiety levels got really bad after and earlier on this year when we were coming up to the 'anniversary' of the bug I was really bad. I have come to the conclusion in my head that its the waiting and the anticipation of it that is worse then the actual act but I still can't get my head around it and stop the worrying. I know if its going to happen, it's going to happen, no matter what. But I wish the side of my brain that worries would actually pay attention to the more logical side!

[R1ch1973]

Where we have been so scared of it for so long the fear is ingrained into our minds

[Whisper447]

It did completely confuse my Grandad who was sure that if I was sick then it would all go away (and to be honest a part of me kinda hoped it would too!).