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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    California
    Posts
    46

    Default Is it harder to get sick than we think?

    Is it harder to get sick than we think?

    I'm asking because my stomach is feeling a bit off right now. (could be the coffee I drank a bit ago, the caffeine does that sometimes) The only thing that's putting me on edge is the fact that I went out to eat last night and I ate a bit of bread with my bare hands. I did wash them in the restaurant's bathroom before hand, but I usually never touch my food when eating out. I always worry that I haven't washed my hands well enough. But back to the question, it seems like most people I know aren't as careful as I am, yet they hardly ever get sick. Is Noro easier to avoid than we think it is?

  2. #2

    Default Re: Is it harder to get sick than we think?

    ur fine, and yes its not as hard to get as we think. its not some kinda inevitable plague. even though we think it is. but u should be fine. and coffee does that to me too so just drink some water and let it leave ur system

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Is it harder to get sick than we think?

    yeah it is definitely harder to catch than we think. the rational part of my mind knows that no, it's not airborne unless you accidentally inhale a fleck of fresh you know what which is highly unlikely to happen unless you're right beside somebody when they do it and the rest is really up to you practicing the necessary hygiene procedures and hoping that those around you are doing the same.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Is it harder to get sick than we think?

    I think it's definitely harder than we think; when I think back to how I was like before becoming phobic, I'm shocked that I managed to never get sick - I mean I worked a cash register in a store, and half of the time I'd forget to wash my hands before eating! I rode transit all the time, ate on buses, sat in crowded lecture halls, ate in university cafeterias, etc etc., even rode the trains around through Europe and haven't heard of sanitizer! And yet the one time I ever got noro was at home from DH who got it first, and I didn't realize and thought he just ate something bad. And even then we managed to keep 1 yo. DS from picking it up. So given all that, I think it's not that easy to get it - yet knowing all that, once the switch in my brain has been flipped, I now freak out if I eat a sample at the store after touching the cart...I KNOW the chances are so slim, yet I'm terrified of having it again.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Posts
    143

    Default Re: Is it harder to get sick than we think?

    There are lots of factors that affect how often a person catches stomach viruses, some of them are genetic. People with O blood types are more prone to infection with noro, while A and B types generally have greater immunity. (Those with a specific mutation in the FUT2 gene are completely immune to a common subset of noroviruses...lucky peeps!)

    Most of it comes down to personal hygiene and luck. Even in the worst outbreaks, not everyone will get sick. My dad has only v0mited ONCE in 29 years and my grandpa has not done "it" since 1973! (his words). I went 13 years without getting a stomach virus myself.

    Yes, we all have emetophobia
    Last edited by Aspie Grrrl; 05-30-2013 at 03:49 AM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Posts
    2,911

    Default Re: Is it harder to get sick than we think?

    My parents NEVER get sick. The also rarely wash their hands and travel a lot. Before my phobia I was the same way. My mom had a sv* once when I was in elementary school, I've never known my dad to have one and I went about 13 years without coming down with one. They go to Costco a lot, never wipe the handles of the carts, eat the samples while picking up meat from the meat section and never give it a thought! To make it worse, as a kid my mom never made me wash my hands in the restroom and I don't ever recall her washing her own hands. We went to Disney every year and were always footloose and fancy free - with dirty hands! I NEVER washed my hands before eating unless I was at my grandmother's house and she made me. We are all 3 O blood types, so YES I do believe that they aren't as easy to contract as we believe.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    178

    Default Re: Is it harder to get sick than we think?

    about 2 years ago when I lived in the dorms at college, almost every single person in my dorm got sv*. Of course I was FREAKING out, it was probably my worst nightmare come true. We all shared a bathroom and everything. I was pretty much the only person who didn't get it, and to this day I don't know how I dodged it!!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    889

    Default Re: Is it harder to get sick than we think?

    I have reverse fortune. Whenever somebody around me is sick, I do everything possible NOT to get sick and I always get something different from their ailments.

    Mother gets the Noro; I get strep
    Father gets a sinus infection; I get Noro.

 

 

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