Question about germs

[yenn]

Sorry if this is on the wrong board.


OK I have huge germ issues and since I live with my parents and three siblings aged 7 and 4 year old twins who aren't at all good with the hand washing thing I get paranoid a lot. Yesterday I bought a pack of four shortbread cookies from the supermarket. I only remember eating one, and my boyfriend only saw me eat one too. This morning there were only two in the bag. I took one and had it anyway but now I'm worried that if someone had helped themself to one, there will have been germs on the one I ate. Will I get sick even if this was the case? PLease help.

[shiva]

Please don't take this the wrong way because God knows I have been there, stuckin this kind of thought process. But, I think you are thinking way too hard about this. Realistically, germs are everywhere and on everything. Once you even opened those cookies, there were microbes floating in the air that may have landed on them. Probably some of the same kind of microbes that could have been on someones hands. Try really hard not to entertain these kind of obsessive thoughts. Your boyfriend said you ate 2, so chances are no one helped themselves to a cookie anyway. In order to get past this phobia, this kind of thinking cannot be entertained. This is what this phobia lives on. Instead of "What if" we have to start telling ourselves "So what". Because the truth is that germs are everywhere and we cannot escape coming in contact with germs. Honestly, I think we probably make ourselves more likely to get sick from these germs by worrying so much about them. I know that isn't good for our immune systems. I believe there are actually emets on this site who don't even obsess over hand washing, and they haven't been sick in years. Just don't even allow yourself to worry about this one any more.

[tcsarah]

I'm sure you will be just fine.


I am one of those emets who doesn't worry too much about germs. I'm not saying I'm unhygienic, I wash my hands quite a lot and make sure I have a clean home, but only as much as the average person. I really think you can be too clean, for example by over bleaching, disinfecting your kitchen all the time. Apparently in this modern age of using anti-bacterial washing-up liquid, anti-bact spray, ant-bact whatever, we are doing more harm than good as these products arekilling good bacteria too which are essential in helping your immune system grow stronger.


Another thing I do, which might horrify some emets, is eat things past their best before dates, although I won't eat them if they are more than a couple of days over.If something says 'use by'that is a bit different, but if it smells okand looks ok I willeat it a day over, no longer than that though. However I am vegetarian, so probably wouldn't do the same with meat. I have never once become ill through eating anything, and very rarely have stomach complaints other than if it's anxiety related.