Norovirus...terrified

[Zyranne]

So winter is approaching, and of course norovirus is too. I've been dreading winter during the whole of summer, because I knew that I'd have to deal with the constant fear of getting norovirus. Norovirus cases are also probably prevalent in summer too, but I don't hear as much about it so whenever I get a stomach ache or feel sick the only cause is probably food poison, and I always have a way to make myself feel at ease (I ate too long ago to have food poisoning etc) but now that the norovirus season is approaching, I'll constantly have that threat.

To make matters worse I just got told that norovirus has been spreading in my school, so now I feel even worse. Honestly, I'm just angry. I'm angry at this phobia, I'm angry that people still come into school when they're still contagious. I'm just angry, really. Maybe it's a way to mechanism to mask the fear, who knows. I now know that I'll probably be in for sleep less nights, and obsessive thinking, for the next few months. I don't think I can deal with that. The fear also has seemed to intensify this year, so dealing with winter will be harder.

I don't know what to do really. I'm starting to consider therapy, because I cannot deal with this. I feel like breaking down and crying, or angrily sticking my fingers down my throat, just to get this shit over with. I'm at breaking point with this shit.

What to do?

[paulinek]

Therapy is a good idea. The best way to protect yourself is to wash hands before eating/handling food and during an outbreak in an enclosed community like a school to avoid food prepared on those premises that is touched by human hands after cooking so for example a bowl of chilli served with a ladle is fine but a buttered bread roll is higher risk. The only real way you can get it is by ingesting the virus or in your mouth (or possibly via finger up nose) so as long as you are sure your food hadn't been prepared by someone with noro on their hands or by yourself with unclean hands then it's actually pretty hard to get. The people who tend to get it are either infected en-masse by an infected food preparer or by not washing their hands after touching an infected surface and then eating/biting their nails/licking their fingers or whatever.

I had norovirus - badly - before I realised anti-bacterial gels aren't effective against noro (now I rely on hand washing with sometimes a squirt of anti-viral hand foam if out of the home) and while it's not something I wish to experience again and at the time was very distressed about it, the fact is I did survive to tell the tale, and if anyone on here were to get it, they would cope and get through it too.