Do you get sick a lot for unexplained reasons?

I couldn’t agree with you more…I made sure to wear a helmet when answering this question.Safety first,dammit! ;)

It is too bad everyone does not have your attitude, or we could stop the development of super germs.

I wiped my keyboard before answering this question.

I think there is a point of diminishing returns. Be clean but going too far gets into the ‘pointless’ territory. You are human and live in a world with trillions of microscopic organisms. You can’t keep them off of you and you wouldn’t really like it if it happened.

I think most people fall in the middle- it’s just that certain behaviors stick out to us more because they aren’t the norm.

I don’t remember people in the grocery store as a general rule. I do remember the one woman who was standing in front of me while I was waiting for her to be done using the garbage can. She toed open the door of it with her foot. I wanted to tell her ‘Thank you very much for putting whatever the hell you’ve walked through onto something that I am about to touch’. I’m disabled and can’t use my feet like most people so I couldn’t use my foot like she had done.

Garbage cans would be a lot cleaner if people would stop putting their feet in them.

There’s a point where it just descends into madness. We need to learn we cannot control everything and just let go a tiny bit.

I had a friend who was gemaphobic like that…..and her kid were ALWAYS sick. Always getting rushed off to ER for some cough or something. My kids were never sick, except with the normal stuff kids get sick with, that really can’t be avoided.

If the world really was such a dangerous place, kids would all be daid by the time they were 7!

My daughter and grandson get sick all the time. This last time they both ended up with pneumonia. They have no idea where they got the bug that started it because they even clean the table in a restaurant with sanitizing wipes when they go out.
I now use sanatizer when I am in crowded places with lots of sticky hands like Disneyland, and I use it before eating if I go to a resteraunt. Otherwise, I don’t go into hyper crack mode.
I also don’t pick my nose as often as I used to.~ The older you get the harder it s to recover from a cold!

No, I don’t

People who are physically healthy, but who get colds and sniffles a lot… tend to be the very people who rarely, or never, open their windows. They live in a sick world of recycled air containing germs, viruses, dander, and more. They don’t open the windows either because they don’t think about it, or they are afraid of getting a draft.

And these people, get sick a lot, usually in the form of low-grade colds that quickly come and go, but with no end to the pattern.

Americans are way too clean. We’ll be the first to die out in a outbreak of disease because our immune systems are shot to hell.

I agree with the above responses- we are only creating as @marinelife said “super germs”

I think people just like having something tangile that they can “do” when they are scared. Unfortunately, it may not be the right thing.

There’s nothing like good ‘ol soap and water…..

@KhiaKarma plus, soap and water is just as effective as antibacterial crap and has been proven to be all you need.

@tragiclikebowie Word.

So if “the collective” is pretty much on the same page about this, why is the antiacterial stuff such a big buisness?

I agree with you. I’m rarely sick and I eat germs daily.

I think the problem is that most people have developed a poor diet and stressful lifestyle that lowers their immune system, thus putting them more at risk for getting sick from all the germs that are everywhere, but shouldn’t really bother us. And people are so afraid of being sick. A little headache or a stuffy nose shouldn’t cause us to run to the medicine cabinet. Most of the symptoms people feel are the body’s way of fighting whatever’s invaded it.

@Zajvhal I don’t take medicine for headaches unless it’s something that has been bothering me for than several hours. My reaction to that is also probably a product of seeing my grandparents swallowing pills for every and any pain or disturbance. But I agree with you. We need to stop being so dependent on meds unless it’s something that is serious enough to really need it.

@Judi Did you know that you can only get one of each kind of cold virus in your life because once you get it your body creates an immunity to it? But there are hundreds of different viruses that cause cold symptoms. However, there are a few that are the most common, and every body gets them at one time or another…...and that’s why older folks don’t catch as many colds as the kids.

@KhiaKarma In the detail I think I have the answer to your question. It’s power of suggestion by the companies who make cleaning products. According to them, we’re all on the verge of extinction unless we use their products. To wit…they show this Mom running around like crazy after her kids, wiping off toys and phones. They show this silly, make believe, huge picture of all the “germs” lurking, swarming like maggots on the the phone reciever, then show another make-believe picture of how supposedly their product takes care of all of the “germs” (except for one or two. Wouldn’t want to get too unbelievable now, would we.) Most of the collective isn’t falling for the ploy.

@tragiclikebowie I so totally agree with you.

@Val123 ; I think I’ve had them all . I haven’t been sick once this year even though everyone around me is dropping like flies. Knock on wood. But I am very careful to wash my hands often when playing with my grand kids, and I do pay more attention than I used to about touching my eyes, mouth and nose. When I do get sick it really knocks me out more than it did when I was a kid.
I remember as a child on the playground trying really hard to remember what it was like not to be sick.

@Judi Same, I had really bad asthma as a kid. I remember thinking to myself what it was like to breath normally and if I ever would.

Nope. I can always trace back to where we got sick.
My son isn’t in daycare but when we go certain places, I do use hand sanitizer afterwards…places like Chuck E Cheese, or if we go to a store and he touched things that I deem gross. Not every single time, but I have noticed carts carry nasty germs.

We don’t use bleach or any anti-bacterial cleaners in our household. We have one soap that dispenses antibacterial soap, and that’s in the bathroom. Sadly, we live in my parents home now and my mother is the Clorox and Lysol queen. I really do wonder what that sort of stuff is doing to our bodies :(

Nope. I am knock on wood surprisingly unsick most of the time. Maybe a few days a year I get the cold/flu, but other than that I’m good.

No I laugh at disease. Hahahahahahaha!!!

I actually try to expose myself to as many sick people as I can. I wash my hands and shower regularly, but I don’t walk around with a bottle of hand sanitizer or run away when I see someone cough. If I get a cut, I rub dirt in it, and let it be.

I try becoming immune to as many things as possible, so my body is physically strong enough to deal with problems consistently.

When I get sick, I can usually see it coming, but they tend to be quick little passes, as my body becomes used to all these illness’.

I’m only sick if i’ve been around too much wine the day before. It’s commercialism.

I am all for being hygenic but, like you, I don’t get this obsession with being completely germ free either. Germs are not always a bad thing. Also like you, I am very rarely ill. I live with dogs and so, it’s not practical to wash my hands every five minutes and if one of the dogs happens to lick my face or hands, I don’t run straight to the bathroom for a shower. I can’t remember the last time I was really ill. The last time I was sick was alcohol induced and that was a good five months ago and the time before that was sun stroke which was about two years ago, neither alcohol induced sickness or sunstroke was caused by touching a door handle that, heaven forbid, someone else may have touched before me.

Funnily enough, I was annoyed the other day because there are a few people at work that always seem to be off work because they are ill. I got annoyed because I am never ill enough to have a free day off work!!! Obviously I don’t like being ill but time off wouldf be nice!

It just occured to me…a germaphobic Mom or Dad would be totally up a creek, wouldn’t they. The kids get sick, and pretty much want to sleep with you! And then they throw up on you and all kinds of stuff. :) Oh, I sure miss THOSE days!

You know, a couple of years ago my daughter came down with a flu that I just knew that I recognized….it was a 24 hours thing of diarrhea and vomiting. Pretty nasty, but I knew there was nothing for it but to keep her hydrated and let her sleep. I also knew that my son was going to get sick with it 24 hours after her. And he did. And I also knew I wouldn’t get sick because I’d had the same bug years ago, when I was 17. And I didn’t.

If you never allow yourself to be exposed to stuff like that when you’re young and can fight it off, what’s going to happen when you’re old and frail….and you get exposed to it then. It’d probably kill you then.

Yep, I believe in my body’s ability to fight a germ war all by itself, for the most part. I wouldn’t visit a leper colony, or someone who had small pox, but in the everyday world we’re about as likely to come into contact with someone with those illnesses as we are to be able to…...heck. I can’t even use the standard “Win the lottery” here, because the chances are a zillion times less than that!

nope

@Val123 you can’t catch leprosy, fyi

@tragiclikebowie Yes you can. It’s an infectious bacterial disease

@Val123 Sorry, should have elaborated. I meant you can’t catch it just from casual contact with lepers.

@tragiclikebowie O! I guess I kind of knew that but still…I guess I’d get pretty germaphobic if I was a maid in a leper colony, whether it was logical or not!

@Val123 Haha, I think everyone would. Or at least a large chunk of everyone

@tragiclikebowie Oh Lordy!!! Busted out laughing here! “Excuse me! Is that your finga?” LOL!

@Val123 I didn’t mean chunk in that way, but I guess it was very appropriate lol.

@tragiclikebowie That makes it even more funny!