Can You Avoid Catching Norovirus?

Hi everyone! I'm new to this site and am desperate for some support because this phobia is driving me mad.

I'm 40 now and have had this phobia all my life. Like a lot of you, although it is with me every hour of every day, somehow I manage to get through the days UNTIL.....that is you hear on the news or you open a newspaper and it is all about "The Winter Vomiting Bug". Oh good grief. I was doing not too bad (well, as good as can be expected with this infliction) until about 4 days ago when I innocently went online and AOL News had up the big title "Warning over winter vomiting bug sweeping through country". Ever since I read this, I am in a terrible state.

Yesterday, I was at Tescos and one member of staff said hello to another member and asked why she was late in - the woman replied because she almost didnt make it because she had been up ill all night. That conversation replays over and over in my head.

The kids stop school on Friday and it cant be soon enough for me (in fact, if I had my way, I would probably just not send them this week at all). I keep thinking - only 3 more days of them mixing in a school and then hopefully if they havent picked anything up by then they should be ok..

My husband knows I have this phobia but unfortunately he has a different phobia and feels his is worse than mine. When he asks what is wrong with me and I tell him I am struggling to cope with this at the moment, he says it's just all scaremongery....I know he is trying to help but it doesnt! I just need to hear on the grapevine that someone has been sick and that is enough to put it in my head that I will catch it - even if I've been nowhere near the person.

My daughter knocked on the bedroom door last night and said she had a sore stomach and felt sick - well, that was it, I hardly slept a wink all night. She seemed ok this morning and went to school as usual but I'm constantly worried in case one of them is incubating this bug.

My dad has bought us tickets to go and see Joseph during Christmas and New Year and I reall do not want to go - why? - because its an enclosed space and any one person could have or could have had this damned bug or even worse one of us could have it and be ill when we are there.

Sorry for rambling on but I'm in total panic at the moment.

hi matey i dont think there is much u can do to avoid it to be honest, im lucky i dont have this phobia as theres 5 of us in my family and we all just had it, it was through my daughter as she 4 and picked it up in school through others.

if it helps though me and my partner and my eldest had it but we were not sick we just felt it, we had more bad bellys but my youngest 2 were.

its an awful time of year if you suffer with these phobias so im sorry and i hope you manage to avoid it xx

Hi.
In response to your header - no, once you've been in direct contact with a SICK person, i don't think there is much hope avoiding it. Taking care with hygiene definitely helps after being out in the shops etc.

I'm thinking exactly the same as you, i cannot wait for my son to finish school this week, then we have the 2 - 4 days of when he could get sick, then we're in the clear (please God).

As i say though, unless you're in contact with someone who is ill, i'm sure you'll be okay. I mentioned in another post, there IS a lot of people who do get this Norovirus, but there is a hell of alot more who don't :)

x

Hi Jenny

:welcome: to NMP.

I don't have emetophobia, although I have many other problems but I can understand that this time of year is particularly difficult.

As others have said you can only catch it from direct contact with someone who has it and good hygiene helps a lot. My friend and her two children had it recently and although I had been there to visit around that time, I didn't come down with it.

I hope you manage to avoid it.

Karen xx

Hey Jennie,
If you look on my thread 'emetophobia is driving me to despair' I posted a link to a website with a lot of the answers you are seeking - I found it very reassuring. And as Donna says, even if you do get it, as an adult you may not actually be sick. Check out the link I posted, though, it set my mind at rest about some points... you can't catch it just from being in public places unless someone throws up right next to you. The important thing is to wash your hands before eating, or touching your mouth, eyes and nose while you're out. Contrary to popular belief, it is a lot less infectious than, say, colds or flu - there is definitely more you can do to protect yourself. xxx

Jenny,

The problem is other people not washing their hands; I always open the door of our toilets at work with my sleeve, as I know there are plenty of disgusting individuals who don't wash their hands afterwards.

Take great care,

JCC

I open doors with tissues or toilet paper. I know this is extreme but i use the toilet in Mothercare the other day. After i had finished i flushed the loo with my foot (can you imagine it?) i turned on the tap with paper, i turned off the tap with paper and i opened the door with paper. NEVER USE THOSE HAND DRYERS, it circulates the manky air from within the loo. GROSS!

x

I have to go in to town tomorrow and I am worrying about being among so many people that could be incubating the norovirus bug. I am going to take a bottle of gel antiseptic wash with me. People will probably look at me a bit funny, using it on my hands, but I am so scared of getting the norovirus that I could't care less what other people think.

I used to be bulimic but since I have been on ciplopram I have gone the complete other way and have a fear of being sick now.

Sheena

I carry the antibacterial hand gel in my bag and the car because doorhandles are notoirious for storing the germs for hours and hours. I think if we catch it ,we catch it - and hopefully not over xmas!! Wenjoy x

Hi my names Charlie Jackson and I'm 15. Iv been suffering from a fear of catching the virus for 6 years now and it's destroyed my childhood. However it only peeked in august 2009 as it caused friction between me and my dad. I used to sterelise everything from plates to anything that was going in my mouth. At the start of december I realised I needed help and due to my mum pulling strings manage to begin councilling. Now I know many of you will be thinking I'm an attension seeking teenager but recently I have been slipping and have been thinking more and more about catching the virus that is why I'm here at two o'clock asking for anyone out there that can help me or offer me any supportive comments. I spend over 20 minutes washing my hands after school although I no longer sterilise anything. It does not help when my mums a nurse at the local hospital and comes home with many tales about Ill children. I have been diognosed with OCD about hygeine. I just wish that the world would feel like it did before that one Christmas where I contracted the virus and my life changed dramatically.

Anyone who wants to know more or would like to help please feel free to contact me through email at charlieproctor@hotmail.co.uk

I have just had the norovirus. I am absolutely petrified of being sick and i think it's been about twenty five years since i was !!! Every time i read about it in the newspapers i would feel panicky. It came on so suddenly and i panicked coz i knew i was going to be sick, i felt absolutely awful but i coped and i'me still here!!!! I managed to go all those years without being sick so try not to worry. My husband had it too and he wasn't sick just a dodgy tummy. Hasn't got rid of my fear though.

Tracey xxx

I'm scared of catching this, too. My girlfriend and all her family in the house have caught it, luckily I've not been in contact, but the thought of it scares the hell out of me. Like tonight, I was so paranoid about it I purposely left my dinner in longer so it was a bit burnt (Chicken breast). Totally embarrased by it, but I cant help it. I feel your pain :(

hehehehe come to the mountains ,come to the mountains..its so remote here we would have to fly in a virus lol.. Just kidding but you are welcome here to get away if you want.. Hope you feel better soon.>Don't worry be happy.. Michael

hello! :)
i dont know if you will read this because you posted this a long time ago, but i hope you do :)
well if anyone knows how your feeling its me! i am a sufferor of emtophobia (fear sick) and have been all my life and always will be, its proper medical problem i have and i have all of the symptoms of it.
You mentioned about the sick virus, thats a big problem for me to! im 16 and in school and when thats going round i try not to go into school and if i do i keep well out of contact of people who i think might have it. and also the feeling of being traped in, the feeling that if your going to be sick or if somebody around is going to be sickk you wont be able to get out!.
this phobia is like a shadow that follows me every day, i panick every minuite of every day, im constanly thinking about it. and what you said about somebody mentiooning sick and it going through you head over and over again, i do that all the time! if someone as much mentioned that they feel ill or were ill or that somebody was ill, i cant stop replaying the insidant over and over again in my head, its frightens me!
not many people understand this phobia, but you do :) so if you read this i just want you to know that your not on your own! i know EXCACILY what your going through because im going through it now.
if you read this please reply :)x

What scares you about the Norovirus in particular? I had it last year- not pleasant by any means, but nothing particularly horrible, even though my doc said I had an unusually bad case of it. For me tonsillitis, a ruptured ovary and swine flu were far, far, far worse than Norovirus.

I'm pretty sure it can be prevented though. I at the time lived in a tiny shared house with poor hygiene. I'm pretty sure Norovirus is ONLY spread through the nose, mouth, eyes etc. (as in, you don't catch it by breathing it in) therefore make sure you wash your hands with soap and water before you touch any part of your face and, in theory, you'll be fine!

Hi some good and bad news: i have GAD and a fear of vomiting, and my kids caught norovirus a week and a half ago. Good hygeine etc held it off, but then I caught it after tidying their room two days after I thought all was well.

I took motillium/domperidone from the onset of nausea, and despite bad tummy cramps - no worse than bad periods, for the ladies -, runs and general tiredness/yuck, I wasn't sick, it didn't go on for longer than the kids bouts and generally was a much better experience than usual.

Hope this helps

my daughters school has this norovirus at the moment they said they r steam cleaning carpets and soft furnishings and deep cleaning loos and equiment but i dont want to send my daughter i have emet too i hate heer being sick she has noro when she was 4 luckily my parents had her as me and my hubby went to a bowling xmas doo with his work. anyway my parents had her for 4 days so i never saw her ill.

Hello Jenny, i felt the same as you but i searched for something that i could take to give me reassurance. I take Allicinmax, garlic capsules. Allicin is the antibacterial part of garlic and fights viruses and bacteria. It really strengthens your stomach and if you think you have a sickness bug you can take as many as you like to irradicate the bug and stop you being sick. I usually take one a day but in the winter months i increase it to two. My. 9 yr old and 7 year old take it as well. Garlic is a good all rounder anyway. I'm still careful when there's a bug about but Allicin gives me peace of mind. If you go to the Allicinmax website it explains how it's made and it's benefits. Hope this helps.

I no how ur feeling my mind never shuts up about any bugs etc.. I've been emet since I was about 10yr's old its just never ending am thinking about sick 24/7 its never ending and soon as some1 says they feel sick or have been sick I totally freak out in my mind will it ever get better I just wanna live a normal life xx

Some people cope better than others... I, for one, CANNOT stand Noro and would be deathly ill with it since my immune system is terrible. I would seriously rather die than spend a few days with that horrifying illness. I would rather have a bad cold for 2 weeks than have noro for a couple of days.

Oh, and you can avoid catching it.. Otherwise everyone would be going down with it, but that's not the case is it?