Brain Eating Amoeba Fear

[Inspector javert]

The good news is my rabies phobia is almost completely gone for the moment. But the bad news...

Wheel of anxiety
turn turn turn
tell me the new fear
that I should learn!


My new fear is the brain eating aomeba. I live in the south so its not 100% unheard of here and I have well water so no city treatment either. Now when I shower and I get water in my nose I worry that every sneeze or twitch in my nose is the start of PAM and the end of my life (and no, you STILL can't have my CD's, my will now specifically states my CD's are to be buried in Yuca mountain).

Most of my Googling (er Binging) has been positive to inconclusive but its still a worry for me so I'd appricate hearing your thoughts, I know I'm not the only one with this fear so if you guys can tell me how you've dealt with it that would be a huge help.

[kyllikki]

Well. If your well water does have the brain eating amoeba, I should think that showering in it would be the least of your worries :shades:

But given that a really significant portion of America is on well water and the South is a big geographic area and yet amoebiasis is incredibly rare and people usually contract it from falling into swamps or while doing generally unsafe things like water tubing in random backcountry locations... I think you can safely step away from this new obsession, order some takeout, and wash it down with a nice cool glass of water :P

(Seriously. Stop worrying and enjoy your summer.)

[NoraB]

Most of my Googling (er Binging) has been positive to inconclusive but its still a worry for me so I'd appricate hearing your thoughts, I know I'm not the only one with this fear so if you guys can tell me how you've dealt with it that would be a huge help.

Jav (can I call you that or do you prefer 'Inspector'?) :unsure:

Googling (or Binging) generally ends one way with HA and that's to send us into a spiral of panic and doom. :scared15:

Re brain scoffing amoebas..

There have been 146 cases since 1962 in the US? (according to Live Science)

I'm shit at maths but even I know how low that is - meaning it's incredibly rare.

What (if anything) are you doing about your raging case of health anxiety? Seeking reassurance is a short-term fix to a long-term problem. It's not helpful. You need to yank this beastie out by the roots..

About those CD's...

What genres are we talking here? I'm into most kinds of music but the Yuca mountains are welcome to anything by Justin Bieber or Black Lace..