Attention Germ Phobes.........

[suzimar57]

(after reading these 4 pages of responses, i'm now thinking maybe i should be packing a pocket-size ultraviolet light to check for, -ahem-, "stains"...)

got this portable black light from "things you never knew existed":

http://www.thingsyouneverknew.com/p2p/basicSearch.do?keyword=pocket+black+light

 

[OK!]

Well I am proud to report that on our 6 night vacation I didn't use a single lysol wipe or a drop of purel, used hotel provided linens unaltered (even the comforter!!) and guess what....not a single sniffle or unexpected trip to the toilet. Take your vitamins and get adequate rest and you'll be fine.

Ditto this exactly, plus I--gasp!--use the remote! There was someone on another thread who insisted that the remote be put in some sort of sanitary baggie before anyone was allowed to touch it. I dunno...I have never gotten sick at WDW, so I find it really difficult to worry about all of the potential what-ifs, but that's me.

 

[maxiesmom]

ugh thinking about the fact that some people let little kids put their fingers in parents mouth makes me want to blah.... i can't believe people do that!!! the germs they carry on their hands after crawling on the floor or who knows... having their hand in their dirty diaper!! oh my!!! ahhhh this is one of the many reasons that i don't want children... i'd be sick non stop!! no thanks!! ick!

Know how I got over my gross-kids-are-icky issue? When my sister's middle child was a baby, she used to love to sneak up on me and shove her pacifier into my mouth. Usually directly out of her own. After having that done to me, I decided not to worry about germs too much.

 

[DebbieB]

I travel often for work, about 80 nights a year, about 50 flights. Went to WDW twice and DL 3 times. Never take any of these precautions. I pullup the comforter if I'm cold, I walk on the carpet, I use the remote (gasp!). And I only had 1 small cold last year. Amazing.

 

[joy13]

You and I could be twins!

Interestingly several of the non-germaphobes are nurses - as am I! Whilst I follow precautions at work, due to coming in contact with immuno-suppressed people, I also know that 'normal' people don't need to bathe in purell to prevent illness. What they need to do is expose their bodies to germs in order to build up anti-bodies.

We were at WDW for 17 nights back in December and did all the things the poster above mentioned - including *shock* SITTING on toilet seats - and none of us had or have had since returning, any illness whatsoever.

I'm not a nurse - but I'm a lab tech so I better not be germophobe or I couldn't do my job

 

[jamstew]

I guess I am weird.I wash hands with soap and water all the time but I don't stress out about germs on me or my dd, and we never get sick.Which is a pretty good sign considering I work as a nurse in a hospital.

Same here. My DD is like me, and her son never gets sick (except allergies). My DDIL is a bit of a germophobe, and her kids have colds all the time. I'm in the "build your immunity" camp. For goodness sake, there are millions and millions of us who survived a lifetime pre-antibacterial stuff. I was listening to an interview with a doctor on the radio who was treating a staph infection that had nearly killed a guy. He said that all the anti-bacterial stuff people are using has done more harm than good. My daughter is a college athletic trainer and agrees. They both say to wash your hands thoroughly with regular soap and water.

 

[pixeydust]

 

[jamstew]

I have to admit that these boards managed to scare me into buying my first ever bottle of Purell, but it came back unopened.

My DDIL puts some in my Christmas stocking every year, and I throw it away every year

 

[swald91]

Good grief. That is kooky.

I doubt you'd find many people who would agree with you, given the choices you list.

David

OK-I haven't read all these posts...but got far enough to read this & I agree. I hate throwing up-give me the diarrea instead. Even my son hates it-once we were all sick in the house-poor thing he's on the toilet, bucket in front of him-I'm spralled on the floor next to him & he's screaming -Help Me!! Help Me!!!-while vomiting-I felt so bad for him-couldn't help him in any way.

 

[jamstew]

A lot of people might forget that what jumpstarts a viral bug is the plane ride--before even stepping onto Disney property.

It's a good idea to be as well-rested as one can before travel, keep hydrated (especially on the plane with all the recirc'd air and close proximity to others who may or may not be sharing a variety of bugs).

Same precautions for the trip back home!

The sickest I've been in 30 years was after I got home from Disney in May. I felt great before I left and great on the trip. Within 48 hours of getting home, I started feeling miserable. I started taking over-the-counter cold medicine and put off going to the doctor for a week. At that point, I was almost sure I had pneumonia. It was bronchitis, but the doctor said if I had put it off any longer, it would have been pneumonia It was a month before I fully recovered, and it had to have been something I picked up on the plane.

 

[khertz]

I'm a nurse, and have to chime in that the best thing you can do is practice good handwashing with warm water and soap! I try not to think about things like hotel bedspreads and towels. I figure I've survived this long without anything traumatic happening to me after staying in a hotel room! I only bring Purell with me for the times when I CAN'T get somewhere to wash my hands, especially before eating. I think my immune system has been pretty well boosted by a lot of exposure to kids since my mom has always worked in daycare, and I either went there or worked there myself when I got older. And now I work in pediatrics! And even with all the kids coughing their crud right in my face all day I haven't caught even a cold this year so far and I rarely get sick. Good handwashing is the best way to avoid the germs!

 

[wuv tigger]

I'm not too bad.
In the hotel:
This is where I get germophobic. I will not let anyone sit, or lay on the bedspreads, ever! As soon as I get in the room I take them off. I have heard they hardley ever get washed and it just sceeves me out!LOL I wipe down the door handles and phone and remote with clorox wipes. I clean the toilet seat and I always check the place for bedbugs. No one is allowed to walk barefoot on the carpet or sit on it. I also spray the place with lysol and antibacterial fabreeze for the couch. We are DVC'ers so we are usually in a 1 bedroom with a full kitchen. I will not use any of the utensils or plates, cups, even if DH cleans them. No way! I bring paper plates, and plastic cups and utensils. Boy, I really sound like a nut! Now that I am writing it all out, it seems excessive! Somebody help, I need an intervention!LOL I don't want to jinx us but none of us have ever gotten sick at WDW and we go often.

My bold:

Do you have a dishwasher in the 1 bedroom? If so, that's where I would run the dishwasher if I was concerned about the dishes. I DO run the dishdrain through the dishwasher as it looks like it has/had never been washed.

 

[lukenick1]

Okpeople in a normal trip I would not be this concerned but when you have MULTIPLE people reporting severe vomiting/diarrhea illness, it tends to make me nrotic. Give me a cold, fine i'll deal, just don't send me to the ER requiring fluids to keep me from dying and then i'll be less worried. People that are NOT germ phobes are spreading this illness for sure. Spare the rest of us will ya. Wash and disinfect things for the next person. !!!! Keep your germs to yourself!

 

[livndisney]

Okpeople in a normal trip I would not be this concerned but when you have MULTIPLE people reporting severe vomiting/diarrhea illness, it tends to make me nrotic. Give me a cold, fine i'll deal, just don't send me to the ER requiring fluids to keep me from dying and then i'll be less worried. People that are NOT germ phobes are spreading this illness for sure. Spare the rest of us will ya. Wash and disinfect things for the next person. !!!! Keep your germs to yourself!

The "other side" of this is, depending on what you are using to "disinfect". You may be triggering an asthma or allergic reaction (life threatening) in the person next to you.

Use soap and water people!

 

[Disnsyncey]

this thread makes me wonder if any of the germaphobes know Adrian Monk? haha

oh, and the feeling of throwing up isn't bad, its the feeling BEFORE when you keep saying "I wish I could throw up, I wish I could throw up...." HAH

 

[Silver Queen]

This is incredible. I never knew that there were germ phobics like this until I started reading these boards. We wash our hands with soap and water and have been fine for multiple trips to WDW, major US cities, Europe and the Caribbean. The only time that I bought hand sanitizer was when my son went to Africa (he didn't use it). In my opinion the chemicals from sanitizers, disinfectants and aerosol sprays are probably doing more damage than the typical germs that we encounter in life.

 

[photobob]

Correct me if i am wrong, but don't germaphobes make themselves more seceptable to germs by keeping themselves in overly sanitary conditions and not building immunities? I am not saying you shouldn't wash your hands but going to the extreme can actually be counter productive making it more likely that you can become sick.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

After reading this thread, I can now tell my family that I am not a germophobic as some. I feel better, I thought I was going to have to book a room for myself at the funny farm. I carry wipes for our hands, which we use in the parks and at buffets. We also carry gel with us just in case, but I don't spray the room, we use the bed spreads (oh the horror!) and I let my kids touch the rails, heck they are kids and that's what they do. We were there the 2nd week of Dec. and we avoided the bug, and it was going around. We just used common sense and we came home fine. DD got sick after we got home, I blamed that on Airplane air. LOL.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I guess I am weird.I wash hands with soap and water all the time but I don't stress out about germs on me or my dd, and we never get sick.Which is a pretty good sign considering I work as a nurse in a hospital.

Ha Ha, me too, regarding the laid back attitude to germs and being a nurse. I was talking with an infectious disease physician once, and he said that's why allergies/asthma are running rampant, because people don't expose their kids enough to germs. I know nurses who work pediatrics, and they have some of the strongest immune systems, because they get exposed to everything.


One of my relatives is a germaphobe and she takes all the precautions...her kids get sick anyway.

 

[Mrs. Nesbit]

the bedspreads and sheets dont really freak me out at all. i dont get sick often so i dont get worked up about that stuff. the dvc dishes freak me out a little. i dont like putting things the public have used in my mouth. using those dishes gross me out but i deal with it. its just for a few days anyways