Germ phobia strikes even people who should know better

I hate to say it....I have a disabled grandson...but I do wonder if the strange increase in autism is related to anti everything, germ phobic, generation. Mothers don't drink, smoke, drink coffee, take any OTC, we keep everything so clean and sanitized, etc. and look what has happened!

Wish I could "like" this more than once. I want to scream when I see family/friends basically bathe their babies/children in Purel etc constantly. I am always telling them, you are making it so that the kids immune system can never really kick in and learn to deal with 'germs'. I was a pre-Purel baby, as were my children. We always had/have them wash hands after using the bathroom, before eating etc. But I wasn't one to really freak out if the kids dropped something on the floor and ate it before I could grab it. I think my children's bodies were bathed more by the dogs tongue than by me with soap and water (haha). My kids played in the dirt and yes, EEEK, might have eaten some. My babies gnawed on my unwashed hands, and were held by people who hadn't bathed in alcohol gels before touching them. Guess what, neither of my girls have allergies, were overly sick (nothing more than the occasional seasonal cold), or have health issues. Both are healthy kids. When most of their class is out with whatever the 'bug of the day' is, my kids are front and center in class, never missing any school d/t the bugs going aorund. Can't say the same for their younger cousins who have parents that use any form of antibacterial substance they can get their hands on...who were not allowed to play in the dirt, etc.

Some people (like me) act like a germaphobe not because we are afraid of getting sick or contracting a disease - it's because we think certain things are just GROSS. Am I totally grossed out by having my food touched by other's people hands, or having my restaurant table be wiped down with a snot rag, or shaking my salt out of a butt-germ infested shaker? YES! Do I think I'm going to get sick from it? No. I don't even think about that aspect. It's a gross, gross world out there.Just providing another perspective.

I am not a germaphobe and I embrace the concept of dirt being good for us...One place where I am careful about what I touch is on cruise ships. They are very clean, but having a few thousand people captive on a ship for 7 days is scary for me...I don't touch the hand rails on the ships...period.

Excellent article! I also believe that being too clean is detrimental. I think hand sanitizer and anti-microbial usage is out of hand, and contributes to the creation of super-bugs that don't respond to antibiotics. There's documented evidence that the rise in asthma and allergies in general, is at least in part due to low exposure to antigens in childhood. So, get dirty, play with the animals, and use common sense and soap and water.

I was just thinking about how we used to drink water out of the garden hose, and share our friends' Cokes without even wiping off the top of the bottle, and we seldom got sick. OTOH, the thought of eating food that's even touched the floor just icks me out---there is NO five-second rule in my house, unless of course you count the dog, who waits all of half a second before she's on it like stink on poo. LOL!

I totally agree with this. When I went to college, I was sick and had bad allergies constantly because I wasn't exposed to everything I normally was growing up: pets, the grass, dirt, the outside world. Now than I'm an adult and spend my time sucking down who-knows-what when I'm running, can play in the dirt in the garden, and don't clean as fastidiously as my roommates in college did, I'm never sick.

Hear HEAR!!!My bonus is working in Peds...once I herded with the kiddos, my illnesses went down significantly.I grew up with a mom who is undiagnosed OCD. I had to have a "come to Jesus meeting" about WHY she was getting so sick the past few years...since she has "relaxed" some, she has actually had less common colds and other viruses. Oh, I believe in the 5-10 second rule...but that's only because I have a wet vac for my kitchen...I may have made a ton if mud pies as a child, but it doesn't help much cooking much these days, lol.

GrnTea, I think I love you.

Ah the voice of reason. I am a germaphobe at work, but nowhere else and I'm not dead yet. I also rarely get ill, and if I do it lasts for a day or two. Coincidence? I think not. When I was a kid a climbed trees, dug holes, and played in streams. I observed the 5 second rule and my parents had the common sense to teach me when that rule doesn't apply. I was homeschooled and many people said I would get sick more frequently when I went to college, but nothing really changed. I am all for washing hands, but there is a difference between pathogenic bacteria and the normal (unavoidable) flora of day to day life.

Gosh, I used to be a germ freak to the fullest. I'm talking cleaning everything with PURE bleach. I have calmed down a lot with the whole germ thing. I have major anxiety about vomiting, but I am dealing with it much better then I did in the past. Now I eat without washing, kiss the dog, don't hover over the toilet seat, all kinds of germy stuff and I don't get freaked. I used to load myself down with Vit C but never really noticed a real benefit from it. I have since stopped and still get the same amount of colds that I used to. Can't really escape germs because they are all around us! Somethings I just can't deal with. The guy blowing his snot in the rag and then wiping the table?! Good Lord I think I may have passed out. Food dropping on the floor is nasty also!

There are also studies that indicate that pets cause allergies and asthma in children. I took care of a baby that lived in a place with a filthy dog. It stank like sewage- never washed, not once, thick matted nasty fur, etc., literally. I had to hold my breath when it walked past me. That little baby had a runny nose every day for over a year, and a chronic cough that started at age 2 months, with a pneumonia at age one year, and a gradually worsening wheezing in his poor little lungs. Clearly, he had developed asthma. I used to perform postural drainage on the poor little thing while he watched cartoons- it calmed him down, big time, and it really helped, temporarily.This reminds me of a funny: Walking into a house, a friend said: "You can't tell I have a cat, can you? I buy that new type of litter." Sure- I could only already smell the cat from outside, with the door closed. But I said:"You have a CAT? Wow. Who would have KNOWN!"Humans did not evolve living in close contact with animals. Cleanliness is next to godliness...