Any Germaphobes??
 

The mere thought of public restrooms make me cringe. I try and hold it as long as humanly possible whenever I'm out in public. I even make pit stops at home to use the bathroom (bypassing all public restrooms) if I'm out for a long time during the day.

The thought of people's shoes (especially non-germaphobic people) walking all over my apartment carpet makes me sick. :o "Take off your shoes!!!"

If I have the misfortune of being in a public restroom, I automatically feel filthy and I feel like I need to shower (sometimes I try not to breathe!)

I don't like touching garbage cans (public or otherwise). I avoid touching them at all costs.

Sharing food (which happens a lot within my group of friends) takes a bit of mental-prep and resisting of the urge to scream, "Nooooooooooooooo!!!". I do NOT share drinks, though!!!

I could go on...

Hi, I am a germaphobe. Anyone else? :D

(I do like kissing and I have a dog that I clean up after so I am somewhat normal. lol)

I wash my hands alot and make my kids wash theirs alot also.
Public restrooms--I always use those seat covers if they're available or put down toilet paper on the seat to sit on. I never could do the "hover" over the seat. Though I'm sure that's a good exercise-lol.
I never touch the door handle after washing my hands. I use my paper towels to open the door.

massive germaphobe- and illness-phobe. every time i eat out i am counting down the typical 3 hours it takes to get food poisoning before i can relax. constant hand sanitizing. i even have cleaned the bathrooms and showers at work because i don't think they do a good enough job!
i don't know when it happened, when i was a kid i used to share ABC gum with my friends. now i basically have to be drunk for me not to flinch when other people touch me.

oh god saying it all out loud makes me sound totally sick in the head. and i'm totally not like that at home with my husband either. i guess those are our germs so they are okay?

Glad i'm not alone! :-)

I'm a germaphobe when it comes to food prep. I'm always making my husband wash his hands and sometimes I feel like when people sit on my couch I get paranoid about the germs. We only sit on the couch with our PJ's on because I fear that our street clothes carry too many germs, mainly from the subway. I try not to think about it too much because the more I think the more paranoid I get. You must learn to relax, germs are not our enemies, they're there to protect us. All the good bacteria around us is working feverishly to eat the bad bacteria and so long as you're not sick that means the good bacteria is winning.

A note about taking shoes off. As a germophobe it is a major pet peeve of mine when people make me take my shoes off in their home. Ewww! Especially in homes where they have dogs. Double eww!

LOL! I've never thought about that. Funny. Still, though, the bottoms of shoes (that go into public restrooms!!!)....just ewwwwwwwww...

I have absolutely no germ phobic leanings. I have a tiny bladder and use public bathrooms all the time. I wash my hands, but don't get all crazy about it (don't use a papertowel to open the door or whatever). I don't wash off shopping cart handles, I never use hand sanitizer. I'm also rarely sick. I do cut meat and vegetables on different cutting boards, but I don't get all crazy with sanitizing with bleach or anything, just throw them in the dish washer.

I would never ask someone to take off their shoes in my home. My beloved stepfather who died last year lost part of his leg in Korea. He always wore a brace around his calf that attached to his shoe. He literally would not have been able to take his shoes off while a guest in your home (at his house, he wore a very sturdy slipper with his brace).

On another message board, there was a very long (multiple pages!) debate over shoes on vs. shoes off in a home (and with guests in a home). For one of my pet peeves and bugaboos, one of the "shoes off" people said they kept slippers for guests to wear in their home. That made my gag meter rise big time - I would NEVER share socks/slippers with someone else, that's how you get toenail fungus (which is the grossest thing ever and very very very difficult to get rid of). So, see, I have issues too :)

I'm the complete opposite :) I think that lifestyle has touched me with immunity, I spent a lot of time in 3rd world countries drinking the water and never got sick :D

Yeah, another "complete opposite" here. I get sick maybe once every 2 years (and I work from home, meaning my immune system gets very little practice and is a little bit down anyway). Germs are everywhere - both the places you think about (like public and private restrooms) and the other places you touch every day (door handles, telephones, kitchen sinks, wet laundry, computer keyboards). The types of germs you'd pick up in those places are just as bad as those you might pick up in a restroom, and it's impossible to avoid touching everything.

What I find interesting about the shoes/no shoes debate - presumably, if someone has taken off their shoes off in your home, they're going to the restroom in your home with no shoes on too, right? Then walking out all over your carpet with your restroom germs (after all, its not just public restrooms with germs...and private ones are cleaned way less often than public, which are often washed down 2-3 times a day with antibacterial cleaners).

I have a habit of washing my hands whenever I come home; I LOVE to clean and the smell of a clean house, but I share cutting boards and I HATE hand sanitizer. It just makes my hands feel more dirty for some reason.

I also don't get sick, so I must not have too many disgusting habits.

What's interesting is that, of the 12 germiest places you are likely to encounter on a semi-regular basis, most are in your kitchen, and none of them are public restrooms (except airplane bathrooms, which are a special case).

http://living.health.com/2008/03/12/...es-in-america/

For example, most people who worry about germs get grossed out by trash cans...but your kitchen sink is way germier. You'd be safer eating a carrot you'd dropped in the trash than one you dropped in your sink. I'm really careful with my sink now, making sure it gets washed/sanitized and that I don't set anything down on or near it. But I don't worry about bathrooms.

It wouldn't bother me at all. I know that I haven't peed all over my bathroom floor.

Their socks are going to be less germy from one visit to my bathroom than their shoes are from visiting any number of germy places.

I lay on my carpet a lot (exercising or whatever). I don't think it's too much to ask to remove your shoes. Of course, people who cannot remove their shoes wouldn't be expected to.

Funny thing is, I don't actually ask people to remove their shoes when they enter my place (I think it, though). I just take off my own shoes when I come in and I have several pairs of shoes near the door. When people enter my place, they usually just remove their shoes.

Make sure you close your toilet lid every time you flush, and so do your guests! An open toilet lid sprays germs from the toilet over a 5 foot radius in your bathroom. Pee on the floor would actually be safer (pee is icky, but generally pretty sanitary. Unlike the fecal bacteria that sprays out with a toilet flush).

Agreed. I don't like using that suff.