[DarkLadyofMidnight]

Hey,

I don't know if this happens to anyone else but I am neurotic about germs, its like I see them everywhere, everything I touch, they're everywhere..

I have to keep handsanitizer with me and I use it continually also I wash my hands about 50 times a day.

I can't share anything with anyone because of my phobia of germs..and it drives everyone around me insane almost as much as it is driving myself insane..

Does anyone else have this problem???

[ResaLock]

I use hand sanitizer and I am sicked by my own environment. Everyone is a slob. ..and it got exhausting. Right now I am actually doing an experiment. As I always have kept a well organized neat room. My room has been a mess. Though I have probably been on the brink of confusion and a scrambled mind.

On the germ note. It might help if you just change your knowledge about it in your mind.
The problems regarding this germ thing...is the wrong knowledge about it.

Germs are NOT all dirty and filthy that make us sick. Think of them like animals but smaller. ...or if you will people to animals,(veggies if your a vegan) Their all living...

Fact is...many what is considered germs is not what you think. There are many germs actually that keep us healthy and fight off what could harm us. Believe it or not we have germs living on our bodies everyday. If we did not have them WE WOULD DIE!

Call them your body guards. They really do have your back on fighting off nasty germs that could harm us. They really are your best friend and your personal army.
LOL!!!
...but SOOOO TRUE!!!

All things are good from something else...those germs that may or can harm you, are good from something else to keep the balances of nature... WELL... IN BALANCE.

Sometimes they just cross boundaries where they do not belong and we can become ill from it.
Its like in reality...bears don't belong in an apartment building and neither do elephants belong in houses, or whales in tanks. When that happens they usually become ill or go insane. Reality is they are part of our natures makeup.
Lions eat gazelles to survive and we are all part of a food chain.
Plants need many insects for them to survive. If they do not, there is no plant life...nothing can exist.

THEY ARE YOUR FRIENDS... STOP KILLING YOUR FRIENDS...

ok I had to put a little humor in that... That also helps me to survive.

ALL GERMS ARE GOOD...JUST NOT ALL GERMS ARE GOOD FOR US. ....only the acceptance of knowledge is going to help you... Just try to see things from another perspective.
Its the way you think about things that is distressing you about germs...NOT THE GERMS.

[DarkLadyofMidnight]

Thank you so much!!

I completely understand what you're saying, it makes a lot of sense. I don't know if would have the guts to try your experiment though, I'd probably go insane... Lol,

I do try to look at things differently and I think I may actually be managing, that is until I see someone sneeze on their hands and they don't clean them or I watch a woman walk out of the toilet without washing her hands...then its like an overload.

I feel really grossed out, but mostly I get by, by pretending I don't see all the awful things people do without cleaning...

But thank you it feels good to look at the humerous side of things...

[Aella]

How about consuming/learning the details of yogurt, kefir, tibicos, beer-making, wine-making fermented vegetables, sourdough bread making, etc? Sourdough starter, for example, was/is traditionally made using yeast from the air.

I make water kefir and milk kefir at home, both of which have many type of yeast and bacteria that are beneficial to you. Also planning to make more kimchi, which is the korean fermented vegs if you don't know. It also have probiotic in it. ^^

Anyway, I hope you could feel better soon.

[H3rmit]

I've learned to be more cautious about germs than I used to be, but I'm only a little neurotic about them. Mostly I appreciate that microbial life is critical to life in general in your body, in ecosystems, and on the scale of planetary history. As other posters have implied, and I agree, if you learn more about them, the beauty of all that may make a dent in the neurosis.

Hand sanitizer is not good for you in the long run. Do some googling - you will find some interesting stuff. Microbiome is an interesting topic that's been in the news the past couple years.

[DarkLadyofMidnight]

That sounds quite interesting... I'm definitely interested in different foods so that could be quite cool... Do you have any recipes I could try?

[DarkLadyofMidnight]

I use hand sanitizer a lot so if what you say is true then yikes... Ill definitely be doing some research... How did you get over it, kinda?

[H3rmit]

Hand sanitizers aren't all the same. The ones I thought were partularly bad were the antibacterial ones. Here are a couple of relevant links:

Not So Handy: The Dangers of Using Hand Sanitizer : Conscious Life News

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/health/21cons.html

Your body has 10x as many microbial cells as human cells - so microbes are a significant part of what you are, how you digest food, and fight off bad microbes. Look for the positives rather than classing them all as germs, and you'll never see them the same way:

Microbiome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Aella]

Kefir, water kefir, yogurt are just grocery store food. In the health/organic section, you might be able to find kombucha, which is like a tea version of water kefir.

Growing water kefir might be relaxing for you though, and you just need to get some water kefir grains, blackstrap molasses, and unprocessed sugar (careful with this, natural/etc sugars tend to be lacking in nutrients if they are still processed. Jaggery, piloncilo, and some other sugars are better, but you can make do with the blackstrap molasses.)

As for the sourdough starter, try Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter | The Fresh Loaf or Creating your own sourdough starter | Flourish - King Arthur Flour's blog . Been a while since i dealt with sourdough, as I don't eat bread that much and I could emulate it with water kefir.

[DarkLadyofMidnight]

Thank you for the links,

Ill definitely read them and see what they say... I'm just hoping they don't tell me too many bad things..I've been using hand sanitizer for years... Soo.

Its a daily ritual for me..one that I guess I should stop..

[DarkLadyofMidnight]

Thank you, ill be looking into that and reading about it as well...I love growing things..it seems to calm me a lot.

Just as a matter of interest are these things vegetarian friendly?

[H3rmit]

I don't mean to give you more things to worry about! Just the alcohol percentage has to be high enough, and you have to wash thoroughly. Alcohol based is not bad if strong enough. It's some of the other additives that can cause problems. As for the antibacterial ones, it's like with antibiotics - you're killing off the good bacteria when you don't need to, but you could also be strengthening the bad bacteria populations by killing off the weak ones, leaving the strong to reproduce in larger proportion. This is how we get super bacteria over time. Also washing that triclosan into the drain and then into the world is not a good thing.

[Aella]

Water kefir is vegan friendly. Sourdough is just a bread, check the recipe. Milk kefir I guess is vegetarian friendly, just not vegan friendly. To grow water kefir, other than the list i gave you, you also need a mason jar.

ps: There's a recent article saying bad things about triclosan. About to fall asleep or I'd find it for yo.

[RTerroni]

I know how you feel I am a huge germaphobe, I don't even like to shake people's hands because of the germs that might get spread.

[H3rmit]

Here's a super-cool topic about how we are made of microbes, ie "germs." Check it out: Edge.org