OCD (phobia of bacteria) and geocaching

[+Rocks in my Socks]

If someone truly has diagnosed OCD that disrupts their life and not the "Oh I'm so OCD about that", there is a illogical fear. Maybe this poster DOES fear bacteria. Just b/c one person's fear isn't the same doesn't mean that this one isn't real to him/her. It is real and it can be debilitating to the person who suffers from it. Telling someone with OCD that their fears are in their head or that germs are good for people is about the same as brushing your teeth while eating Oreos. It does not help. It could even make the person feel worse about themselves.

 

To the original poster, if you are having such a hard time and OCD is having a serious, negative effect on your life, it would seriously benefit you to get on medication and to talk to someone. I too don't like messy caches and often get uncomfortable at the thought of stumbling across a dirty syringe (happened yesterday!) or finding a cache full of something disgusting. It's gross, but gloves help. Also, maybe you could look for only newer caches until you're comfortable or maybe even work your way up to exploring inside of them. If you locate one, you technically found it even if you cannot open it up to sign the log b/c you're concerned about what may be inside. Gloves are very good and showers would make you feel better. Wipe your steering wheel down if that makes you feel better. All of these are band-aid fixes and you probably know that although your fears are irrational, they are very real to you. Talking to someone and getting proper medication will change your life One day you'll open a gross cache and all those fears will be a distant memory!

[+Rocks in my Socks]

How about we start talking about the Biological hazards such as dirty needles found at caches? I can't protect against one of those.

 

If I were to come across a cache where there are needles/syringes I'd just turn around and walk away. The same goes for "dark corners" people use as toilets. I don't "need" a smiley that much Fortunately we filter the caches we want to do in such a way we don't end up in places like that.

 

Sadly,they're everywhere. My six year old son discovered one while looking for a guardrail cache yesterday, but thankfully he knows not to touch them and to stay far away. Someone must have thrown it out the car window. I hear muggles often complain about finding them thrown around all over: wooded areas, McDonald's parking lots, the backyards of ppl who aren't users. It's really sad.

[+boothie103]

I generally don't get too worked up about dirty stuff in the woods. I usually come home smelling like a swamp. But on the other hand, some of the deadliest viruses in the world were "discovered" while rifling around through the forests and jungles..

 

Viruses and bacteria are totally different beasts and an anti bacterial wipe will never stop a virus. A virus, and I will generalise slightly, will need a vector to cause infection. That vector will cause the virus to become available to the new host via some function such as sneezing, being bitten by a vector or a way of causing the virus to become active. Once active, the virus uses the hosts cells to replicate the RNA which the virus is made of by using, I believe, the hosts DNA. Hence the viruses ability to mutate and cross species such as birds to man. If anyone can and knows more, please correct me gently, without slamming me into the wall.

 

Bacteria are what people refer to as germs and occur everywhere. Some of the biggest hospital bugs are common bacteria that cannot survive in dirty environments and yet are the biggest concerns and killers in hospitals. Pneumonia in certain hospital patients is caused by a bacteria that can be carried by the normal person. Psuedonomas, if I have spelt it right, comes in several different species. Get the wrong one in hospital and it is a very frightening prospect.

 

Scary stuff and good reading if you are a SciFi buff and liked the Andromeda Strain and Omega Man!

[+lee737]

Viruses' ability to mutate and cross species is overstated in the lay media, it can happen, in a few viruses, but for the most part, most viruses are fairly species specific. Nothing 'SciFi' about microbiology - just 'Sci'......

(and it is spelt Pseudomonas)