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Original poster

Ffs DD and Coronovirus

29 replies

janemaster · 25/02/2020 19:20

I lost patience tonight with DD 13 who can be a bit of a drama queen anyway. She came home from school not feeling well and over the course of the evening she has persuaded herself she has coronovirus. She has been saying she can't go to school tomorrow and has to self isolate for at least two weeks. She has I suspect a cold. After trying to be patient I finally lost it and shouted - you do not have coronovirus ffs. Not my finest moment. She stormed upstairs.
Bloody hell I am not looking forward to tomorrow morning.
By the way we are in Britain, not Wuhan. If we were in Wuhan I could understand her being convinced she has coronovirus.

OP posts:
HJWT · 25/02/2020 19:23

DH is the same! 🥴

Bombaybunty · 25/02/2020 19:26

I'm not well at the moment, chesty, high temp, streaming nose etc. DH suggested coronovirus, I laughed.

Userpompom · 25/02/2020 19:28

As somone who has experienced health anxiety this can feel very real and make you feel awful. Try to address the anxiety rather than the thing it's about. If that makes sense? It's a CBT technique.

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General health
FlyingFlamingo · 25/02/2020 19:29

Has she got a runny nose? I read somewhere that a blocked/runny nose isn’t a symptom of Coronavirus so if she is sneezing you can tell her it can’t be it!

oldestchild90s · 25/02/2020 19:30

We had a patient who came in the other day and said 'i'm worried i have coronavirus, i have a cough and i feel ill.. oh and i had a Chinese on Monday night' 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

Littlemeadow123 · 25/02/2020 19:50

There are loads of news reports making coronavirus sound very scary right now, plus kids are probably making daft stuff up at school. I was 15/16 when swine flu first started and I drank up all the fear mongering tales. Maybe have a calm chat with her over a cup of tea and give her the proper facts (i.e. she is more likely to be hit by a double decker bus) and show her the more down to earth facts and figures.

Howmanysleepsnow · 25/02/2020 19:55

DS14 has a nightmare that he was being chased by people with Coronavirus Hmm In his dream he tried to run and hide but it wasn’t working, so he was trying to ring me. Because obviously, I can fix anything...

Original poster
janemaster · 25/02/2020 20:10

I understand why the news reports and probably the talk at school led to this.
She does not have health anxiety by the way. I think she just lets her imagination run away with her.

OP posts:
TrainspottingWelsh · 25/02/2020 20:47

Omg, you are soooo lame. Everyone else's parents would agree they have coronavirus and let them take two weeks off school.

HoneyBee03 · 25/02/2020 20:52

The number of people in the world who have/have had coronavirus is equal to a quarter of the population of my town. Maybe go to her with some facts and figures. Theres a lot of scaremongering in the news today!

ragged · 25/02/2020 20:57

Even in Wuhan, most people don't have it and haven't had it.

Eeeeek2 · 25/02/2020 21:01

My husband is considerably older than 13 and he was convinced that I had it recently. I pointed out that it was very normal for me to have a cold in February and as I hadn't been anywhere near Wuhan then it was unlikely that I had it.

Dontforgetyourbrolly · 25/02/2020 21:03

My mum just told me I might have it because I have achy legs. The power of social media!

Dowser · 25/02/2020 21:51

Op..I can understand her fear it’s all over the news and media in a way we weren’t subjected to stuff like this when growing up.

At 13 you don’t have a lot of control over your environment m you have to go to school , go to lessons, hand in homework , wear this, don’t do that..if there’s so little control over your own world, then the big wide world with all of this going on must seem like a scary place .

I feel like I grew up in the shadow of war, just 7 years after wwll ended and didn’t have social media shoving it down our throats..but at least my little world was calm and peaceful even so I did worry my dad was going to have to fight ..if one broke out again.

AJPTaylor · 25/02/2020 22:20

Lol
At dds school there is a teen induced panic/hysteria due to ski trip to Italy.

DingleberryRose · 25/02/2020 22:24

I’m kind of hoping I do get Coronavirus!

It’ll be my only opportunity for a rest!!

MinesaPinot · 25/02/2020 22:28

I had a cough virus a couple of weeks ago. Everyone asked if it was Coronavirus! I told them that I had no recollection of going anywhere near China and couldn't even remember the last time I had a Chinese takeaway! Seriously though I fully understand everyone's concerns about it but the sensationalist reporting is going to worry people. It's a matter of taking a sensible balanced view and herding all medical advice. I travel to London by train every day and even with everything in the papers, on the news and on social media I am continually amazed and disgusted by how many people sneeze or cough without covering their nose and mouth.

TidaQuel · 25/02/2020 22:30

I’m hopeful the whole country will be quarantined- I’ve a huge list of jobs I’ll be able to get done. I don’t actually want it - I’d probably feel rubbish and not be up to doing much!

Original poster
janemaster · 26/02/2020 17:40

I don't know how any of you managed when your DP was saying he could have coronovirus, talk about man flu.

OP posts:
Witchend · 26/02/2020 17:51

Ds announced on Monday he had it, and was put out that I wouldn't phone the school to say that. He didn't. He admitted he just fancied a fortnight at home.

Today we learn a friend's school has closed due to skiing trip to Italy, (not to a danger area) and some of those students have since developed colds.
He says he's going to tell everyone his friend has coronavirus. I did point out that even if he has, then ds hasn't seen him since before half term.

Original poster
janemaster · 26/02/2020 17:59

He is deliberately planning to wind people up about this. Give it another week and half the teenagers in Britain will be convinced they are going to die.

OP posts:
JudyCoolibar · 26/02/2020 18:17

Point out to her that, if she had managed to come into contact with someone who had given her coronavirus, inevitably that person would also have given it to a number of other people locally and the new cases would be headline news. They aren't, so she hasn't got it.

Snowpatrolling · 26/02/2020 18:20

My 12 year old dd has done the same! Told her she still wouldn’t be getting time off school! 😂

GrannysBat · 26/02/2020 18:22

I’m kind of hoping I do get Coronavirus!

It’ll be my only opportunity for a rest!!

Tell me about it! 2 weeks living it up in Wirral. It would be my first 2 weeks away from my kids in 13 years. Heaven! The coughing and potential risk of pneumonia would be a bit of a bummer, but TWO WEEKS!

Iminaglasscaseofemotion · 26/02/2020 18:25

As somone who has experienced health anxiety this can feel very real and make you feel awful. Try to address the anxiety rather than the thing it's about. If that makes sense? It's a CBT technique.

Think it's more likely the 13 year old is trying for 2 weeks off school.