To worry about the germs that might come with a library book?

[ASnowballsChance]

I think I suffer from health anxiety and now it's spreading to worrying about things that have never crossed my mind until now.....

We are big readers and to keep up with the amount DC read we regularly borrow from the library but now I'm freaking out about all the germs and creepy crawlies (bed bugs mainly) that we might be bringing into our home.

AIBU to never want to borrow a library book again?!

I've touched some very grotty books in my time, including ones with bloodstains and ones that we know were made and read during major epidemics....

I was doing some research into a late 17th century subject once and was reading and handling a handwritten volume compiled during that time which included lists of people from a particular group who had died of plague in 1665-66.

It was June, but that evening I felt so shivery I had to go to bed early with a hot water bottle. I was fine the next day.

That's the worst I've ever had from handling manuscripts centuries old - if indeed it was something I caught from the document.

Children are likely to be exposed to exactly the same germs at school as they would encounter in a library book, so missing out on the pleasure of choosing and reading library books won't achieve anything.

HCC - I do NOT think you have a problem at all - to me that is all common sense stuff and I am the exact same except I am not constantly cleaning my house because once we are in here, we are clean (having taken our shoes off by the front door and not put bags on the table/worktop).

It's sensible to limit how much we touch things like railings, buttons, etc.
www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/

@ASnowballsChance If it makes you feel any better, I do the knuckle thing too at cash points/ticket machines etc. and never open a public toilet door with my bare hands. I used to wipe library book covers with disinfectant .

Yet, I am perfectly fine with having guinea pig poo all over the place and I'm a bit of a sloven when it comes to house cleaning.

It's just other people's dirt I don't like. I wouldn't mind people wearing shoes in the house if I lived in the country (good, 'clean' dirt), but I hate it when people come into the house with shoes that have been on sticky, pissy, greasy city pavements.

I fully admit that I'm a bit weird about this.

Yooz there's a part me of that knows it irrational and I'll stop myself doing some thing. On the other hand I'll do mad stuff like pick up food from the floor and still eat it but the minute I'm outside of my own house, I'm consciously away of the cleanliness not being to my standard (which mine is high).

I went backpacking, we stayed in a hostel that had bedbugs (we obviously found out the hard way) we took all our stuff to the laundrette to wash and bake them on high heat in the dryer. We’d gone through everything when my mate whipped out the book she was reading and started to bang it on the table, I laughed at her and said they aren’t going to be in there... yeah it was full of them!!

Unless you are borrowing books that someone staying in a scabby backpackers in Australia has borrowed recently I think you’ll be ok though.

What germs do you expect to catch?

What do you think the outcome would be? Are you thinking common cold, bubonic plague?

I don't feel anxious. I feel sensible. I got it from my mother who had the same concerns about hygiene, I do not feel it has hampered my life at all. It's not a problem. I don't get nervous when I do touch stuff, but I do like to wash and feel clean.

My sister is practically phobic about library books too.

I don’t think I have issues, but I’d have to be starving to death before I’d buy a cake from a fete! I’m not even worried about germs, it’s just the ick factor. My lovely neighbour is 85 and makes loads of cakes for the fete. They all get snapped up. I however, have seen her kitchen. She suffers from AMD and can’t see very well. Her kitchen is not very clean and her washing up is a bit bit and miss.

*hit

Library books stay in the car/ hall not in bedrooms. I do think I have issues, which I try to keep manageable not too disruptive to everyone.

I haven’t been able to use a library since developing OCD as a teen. Had always been an avid reader until then.

Problem is that now on this thread the germ phobics are all piling on to reassure each other that THEY are the normal ones and that using a cash machine with your knuckle is perfectly sensible.

So the voices of reason that no it's not normal to think so much about germs, refuse to touch handles and consider outside is "dirty" are getting lost in the fog of bleach, anti-bac gel and single use plastic wipes.

Get help, OP.

@SignOnTheWindow I have those sorts of rules with my OCD. It's how it tricks you into thinking it can't be a problem.
To look at my house you'd think I was so not fussed about cleaning.

which I try to keep manageable not too disruptive to everyone.

Except that your irrational and unfounded fear of “germs” stops anyone/your children reading books wherever they please. You’re wilfully stopping their education to assuage an irrational fear.

Library books stay in the car/ hall not in bedrooms.

How do you read them if they're not allowed in living rooms/bedrooms?

@AnnaComnena, yep, I was thinking of plague too! Delightful.

I'm a medievalist so our plague may be slightly different from yours, but I've certainly handled plague-era books and been assured it really couldn't be an issue. IIRC there are a very few things that are potentially dangerous in that way? But probably not on modern library books!

I don't go around with anti bac gel - I think that is OTT and actually bad for us. I DO think it's perfectly reasonable to not want to touch toilet door handles when you see how many people don't bother washing their hands after coming out of the cubicle, and see them touch rails and zebra crossing buttons etc. I was raised like this and have never been ill because of it, and so far so good with my children. We do do 'dirty; things like use the public swimming pool with all the human detritus in there, we go to softplay etc, so it doesn't infringe on our life out and about. So easy to touch crossing buttons with our elbows or cuffs of jackets, I use my little finger for pin machines at banks/tills as I am less likely to touch my face inadvertently with my little finger - these things all feel effortless and normal.
I really don't think it's anything to worry about whatsoever. If you can't go out, then sure, that's an issue. But doesn't sound like the OP is like that.

these things all feel effortless and normal.

Good lord, they sound worlds away from effortless and normal.

I don't do any of the things mentioned
And I have no immune system pretty much, never catch anything though

is this a joke?!

Dirty - yes; germs - no. The length of time germs can survive on a surface like that is very limited.

Do see someone about this anxiety. Feeding it by seeking validation of irrational fears on threads like this feeds and reinforces the anxiety.

don't forget to wash all the coins in your pocket/handbag every day

Laurie, they are second nature to me, really no effort.

You are wise and sensible to recognise your health anxiety might be becoming problematic, OP. TBH this is the point that you need to seek help - it's time for a gp appointment

Agree with this. Good luck.