To be freaking out about possibly contaminated school shoes... !

[FeatherySquawkington]

I don't do sickness at all..... So with that in mind, a kid was sick at DS's school in Tuesday in the classroom. I'm fairly happy that DS hasn't got the bug as it's been a few days now and he's ok but I've just noticed that he's put on the shoes he was wearing that day and I'm freaking out that they are contaminated. What are the chances he will catch a bug from his shoes?! Is this even a thing?!

Be thankful you weren't in my shoes (no pun intended) when I had to literally walk through someone else's sneeze in a shop earlier today.

Im not a doctor but doubt the virus would stay live on your shoes that long.

or on his shoes or any pair of shoes.

You need to sort out your anxiety.

Agree with others. You need help for your anxiety.

From the title I thought he had been on a class trip to the local Chernobyl

You are being unreasonable and over anxious

Be thankful you weren't in my shoes (no pun intended) when I had to literally walk through someone else's sneeze in a shop earlier today.

I will have to disinfect my iPad now. I’ve just sprayed it with coffee

I'm aware this isn't normal but can't seem to help myself. That's why people are suggesting you start the ball rolling to get help. Go to the GP and get yourself on to the waiting list.

I’m like this. It’s awful anxiety.

I totally get you op. First of all get your anxiety in check, think logically.
Kid sick in class, caretaker comes and cleans sick up immediately using detergents. The chances of your DC’s shoes coming into contact with that tiny area of flooring are minimal. Also chances are the child wasn’t contagious, if they were half the class or more would have come down with sickness. They haven’t or you no doubt would have heard.
Please relax. Please see your GP for help, you do not want to pass anxiety/phobia onto your DC.
The International Emetophobia society has some good advice, avoid the forums though, they will trigger you.

really - that's not (I don't want to put normal, but I cant think of another word) quite right?

Is he going to be licking the shoes?

Imagine all the dog/animal poo he has walked over, sure it might have been picked up by a responsible owner, but there will always be traces

Grow up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OP leave the shoes alone, pick up the phone tomorrow and call the GP. You know this level of anxiety isn’t right and you need to nip it in the bud before it gets completely out of hand. Get an appointment for this week and have a chat with them.

2 outcomes. Either DC gets sick or doesn't. Not worth fretting over. Honestly.

Being bitchy to people with anxiety doesn’t make you funny or clever, it just makes you a bitch.

Most people with anxiety or OCD tendencies already know it’s irrational. Pointing it out to them in a snarky way won’t cure it. If it did, most of us would have been cured long since, as we’ve heard it all before!

Honestly I think your emetophobia is clouding your judgement here and it could be helpful for you to seek some support to deal with your anxiety on this.

Examine your fears here. Thinking it through logically, shoes come into contact with bacteria and toxins from everything and anything that might be on the ground anywhere we walk (soil, litter, dog poo, bodily fluids etc etc). We all wear shoes outside but we remain healthy for most of the time. When we get ill it's usually because of close contact to the source of infection. Unless your ds licks his shoes the risk of contamination is low and the only way of avoiding this is getting him a hover-pack so he can float everywhere. Would hovering seem reasonable? Obviously not. Instead perhaps a good wipe with some anti-bac wipes could be more proportionate to the risk and should hopefully be enough to reduce your anxiety to nearly zero.

How do you manage not to "do sickness" when you have a child? It's literally unavoidable. You do need help with this.

I mean this kindly but YABU. It’s your phobia/anxiety making you feel like this, it’s not a real threat

Wow, what bitchy comments.

OP, I am also an emetophobe and I totally understand. I think if you spray with anti bac it'll be fine.

Everyone else - you should be ashamed of yourselves. I hope you never have a horrible phobia or anxiety. I suggest you read up about phobias.

I have two DC and can count on three fingers the amount of sickness I've had to deal with them in 10yrs (obviously not including baby sick, which I'm fine with). I'm at the in-laws and that is when I noticed the shoes. I found some bleach in their toilet so I've cleaned the shoes with that and I'm happier now. I'm aware this isn't rational thinking but I really can't deal with sickness that might be contagious - if I know it's not and is a one off I'm actually fine and I'm generally ok when dealing with a sick child it's just the period beforehand when I don't know whether they will get sick or not that I can't cope with. I think it's a control thing rather than emetophobic thing.... I think.

Thanks for all the grounding anyway and I don't actually mind the bitchy posts - makes me realise how ridiculous I actually am!

boohoo, they took away the vote button on this thread.

Think you need to disinfect every pair of shoes when it comes in your house, OP, regardless of where you think they were, if that's how badly you want to avoid sickness bugs.

Well said @gingersausage, I truly hope that all the posters that have replied with glib piss taker responses never suffer from crippling anxiety.

Whilst you may all think you are hilarious the OP is seriously struggling, and it's hateful, and she knows deep down that it will be her anxiety but at the time you are paralysed with fear rational thinking goes out the window.

@FeatherySquawkington it should be fine, just breathe, and if it makes you feel better, rubber gloves and a quick wipe over with an anti-bag wipe should help put you at ease. I hope you are ok and battling with a phobia is a hard and hideous thing, I found Hypnotherepy beneficial for me and changed my life so I am no longer ruled by my phobia, it sometimes raises it's ugly head but I can pull my socks up and tell to go away again.

That thread recently about the lack of resilience one sees in people nowadays>this, just this.

I'm emetephobic and usually find the 'waiting' worse than the actual event. Your thought processes around the shoes are the same logic that I would follow. From a detached point of view and using normal logic I think the risk is minimal and actually if your DC was going to catch this sick bug (if that's what it is) he would have caught it from being at school by now. In my area you can self refer for CBT. You could look into that or ask your gp. It is helpful for this type of problem.