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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how often you get sickness bugs

141 replies

Takemebackto · 16/04/2020 22:51

We’ve had a stomach bug twice within the last year. I’ve just googled this and apparently the average person only gets one five times in a lifetime. Aibu to have thought it was common to catch it more often than that as it’s so contagious?

OP posts:
LakieLady · 16/04/2020 22:55

I'm below average then. I've had 2 (norovirus and campylobacter) in 64 years!

I used to get very sick when I had migraines though, and would vomit several times an hour for 24 hours or more. I ended up in hospital being rehydrated twice.

CryHavoc · 16/04/2020 22:57

Twice, and I'm 38. My 12 year old has never had a stomach bug.

NuffSaidSam · 16/04/2020 22:57

I think about once every four or five years maybe.

Although I think it was much more frequent when o was a child, so overall I've definitely had more than 5 and hopefully still got a few years in me!

QOFE · 16/04/2020 22:57

Me: 3 as an adult (I'm 38) and 1 maybe 2 as a child

DD (17) - 3

DS (9) - 3

We seem to get them a lot less than everyone else we know though! 5 times in a whole lifetime seems very low to me. I know people whose kids have a stomach bug 3 or 4 times every year..

GaaaaarlicBread · 16/04/2020 22:58

Touch wood I have had maybe 3 sickness bugs in my whole life (but I am only 25 so that’s probably above average) but I have a weak immune system so I get other types of sickness like flu etc more often. I have a cousin who’s 3 and he has sickness bugs all the time it’s horrible ! He has one at least once or twice a year . I am sick more but not actual sickness bugs it’s usually if I have a seizure etc

ScarfLadysBag · 16/04/2020 22:59

I was just talking to DH about this. I had maybe two as a kid? None since. He is the same. We have DD now though so I'm sure she'll bring something home for us sooner or later!

Toothsil · 16/04/2020 22:59

DD, touch wood, has never had one. I've had one in the last 10 years, as has DH. I have friends who get it every single winter and another friend whose DD had it 3 times last winter.

Toothsil · 16/04/2020 22:59

Oh and DD is 10

amusedbush · 16/04/2020 23:00

I don't get them often but when I do, it's a doozy.

I've had norovirus twice, once in 2011 and once in 2018. The latter saw me lose a stone in a week and I had to get anti sickness tablets from the GP just so I could finally eat. When I went back to work my clothes were hanging off me and a colleague told me I looked great. Thanks, Karen, it's because my organs collapsed out of my arse HmmGrin

Aus84 · 16/04/2020 23:01

I haven't been sick with anything (other than morning sickness Grin) since 2010 when I stopped working in an air-conditioned office.

midnightstar66 · 16/04/2020 23:01

I've never had a sick bug in that I've never been sick more than once in any time period (apart from alcohol related 😬) and I'm 40. DC are 7 and 10 and neither have either

Bagelsandbrie · 16/04/2020 23:02

I had them quite a lot when I was younger. Maybe 3/4 times a year. Looking back I think my mum didn’t have very good hygiene standards... we had lots of pets and she had mental health issues and I don’t think things were always as clean as they should have been!

As an adult I’ve had maybe 2 in the last 20 years. One of those was from forgetting to wash lettuce I used in a wrap...!

Namechangervaver · 16/04/2020 23:02

Never

Bagelsandbrie · 16/04/2020 23:03

Although I guess that’s food poisoning and not a bug...?! Dunno!

isabellerossignol · 16/04/2020 23:03

My husband and I both had a really bad bug when our eldest was only a few weeks old, so about 14 years ago. It's the only time that one of us has caught a bug and passed it to the other.

I think that's the only stomach bug he has ever had. I had another one about ten years ago, but no one else caught it. And last year I had a very minor one, and again no one caught it. I had one when I was at school about 30 years ago. So, I'd say maybe 4 in total, and I'm in my mid 40s.

I don't think my daughter has ever had one. My son has had one, but just once.

midnightstar66 · 16/04/2020 23:04

To add my hygiene standards are probably terrible too and also been brought up around animals. I thought that was maybe the plus point 😆

DownyBuds · 16/04/2020 23:05

I’ve only ever been sick once (literally once) that wasn’t alcohol related - when I was about 10. And I’m in my 50s

QOFE · 16/04/2020 23:05

BagelsAndBrie it almost certainly wasn't down to you forgetting to wash the lettuce, unless you were going to wash it in boiling water or anti bac? Rinsing lettuce with cold water would remove visible dirt, but not do much to any bacteria or virus that could make you sick!

delilabell · 16/04/2020 23:06

I can think of atleast 5 in the past 10 years and in 37.
I do think that some families get them more.
My ds' school had to be closed for the day to be deep cleaned due to a sickness bug sweeping through it. He didn't get it!

Northernsoullover · 16/04/2020 23:06

I had one 12 years ago and before that it was as a child. Touch wood.

blankethog · 16/04/2020 23:06

I've never had one, I'm 24.

MirandaWest · 16/04/2020 23:09

I can’t remember having any. May have done when I was under 5.

Children have had maybe 2 or 3 each. They’re 16 and 14

ittakes2 · 16/04/2020 23:10

Once every 10 years or so I think? I do think it has to do with your immune system. My twins once had a bad sickness bug for about 12 days when they were 6 months. Despite nursing them I was only sick for half a day and hubby not at all. I recommend you buy the homeopathic remedy Arsen alba - available Boots or Amazon etc. Was recommended to me when my son was 2 and two young for some meds. We take it if we feel ill and I don’t think I have been sick with a sickness bug since we had it available to us.

Bluebooby · 16/04/2020 23:11

I don't know about when I was really young. I remember being sick but I don't know how often I had an actual sickness bug. From approx age 10 to now (32) I've had two. Both in both my mid to late twenties. DD nearly 6 hasn't had one yet.

DragonMamma · 16/04/2020 23:12

I’m 36 and I think I’ve had once. My kids (12 and 9) and my DH have never had one.

We aren’t a family that seems to suffer d&v and thankfully don’t have a designated sick bucket.