To be anxious about brain eating amoebas

[Astressedmumoftwo]

We're going away to Italy next month. We're supposed to be visiting a beautiful thermal spa / hot spring. However I'm feeling very anxious about the possibility of brain eating amoebas after seeing news articles about victims. This type of water is the highest risk due to the heat and no chlorine plus natural sediment , although I'm aware the risks are still very low for infection, but children are most commonly effected and the fatality rate is nearly 100 percent. My kids are young so will absolutely get their noses under the water even if I ask them not to. My DH thinks I'm being ridiculous which I can understand as there are only a handful of cases each year, but I feel like I'll be anxious in the days after if we go. From what I've read the general advice is it's unlikely but to keep head above water in natural warm waters.

I don't want my anxiety to hold my children back and I don't want them to develop my anxiety (I haven't said anything to them and they don't know we were planning on visiting the springs) What do you think mumsnet?

We're supposed to be visiting a beautiful thermal spa / hot spring.

Is the whole holiday built around this? Or can it be detached from your itinerary and you go and enjoy the 5643 other wonderful things about Italy?

Your husband is right. You’re being beyond ridiculous

I think you need to seek professional help for your anxiety before it affects your children

No, we have lots of other things planned too.

maybe try and reframe the risk… it’s absolutely tiny, almost non existent but it feels big because it’s so out of the ordinary

Your children are almost certainly exposed to greater a greater risk of death on a daily basis

The journey to the airport to catch the flight to Italy probably carries a much higher chance that something would happen, but you haven’t given it a second thought because it’s part of your day to day.

Every time they cross the road, walk down stairs, walk under a tree branch etc, there is an absolutely tiny chance something could happen, but I presume you don’t stop they doing any of those things.
This trip is the same - enjoyable, memorable and almost certainly absolutely safe

You're right of course. I'm just always so worried about something happening to them. But I don't want it to hold them back.
I'm on lots of anxiety medication too :(

They’re much more likely to be injured in the car/cab on the way to the airport.

That's such a very specific thing to be worrying about that it sounds like it's your anxious brain looking for the next "threat" to worry about and latching onto this, rather than it being reasonable.

I went to cleopatras thermal springs in Turkey last year… I didn’t know this was a thing! It was lovely.

If you're really that worried get them to wear nose plugs as they have to enter through the nose apparently. We've been to hot springs in Spain many times, had a wonderful time and never even heard of this.

The cases are very, very rare and random - one from a warm puddle! and over half of cases are in the US.

I have considered that but don't think my littlest would go along with it without a melt down.

I didn't know about it until I heard someone say their friends husband died of it a few years back, after a holiday to Italy swimming in thermal water :(

I would feel the same as you, and actually it’s advised to stay out of the water where there is a risk. I’ve read the US stories and it sounds horrific.

I would say absolutely not to my DH. Well he can go if he wants, but I wouldn’t want my daughter in there.

A friend of a friend's husband died of it swimming in Italy? I can find zero evidence of this.

154 people have died in 100 years. You're more likely to die of a cold.

Please go back to the GP If you're on anxiety meds as clearly they aren't working very well. This must be really horrible for you.

This isn’t a rational fear and you need help. When a fear is so specific and so disproportionate, and is affecting your decision-making like this, it’s a mental health issue and by definition YABU. You need to address this anxiety with professional help - not just for your own sake because it’s making you miserable, but also so you’re not imposing it on others.

Things that happen after an event are not necessarily because of the event.

I totally understand, my DD is autistic & she thinks this way, about the most random things (eg rabies in the UK) all I can do is give her soothing facts until she can move on from it. Hugs. x

Hundreds of times more chance of dying in a car accident

Telling an anxious person they are being ridiculous is like telling a smoker to quit smoking. We already know; what we need is help to manage the anxiety.

CBT can teach you strategies to manage your anxiety, and are basic skills which can be applied to a range of situations.
www.upplifter.com/2020/11/09/10-cbt-techniques-for-managing-anxiety/

I don't know, I think this is something where you can risk assess using a matrix, like attached.

The likelihood is rare. However the consequences are catastrophic. This means the overall risk is moderate. If the overall risk was extreme, you wouldn't do the activity. With moderate risk you could do it, but use mitigations.

But the mitigation here is not yo put your head under the water, and you're not confident that your children can follow that. So personally I would say they couldn't do it, and I don't really think that is over anxious, but simply rational risk assessment!