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Original poster

Freaked out by news of Ebola outbreak!!

187 replies

missymarmite · 01/04/2014 04:06

I don't know why but this has me really scared. Am contemplating going into hiding with family until it all blows over!

OP posts:
Slh122 · 01/04/2014 04:10

So, so glad someone else has posted this. I have anxiety and am laid awake worrying about it :(

Kveta · 01/04/2014 04:13

Do you live in Guinea or a neighbouring country?

steff13 · 01/04/2014 04:13

Oh my goodness, how wide-spread is it?

Slh122 · 01/04/2014 04:17

No I live in the UK so completely ridiculous for me to be so worried but that's how anxiety works :( it's bloody awful and I'm considering going to see my GP about it.
I think there's about 100-odd cases in Guinea and a couple of neighbouring countries.

Original poster
missymarmite · 01/04/2014 04:22

No thankfully we live in the uk, although exh is west African and because he is an idiot and broken contact with me last year I worry for his health! He may still be in west Africa for all I know (not one if the infected countries yet, but reflectively close geographically).

It scares me because this outbreak has spread so far and what if it spread here? I know that is rare, but usually outbreaks happen in remote areas, this time it has jumped thousands of miles and spread to a city!

OP posts:
steff13 · 01/04/2014 04:23

I see. Well, if you makes you feel any better, I think more people die from the flu every year than ebola. And they probably acutally have the flu in the UK. :)

I get it, though. Sometimes watching the news makes me want to hide in a bunker.

Original poster
missymarmite · 01/04/2014 04:26

Sometimes watching the news makes me want to hide in a bunker.

This!!! I know I'm being a bit u, but when I was at school people used to talk about the Ebola in the most gruesome and terrifying terms (pooing out your own intestines, etc)

OP posts:
Slh122 · 01/04/2014 04:26

missymarmite that's what I'm scared of too, but I think they said on the news, IIRC, that the reason it had spread from a remote village to the capital city was because some people had gone to a funeral of a family member in one of the remote villages and contracted Ebola there. One of the funeral rituals is to wash the dead person before they bury them, and everyone touches the dead person.

YoDiggity · 01/04/2014 04:27

Hang on. There has been an outbreak of Ebola in Guinea and you are freaking out about it in the UK, and thinking about going to your GP? Confused Seriously?

There has been an outbreak of horrible war in Syria as well, so I hope you are building an Anderson shelter in your garden. Hmm

Slh122 · 01/04/2014 04:29

YoDiggity I have anxiety (had counselling for it a couple of years ago) and since the birth of DS 10 weeks ago it's resurfaced. If it wasn't this I'd be worrying about something else. I'm going to see my GP to see if I can get any help with the anxiety issue.

Original poster
missymarmite · 01/04/2014 04:44

I am aware that I'm being slightly neurotic about this, glad I'm not the only one. To be fair, I was woken to the news blaring on the TV in the middle of the night. DP ( bless him) can't sleep without the telly on and it always wakes me in the middle of the sodding night. Normally it's some scene from the waking dead or screams from a horror movie that wakes me up and leaves me terrified and unable to sleep at 3 am! Tonight it was the news!

OP posts:
Original poster
missymarmite · 01/04/2014 04:47

Recently I was woken to a documentary about vlad the impaler, with graphic explanations of the technique involved in the practice of impaling. Including the interesting fact that even babies were impaled. Lovely.

OP posts:
steff13 · 01/04/2014 04:54

My second son was born on 9/11/01. I'm in the US, and live quite near a large military base. I was paranoid for ages after that. Every sound I heard, I was sure it was terrorists. The anxiety was horrible.

Slh122 · 01/04/2014 04:57

steff that must have been really hard, I would have struggled with that as well. When you have children, you don't just worry for yourself anymore do you, all you worry about is how something is going to affect them

steff13 · 01/04/2014 05:02

I'm a very anxious sort of a person. My husband is not. He could go outside and see a meteor hurtling towards our house, and he would still insist everything is fine. :) To his credit, he's usually right.

He balances out my crazy. :)

bedraggledmumoftwo · 01/04/2014 06:06

Wow, the tv thing sounds horrible, you need to stop that. Earplugs? Headphones for your dh, or just sleeping pills for a short period to get him over it?

KepekCrumbs · 01/04/2014 06:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Lweji · 01/04/2014 06:12

Unless you are in the habit of touching dead bodies during the funeral you should be safe.
Or sharing needles.

I'd be more worried about the recent news about cats spreading TB to their owners in the UK.
Helpful. Grin

Nojustalurker · 01/04/2014 06:26

Slh if you have just had a new baby and starting to have renewed problems with anxiety then it might be a good idea to go and speak to the doctor about this.

ImRonBurgandy · 01/04/2014 07:18

Ebola is generally a very unsuccessful virus as it kills its victims far too fast. You have nothing to worry about.

uselessidiot · 01/04/2014 07:45

FFS Yodiggity the OP is considering going to her GP regarding her anxiety not the Ebola. Have a little compassion.

OP what burgandy says.

YoDiggity · 01/04/2014 07:54

Oh I see - I do apologise. That's what happens when you MN in the middle of the night - you don't see straight. Blush

WestieMamma · 01/04/2014 08:21

YANBU

I was a bit anxious the other day when on the news they were disccussing the excavation of a new found plague pit in London. Apparently there's a possibility of the virus surviving on the bodies and they want to study it. I'm like, yeah good idea let's dig up the black death Hmm .

mrsmellow · 01/04/2014 08:26

Black Death is caused by a bacteria and is quite sensitive to most antibiotics. So panic not about that. Grin

ThatBloodyWoman · 01/04/2014 08:30

Ebola has been wround a while.

If it was going to be successful as a worldwide killer it would have happened by now I reckon.