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Cross Contamination: How Paranoid Is Too Paranoid?

Ab-Normal

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Ab-Normal Rookie
Ab-Normal
Posted

So, I've briefed my husband on decontaminating the kitchen and avoiding cross contamination there.

However, I eat at my desk at work. I've already taken the cleaning wipes to my keyboard and mouse, and I should probably get the outside of my coffee cup. I'm looking at the work surface and thinking "UNCLEAN!!!". Oh, and the phone. And probably everything else...

Have I gone slightly mad? I know that it won't hurt here, but I'm afraid I'm going to feel the same way at my mom's house. We have dinner with her at least once a week, so we know that she's actually eating something. (Good thing my husband cooks over there as well...)

Halp!

Norma

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Lockheed Apprentice
Lockheed
Posted

I think at some point you have to realize there is only so much you can control. You can control yourself and your surrounding environment pretty well. At work, I don't think you're crazy for wiping things down, but I work at a University and we wipe every touchable surface down with clorox wipes once a month just to keep everyone from becoming sick every other week, so it doesn't have so much to do with the gluten concern as it does just general viruses that circulate at work. At your mom's, you may just have to accept that she will do the best she can, but if she's not gluten free, her home may be a source of gluten for you. And if that's the case, then you either have to accept the potential for gluten in your food and be good on your diet any other time you're not around her and just tolerate the aftermath of eating at her home, or choose not to eat at her home.

Ab-Normal Rookie
Ab-Normal
Posted
  • Author

Thanks. I'm feeling better now that I've clorox-d everything within touching distance of my desk. (Okay, not the whiteboard or the monitors.) :D I'm only a bit of a control freak, really... ;)

Since my husband is VERY supportive, and does the cooking for my mom now, at least I know the food served will be safe. And I've grown used to my mom giving me that disappointed "You aren't eating?" look, as I went on a fairly intensive reduced-calorie diet earlier this decade. (She really hated it when I got out my PDA to track my calories at the dinner table, but she got used to it. :P ) I anticipate I'll have to explain that, no, I cannot cheat on this, not even a little bit, as she keeps offering adult beverages to my husband, who has been alcohol free for almost a decade. :rolleyes:

kbtoyssni Contributor
kbtoyssni
Posted

I certainly cleaned my work desk at first. Once it's cleaned the first time, you're probably ok. If it were me, I'd bring my own food to mom's house to eat. Since you eat there at least once a week, I wouldn't want to take that risk.

home-based-mom Contributor
home-based-mom
Posted

Remember that just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you! ;):lol:

Seriously, I don't think you can get too paranoid here. The gluten molecule is a very sticky little bugger and is probably everywhere. Some of us have wished that it would fluoresce or glow in the dark or something, but if it actually did we would probably totally freak out because it's everywhere. Think money, escalator railing, ATM pad, nearly every surface in a public restroom, etc. :o ACK!

Most people wash their hands before they eat, but few wash their hands after they eat. And they eat sandwiches, pastries, burritos, chips, and all sorts of contaminated things.

Do the best you can and try not to think about it too much.

At work, I have one of those ginormous canisters of Lysol wipes from Costco. Before I eat lunch - every day - I wipe down the table and the chair and the fridge door and the microwave because another employee eats a breakfast burrito every day (flour tortilla) and a member of the Jewish family that owns the business tends to scatter matzoh crumbs around! Ironically, the burrito eater is considering going gluten free - we'll see where that leads!

But it sounds like you are on the right track at work. Educate and then admonish your co-workers about touching your stuff. ;)

Ab-Normal Rookie
Ab-Normal
Posted
  • Author

Ack, I didn't think of the microwave. :o

I'm in a small department, we only share what we want to share. I may have a celiac moment* the first time somebody brings donuts, though...

*that's what I'm calling the "cry like Lucille Ball when I realize that I'll never have (tasty thing) again in it's gluten-containing form". It's a lot shorter. :D

Blondie Apprentice
Blondie
Posted

I think too paranoid is when youre surfing and you see a picture of a sandwich, then you turn of your pc 'cause youre afraid to get CC'd.

:P

Jokes aside though, even though most of us will seem paranoid to "normal" people, we're just trying to protect ourselves eh :P

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Lukalovescats Rookie
Lukalovescats
Posted

I'm sure you can get too paranoid and I'm probably one of those people :rolleyes: That being said my little kindergarteners got me good with the playdoh. I thought for sure I'd be fine with them playing with it in the classroom and not going near it myself. Learned my lesson after 2 days of itching and another of D and migrains. I guess I didn't think about the fact that they all touch me constantly. Next year I'll be making my own playdoh. I also ordered plastic gloves to use during snack and will be stocking up on the clorox wipes for the tables.

Tim-n-VA Contributor
Tim-n-VA
Posted

Since stress affects your health, you are too paranoid when the harm from stress over gluten exceeds the harm from cross contamination.

JNBunnie1 Community Regular
JNBunnie1
Posted
Since stress affects your health, you are too paranoid when the harm from stress over gluten exceeds the harm from cross contamination.

That is a very good mathematical equation. For some people, obsessing is calming. for others, way too stressful. So, I basically decided that it is far better to go hungry than to be in doubt. Makes life a lot easier when you've already committed to that. No arguing with yourself about whether something's safe. When in doubt, go without. If you have hypoglycemia, carry Lara Bars and you'll be all set.

Ab-Normal Rookie
Ab-Normal
Posted
  • Author
Since stress affects your health, you are too paranoid when the harm from stress over gluten exceeds the harm from cross contamination.

I like this equation. Right now I'm getting a feeling of control over my situation by working on the cross contamination thing. Hopefully it doesn't kick over into a full-blown obsession. :D

Leslie-FL Rookie
Leslie-FL
Posted

The other day, I was in the grocery store, and when I touched the cart handle, I noticed it was wet underneath. Probably, someone spilled soda on it and the liqid ran to the bottom part of the handle, but it was freaking me out, and I was pushing the cart by the sides, beside the handle, and being really careful not to touch my face. Of course, I know a spilled liquid is much less likely to contain gluten (since most people don't drink beer in the grocery store - lol) than something I WOULDN'T know was there, like tiny cracker crumbs or flour, if someone put a bag of flour in their cart and it was on their hands, since those flour bags always have flour on the outside. But I was really bugged by it anyway. I understand feeling paranoid, but when we are the ones who have to experience the results of CC, we're allowed to appear a little paranoid, I think. :)

I have always been good about washing my hands before I eat - my mom taught us that as kids - but I am even more diligent about it now than ever before. Coworkers can be so . . . so . . . gluteny! :)

TRB Rookie
TRB
Posted

This whole cross-contamination thing is freaking me out. I've just been diagnosed (literally yesterday) and I haven't even started to think beyond cleaning the toaster oven. Now I have to think about cleaning my work area!!! How dangerous are those little trace amounts of glutton to people with Celiac? I'll probably not be paranoid enough.

I'm very sad about having to give up Guinness. :(

Tanya

JNBunnie1 Community Regular
JNBunnie1
Posted
This whole cross-contamination thing is freaking me out. I've just been diagnosed (literally yesterday) and I haven't even started to think beyond cleaning the toaster oven. Now I have to think about cleaning my work area!!! How dangerous are those little trace amounts of glutton to people with Celiac? I'll probably not be paranoid enough.

I'm very sad about having to give up Guinness. :(

Tanya

If you scrub the bloody hell out of the toaster oven, that's good, but normal toasters aren't saveable. Little trace amounts of gluten are very dangerous, to answer your question.

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