Hygiene in Swimming Pools

Well I spoke to the daughter just in case she has OCD and I was ignoring it. I made light of it mind you. She says the anti bacterial wipes only lasted a week after the documentary and then she dropped the habit. Apparently it was too much hassle and you'd wet yourself by the time you stood in q, wiped seat etc. (wonder if she has bladder problem?). Still won't touch handles or taps. She says it was also the ads that show you leaving the bathroom and handling food and surfaces (you know the one where they show the woman transferring what's on her hands onto every surface in her house, and the house ends up looking like something from CSI Miami!!) which affected her. She likes to visit a bathroom before going for her lunch in town and if she handles the taps and doors in public loo, the documentary/adds flash up in her mind and puts her off her food. She has no problem at home or in anyone else's house.

I asked her about the bench in the gym and she thought it was disgusting, a man sitting on the bench naked is bad enough, but a woman has more orifices to splay on the bench!! Jeez, I started on this topic with no problem, now I have a daughter with OCD and possible bladder problems!!!!!!!!
 
God i wouldnt be worried about anything like that(body can deal with any thing of that nature and its impossible to avoid bacteria etc no matter how hard you try) , id be more but still not seriously worried about the likes of these which are in every one of us
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4223984.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3865913.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3768867.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4549245.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4223984.stm
 
liteweight said:
You wouldn't say that if you saw the state of her room!!!!
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I'm not suggesting that your daughter has ocd but people with OCD may obsess about one thing and not worry about others. There was a prog an Channel 4 (of course) about a woman whose hands were crackedd with the amount of handwashing she did to 'protect' herself, but who lived in a complete tip.

Lots of hygiene is commonsense.........but then some people think spitting is ok!
 
Ok so I talked to a eminent pschologist friend who has known the daughter all her life. When he stopped laughing.....he told me I had nothing to worry about. Although it's true that OCD patients can focus on one thing, like handwashing, when it comes to situation like the above then the compulsion would lead her to behave in this manner whenever she used a toilet other than her own. This is not the case. He also thinks bare a$$es on benches are disgusting. To paraphrase.."it shows a reckless disregard for the health of others, particularly the very young and the very old".

However, he is mildly worried about me now that a thread of this nature could make me feel compelled to call him!!!
 
About 10 years ago I was living in an apartment complex in Dublin that had its own health club. I used it a lot.
One day I went for a workout and a swim, followed by a few minutes in the hot tob. There were three other people in the hot-tub, a small kid and two women.

Later that evening I began getting that 'aches and pains' feeling you sometimes have when a good dose of the cold is on the way. I also noticed my right foot was feeling uncomfortable.
As the evening wore on I began to feel worse - developed a stonker of a headache (I never get headaches). I took to my bed early.

During the night I woke in a pool of sweat, feeling like I was dying! Body was aching from head to toe, especially the right foot! I swung out of bed and turned the light on - and was quite surprised to see my right foot was no longer recogniseable as a foot....it looked more like a baloon with toes. The swelling went half way up my shin.

Realising something was seriously amiss I got dressed and (believe it or not) drove myself to hospital.
I was left waiting for 5 hours in quite excruciating pain before they got round to dealing with me. The Doc took one look at it and said he was admitting me. I was put in a ward, on an intravenous antibiotic drip.

I spent a week in Beaumont hospital. The swelling took two days to recede. The Doc told me that if I'd waited much longer before going to the ER I stood the chance of the bug causing meningitis.
We talked about how I picked this up, and both came to the conclusion that a small break in skin between my toes on the right foot had probably allowed the infection in - and it probably came from the Hot Tub.

Now, I still use a gym (not the same place) but I'm scrupulous about hygiene. I use flip flops all the time, I spray my feet with a fungicide when I dry off, I only ever sit on my towel (that includes the sauna) - but MOST OF ALL, I never NEVER will get in a hot tub again as long as I live. They are breeding grounds for infection - a blood warm soup of pee/fecal matter/sweat/dead skin/'bodily secretions' etc....just think about it!
The very idea of them now revolts me! How do people consider them pleasurable? YUCK!!! DOUBLE YUCK!!
 
A friend of mine has a hot tub - I don't use it, particularly after reading about the following case:

"An inquest jury in Dublin heard that Robert Brophy (69) of Knocklyon died in April 2003, six weeks after contracting Legionnaire's Disease. The investigation into his death showed that he picked up the bacteria by dipping his hand in a hot tub while viewing a property in Dalkey with his wife and one of his daughters."
 
Im sure the above incidents did happen, but you could pick up the paper any monday morning and read reports of people being killed in car accidents. does that stop you driving?

As for worrying about whats in the hot tubs? do you use swimming pools? same things are in them.
 

Fully Agree - I use swimming pools 2-3 times a week (always followed by Sauna's and Jacuzzi's). I spend a fair bit of time upside in the Liffey and the Boyne. In general my immune system tends to be a lot stronger than those around me.

Our bodies have to be primed by antigens so as to enable a strong immune system. Too much cleanliness is just as bad as too little. I wonder what the proportion of people being killed/maimed by cars as opposed to those sitting in a Jacuzzi or gym bench is? Isnt this what turned Howard Hughes (and others) into such recluses?
 
Regarding swimming pools - the water is at a relatively low temperature, and well chlorinated. Also, there is a dilution effect in a large pool.

With a Hot Tub - the water is WARM which is ideal for culturing bacteria, the water volume is low, which means potentially higher concentrations of nasties. The chlorine level in hot tubs is never as high as in the pool (as far as I can observe), and the filter system in most hot tubs is working hard when in constant use. Some gyms have introduced mandatory 'rest sessions' for their hot tub - to allow the filter to work under less strain. If your gym doesn't implement such rest cycles just have a look for the evidence of filter failure - loads of scum floating on the water surface and adhering to the tub walls.
Besides all that - the thought of being in the same hot bath of water with someone who's recently had a crap and not wiped their butt properly is disgusting. Sh1t dissolves in hot water you know.

As regards open water - depends really, doesn't it. If its clean fast flowing water, why worry? But if its stagnant brackish water you DO stand a chance of getting Leptospirosis (Weils Disease) - http://www.leptospirosis.org/medical/overview.php which is potentially fatal.

Its one thing to get a nasty disease taking part in risk activities, but most people don't expect to get a disease from using their 'Health' club!

Yes, more people get killed in car crashes than in hot-tub accidents....but dying from a hot tub bug is a particularily stupid way to go, don't you think?
 

Weils Disease is a risk - But once you are aware of the risks and keep an eye out for the symptoms and run to the Doc straight away it is treatable ( as long as you tell the Doc to test for it)

But like anything - You assess the risks and you play the advantages against the disadvantages. Hot Tub - Disadvantages: As outlined Previously, Advantages: Stress Management etc (Stress being a huge indirect killer).

As for stupid ways to go - i have already jumped out of planes and off bridges, swum with sharks and a multitude of other risks. Life's for living! Still think our world is overly obsessed with killing off every bug. In the past I have worked with parasite infested rat s**t. I still washed my hands, went home, prepared and ate dinner. If I had got paranoid I would never have been able to eat food for a long time! (Having said that - I still wont eat rare meat!)
 
Back to the showering before getting into the swimming pool.
i was in having a shower when these two other women came in and started shaving their armpits. Now i'm sorry but there are some things that should be done at home and this is definately one of them. I left the shower area straight away cos the taught of their underarm hair floating round my toes turned my stomach.
 

The last gym I was in made it clear that anyone shaving in the shower or steam room would be kicked out.

On the main topic I was in a swimming pool with the kids at a seaside resort in Waterford last week and there was enough pubic hair on the floor in the changing area to fill a bin bag. There were also plasters on the ground beside the swimming pool and loads of general grime on the bottom of the pool. I won't be back.
 
All this chat reminds me of the time I was changing in the gym and a lady behind me started chatting.I turned around and dhe had her left leg up on the bench and not a stitch of clothing on her..Well you can imagine the view I got..I did not know where to look.
 
I'm glad to hear it's not just me who opens toilet door with a tissue or their foot.

Where I work, NO-ONE washes their hands after going to the bathroom - and believe me from the noises and rustles coming from the cubicles they are often doing big business. They come out of the cubicle, say hi and unashamedly walk straight out the door, leaving me aghast.
They'll then come over to my PC and sprawl their dirty fingers all over my screen/desk/documents.
Myself and the other expats (I live abroad) ALL open the toilet door with a tissue because we are totally disgusted by it!

In my gym, I never see anyone sitting on the benches naked - but if they did I would not be happy putting down my bag/waterbottle etc on top of where they had sat - its not a matter of dying from their germs - but who wants a short 'n' curly hair or some suspect moisture stuck to their belongings!
 

The same germs that are on the door handle are going to be on your key board, documents etc. - how do you protect yourself, surgical gloves?
 

I've no problem at all with naked males in the mens room or naked females in the womens room. However I do have a problem with men bringing their eight , nine and ten year old daughters in to the mens room ! Totally out of order imo and there's no way I'd bring any of my three girls ( youngest seven) in with me - school going age should be the cut off point imo.
 

I agree - six is the cut-off in Total Fitness - my six-year old needs to become independently proficient at changing if the trips with his mother & sister are to continue.
 
TarfHead said:
I agree - six is the cut-off in Total Fitness - my six-year old needs to become independently proficient at changing if the trips with his mother & sister are to continue.
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Women in changing rooms seeing a little girl alone would give her a hand with anything she needed. Do you think the same would hold true for a little boy in a men's dressing room? I'd hope so!
 
liteweight said:
Women in changing rooms seeing a little girl alone would give her a hand with anything she needed. Do you think the same would hold true for a little boy in a men's dressing room? I'd hope so!
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The way the world is going, I wouldn't go near a young boy on his own in a changing room even if he put his pants on backwards and his shoes on his wrong feet..Sad to say but it is just not worth the risk
 
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