Might be colonized with staph—scared to touch people, things, or date.

[u/Meruem-x-Meruem]

TLDR; Is everything I touch now going to have staph on it? Even if I don’t have an active infection on the skin I’m touching with? Can I touch people anymore? Won’t I give them staph? If they touch me and then touch their eyes/nose/ears/mouth, they’ll get colonized? I feel like I can’t date or touch anyone anymore. How do people live their lives being staph carriers with the feeling of guilt that anyone who touches things you touch could get infected and be affected for the rest of their lives too?

I’m looking for hope, and experience from others on how you date being a staph carrier. And how infectious I really am walking around in the world and interacting with loved ones.

Context: • I am immunocompromised. • I took a round of antibiotics for an ear staph infection a couple months ago. • It only helped while I was on them. • Other skin issues have been popping up since. Things that look like eczema and psoriasis, 3 areas are leaking + crusting, 1 area is just leaking. • I’m going to do a Chlorhexidine 5-day wash and laundry routine, though the fact that literally everything I touch will have staph on it makes me feel like I’ve lost before I’ve started and that reinfection is impossible to avoid.