[JoeS21]

Excuse me if this is the wrong place to post this kind of question, but I am feeling very concerned about moving in with someone because I am worried that she might have a contagious illness that I don't want. In short, she has a wet cough and seems to go through coughing fits where she runs out of breath and coughs something up, maybe just post nasal, or worst case scenario, I fear possibly TB or something really bad and incurable that could ruin my career, etc. if I caught it.

Would anyone be willing to help me by letting me know either of the following:

1. If there is anyway to distinguish between an incurable chronic contagious respiratory infection and a respiratory problem that is purely from suffering anorexia for too long (if that is an accurate statement)?

2. If you can think of a way that I could ask my new housemate about her illness and find out if there is anything to worry about?

PS - I strongly suspect anorexia is behind this but am not sure.

[Blueberrybook]

You might need to ask those questions in a general health forum; I've sure there's probably one on here. Or something about hypochrondria? I have had anorexia many years and never faced any issue like that. It might be some type of OCD or paranoia?

I don't know your living situation exactly, but if anorexia plays a role, it could be ED-thinking does not want an extra set of eyes around watching you & your ED behaviors (I had some weird ones, like hoarding food under my bed and such), and hence you come up with all these very unlikely scenarios as to why you should not accept this new roommate? But it's all just a guess.

Truly, though, I doubt the person has a horrid, incurable disease. Furthermore, if you're worried about TB, there is the vaccine against it. Though they do a skin test first first that needs to be read 48-72 hr. after given. There can be false positives depending on the circumstances, but if the doctor is worried, there is a vaccine against TB. The vaccine is thought to last 15-20 years, possibly longer. So if it's been awhile since your last TB test, get another test & a doctor's opinion as to if you need a vaccine, and don't worry about it.

[JoeS21]

It's as simple as I will literally get banned from my career (lose my pet, zoonosis) and lose many other opportunities if I test positive for tuberculosis or get an incurable severe respiratory illness, and there are a few new strains out in my area that are tb-like but not exactly tb, but still enough to ruin lungs, voice, etc. and put someone away in the hospital for over 6 months.

The vaccine sounds good at first, but is actually an injection of weakened bacteria which can make a person test positive for TB, and may not be effective against all strains. I will just need to think of a way to ask about it so that I'm likely to get an honest answer and not make anyone mad. Sometimes I have a very difficult/impossible time thinking of a decent/polite way to say things that everyone else can come up with immediately.

I will try asking my doctor and possibly another forum but it takes so darn long to register for forums, sometimes a prohibitively long time. I might just move in and hope for the best. It might be fine; it might be a situation of seeing trouble coming and just letting it come because there seems to be no other option.

[marvin_pa]

If you can encourage it, it would likely be in your potential roommate's own interest to get a medical check, to rule out any possibly serious (not necessarily just TB) issues that might be at play. It could be a simple allergy/irritation/infection, but it can be hard to tell without the proper checks.

[JoeS21]

Originally Posted by marvin_pa

If you can encourage it, it would likely be in your potential roommate's own interest to get a medical check, to rule out any possibly serious (not necessarily just TB) issues that might be at play. It could be a simple allergy/irritation/infection, but it can be hard to tell without the proper checks.

Roommate confirmed that I am correct. Now I have the problem of having no where to go.