You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
DO PEOPLE STARE
- Thread starter ButtonNO1
- Start date
I get that SOMETIMES .. my guess is usually when ppl hear couging in a restaraunt the first thing that comes to their mind is... SOMEONE IS CHOKING ON FOOD!!!
and thats why they turn and look at you... not because you seem to be a sick person or something but just because that food+cough=choking often. hehe
and thats why they turn and look at you... not because you seem to be a sick person or something but just because that food+cough=choking often. hehe
I agree w/ the previous post. When I hear people coughing, I do look. Probably having CF has a bearing on that, but I make sure that they are OK. Not meant as a stare, but out of concern for them.
I think having CF makes me in tune w/ pulmonary distress type situations more than the average Joe. I also am sometimes concerned if someone behind me coughs in line at the supermarket, etc--am I going to get a cold from this person that just coughed on me, etc. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
I think having CF makes me in tune w/ pulmonary distress type situations more than the average Joe. I also am sometimes concerned if someone behind me coughs in line at the supermarket, etc--am I going to get a cold from this person that just coughed on me, etc. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
NoDayButToday
New member
I don't have a problem so much with people staring when I cough (or I've just grown oblivious to it), but people stare at me ALL the time because I am very skinny. This past year was my first in high school and a bunch of upperclassmen would say things in the halls about my weight. Most implied I was anorexic or bulimic or had some other eating disorder. It made school really horrible for awhile, until they got bored or something and stopped on their own (or at least stopped doing it so I could hear). It isn't even just that, which could be blamed on immature teenagers or something like that.
Aside from the people on the street (who I don't really care much about them staring), I've had waiters, salespeople, hairstylists, adults I barely know and even a few nurses say somewhat rude things about my weight. It's considered horribly rude to say to someone, "My GOD you are SO fat! Go on a diet!"; I don't know why people think it's okay to say "My GOD you're SO skinny! Do you eat?!". It's just as rude and believe me, I do NOT want to be as thin as I am. I wish sometimes people would just mind their own business. Sorry, I just needed to vent.
Aside from the people on the street (who I don't really care much about them staring), I've had waiters, salespeople, hairstylists, adults I barely know and even a few nurses say somewhat rude things about my weight. It's considered horribly rude to say to someone, "My GOD you are SO fat! Go on a diet!"; I don't know why people think it's okay to say "My GOD you're SO skinny! Do you eat?!". It's just as rude and believe me, I do NOT want to be as thin as I am. I wish sometimes people would just mind their own business. Sorry, I just needed to vent.
I've never had this problem because I don't have CF too bad but my brother goes on coughing fits all the time. I feel so bad for him, and people always give those typical comments. Even a kid that is my friend now use to call him "Sir Coughs Alot" a play on "Sir Mix Alot" the guy that sang "baby got back". Poor kid.
One of the things that annoys me is if I am talking to someone (who i dont know very well or something), and i feel fine and am barely even coughing, maybe just clearing my throat, and they say, "You have a cold?" "You sound awful". I know that is just a normal thing to say to anyone but still it really irritates me.
I was snowboarding last year, and when I was in the lift line I started to cough. I heard some one say "take another hit" and my friend James (used to be a pro Kickboxer) Just about killed the kid. It was one of the greates things, We are always on the reciving end of those comments. And my friend James wouldnt stand up for any crap. He didnt hit the kid or anything, just started saying "this is my best friend and he has a genentic lung dease Cystic Fiborsis." I stoped him before it got out of hand. I love that guy
AbsintheSorrow
New member
Yes whenever that SARS crap was going around, I actually got into a confrontation with a stranger once at my gym. I was working out and coughing my head off, as per usual, and this guy on a treadmill in front of me turns around to tell me to see a specialist. I told him I see one every few months, thank you. And he said well it makes you wonder, hearing coughing like that. And I said I have a genetic lung disease, and it's not communicable, not to worry about it. He STILL persisted with "it makes you wonder." So finally I said, LISTEN!!! It's NOT contagious, you aren't going to get it, so shut up and leave me alone!!!!! And the guy finally shut up. The girl working out next to me, chuckled a little and called him an inappropriate name, and we had a little laugh about it. But that one really pissed me off. I get little comments a lot, but that guy either thought I was lying, or didn't know was genetic meant. Usually, because I'm a big mouth and have a pretty big attitude sometimes, I just stare back, or throw back a pretty rude comment. My boyfriend Mike has yet to be around for a pretty rude comment, but knowing him, I don't think he'd stand for it either. He has an attitude also, and speaks his mind. So I imagine when he's around for one, he'll do the same sort of thing the last poster's friend James did.
But anyway, it always makes me feel better to be rude back. If concerned people ask nicely, if I need some water (even though it's frustrating), I just say no thank you, I'm fine. But the minute people are rude to me, I'm rude back. Haha.
But anyway, it always makes me feel better to be rude back. If concerned people ask nicely, if I need some water (even though it's frustrating), I just say no thank you, I'm fine. But the minute people are rude to me, I'm rude back. Haha.
AbsintheSorrow
New member
This is mostly to the last anonymous. My friends have made comments like that before, and usually it's to get a rise out of other people. I don't know what's up with Sami's friends... but my boyfriend likes to tell this one story...
We were at my hospital he was sitting reading a book while I did my PFTs and I was coughing my brains out, as always with PFTs. He took a minute to look up from his book and told me to shut up!!! And the woman doing my PFts was horrified, but it was really funny. Like I said, I don't know the case with Sami's friends, but my boyfriend and friends do it to get a fun response out of other people. I find it amusing myself.
It depends on what context they're saying it, why they're saying it, and how Sami reacts. If she thinks it's funny too, or it doesn't bother her, then I think there's no problem with it.
We were at my hospital he was sitting reading a book while I did my PFTs and I was coughing my brains out, as always with PFTs. He took a minute to look up from his book and told me to shut up!!! And the woman doing my PFts was horrified, but it was really funny. Like I said, I don't know the case with Sami's friends, but my boyfriend and friends do it to get a fun response out of other people. I find it amusing myself.
It depends on what context they're saying it, why they're saying it, and how Sami reacts. If she thinks it's funny too, or it doesn't bother her, then I think there's no problem with it.
We have done that at home with Emily over the years. She gets into a bad coughing fit and we watch for a minute to be sure she's okay and has control of it and then tell her to "shut up, we can't hear the movie" or whatever it happens to be. It has just become a standing joke around the house just to relieve the uneasiness that most people feel around the coughing. Our friends know she's not healthy but it makes them uncomfortable so treating her the same as her sister makes them feel better I guess. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif" border="0">)
HollyCatheryn
New member
I used to be on the swim team and since my feet were always bare, everyone noticed my funky toenails. I always keep them painted, but I have to admit, I'd stare too if I saw someone whose toenails were twice the size of my own and shaped like E.T.'s. I also get some interesting looks at my fingernails. I used to wait tables, so my hands were right in people's faces as I served their entrees or drinks, but now I teach violin and viola and my hands are the focus of everything I do. When my fingernails are super short I don't think it is as obvious, but to my students who watch my hands closely, they almost all notice that they look different. Believe it or not, I've actually gotten complements on both my hands and feet. People think my nails are pretty. I take care of them, but they are rounded and bulbous. Maybe I'm just fortunate to have met the right people. There were kids in High School who called me "crack house" or DD (as in drug dealer) because of all the pills I had to take at lunch. They were so low.I also got a few questions about my port from the people on the swim team, since they could see it. I think the most awkward thing for me right now is that I am thin, but my ribcage is getting bigger. So I have to wear shirts a size or two bigger than my pants and it just looks funny to me. Like a bubble on top of toothpick legs. That's what I've always been the most self-conscious about, aside from the cough.
my frineds tell me to cough it up and it makes laugh so much i find it helps LOL . when i worked i always used to get comments from customers about my coughing it would be oh you sound terrible or you should quit smoking although it never bothered me really cos they weren't to know about my illness but the worst thing was my supervisor she hated me was jealous of me cos i am thin and tall the thiness i obviously can't help and she would always tell the customers i had cf and i would go mad and get embrassed and one time she put a sign on me saying i had cf . you would think she would of grown up at her age . from JO
P.S she was 32 my supervisor LOL
P.S she was 32 my supervisor LOL
oh that sir coughs a lot thats hilarious!!! yeah people occaisionally stare, it doesnt bother me i mean, if i saw someone coughng their head off id be staring too. i'd probably also be worried that i was going to catch it because im sure i wouldnt be thinking "they must have cf". my dad often says to me "shut up your brothers trying to sleep" hes kidding and i find it funny, better than everyone tiptoeing around me.
dannii
dannii
I'm amazed at how much people stare! Sometimes if I let out so much as two coughs in a few minutes I get the craziest looks. It doesn't bother me that much because I'm used to it.
When it gets worse is when you have an infection and have the really horrible wet coughs, that's when people start commenting or giving you really dirty looks! I guess I can't blame them, because when someone else coughs like that I tend to make sure I'm as far away from them as possible, but still <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> One of the worst places is lecture theatres at university. So many people turn around and tell me to get a drink, or make various comments about smoking.
Sometimes I get a friend to make a comment about being glad they got their TB shot, that sure shuts them up <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">
-- Emma
When it gets worse is when you have an infection and have the really horrible wet coughs, that's when people start commenting or giving you really dirty looks! I guess I can't blame them, because when someone else coughs like that I tend to make sure I'm as far away from them as possible, but still <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> One of the worst places is lecture theatres at university. So many people turn around and tell me to get a drink, or make various comments about smoking.
Sometimes I get a friend to make a comment about being glad they got their TB shot, that sure shuts them up <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">
-- Emma
I take the subway in the city all the time and whenever I'm feeling sick and coughing a lot I get the worst looks from people. They stare all the time. I can't say it makes me happy to be stared at, but honestly you can't blame people for being wary of sitting next to someone who is hacking alot, they don't know its not catchy. Sometimes I wish I could wear a sign that says "I have CF not TB!!"
Jaime
26f w/ cf
Jaime
26f w/ cf