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Emetophobia (phobia of throwing up)
Just wondering if anyone else here has emetophobia. I have suffered severly with it for 6 years. I have tried many medications and therepies. Anyone else experiancing this? Any recomended meds or therepies?
I self-diagnosed myself with emetophobia about a year ago.
I'm lucky enough to have never really thrown up so much in my life - the only time I ever remember was when I was 7, and caught a stomach bug that was sweeping through the school. I'm told I was a very strong-stomached baby and only ever threw up once or twice. I've always been a real healthy kid, rarely even getting a cold - when everyone around me (friends, family, classmates) get the cold/flu, I never get it. Ever.
But I've had this fear as long as I can remember. My mum is brilliant with throwing up, she just laughs it off and she's fine straight away. My dad gets really nervous and pacy, but not nearly as bad as me.
I know it's all in the mind, and that we really have no control over bodily-urges like that. If we're sick, we have to throw up. How else do we get better? But I still get really nervous, heart starts racing, hyperventilating, shaking like crazy, feel uneasy and faint, and I instinctively plug my ears and hold my breath.
My aunt and grandmother are staying over at my mum's house with me, and they were drinking a lot earlier. A few hours ago, my aunt threw up in the bath just a few feet away from my bedroom (luckily my door was closed, but I still heard it) and I was freaking out for a good hour. I needed the toilet (the phobia gives me an upset stomach) but I was too scared to leave my room in case there was sick on the floor or it smelled like it. My aunt is back in bed, and I'm calm again now, but I'm still uneasy about walking past the bathroom again.
What's worse is that it's MY bathroom. It sounds weird, I know, but I have my bathroom because my house has 3 and the one closest is just outside my room. So it's my bathroom, with a bath and a sink and cupboards and a shower and stuff. But now I'm scared I'll never feel comfortable in that room ever again! Ugh, it's so annoying!
Just a couple weeks ago, before P.E. at school, I drank too much water. I was never actually sick, but we were doing this agility-course thing and I felt so sick I couldn't move. I felt faint and clammy and nervous and stuff. But it wasn't as bad as it was when my aunt threw up. So I'm starting to think I'm more afraid of someone ELSE being sick, than I am of myself. :/ Crazy, right?
It's always at the back of my mind when I go out to eat somewhere, "what if this makes me ill?" or if I go to a friend's house "what if I catch a bug?". My friend threw up in class the other day, and I watched, but she made no noise and I never actually saw or smelt it because she gagged into a napkin and ran to the bathroom to flush it away. I was fine, no problems at all. No shaking, nothing. I just asked if she was okay and she said "yeah".
She's one of those people who have no problems with being sick. Go figure how she stays so calm.
I now associate throwing up with alcohol, mainly because all adults I've ever seen be sick were drunk or had been drinking wine. I have the intention of being a non-drinker when I'm an adult anyway, but this is just reinforcing it. I'm now worried that I'll get drunk when I'm in uni or whatever and throw up and never forgive myself for letting it get so far. I'd hate myself. :(
Anyways, on a finishing note, we're all in this together. It's mind over matter, literally. :) Keep your chin up!
I'm lucky enough to have never really thrown up so much in my life - the only time I ever remember was when I was 7, and caught a stomach bug that was sweeping through the school. I'm told I was a very strong-stomached baby and only ever threw up once or twice. I've always been a real healthy kid, rarely even getting a cold - when everyone around me (friends, family, classmates) get the cold/flu, I never get it. Ever.
But I've had this fear as long as I can remember. My mum is brilliant with throwing up, she just laughs it off and she's fine straight away. My dad gets really nervous and pacy, but not nearly as bad as me.
I know it's all in the mind, and that we really have no control over bodily-urges like that. If we're sick, we have to throw up. How else do we get better? But I still get really nervous, heart starts racing, hyperventilating, shaking like crazy, feel uneasy and faint, and I instinctively plug my ears and hold my breath.
My aunt and grandmother are staying over at my mum's house with me, and they were drinking a lot earlier. A few hours ago, my aunt threw up in the bath just a few feet away from my bedroom (luckily my door was closed, but I still heard it) and I was freaking out for a good hour. I needed the toilet (the phobia gives me an upset stomach) but I was too scared to leave my room in case there was sick on the floor or it smelled like it. My aunt is back in bed, and I'm calm again now, but I'm still uneasy about walking past the bathroom again.
What's worse is that it's MY bathroom. It sounds weird, I know, but I have my bathroom because my house has 3 and the one closest is just outside my room. So it's my bathroom, with a bath and a sink and cupboards and a shower and stuff. But now I'm scared I'll never feel comfortable in that room ever again! Ugh, it's so annoying!
Just a couple weeks ago, before P.E. at school, I drank too much water. I was never actually sick, but we were doing this agility-course thing and I felt so sick I couldn't move. I felt faint and clammy and nervous and stuff. But it wasn't as bad as it was when my aunt threw up. So I'm starting to think I'm more afraid of someone ELSE being sick, than I am of myself. :/ Crazy, right?
It's always at the back of my mind when I go out to eat somewhere, "what if this makes me ill?" or if I go to a friend's house "what if I catch a bug?". My friend threw up in class the other day, and I watched, but she made no noise and I never actually saw or smelt it because she gagged into a napkin and ran to the bathroom to flush it away. I was fine, no problems at all. No shaking, nothing. I just asked if she was okay and she said "yeah".
She's one of those people who have no problems with being sick. Go figure how she stays so calm.
I now associate throwing up with alcohol, mainly because all adults I've ever seen be sick were drunk or had been drinking wine. I have the intention of being a non-drinker when I'm an adult anyway, but this is just reinforcing it. I'm now worried that I'll get drunk when I'm in uni or whatever and throw up and never forgive myself for letting it get so far. I'd hate myself. :(
Anyways, on a finishing note, we're all in this together. It's mind over matter, literally. :) Keep your chin up!
I'm almost 16 and I have this. It started when I was 4 and threw up for the first time... It got so bad I would refuse to eat and lost a lot of weight. It came back in the 6th grade after I felt sick at a camp I went to (I didn't even throw up there) and I've been struggling with it since. I have to always have a grocery bag with me in my purse just in case, but I almost never throw up so it's completely irrational! It's really affecting my life as i've missed a lot of school, i just don't know how to conquer this phobia. Anyone have any tips?
I'm always scared of being sick. It takes over my every day life. I'm only 13! I alway get scared of it at school and I'm scared of being sick at school. I'm regularly get nausea and work myself up thinking I'm going to be sick. I don't want to take meds for it. I've been sick 3 times before in my life that I can remember but I hate it SO much. Its the most horrible thing in the world. Happy I'm not the only person who suffers from this :)
Hi there, your post reads almost identical to my experience. The night time is the worst for me and I even struggle to relax when I'm at my parent's for the night, or they stay with me - in case they get sick. I'm in the UK and saw a psychiatrist yesterday who told me this phobia is one of the easier ones to sort out. I also know that breathing properly - so deep, into your lower belly - really helps to alleviate panic attacks and tension and to reinstate a sense of calm and stillness.
My life is completely taken over by vomiting phobia - particularly during the winter months when infectious tummy bugs appear much more prevalent. I can't even be on social media sites at the moment as people seem to insist on updating their status to let the world know they're sick. This all just makes the danger of getting a tummy bug seem so much closer to me and I freak out. I've also just had a plumber in the house who told me his kids have a bug and of course I had to check with him that they weren't being sick otherwise I'd have to get him out of the house in case he brought the bug into my home and put me at risk. It's all so exhausting, having this occupy my thoughts as much as it does. I'm 40 years old and was last sick aged 9 (with one exception about 5 years ago, which was v brief and down to over indulgence). I didn't freak out 5 years ago, in the way I do now. I think that in part my heightened state of phobia is down to news about tummy bugs travelling so fast that it only serves to warp my perspective on the realities of the danger. I wish everyone on this message board all the very best with conquering their phobia. I am yet to feel 'cured' but I feel confident that I can learn to manage this and reclaim my life.
My life is completely taken over by vomiting phobia - particularly during the winter months when infectious tummy bugs appear much more prevalent. I can't even be on social media sites at the moment as people seem to insist on updating their status to let the world know they're sick. This all just makes the danger of getting a tummy bug seem so much closer to me and I freak out. I've also just had a plumber in the house who told me his kids have a bug and of course I had to check with him that they weren't being sick otherwise I'd have to get him out of the house in case he brought the bug into my home and put me at risk. It's all so exhausting, having this occupy my thoughts as much as it does. I'm 40 years old and was last sick aged 9 (with one exception about 5 years ago, which was v brief and down to over indulgence). I didn't freak out 5 years ago, in the way I do now. I think that in part my heightened state of phobia is down to news about tummy bugs travelling so fast that it only serves to warp my perspective on the realities of the danger. I wish everyone on this message board all the very best with conquering their phobia. I am yet to feel 'cured' but I feel confident that I can learn to manage this and reclaim my life.
I am 13 years old and I have this problem. Whenever someone even chokes, I can't eve eat for days. If someone says their stomach hurts, I start shaking and sweating and covering my ears it's terrible. I go to a breathing class to help me when I get anxiety. I have only remember twice I threw up in my entire life it was when I had a really bad case of pneumonia...if i eat too much in a restaurant then i run to the bathroom and just sit in there till we leave. it's so good to see that other people also have this problem(:
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