emetophobia (fear of vomiting)

Thanks for making me feel welcome
I'm doing CBT which helps with the OCD, but not with the phobia. I think you've got to keep thinking postively then it will begin to help-I've just got to remember this some times

Hi

I havent posted for a while! I had flu or whatever it was over christmas!!!!

The therapy EFT hasnt worked I'm back to the beginning again. not getting any better.
my lifes ruined.


judith

hey manicmoggy, ur welcome for the welcome!! lol. mb u could post ur story in the appropriate section if u havnt already and let u know how u r getting on!! i think the thinking positive is definately key, please keep telling urself that!!

and hey freaky j!! im sorryy uve had flu!! it's crapness!! *positive vibes* i'm sorry EFT hasnt worked!! but im sure u will find something that will! ur life is not ruined, its only clouded atm imo!! i'm going to try and write u an email!!

pc xXx

hey pink_chick

Thanks so much for ur post! I've e maild u.

oooh it's like ur my guardian angel.

I've kept saying to my dad "I have no one on my level of thinking to talk to"
Then u suddenly have appeared & are exactly on my level of thinking lol i know everyone else on here is too, but, it's as though u appeared in my email box just when i needed you!

chat soon
luv ~ Judith ~ xxx

hey

well i'm not sure if i've got this vomit phobia. But lately, the past few months i've developed this fear of being sick in my lectures, at my workplace and on trains. It got to the point, where for a week or two i avoided lectures which i knew i couldn't run from if i wanted to be sick. I've started to take sick bags(gross i know)mints and water with me - as this is the only way i can concentrate in the lectures. Otherwise i physically feel sick, which i know i shouldn't. Advice??

I also suffer from emetophobia and have for over 12 years now.

Not something that I deal with very well and it has made me struggle through everything in my life, it affects me in so many ways that every aspect of my life is centered by this phobia then my ocd then my depression.

I wrote an article about a month ago now to bring some awareness to this phobia and make sure that if there are people out there who have the symptoms that they arent alone,

Id like to share this article with you and see what you think.

From about the age of 9 I had a phobia of being sick, which took over 90% of my childhood and also now my adult hood.
It is now been diagnosed as Emetophobia.
I am going to write this article to bring awareness of this phobia, as up until the age of about 17 I didn’t actually understand fully what I was dealing with.
Now knowing its diagnosis and also that I am not the only one going through this situation it helped slightly.

There are many phobias that we all deal with and until we actually look into it we don’t know that they are diagnosed phobias.
It has become apparent that emetphobia is the 5th most common phobia that there is, out of all the diagnosed phobias.

There are many symptoms that come with being an emet, some that aren’t properly diagnosed as this phobia; many people think they are constantly ill with something because of the nausea and anxiety.

Here I will list and explain a lot of the common symptoms that come with being an emet :-

Burping: A lot of emets complain of having a lot of excess wind, burping a lot and also feeling like they are extremely bloated.
Nausea: A lot of emets complain of feeling nausea at least once a day everyday from when there phobia arises until they hopefully realise that they have it and get some help.
Acid Reflux: With emets having a lot of gas this can also result them in having acid in there stomach, before eating after it and sometimes at night when anxiety sets in when trying to sleep.
The feeling of being full: They also believe a lot of the time that they are full; this may be them telling themselves that they feel full or that they just are only able to eat certain amounts of food without them feeling sick.

Now these are only a few of the symptoms that are visible to an emet who is diagnosed, and they are also sometimes able to notice another emet who isn’t actually already diagnosed, going by there symptoms and how they are around people.

This isn’t something that only a small amount of people go through also it isn’t confined to one part of the world there are suffers all over the world, from young to older people, some who may have lived with it for the whole of there lives and not realised it but still having to deal with it, not being able to open up to loved ones or friends for the fear of being shunned or thinking that they are mad.

Now some people answer this phobia with “well no one likes to vomit in the first place”, This is very true yes no one does like to be sick, but emets have this consuming fear of being sick and it relatively takes over most of there lives in able to have a normal day they have to stick to what they know, there own rituals and try to keep there anxiety under control.
For example, if an emet is having a bad day then they would probably start there own rituals, which could consist of cleaning the house to make sure that things are clean and comfortable for them to be around, some do have close friends who understand and also some have other emets which they can confide in when they are needed, there are many things they do many days a different but still they have to deal with this every day.

Now, some of the situations that make an emet feel uncomfortable are ones that make our fellow non emets a little uncomfortable and also find it hard to understand.
If there are people around an emet who are ill with a stomach virus then an emet may become very uneasy and wish to leave the situation very quickly, they try everything to prevent them from picking up the stomach virus, if it is in the work place, then they will try an avoid the person as much as possible, if they do happen to come into contact with the person then they will tend to go and wash there hands quickly and have a drink of water to calm down there anxiety over the situation.
In some extremes some emets will not use the bathrooms in the work place so that they don’t pick up anything there, as it isn’t there own bathroom at home so they have the fear of everyone else’s germs being around them.

A few other things that emets do are, or example: when they are out food shopping, they would examine the food carefully before putting it into the shopping trolley making sure it isn’t tainted or out of date.

A good amount of emets avoid travelling as much as possible, for many reasons A: Motion Sickness, B: Catching things from people being relatively close to you in a confined space and C: In the case of being abroad not being near there own medical service home or able to be comfortable of they do fall ill.

Many emets tend to not eat out at all, they will have a few safe restaurants where if they have to go out they will try persuade the people that they are going out to eat with to go to, They just do not like going near restaurants where they haven’t been or have heard bad reviews about, for the fear of becoming ill through food poisoning or something not being washed properly and becoming ill through that.

Many people once they know or have heard about Emetophobia they begin to ask questions on where they “caught” this from.
This isn’t something that you can catch at all!!!
There is a point in an emets life where it starts as in a point where they become extremely sick, usually in there childhood, the fear festers from there on, although it starts then, a lot of emets cant remember a lot of it or even any of it, as your brain tends to block out bad memories that are just to traumatic for us to hold onto the memories.

Now you may wonder what to emets actually do when they get sick, Well nothing out of the ordinary really, it happens they get it out and that’s it like any other person would, “but” the before and after are the worst, feeling nauseated before hand sets most emets into a panic I.E an anxiety attack, then through out that time they are mostly very upset, tired, and sometimes rather dizzy, after they have been sick a lot just feel tired in a state of shock and feeling rather sorry for themselves, as anyone does after they are sick.

There are a lot of emets and non emets, as in there partners also loved ones that wonder if there is a cure for this phobia, now there isn’t a full cure so we are told, but with help and reassurance also some counselling or seeing a psychologist for some period of time to help the anxiety the attacks and helping to sort out the causes of the anxiety as well also helps to dull down the symptoms of being an emet and hopefully one day maybe a cure for us out there.

Now emet has different forms the most common one is being afraid of vomiting yourself, but there are others,
Being afraid of someone vomiting near you and you seeing it
Being afraid of someone seeing you vomit
Being afraid of vomiting in public
Being afraid of spending time with someone who is ill or has a stomach virus

These are only another few forms of emetophobia that people have spoke about with there psychologists and recorded for statistics.


There Is one bit of good that comes out of being an emet and after reading all this I’m sure you are wondering what if any good could come out of having this phobia, but, most emets are usually very healthy clean people who although spend a lot of there lives being this way it helps them to live a be a healthier person than most people.

Now I know some people may ridicule this article thinking that the people who have this including me are either stupid or weak, and I can assure you I and all the other suffers are not weak and are very brave to be going through this, some who deal with this every day of there life on there own.

If someone does read this article and finds that they may think they are an emet also I would like to hear from you, discuss the possibility of maybe you having the phobia and ways that you can help yourself.

I hope that you have found this informative and it has brought some awareness towards having this phobia, knowing that if you think you have it, You Are Not The Only One.

Thankx for taking time to read this to who ever does..

Venus x

Hi venus

I've had emetophobia for over 30 years.

Judith

I'm scared of vomiting, it doesn't affect my diet much at all. i just never knew that it had a name!! Wow lol I'm shocked.

Hi Sparky

Yea it as a name LOL are u still shocked? It hasnt always affected my diet, it's changed with me over the years, but I've always had a major terror of vomiting & seeing others vomit.

anyway nice to see u on here

hope to chat again

Judith xx

I am scared of vomiting in public and being near people who have a stomach bug. If someone is ill that I know or there is a bug going round I avoid dairy producs cos I know they aint good for stomach bugs. I stay well clear of em and I always try sit near door wherever I am incase I want to be sick. I'm not shocked anymore, it just feels good to know that I'm not the only one!! I always thought it was me being stupid.