emetophobia (fear of vomiting)

i read in the news recently that this girl had emetophobia really bad and she ate hundreds of mints a day because she believed that would stop her from getting sick. years later, all her teeth rotted away.
there are so many ppl who suffer from your disorder.
sorry thats all i know what to say.

quote:Originally posted by freakyj

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

Keep trying it usually takes 6 months to 3 years of intense therapy to get things normal. It all depends on how long youve had it. In your case it will take time and dedication but its for your better. Good luck

I've tried every therapy & nothing works! emetophobia is hard to treat. I've had it for over 30 years & have had intense therapy which went on for 3 years, I've had other therapies to which dont work for my phobia.

Judith

God I wish I had known about emotophobia when I really was struggling w/ it as a young girl. I felt I was the only one in the whole world. Thankfully, it has all but disappeared as I've gotten older (although when I am actuallu sick I freak out - but I don't carry the fear around with me constantly anymore). Have you tried meds for the OCD? Also I've read that there is actually an anti-vomiting medication (!) Jeez where was THAT way back then?! I think that if I had been able to take that back then I would have been cured! I did try an anti-anxiety med when I was younger, it did help but they took me off and it came back, of course. But if you've never tried meds you might want to think about it as they can really help.......

Hello all,
I have had this "thing" for what seems to be my whole life. I belive it came to rest on me around the time I was 7 or 8 years old. I believe the start of it all came when my Dad was real sick and real loud and it frightened me so much because I had no idea what it was. I screamed for my mom but was met with harshness that my Dad was just sick and to stop my crying. I do not remember being afraid before that time and I do not remember any episode before 9 or 10 that I had personally. Of course there was only 1 that was awful and that might have brought my fear of others being sick to fear of being sick myself. Then at 11 I got sick in public and from then on, fear became out right phobia. As a Mom of 5 children this has been a particualr handicap. I thought about EFT and my husband suggested exposure therepy. Of course I flat out told him exposure makes me worse as we witnessed this winter when all 5 of my children got the stomach virus one at a time 3 before me and two after my illness. I am now worse than ever. If I even hear of it going around i am a fanatic about hand washing and do not go in public if I don't have to. I also homeschool my kids and have refused to go to our weekly homeschool group if we have to be indoors during a bug outbreak in the community. I don't have medical insurance so any therepy has to be out of pocket. I do EFT on myself for small thing but have not tried the "bigger" issues as of yet. I also have begun meditation but stopped when all the sickness broke out. I still make sure I know where exits and restrooms are when we go out to eat. I know I vented long enough so I'll stop now. I'm glad to have found this board. Thanks for listening.

Shawn

I have suffered for this for years. If one of my friends is sick, even if they are at their own house and they call me to tell me, i will have a panic attack. The closer the person the worse the attack. I will not vomit around anyone, no matter how sick I feel i will hold it in. I am terrified of vomiting and did not realize this was a disorder. Its not so much that I think its gross as i get actually scared. I am also scared of nose bleeds. People having them or me having one. (I have never had one). Blood does not gross me out, but nose bleeds cause me to panic.

I think it is a control thing, like I will beg my friends to hold it in. I think they are weak when they cant.

I cant believe this is a real phobia, time for more research.

My mom said I barely ever spat up as a baby. Is this something that you could be born with?

I don't know - but I c an understand the panic you go through when you hear that there is something going around. It sets me off on a major contamination thing for weeks.

I've had this fear for years...Well, I'm hitting 20 on June 3rd and I've been like this since the age of 10...I also don't eat alot of things...And I'm also lactose intolerent (SP). So I don't drink or eat milk products. I'm VERY VERY careful with meat...If chicken is even the slightest tint of pink, I will not eat it. About a week ago I had eaten pink hamburgar...I kept asking for reassurence that it was ok to eat...I regretted eating it, and I was looking up E.Coli and all that...And I'm still paranoid. Anyway, on top of the fear, I have a stomach problem coming from my depression...Everytime I eat, I feel gross and my stomach is upset...But I've learned to cope with that. As for contamination, I'm barely ever out of the house, and I kind of fear kids and elders because they are sick more then people my age. But anyway, There are people worse off then me that I feel REALLY bad for since I know the feeling of my own fear...I'm hoping for a natural way to cure and ease these fears...

Wow, I never realized there was a name to this. I suddenly don't feel so crazy. I have suffered this fear of vomiting (and being around people vomiting) since I was a little kid. I have avoided many situations and I always know where the exits are! I too find it difficult to eat sometimes because of this and I spent years checking meat to be sure it was cooked. I have also carried gingerale around with me for ages in belief that it will help me if I start feeling sick. I am slowly working on this problem. I find discarding the gingerale (when I can) and forcing myself not to check the meat on my plate before I eat it has really helped. I also make a point of sitting on the "inside" seat when I go to restaurants.