Aaargh, it's noro season. Anxious emetophobes this way!!!

[Dottoressa]

Hello ladies,

As we seem to have reached our limit on the other thread, I thought I had better start a new one!!

We have the 'positive' one started by our lovely BB - so I suggest we keep this as the 'anxious' one (i.e. the one where we can all say "OMG, it said on the news that someone v-d 200 miles away from me - am I going to catch it?!") We can share our worries, however silly they sound, without undoing the good work on the other thread. What do you all think?

I shall start off by saying that every time DD speaks, I think she's going to say she feels sick!!!

Now that really is neurotic...

xxx

[Dottoressa]

Hello, folks - giving this a bump!

[Dottoressa]

to you too! x

[mumtoo3]

only just found this thread it happened to me saturday night, i was scared but dh was there, now just praying noone else gets it

how is everyone else doing???

[Dottoressa]

Mumtoo3 - I've just read your posts on the other thread. You are very, very brave. The very thought turns me into a hyperventilating wreck!

I've just posted on the other thread, and am copying and pasting it here as I am trying to keep my worries off the more positive one!

Here goes:

"DS scared the life out of me at tea today by choking on a bit of apple, then saying "I think I'm going to be sick."

Me: "No you're not."

DS: "How do you know?"

Me (crossing fingers and touching wood): "Because it's just a bit of apple"

And so on.

I finally got him to do deep breathing and counting, in the hope that it would make him feel better (well, it was really an excuse for me to do some anti-panic-attack breathing, disguised as helping him).

It was a very bad moment. He seemed okay afterwards, and was picking on DD again ten minutes later - but I am of course still anxious, and will be listening out all night for noises. To add insult to injury, DD didn't eat her tea either - and the last time she didn't eat was when she had rotavirus two years ago. I think I might copy and paste this onto the scary thread, too - I am very conscious of not wanting to undo BB's good work!

If I were being rational and talking to a fellow phobe, I'd say that it was all because of the apple-choking incident. But as I'm here and scared, I am not rational!"

This phobia thing isn't much fun, is it?

[Dottoressa]

I'm trying again to see if we can turn this into the much-needed 'panic' thread in order to leave the other one available for those who are recovering or trying to recover from this dreadful phobia.

Any takers??

[Dottoressa]

Tablets are finished. Yippeeee!!!!!!!

[imaginaryfriend]

Hi dot, I need a thread like this too as I am very far from cured. I don't want to indulge my fears because there's really no satisfaction in that, but I so appreciate having people to talk to about it. I spend my daily life pretending it's not there to everyone around me so to be able to 'speak' aloud helps in itsef.

[Dottoressa]

BB - please don't worry about that! I've posted a message on the other thread, partly addressed to you, so I shan't repeat myself here - but the sentiments are strongly felt. I am more grateful to you than you probably realise!

IF - you said it for me!! The main thing for me at the moment is to have a forum where I can sound as anxious and daft as I like - something that I can't really do in RL (DH will tolerate it up to a point, but then understandably gets a bit fed up with it!!) I find it a great help just to know that there are others out there who are feeling equally anxious at the moment.

Hugs to all xxx

[imaginaryfriend]

Same here dot. Dp is actually so thoroughly fed up of me and my anxieties that I can't talk to him about anything like this any more. So it really helps to have an outlet.

[Dottoressa]

Headlines in our local paper today: hospital wards are closed due to noro. Oh fab!

(This is the kind of anxiety that DH gets a bit fed up with, BTW. He reckons there's no reason to even think about noro until we actually get it...)

[genie25]

hello everyone, please bare with me im new to this! im so glad i have found other people like myself who suffer with this horrible phobia im 25 and have been emetophobic since i was 8 i have a boy of 7 and a girl of 7 months and already im scared of her going to nursery because of all the stomache bugs. my anxiety is through the roof at the mo as its noro season i cant think of anything else i hate this just wish i could be normal

[Dottoressa]

Hello genie,
You have come to the right place!!
We are all in a state of anxiety at the moment, and are very good at nursing one another through the panic (and at listening to one another's worries). I wish I could be normal, too - but pending that, this is a great outlet!

[genie25]

just heard there have been more noro outbreaks in local hospitals, great thats just what i need to hear right now. needless to say im staying in today! got to go shopping tomorrow supermarkets are my worst nightmare.

[imaginaryfriend]

Dd woke in the night last night saying she'd had a dream about 'thread worms' (they had a talk about them and re-enforcing the importance of good hygiene) in assembly last week. She said her tummy had been hurting in her sleep. A wave of terror went through me, I reassured her about thread worms and stayed with her til she went to sleep again. She seemed ok this morning and said her tummy was fine. She ate some breakfast and has gone into school but I'm slightly on tenter hooks waiting for the phone to ring. It will be so bloody annoying if we get through this term and she comes down with something at the last day!!

[imaginaryfriend]

HI genie, by the way, I think my phobia started when I was about 7. I'd love to know where it came from.

[pinkkoala]

hi everyone

just thought i would join you all

i hate this time of year, due to noro.

i am petrified my husband will bring it in from work before xmas. my dd and i have been going out every day, but for walks with her dolls in quiet places, just in case.

my sis is a nurse in one of the hospitals affected by noro at the mo. i am dreading seeing her at xmas.

i thought you caught it by being in contact with the d and v or contaminated food, or direct contact with another person that has it.

with regards to genie25 i never go to supermarkets, i shop online as i find it saves me time and being at risk of germs.
i was neva like this until i had my dd and she caught it when she was 15mnths, then me and my husband caught it, now i am terrifeid.

[DisasterArea]

hello. i'm not an emetophobe - in fact i'm a nurse and don't turn a hair at the thought but my DD is hugely phobic at the thought of being/feelng v. DD1 today has got a bug and i'm terrified that DD2 will get the same thing and she will explode into a million pieces. she nearly did this morning as DD1 was in the bathroom.any ideas how to help her?

[pinkkoala]

hi disaster area

as a nurse can you shed any light on the subject of noro and how it is spread.

my dd is getting the same, she is worried about beig ill, think i may of passed my fear on to her.

[IllegallyBrunette]

Can I join ? I feel I should as I am driving myself slowly nuts.

I had (or think i had) norovirus last xmas and since then I get hugely anxious about getting it or any other bug again.

I snapped at dd1 last week because she said her friend felt sick so she sat with her until she felt better , and everytime one of my kids looks even slightly peaky I say 'but you don't feel sick do you'.

Even my mum has noticed that I am a bit obsessed with it.

I can actually deal with the sick once it happens, it is just the thought of it happening that terrifies me.

[pinkkoala]

as you can see from my previous message my sis is a nurse at one of the hospitals affected by noro, she had it herself last year.

i am dreading seeing her over xmas as i know she is working christmas eve night but then not again til the monday after xmas, we are due to see her on the saturday.

every time we see her we get ill, in august i had pharungitus, which i caught from her.

my husband, my dd and me are just getting over this nasty coldy/throaty and cough bug, i don't want to come down with anything else. i keep thinking of ways to avoid seeing her, but then is that being selfish on my part.

[genie25]

hi everyone, all i do is read about the norovirus at the mo its strange becauce its my worst fear, yet i want to know about it. as far as im aware you can only get it if you are in direct contact with an infected person, i.e looking after someone who is ill and even then you have to indgest it so as long as everyone is careful and hygeinic you might just get away with it. this might make everyone feel a little better, i also read that vomiting isnt actually the virus its your bodys way of getting rid of it so therefore anti-emetics might just do the trick! im not sure how true this is but hey i will try anything right about now!

[Dottoressa]

Hello all,
Disaster area - if only I knew how to help someone with this phobia! All I can say is that, even if you really don't understand your DD's anxiety, you have to take it seriously. If she can't be in the same room as someone who v-s, don't try to tell her she'll be fine and it's nothing to worry about (well, do tell her that - but don't make her go beyond what she's comfortable with).

If she does get a bug, she will cope (we've all had them, and have all coped - you have no choice but to cope when it comes to it!!) She will just need lots and lots of reassurance - and if you are lovely enough mummy to post on here for her, I am quite sure she will get all this and more from you!

On the usual old topic, we went to play at a friend's house today, so I am all anxious yet again...

(Hello Illegally - nice to meet you!)