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Original poster

Help - emetophobic and child threw up near me :-(

20 replies

twosoups1972 · 14/10/2019 12:58

Went to have a wax today, lady had childcare issues (she works from home) and asked me if I minded her dc around. Wasn't a problem for me, they were watching tv in the other room.

But her small ds came in crying and threw up on the floor next to the bed. She gave me a towel and told me to wait outside while she cleaned up. I said I would come back another time.

I've come home and changed my clothes but now worrying I could catch the bug (if it even is a bug).

Any advice please?

OP posts:

dementedpixie · 14/10/2019 13:00

I think you're being a bit dramatic. Not much you can do tbh

Original poster

twosoups1972 · 14/10/2019 13:04

@demented unless you have this phobia I'm afraid you wouldn't understand. Thanks for posting though.

OP posts:

Pinkbonbon · 14/10/2019 13:07

Kids puke for no reason at all. Hyper-puke. Tired and grumpy-puke. Ate a whole pot noodle n tried to take a nap-puke. If he does have a bug, chances are your grown up immune system would fight it off anyway. Plus he didn't even touch you.

Just eat healthy n try sleep well for a few days, you'll be fine.

INeedNewShoes · 14/10/2019 13:07

Demented - the title of the thread clearly states that emetephobia is at play. If you either don't understand that or can't be supportive, why post?

OP - there are so many reasons a young child can vomit and the vast majority of the time it isn't down to a sickness bug and won't be contagious. If my DD has a high temperature she vomits, eats egg she vomits etc. and I don't then catch the vomiting germs.

Even if it is a sickness bug it could be one that you already have some immunity to.

Lastly, if the 'worst' happens and you do vomit, you WILL cope because you have before.

From one emetophobe to another

UncomfortableSilence · 14/10/2019 13:09

I have this phobia so do understand.

Hand wash and change clothes are all you can do, I swear puke follows us emetophobes around

The kid could have been sick for very many reasons other than a bug so you have to keep that in mind too but I do understand how worried you will be.

TottieandMarchpane · 14/10/2019 13:10

Have a dettol bath if it makes you feel better.

ItsOurTime · 14/10/2019 13:12

You'll be fine. My daughter had a vomiting bug last week, I was covered in it once and cleaned it up many more times and I didn't catch it. I really think you'll be ok.

EmmiJay · 14/10/2019 13:13

Gahhh! I can't do puke so I feel you. A good scrubbing (you), wash hands with antibac soap, keep your hands away from your face for now and you should be fine. (I do this every time DD is sick and never caught a thing off her lol)

Original poster

twosoups1972 · 14/10/2019 13:13

Thank you @shoes haven't actually v'ed for nearly 40 years! Not sure I would cope if it happened.

OP posts:

Daisypod · 14/10/2019 13:14

Just a quick ' it will be ok' from a former sufferer. I think having four kids has pretty much cured me but I still get very anxious when I know I have been around people who have been sick.
I found making sure I had prepped for the worst would help. Plenty of cleaning supplies, food that is easy on the stomach, kids disposable bed pads are great to line beds with.
Lastly every time I or my family ever was sick I would always get to the end of it and realise again it hadn't been as bad as I had thought it would be. I know you will spend the next 48 hrs worrying and nothing we can say will stop that but people do understand x

F1rstT1meMummy · 14/10/2019 13:14

Fellow sufferer here. Sending you reassurance vibes.
I went to a party a few weeks ago and the hosts child threw up. Just minutes after I'd plucked up the courage to eat some party food! I was a ball of nerves for the rest of the weekend.

I was fine. So was the other children that went- it was just a one off.

Children are often sick as a one off.

Original poster

twosoups1972 · 14/10/2019 13:16

Thank you all so much for understanding. It's a horrible phobia, the anxiety is just awful. I've tried all sorts of treatment over the years but nothing has worked unfortunately.

OP posts:

UncomfortableSilence · 14/10/2019 13:20

It truly is an awful phobia and the standard 'oh no one likes being sick' drives me mad. It's a phobia, completely different, I've sought every type of treatment and nothing has worked, I manage day to day and it has got a bit easier as my DC have got older.

AFistfulofDolores1 · 14/10/2019 13:21

As an erstwhile emetophobe, I learned something personally useful about the d&v virus: vomiting is not integral to a faster recovery; it's not a 'necessary' symptom. It is the body going into overdrive, because in actuality the virus resides in the gut, not the stomach. I found this helpful because a) I could suppress vomiting knowing it wasn't making things worse; and b) it helped me stop panicking, which always made things worse. I have managed to stop myself vomiting every time since. It just takes some work.

Original poster

twosoups1972 · 14/10/2019 13:23

@fistful I think I read something similar online that was comforting. It's not necessary to vomit because when your body contracts a virus, the immunity system takes over and sends millions of killer cells to kill the virus.

OP posts:

AutumnRose1 · 14/10/2019 13:26

It's not necessary to v

Buy some buccastem

Rumours that grape seed capsules might prevent

Short reply as back to work now but totally sympathetic

LaBarbera · 14/10/2019 17:54

Sympathy from a fellow emetophobe. I’m going to tell you what I know to be true, but find hard to apply to myself:

If you vomit so rarely that you have become emetophobic (because repeated, non-cataclysmic experience is the thing that trains the brain not to fear vomiting, and so emetophobes are almost always those who vomit rarely and in extremis) then it is unlikely that it will happen to you even if the child has a bug and you are exposed to it. You are unknowingly exposed to gastrointestinal bugs every day. Maybe you even pick them up sometimes. But the very high threshold that’s enabled you to go 40 years without vomiting means you are likely either to be asymptomatic, or to have other symptoms. In this regard, you have an iron constitution, and that’s why the very idea of being sick is so terrifying, because it takes so much for it to happen.

Do what you need to do. But be aware too that this is just one instant where you KNOW you may have been exposed. You have no idea just how many times you’ve been totally fine without even realising!

Original poster

twosoups1972 · 14/10/2019 18:02

Thank you so much @LeBarbera

I have a couple of times over the years picked up a diarrhoea type bug. I didn't know whether to be upset that I COULD pick up a stomach bug or relieved it wasn't a sickness type....

OP posts:

LaBarbera · 14/10/2019 18:14

Be relieved! It just confirms that this is how your body deals with a gastro bug. You can actually get one of those and you still don’t vomit. :) That’s how determined your brain is not to do it.

bobstersmum · 14/10/2019 18:16

I understand your fear op! I am 38 and couldn't remember being sick as an adult. I have 3 dc so obviously sick is inevitable, I dread it. Last November they caught what I think must have been norovirus from school, one after another went down with it. I dealt with it and was quite proud! Then, my turn. It came out of the blue and it was horrible, BUT I coped. Out of my 2 school age dc, there is currently a sickness bug in one class. I am dreading it again but I'm hoping they might be immune or just skip it. Any illness is not nice with kids but sick is just the worst isn't it, I don't know why I dread it so much but it just puts the fear into me.
From what you've said op I'm sure you'll be OK!

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