To be sleeping on the sofa and asking for kind words...

[Ifyourawizardwhydouwearglasses]

Just awoken to the sound of DH being v sick in the en suite.
I am quite badly emetophobic and I'm now terrified.
I feel awful for him - he's hardly ever ill and I've never seen him catch much more than a cold in the past.

I'm ashamed to say I stood at the bathroom door afterwards, threw a pack of antibacterial wipes in and supervised him cleaning everywhere he'd been :(

I'm too scared to sleep next to him so I'm on the sofa. I'm desperate for a wee but daren't use the bathroom (the other isn't working) so I'm considering the garden but it's blowing a gale.

I wish I could just handle stuff like this like normal people :(

I really feel for you - we have a motto in this house 'Better Out Than In' and we try to see being sick as a positive thing... It's getting the 'nasties' out and you always feel better afterwards. I do understand that you have a phobia though so it isn't that simple. Hope everyone is okay!

quiz that's what I'm going to try and do with my children. I really don't want them to pick up on this from me.

Haphazard I am a parent and I can't deal with sick either, dp does it, do you think I am a bad mother as well then, thats how your tone strikes me anyway.

No, of course I don't think you're a bad mother, it just genuinely bemuses me a bit. Maybe mine just throw up more than average! Yes, two parents and all that but vomit is unpredictable and unless you're never away form your partner it seems likely you will have to deal with it at some point surely.

Just because you have to deal with it doesn't make your phobia go away.

Of course not but from the OPs description she can't deal with it.

I suppose I just wondered if she'd react the same if it was one of her children being sick.

As I say, I can't really empathise and I'm not going to try to do so but I did wonder.

I have fear of vomit too but really you will not catch it just by using the toilet as long as you have good hygiene. Use a separate towel to DH and wipe taps soap dispensers down with bleach. These would be the main ways a bug would be transferred. Are you sure it wasn't alcohol related lol?!

I think if you don't have phobias it must be really hard to understand the overwhelming and completely paralysing panic you feel. Your body reacts as though a real catastrophe has happened and as with any extreme situation some people can act rationally and some can't.

I used to be very emetophobic to the point of just having to run away. I also wouldn't touch door handles and stuff during sick bug season. Strangely I've always been able to manage dd, mothering instinct thankfully won over panic and I had carefully planned scenarios of what to do if x happened. I have found I'm less irrational about it nowadays as I've found that I have coped with various encounters. It can still send me into a tailspin if it's a middle of the night job though.

Aw that's weirdly touching kitten (about your love for dd winning I mean!)

Same here kitten if DH or any other adult is sick they're on their own. I can just about cope with a child if I have to (ie in sole charge) but while inwardly I'm in a state of panic if DD is sick, outwardly I can cuddle her and hold her hair back etc while she's being sick.

Unfortunately DD seems to have inherited my phobia. the first time she had a stomach bug she was only about 18 months old, and fought throwing up so hard it eventually came out of her nose. I was very careful to be positive about puking, telling her she was a good girl for getting it out etc but the poor thing is just petrified of it.

Having a bit of a crisis.

DH got up this morning, said he felt absolutely fine, had a big breakfast and insisted on coming shopping with us. Aside from a headache which he's had for a while, he says he's felt absolutely fine. V pleased for him :) he says he just ate too much crap last night.

BUT now I'm feeling ill too. Having a real real crisis. Completely panicking. DH doesn't know how to help me, although he does try.

Is there anyone else out there who suffers from this? How do you deal with something like this?

Bathroom was bleached earlier and all clothing and bedding he touched on hot wash but after it seemed like he wasn't ill I relaxed my rules a bit.

If he was fine afterwards can it still have been norovirus?

I'm aware I sound quite mad but I can't help it. I can hide this 95% of the time but when this happens, especially at night I just can't cope :(

Can you take night nurse or something to make you sleep?

I suspect you're like me and you relaxed a bit once he seemed ok but then that little voice if anxiety crept in saying 'but what if...?' And so you started feeling ill.

Ignore the anxiety! Hard as it is .

Also think how well you've done - you've been around dh today, you've got through the night and the day. You're ok.

If he ate and drank and kept it down then It likely wasn't a bug. Your nerves and panic will be making you feel sick. Same has happened to me so so many times and it's been panic not the virus. I am extremely emet and at the moment it's keeping me awake at night. No advice

My mum hasn't been sick since 1976- I know this as she used to shout it with her fingers in her ears at us! She also used to turn the stereo up loud.
She hasn't been sick in all that time!! Lol

If he ate and drank and kept it down then It likely wasn't a bug.

Do you really think so? Feeling a bit better now. I still foresee a night of keeping myself awake though :(

30623 I would love to just dose myself up on Valium and have a nice sleep but I'm terrified of waking up ill. If I don't go to sleep then I don't get that panicky waking.

Silly, isn't it?

Ps allisgood hope you have a better night. If not I'll probably be here..!

Hi - if he had a headache then it was probably migraine/sinus related - dh gets this - headache is a sign of blocked sinuses, then he throws up as sinuses drain phlebm into his stomach, which triggers him being sick. He sounds awful at the time, makes him mega sick and I panic (same as you) BUT I know now, that is what it is AND it is not contagious - he's fine afterwards too - it clears out his sinuses as well when he's sick and then he's hungry - just a sore head/stomach muscles for a day or so afterwards. I am the one still looking suspiciously at him and trying to spray him with antibac spray, whilst he wants to get on with his day...

So just repeat to yourself, it was just a migraine - I can't catch that, I'm going to be fine and ignore it.... I am well practised at this now.....it was just a migraine.....

I am very badly emetophobic - it's awful. If that were me I would be shaking, crying, totally panicked - my brain would scramble. I can't look after my own children when they vomit. I do hope he's better now

Hope you're feeling better OP - I can totally sympathise because I've been there too. Oddly, the thing that made a difference for me was getting food poisoning: I was so unwell that I didn't have the energy to panic. I still have a very strong aversion to illness, but the panic is much reduced. Also, I bought a swimming noseclip, which I've used on the three occasions in 15 years that I've had to clean up after my kids. But I still can't do anything to help my partner when he's unwell...

I hope you've managed sleep. I don't mind sick but I have a phobia which people belittle all the time and say "well if you just did it you'd be fine" etc

I can't even say the word because it knocks me ill to see it written down.

Don't feel bad, a phobia is not just 'not liking' something.