Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why more people are not emetophobic?

297 replies

EmetophobicElle · 26/03/2022 12:32

I'm severely emetophobic to the extent that it affects all areas of my life. I'm phobic of being being sick, seeing anyone be sick, (this means I avoid lots of situations where someone may be sick - e.g. the cinema, theatre, restaurants, supermarkets, theme parks), seeing vomit (or vomit-like substances), catching Norovirus/stomach bugs (so have lots of cleaning compulsions and extensive avoidance etc). I know I need to get better from this and I'm having CBT at the moment.

However I was watching Last Leg last night where Josh Widdicombe was saying he's just recovered from a really nasty stomach bug and that it was awful etc. and I just wondered why are more people not phobic of vomiting and sickness bugs?

OP posts:
Original poster
EmetophobicElle · 26/03/2022 12:34

Oh just to add I mean properly phobic- to the extent of avoiding situations etc., not just disliking being sick- no-one likes being sick.

OP posts:
AuntieMarys · 26/03/2022 12:34

I don't think anyone likes vomit! But we all deal with it in different ways. My adult dd is very emetophobic but has learned to cope

DockOTheBay · 26/03/2022 12:35

I hate being sick but I don't have a phobia of it. Its unpleasant but it doesn't last long. I don't think phobias are developed so easily. Someone falls off a bike and gets injured they don't develop a bike phobia.

mynameiscalypso · 26/03/2022 12:36

It's the same for any phobia isn't it? It seems perfectly rational to you but not to anyone else. I have a borderline phobia of dogs and I can't understand why anyone would want one or can bear to touch them but I accept in the minority!

Iggly · 26/03/2022 12:37

Because a phobia like that is a very extreme reaction to what is, a normal physiological response to poisons/germs etc entering your body.

Your body wants to get rid of it asap, so it vomits!

There’s a difference between taking precautions and actively avoiding anything which may or may not cause vomiting.

CeleriacOfTheNight · 26/03/2022 12:37

Because it's a minor unpleasantness that everyone will encounter, usually very early in life.

bluejelly · 26/03/2022 12:39

I have no actual evidence for this but anecdotally I think women are more prone to phobias. Have you had any help/counselling for yours? Sounds like your life is being seriously limited by your phobia? (I used to have claustrophobia but was cured after 5 sessions of counselling)

LoganberryJam · 26/03/2022 12:40

I feel like that about injections OP! I really hate them (although I wouldn't call it a phobia) and I don't understand why most people don't seem to mind them!

Waxonwaxoff0 · 26/03/2022 12:40

Same reason why some people are terrified of spiders, heights, etc, and others aren't.

I don't have a phobia of sick, it's a bit gross but doesn't bother me really.

lifeuphigh · 26/03/2022 12:40

Because there isn’t usually much risk from vomiting. The most common phobias (spiders, heights etc) are related to risk of death/serious harm (albeit totally irrational in most cases… eg house spiders).

DenverDoer · 26/03/2022 12:41

I had a friend who chose not to have children because she had this phobia and was terrified of morning sickness.

She only ate 'safe' foods and was underweight. It affected her relationships terribly as her phobia extended to them, and I believe she's still single - it's an awful phobia I really feel for anyone struggling with it.

I'd say that level of fear and avoidance must be very rare. Personally I never give it a thought, I don't like being poorly obviously but it just doesn't occur to me to think about it or give it any headspace at all.

EthelTheAardvark · 26/03/2022 12:43

I hate being sick, I hate clearing up sick to the point that it makes me vomit also - though I can usually carry on and finish the job once I have been sick. I would also always look away if I see someone being sick, including if it's on TV. However, I don't think I'm quite in the phobia category, because I certainly wouldn't avoid public places out of fear of seeing vomit.

BobbinHood · 26/03/2022 12:44

I mean, I don’t like being sick but it’s just an occasional part of life. I do what I can to avoid sickness bugs (careful hand washing etc.) but they’re not so horrendous they’re worth curtailing life for.

Whitefire · 26/03/2022 12:44

It could just as easily be turned on it's head and I could wonder why anyone is emetophobic. It makes as much 'sense' to me that you are than it makes to you that I'm not.

JKDcot · 26/03/2022 12:46

I am also emetophobic and can understand your perspective @EmetophobicElle

I think as it’s our worst fear, all the build up and rituals put in place to avoid it make the issue bigger. So many things “could” trigger you getting sick, so it takes over day to day life.

I think others with a more rational dislike of it only really think about it on the few occasions they feel unwell.

I wish I could fix this phobia but really still struggle

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 26/03/2022 12:46

A phobia is an irrational fear to something. That doesn't apply to most people.

User0610134049 · 26/03/2022 12:48

That seems a really strange question
I hate being sick, it’s unpleasant, but I just get on with it if it happens and likewise if I have to clear up the kids sick.
As a pp said, a phobia is an extreme reaction that some people experience. It’s not wholly rational so it seems strange to ask why more people don’t have it

AHungryCaterpillar · 26/03/2022 12:48

I don’t like vomit but no I don’t have a phobia of it and I’m not sure why most people would?

Smartiepants79 · 26/03/2022 12:50

Well you could wonder the same about many things - spiders, heights, snakes, small dark spaces…. All things we’re evolutionarily programmed to avoid.
No one likes vomit. But most people are able to still carry on as normal. Life would be very difficult if we were all severely phobic to this kind of thing.

Lubeyboobyalt · 26/03/2022 12:53

You can get amazing help for emetophobia in the form of CBT via your GP. Changed my daughters life

Much better than living in fear and needing reassurance all the time - which gets less and less effective as time goes on.

BrioNotBiro · 26/03/2022 12:53

It can feel good to be sick - mildly unpleasant at the time, but you feel so much better after. It's your body expelling bad stuff.

FateHasRedesignedMost · 26/03/2022 12:57

I think everyone hates having nausea and vomiting, but most of the time it’s out of our control isn’t it?

Eg I have HG and you can’t avoid the sickness that accompanies that. Other people vomit due to chemo, or viruses, or an allergic reaction, or motion sickness.

If you have kids you can’t avoid vomit when a baby brings up milk or a child gets a bug. So you just get on with cleaning them up and comforting them.

I don’t really understand the phobia as vomiting isn’t something you can avoid forever (unlike snakes, flying, wide open spaces etc).

Notwithittoday · 26/03/2022 12:58

I break out into a cold sweat and become light headed if I think vomit might be on the horizon for me or anyone else. It’s awful. When the kids are sick it’s so difficult. I didn’t know there was a name for it until the last few years. I’m absolutely fine with other bodily fluids

PlinkPlankPlunk · 26/03/2022 12:59

I can understand avoiding theme parks but what is it about cinemas and supermarkets? I’m over 50 and I’ve never seen anyone be sick in either (nor in a theatre although I don’t go there as much)

Bumpsadaisie · 26/03/2022 13:01

Hmm ... well I don't think this will resonate with you but I ... I won't say enjoy, but certainly welcome, being sick!

I love the feeling you get afterwards, of feeling much better from whatever it was that was making you feel so ill before.

My mother used to always rub my back, then the loo would be cleaned up and I would wash my face and brush my teeth and feel a whole lot better.

So I don't really have any anxious feelings about it tbh.

I suppose I would be anxious about throwing up in public and the embarrassment and mess of that ... but that has never been an issue really, I don't throw up easily, and if I'm in throwing up territory I am at home in bed, in private.