Emetophobia is so debilitating

[JKDcot]

i am so fed up with this phobia. It just ruins your life. Anyone else got over it or any ideas for a cure or some help that actually works. I’ve tried CBT and hypnotherapy and I am still petrified. Is the food gone off? Will I catch that tummy bug going round? Why can’t I risk trying to get pregnant as I just about scraped through and am so grateful for my DC but I basically had a breakdown due to morning sickness

Anyone anywhere actually got over this fear? Please any help?

I have spent over £7k on various treatments over the years - none of them worked

Just a post of solidarity

I don't have this, but I hear the frustration in your 'voice'. So sending some love over to you Xx

Poor you.
I can sympathise -I don't have emetophobia but I do have OCD (diagnosed) and it's crippling and exhausting.
Other than continuing therapy I don't really know what to suggest. Are you part of any support groups?

Confirmed emetophobe here. CBT didn't help but EMDR did. I'm not cured and I still wash my hands way too much and offer gel like it's going out of fashion to anyone I'm out with but my general anxiety level has gone down and the last time DD had a bug I coped. I still struggle to let her go to the leisure waters of our local pool though as during the chlorine shortage everyone who visited was getting sick.

It’s hard to explain this because initially I thought they were mad……but I found the Speakmen videos and book really helped. Desperation led me to them!
Its ultimately - well it was for me - about a fear of losing control. I’m ok now and this is something which ruined my school years and meant I didn’t properly engage at university or for years after. I also ruined my teeth because after hearing peppermint helped sickness I went for about ten years with a polo or extra strong mint permanently in my mouth - even all night.

I’m sorry you’re dealing with it it’s really awful.

Thank you for your kind comments. My close friends know about it and are amazingly supportive.

It’s just so frustrating and I wish I could get over it. It takes up so much of my time and mental capacity worrying about it. And it’s just such a stupid thing to worry about. I am sure no one likes to vomit but they don’t become a jibbering wreck. I’m embarrassed and feel sad and lonely. Argh

Was your Cbt a full course with your therapist following the emetophobia protocol? I’m a CBT therapist and have had success with all emetophobia patients so far.

The full course would include cognitive work including psycho education and cognitive restructuring, alongside behavioural work which should include working your way up a hierarchy. It takes between 12-20 weeks.

Can you work out what the fear is that underlies your emetophobia? Is it fear of being humiliated by being sick in public? Do you suffer from health anxiety, which is manifested in your fear of sickness? Are you worried about death of yourself or losing those close to you? Can you remember what was happening in your life the first time you remember having this fear?

There's a chance that learning the underlying reason can help you process it and reduce the level of anxiety.

Medication

I think it comes from a bad experience aged 11/12 after a surgery and awful vomiting episode.
Since then I just get panic attacks if I feel nauseous. Heart rate elevates and I have catastrophic thinking about the fact I am going to vomit and can’t cope with it. If I do get close to being sick and actually gag then I have a full blown panic attack where I scream and cry and think I’m dying. I know. This is pathetic.

I would take medication but don’t know what type? Beta blockers if I start to have a panic attack? Long term anxiety medication?
the irony is often their side effects are nausea … so I am too afraid to take them!

in normal every day life outside of this phobia I am pretty normal. Have a job, friends, life a good life. No one would
know. I don’t have OCD for cleanliness, not scared of many things (needles, heights, flying, spiders, speaking in public). That’s why it’s so much more annoying. One bloody thing and I go mad

To clarify the list is an example of other phobias people suffer with that I don’t. I’m not judging those phobias. I wish I could swap in to another one just for a break from mine?!?

I definitely have a degree of emetophobia, although for me, other people throwing up is worse/scarier than me being sick. I actually have nightmares about people throwing up. I’m running away from them but every time I look back they are right behind me gipping and gagging. I could never be a nurse or teacher. I get anxious in hospitals in case someone looks like they might hurl. Same when travelling, always on alert for someone looking a bit green. Someone coughing a lot, are they gonna throw up? Thankfully I’ve made it through 3 pregnancies (4th due in February) without vomming, but I’ve felt close and I think if I wasn’t so phobic it would have happened. When I was younger, I was no stranger to a tactical chunder when really really drunk. The last time I threw up was 2 years ago. I had a big or food poisoning. It was dreadful, I knew I needed to be sick and spent hours building myself up to it. Shut my eyes the whole time, put my fingers in my ears, turned all the taps on to drown it out. I have to be really really ill to throw up. I’ve had a couple of bad hangovers in my adult years that have resulted in throwing up the next day, which has gradually put me off drinking altogether. Somehow I’ve dealt with the sick bugs my kids have had, but the anxiety I feel as soon as they say they feel sick is overwhelming. My blood runs cold and I get shaky. I feel for you.

I agree with emdr. It was the only thing that worked for me. And it's transformed my life not having emerophobia.

I tried EMDR and it didn’t really work for me… think I need to do a full course of CBT, it seems to be most recommended. It’s just you really hope it will work but I feel it’s so ingrained it me it’s pointless

I completely understand. I've had emetophobia for over 25 years and every day has been a struggle. I have seen countless therapists, had hypnotherapy, followed the thrive programme etc.

However, my last therapist I found progress with. It was exposure therapy - which I absolutely do not agree with - I feel so strongly that this tackles the symptoms rather than the cause. But I have found SOME relief. I can now eat chicken, I eat out, I don't wash my hands anywhere near as much as I used to (previously 100+ times a day) and I am ttc. Unfortunately I am suffering with infertility and I can't help but blame this phobia for me putting it off so long and now maybe it's too late.

The phobia is definitely still with me but it isn't at 100% anymore at the moment - it's more at 85% Which sounds stupid and like a tiny decrease but if I get 15% silence from the phobia I'll take it.

You have my total sympathy, I wouldn't wish this phobia on anyone and those who haven't experienced it simply can't imagine how debilitating it is every second of your life.

Just to say that exposure therapy doesn't just deal with the symptoms. The reason being that the issue is actually to do with the calibration in the part of the brain that deals with the emotions - the amygdala. Your brain has identified being sick as a massive danger, probably due to an experience in your past that you may not even remember. The amygdala scans the environment for situations or things that will cause danger, and in your case being sick is one of them. So rather than reacting like most of us would, and seeing sickness as being unpleasant but not scary, you see it as terrifying.

Exposure therapy helps to recalibrate the brain so that it no longer recognises sickness as a severe danger. It does this by progressively exposing the brain to a series of events similar to your extreme fear and letting the brain re-programme itself to no longer see vomiting as fear-inducing. It might be a photo of someone being sick, the noise of vomiting, imagining yourself or someone else being sick and so on. As your brain progressively becomes aware that the association between being sick and danger is faulty, it will not trigger such a severe response.

Oh op I just wanted to say you are not pathetic. Your phobia is not pathetic. You sound exhausted by it and I truly hope you find something to help you.

I have had it since I was seven. It was the start of my mental health issues. I still have it.

I've posted so much about this in the past few days and my son has DandV. He's currently up unwell and this is day 4.
I feel like I want to scream, cry, run away, etc etc.
I hear every word you're saying OP. There's definitely a community of us who struggle so much with this.
If you have any advice or find anything that works ok hear for this because debilitating is the word that I always use to describe it :(

I accidentally found a cure, but it’s not one you can reproduce, unfortunately.

I had a gallbladder infection and spent an entire night in hospital, vomiting repeatedly and feeling like death. A few days later, on a different ward, someone rushed to the toilet and vomited, and for the first time in my life, the only thing I felt was sympathy, along with a feeling of absolute astonishment that I wasn’t terrified and quivering, as I normally would have been.

It was ten years ago now and I still haven’t fully adjusted. My mind still starts on all the calculations when I encounter vomit, and then I remember I don’t need to do it any more. Getting over a phobia of 40 years standing is hard to adjust to, though also a relief.

I have it. Therapy and CBT didn’t help. I’ve had it since childhood and nothing shakes it.

i have two toddlers (one disabled) and am honestly on the verge of a full blown mental breakdown. I just cannot process the level of disgusting germs. Yesterday my disabled son was licking the wall in a public bathroom. He has PICA so puts everything in his mouth 24/7. I’m on such high alert all the time. Anxiety through the absolute roof. Wish I’d never had them most of the time.

Nothing has helped me. 35 years of this shit and I’m so exhausted by it. It impacts my life with my DS constantly - I never go anywhere with him without spending the entire time monitoring him for signs that he will throw up and he’s a teenager now. I had CBT about 10 years ago including watching all the vomit videos etc. the therapist tried to make me see that my behaviours were unnecessary because I was so unlikely to catch a stomach bug. At the time, I worked in a preschool and used to wash my hands about every half an hour while I was there. She challenged me to change this to once per hour. The first time I did this, I caught norovirus and became horribly ill 36 hours after my shift. I never went back to CBT - washing your hands regularly when you work with small children is just common sense!

I feel your pain OP. Have had it as long as I can remember. Tried CBT on the NHS but I only got a certain number of sessions and we didn't get to the exposure stuff. My plan was to start doing that myself (she explained it). But at the time I was struggling with long covid and couldn't face it. And now I can't remember enough about the tiny steps of progress I made. I woke up a few hours ago and felt suddenly very sick, I resist it (always have) but have had the runs during the night. Dreading the kids waking up as my younger child had tummy ache and a dodgy poo last night so I am now anticipating what might be to come during the course of the day. Of course my husband is away with his mates, about 5 hours travel time... so if me or either of the kids are sick, I will have no option but to deal with it. I very nearly didn't have children but eventually decided to take the plunge and was lucky I just had nausea not sickness. So I'm not much help, but I empathise massively. I try to tell myself that it's the body's way of protecting me, so it's good if it happens. I think my fear of others throwing up is because ultimately I might lose control and throw up myself, but I can't remember any trigger from my distant past. I always thought I would 'grow out of it' when I was younger, but it has only become worse. Your post (and my current state of being!) has given me a renewed impetus to try and work on this. Good luck x

I’m so sorry to hear so many people struggle with the same. Thank you all for your honest and kind comments.

2 practical things that help me cope if I do feel sick. First is I always carry cyclizine which works well for me. Just to know they’re there for emergencies is so great. Second is I purchased an emeterm watch that uses a small electrical pulse that you wear same place as a travel band. It also helps and even just doing something practical can try and calm me down.

@identitytheftisnotajokejim wishing you lots of love and positivity for your journey to become a mum. I managed to do it and I was a big mess but got through. Happy to chat if you need support