Ffs please no not this close to Christmas

[bigbumbum]

DD went to a sleepover last night one of the girls threw up in the night. They’d assumed too much sweets/excitement but then she got worse and was sick several times so sounds like a bug.

Whats the chance we can escape? Girl was sick in the bathroom but they were all sleeping in same room.

we are going away for Xmas in two days time.

I have massive emetophobia so am really panicking do you think there’s a chance DD won’t get sick??

Well yes of course there's a chance

Even if it IS a sickness bug she might not throw up with it. Might be nothing, might be diarrhoea. Even if it is a sickness bug AND she throws up it will probably be a 24 hour thing, you can keep her nil-by-mouth with saltine crackers to nibble on. I think it’s best to focus on the bits you can control (anti emetics/sick bags/packing dioralyte type prep)

There’s definitely a chance she won’t get sick, but plan how you are going to manage it if she does - get your cleaning supplies and medicine ready, disposable bags and wipes, it will help take some of the anxiety out of it. Sickness bugs are usually very short-lived. If you still have any face masks left, a bit of Vicks or Olbas oil can help make sure you don’t smell anything.

Won't help for now but please make 2026 the last year you have to go through this panick.

No-one can possibly say, but fingers crossed your DD doesn't catch anything. In the meantime, excellent hand hygiene will help to ensure nothing is passed on further.

Do you mean by not having kids socialising this close to Christmas or by trying to get therapy for the emetaphobia? Or something else?

I feel for you OP. A close family member has emetaphobia and it's really debilitating. Even without the fear, it can we wreck your Christmas plans.

You will know soon enough though. Fingers crossed nobody in your house gets the bug if that is what it is.

12-48hrs is the incubation period for stomach viruses from infection so you'll know by tomorrow morning if she's not sick you can relax.

DH had noro a couple of weeks back, really very bad bout of it. Me and two DC didn’t pick up even a hint of it. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

Hope she’s ok today OP

No good stressing about it what will be will be. Sometimes they do pu know things up other times not.

You'll probably know quite quickly OP. Fingers crossed

Our kids both have Norovirus. I expect to also get it as its air borne. Never escaped anytime they've had it in the past sorry to say.

Fingers crossed for you! My four year old came home from school
yesterday with chicken pox. Just waiting for his twin to get it too. Merry Christmas 😬🙄

OP, highly recommend EMDR for emetaphobia. Also ask your GP for a rescue pack of diazepam for if you need them in the meantime.

Also emetophobic. I understand the panic.

In this sort of situation I like to remind myself that I once was babysitting a child who developed a nasty bug and puked all night and I was looking after her and ended up sleeping next to her to look after her in the night. I was SURE I couldn't escape but I did.

That’s rotten luck I hope they aren’t too miserable with it and you manage to have a nice, if different, Christmas.

Of course there's a chance.

The amount of people that let emetophobia control their lives is crazy. Have you tried therapy for it?

I don’t know if you’re coming back to let us know if she got it. I have had emetophobia all my life and I had CBT for it when my first DC was 1. I would really recommend it, I’m not cured yet but I’m on the way there.

one major thing it taught me was there is productive worrying and hypothetical worrying. If it’s something you can do something about right now then do those things. If it’s not, then try to stop worrying. Which is not helpful haha. But an exercise for this I found helpful was to designate 20 minutes later in the day to allow myself to worry as much as I want but put it out of mind til then. It worked and I rarely actually did the 20 minutes worrying!

the other thing I learned was that you’re quite unlikely to get sick from vomit if you can see it because most people would wash their hands / clean the surfaces. Obviously it’s harder with a child but if she does get it, you can take hygiene measures to try to prevent it (within reason). Learning what was ‘normal’ reactions and what was the phobia in CBT was also massively helpful. As was the exposure therapy my daughter puts me through regularly 😅

I don’t know if you’re coming back to let us know if she got it. I have had emetophobia all my life and I had CBT for it when my first DC was 1. I would really recommend it, I’m not cured yet but I’m on the way there.

one major thing it taught me was there is productive worrying and hypothetical worrying. If it’s something you can do something about right now then do those things. If it’s not, then try to stop worrying. Which is not helpful haha. But an exercise for this I found helpful was to designate 20 minutes later in the day to allow myself to worry as much as I want but put it out of mind til then. It worked and I rarely actually did the 20 minutes worrying!

the other thing I learned was that you’re quite unlikely to get sick from vomit if you can see it because most people would wash their hands / clean the surfaces. Obviously it’s harder with a child but if she does get it, you can take hygiene measures to try to prevent it (within reason). Learning what was ‘normal’ reactions and what was the phobia in CBT was also massively helpful. As was the exposure therapy my daughter puts me through regularly 😅

I don’t know if you’re coming back to let us know if she got it. I have had emetophobia all my life and I had CBT for it when my first DC was 1. I would really recommend it, I’m not cured yet but I’m on the way there.

one major thing it taught me was there is productive worrying and hypothetical worrying. If it’s something you can do something about right now then do those things. If it’s not, then try to stop worrying. Which is not helpful haha. But an exercise for this I found helpful was to designate 20 minutes later in the day to allow myself to worry as much as I want but put it out of mind til then. It worked and I rarely actually did the 20 minutes worrying!

the other thing I learned was that you’re quite unlikely to get sick from vomit if you can see it because most people would wash their hands / clean the surfaces. Obviously it’s harder with a child but if she does get it, you can take hygiene measures to try to prevent it (within reason). Learning what was ‘normal’ reactions and what was the phobia in CBT was also massively helpful. As was the exposure therapy my daughter puts me through regularly 😅

I mean it’s a phobia so it’s quite hard to not let it. I avoided it for a long time due to the fear of the exposure therapy they’d inevitably put me through. Having children was the final straw to make me do it

DD2 suffers from emetophobia. Her toddler has had sickness on and off since he began nursery in September so somehow she has coped. DGS was sick overnight on Saturday and I'm waiting to know if they are coming to us on Wednesday as planned before cancelling most of the Xmas shop due tomorrow morning. In which case it will be DP and me alone 😥

By not doing anything to help, they're letting it. You decided to get help because you had a child which is obviously the sensible thing to do. I just can't get my head around people choosing to live this way without seeking help.