support for emetaphobes and general health phobics

[liveinazoo]

well new year and lots illness about.....
thought time we had a place to share advice/support and somewhere to talk other things all getting to much

Hello liveinazoo

Glad I found this thread as I am an emetophobe and it has virtually taken over my life

It would be nice to talk to others who understand.

What's your emet like?

xx

it has always controlled my life
i started cbt recently.making me quite anxiuos but hope the long term benefits will outweigh my current discomfort.
im rubbish at doing links im afraid(techno dinosaur)but just before xmas was a thread sickness bugs-a fear of by beckybendylegs.few us hung out there for a bit.one of them added a link to another site.if you can find it that might offer you some support.meanwhile im here.i check this most nights in case anyones upset or just wants a chat with some one who doesnt think you should just deal with it!
hope you pop back.like you say its good to have someone who understands to talk to

Glad you came back to this thread

I have been like this since I was a child. It eased a bit from about the age of 16 til I was 19, then I fell pregnant with my dd. My morning sickness was horrendous and I was sick every day neat all the way through, even in labour. I coped tho and it didn't bother me that much.

Then when I was about 22 I got norovirus. Out of the blue, projectile vomiting and diarrohea. The phobia came back with a vengeance and hasn't abated since.

It controls my life. I have no social life at all, work part time but find even that difficult. I have also developed anxiety and panic attacks and can't travel on public transport or go too far from my home.

I feel absolutely pathetic, ridiculous and an abject failure, both as a person and as a mother.

I had CBT and take 10mg of citalopram, but neither seem to have helped.

I had a near breakdown back in November caused by feeling like I was going to vomit when I was out. I was in a state of complete terror, was hyperventilating, shaking, sweating, faint and scratched my chest raw - to the point of drawing blood. I very nearly threw myself out of a moving car. God only knows how I got home. Luckily I was with my mum and partner.

I have started to self harm when I get bad - not for harming myself, but so that I can feel a different sensation other than the panic and terror.

I realize now that I sound like a complete basket case, but have been given diazepam and an antisickness med for when I am really bad, and been referred to the mental health team too.

How did yours start, and how do you cope?

x

bless you.my heart goes out to you!
mine also started as a child.at the age of 13 i was very ill(believe now that it was norovirus)...i passed out and woke up vomiting profusely and completely covered a whole room floorive never bin the same sinc!
i have 4 kids and thankfully wasnt sick in pregnancyi refused morphine after my 2nd c sect as 1st time around it made me nauseaous!
i dont have a social life at all.i dont work. if the kids are ill my partner has to step in.if i feel ill i go to pieces and feel suicidal
im currently taking 20mg citalopram and like i said am starting cbt.until then it was avoid,avoid,avoid thats how i coped...i only met my dp coz he worked in mental health community support!!!!

Yes, but I try not to read these threads as they make my anxiety much more severe. Hoping to get a referral soon for my suspected aspergers, and emetophobia (there is a link)

Iliveonazoo - I was exactly the same after my illness. It came on so suddenly that I think on the back of my mind I'm always thinking "it could happen again, any time, anywhere" so I avoid going too far from home etc. I've developed health anxiety too - the smallest symptom panics me and I assume the worst.

It's a horrible way to live, though I feel more like I just exist rather than live.

I also don't see any way of ever becoming better. I feel quite hopeless.

I manage to work part time, but often end up panicking at work, and it's getting harder and harder to drag myself there each day, but I do my best. I have had a lot of time off, I get migraines so can't go in if I've got one, and if I feel very nauseous I will sometimes just not go, which isn't ideal. I'm worried that my sickness levels will loose me my job.

It's exhausting too, living in a constant state of anxiety

Asdevil, I know what you mean, but sometimes it's good to know you're not alone

as devilwe can talk about anything unrelated her e if distraction is the order of the day
justi also have migraines-had one just before xmas where couldnt see properly for 1hr before it hit me and felkt very sick....thank god dp was about i was freaking big style
you are braver than me at least try to work
mine triggered severe ocd which is a pain in the arse...it was only when i did a support group for that that i realised it was underpinned by the vomit phobia which is why i wanted cbt to try and alleviete both problems.im told as ive had it all my life it will be a long haul as retraining takes longer the longer the "habit" has been ingrained but i am told with hard work it is possible to improve and i am hopeful

Yes, it would be nice to support each other, without going into any 'gory, vomit' stories. Obviously, at such times we will need to vent, get support etc. so how about a separate thread for that?

We could try to keep this one for positives i.e. seeking help etc.

Hi all,

Can I join your thread please? I've had emet since I was about 11 but it has definitely got worse over the last 15 years or so. I'm now 37.

I have one DD who is 2 and started a little private school on Tuesday. Tonight she has been sick and so I'm now terrified. My dsis has lupus and can't fight infections so she has anti-thickness drugs ok prescriptions that she often gives to me if I need them. I haven't had to take them yet though so I don't know of they work for bugs, I'm hoping they do

As it stands, I haven't actually been sick for 12 years and I almost think that has made the phobia worse. I tried hypnotherapy before Xmas but I was too stressed at the time because of things going on at home, but I would like to try it again when I can afford to...

Obviously that should have said anti-sickness drugs...

Hi homemade cakes!

It's awful when the kids are sick isn't it? On one hand you have your terror to deal with, on the other your kids need you and u need to be able to deal with them. I didn't have to much of an issue with dd being sick tbh, and much to my surprise. But I did worry that I would come down with whatever she had too.

I seem to find it worse when I'm sick myself. I find that it consumes my day. I wake up looking for any clue that I might be unwell, search for signs of it during the day - it's relentless. Do you know what triggered your emet? And what antisickness meds do you have?

Iliveinazoo - I had an awful migraine the day before Xmas eve - it was horrendous. I feel sick with migraines too but have anti sickness tablets from the GP. Do you find anything helps you?

Oh and homemade cakes - emets will quite often be able to keep themselves from being sick for years and years, and are quite proud of their records!

evening all!
im not usually about this late but dp has just gone home and i thoght id check in before get my head down.
homemade cakes im so sorry today has not been a good one for you.as you may have already read i go to pieces when kids are ill and cant deal with them and feel an utter failure.so at least youre ina better position than me onthis one(not that thats any comfort when youre stressed)
mumjust laying quiet and still and sucking mints...i always suck mints when feel ill.seems to calm me and my tummy down.i always have
asdevil if youd like a place we can chat that is strictly emet free i can do that too...just let me know...could be a good idea then we can talk anything and if anyones anxious and wants to pop back here to "talk business" we can just sidle back across.
what does everyone think?

All,

Thank you so much for your responses. Well we made it through the night. DD was sick until about 3.30am and she eventually fell asleep at about 4.30am. My DH got up for work at that time so bravely, I let her come into bed with me. She slept right through until 9.30am, so 6 hours now without being sick so I think we're over the worst.

I spoke to her CM this morning (she's at a new school Tuesday and Thursday - so should have been today - and with a CM on Monday and Wednesday) and she is also ill as is her daughter, so my worst fears have been realised and it's a bug. I feel awful but I always hope that when DD is ill, it's something that she's eaten so that I can't catch it - horrid isn't it

I had to get up at 6.30am for work (I work from home for a big Global company - they know when I'm online and when I'm not...) so I'm shattered. But just waiting for my symptoms to start... I've disinfected everything each time DD was sick and used lots of anti-bac soap so I'm hoping that I'll avoid it.

Is there anything else that you ladies can recommend that I can do to avoid catching it?

mumofjust1, I am exactly like you. I cope brilliantly with DD when she's ill, I'm just terrified of being ill myself. I don't actually have any idea what started it. I've asked my Mum and she says that I was hardly ever sick as a child. None of us were. I once saw a psychic who told me that my emets is because in a previous life I died in my own vomit during the plague in London in 1665. Nice! I'm not convinced...

I started Hypnotherapy before Xmas and even though it didn't cure me because there was so much going on in my life and I was too stressed for it to benefit me, I did learn a lot about phobias. All our irrational fears sit in a certain area of the brain. Imagine this part of the brain as a bucket with our irrational fears buried deep in the bottom, under years and years of other stresses. It means that to get rid of the irrational fear, all of the other stresses need to be cleared out first and this is what the hypnotherapy does. Phobias also are not often related to the 'Phobia' themselves. So, you don't necessarily have a fear of spiders because you had an encounter with a spider. It's apparently linked to a trauma in your life, that can be completely unrelated. So for example, you happened to see the biggest spider in the world, at the same time that you found out a close relative had died, or something like that. So the spider will then become a trigger.

This seems to make sense in my case because I certainly don't remember a really traumatic illness that I had and neither do my Dparents. It's a really odd one...

What do all your GPs say about this phobia? My MW during my PG and Labour with DD was brilliant and made sure that everyone knew that I needed anti-sickness drugs as I'd heard that some people are sick during labour.

I've made an appointment to see a GP next week to talk about getting my own prescription for anti-sickness drugs and also something for the anxiety... Any suggestions?

I hope that everyone is OK this morning. xxx

mine arent terriblely helpful on tis one (but are very goood with my depression and the o.c.d that accompanys the emet. i think its mainly the terror that i get ill that causes me not to be able to handle the kids.when i had my kids i wouldnt eat in case i got sick.after surviving the 1st i wasnt so scared being sick 2nd time...with 3rd ended having emergency c-sect and the 2nd hit morphine i had before moving to general ward made me feel so awful i refused to have it when i had another c sect with number 4!

Panic stations here again. After being totally fine since 3.30 this morning, DD has just been Dick again. Terrified that this is still going on...

Sick...

Zoo can I hang out here??

I don't have emetaphobia but as you know I am having a few depression issues.

I've just made a prat of myself on the other thread and messed up the link.
I am useless!

I don't like todays date either! Things always go wrong!!

Hope you are around today.

course you can!
not good when you feel crap and something goes wrong is it?ive had many occasions when somethings gone tits up and it felt like the sky was falling in
you havent made a prat of yourself.at least you can attempt it(as you may have spotted i had to ask carrots yest how to open a PM.doh!)
i will be about ,on here later if you like as well as on the flying thread.please dont isolate yourself too much
eat something niceand maybe a hot chocolate
at least you are awake at a civilized hour.thats a good start

I am not an emetophobe but have anxiety about the kids health. We still go to soft play / swimming / on trains etc because I know that's 'normal' but i worry a lot about illness, especially fevers. It started when ds had pneumonia and the docs didn't believe me for days until they finally gave him an x ray. It knocked my confidence because they said I was paranoid and my confidence in GPs because they were wrong. This was a year ago now though and I need to get over it. Ds is 5 now and dd is 16 months. I just want to feel relaxed!

Leftmymistletoeatthedoorif you thinklogically it is normal to worry when your kids are unwell.havig that gut feeling that something is wrong and being brushed off by proffesionals would add to that so its perfectly understandable.im sorry you had to go through such an awful experience.the longer time passes it should ease a little as you gain confidence in yourself again.i hope that helps a little.if you want to come back and chat when they are ill(or if they arent but things are going about)i will be about

Homemade Cakes, I have devised a way of avoiding being sick, should you succomb to norovirus. At the very first symptom, (I find it is an odd acidy feeling in my stomach) go completely nil by mouth, including water.

Worked for me last time (touches every piece of wood in the vicinity)

Also cover your hands, (I do this with my cardigan sleeves) whenever you share a bathroom with someone who has it.

Sorry, I know this is nuts, but that's how scared I am of being sick

asdevilwe share a ritual!
feeling very fed up of people regaling in acute detail the horrors of norovirus in the house.found schoolrun friday very stressful.hope evryones ok.x

Hi ladies, hope you are all well and healthy

I've had a bad afternoon had to drop my grandma home earlier on and Dp came with me. Now this is a 10minute drive from home.

Got a bit anxious just before we had to leave, and increasing anxious the farther from home I got. By the time we got there I was having a panic attack and feeling nauseous. Dp walked granny upstairs and left mr in the car. I had to sit in the back whilst Dp drive home, all the while shallow breathing, shaking and praying I wouldn't throw up. It's awful - as I said I was literally 10 minutes from home

Back now and still feeling a bit delicate - had to take an antisickness tablet and have popped upstairs for 10mins on my own.

Now this morning - collecting granny and doing a quick bit of shopping, I was fine. It's so frustrating, and I feel like a failure