Emetophobia - my worst nightmare

[zonedout]

Ds1 goes to a school set on several different sites. Today one of the sites has been closed for deep cleaning due to norovirus wiping out hundreds of children this week. There are loads of siblings in ds1's building/class and 8 of his classmates were off today.

I am a single parent (really outing myself here!) and terrified of what feels completely inevitable right now. I was awake all night last night, waiting. Shall be doing the same again tonight.

You know, I feel like I have improved a lot with my emetophobia recently. I am no longer worried about the odd v. It's the awful, debilitating violence of noro that terrifies the life out of me.

The waiting is utter torture

Marne that's interesting re: drinking lots of water - I drink 5 - 7 litres a day and actually went to the Gp recently as I worried there was something wrong with me! I get really thirsty alot. Maybe this plays to my advantage . It is a pain in that you need the loo all the time and so have to use public loos alot. I hate it when you don't know why people are ill too. Whenever I see the staff noticeboard I check to see who is off and why each day - when it says 'ill' next to a person I assume they have a tummy bug and get in a panic but I guess the chances are it might be something completely different! I'm just about to wrap some pressies too.

I think I may find a new love for water.

Apprently doctors drink lots of water and et lots of non-greasy food including lot of chicken. (someone posted this on another thread when talking about doctors rarely catching tummy bugs when they are surrounded by it every day).

I drink a lot and i give the dd's plentry to drink before they go to school (even more so dd2 as she often refuses to drink at school), when they get home i push more into them.

Probiotics are ment to be good (friendly bacteria will fight off the bad), we took them last winter (not sure if thats what saved us from getting ill or if it was just luck).

Just text my sis and she was sick again yesterday and been on the loo all morning today :(
Properly panicking now...

:( oh bad I really feel for you. Just hope she picked it up elsewhere and I don't think she'd be contagious until she started to be sick which was after you left.

I'm on full paranoia stations. I think if I ask "are you ok" to my family one more time they will gag me and put me away until spring (as long as they get me out for Christmas that wouldn't be a bad thing).

yes bad I've heard you can't be contagious until you are sick as it's (TMI) the particles from the sick and poo which spread the germs (so not hand washing or bleaching the bathroom afterwards before other people use it etc), so I'm sure you'll be fine, but I agree it doesn't help at the moment in time when you're all caught up in panic

Thanks.
I hate this :(

marne thank you went Christmas shopping today so that's too my mind off it had a shower too which made me relax a bit, still got tummy ache tho :( hope it's not the bug how long till I will know for sure does anyone know?

Hi all

So sorry you're all feeling like this. I'm not sure I'm an emetephobe as such but certainly have health anxiety and feel a lot of the same ways as you do.

Dh away with work this week and I'm worrying. Nobody nearby etx in case of emergency - tell me I can do it?!

yes bad I've heard you can't be contagious until you are sick

Thank you, that has reassured me. Someone at work today said she felt sick and I have been trying to rationalise things in my head ever since, that bit of knowledge will help me greatly.

Stef- if you havn't got it in the next 48 hours then you should be fine

I'm already anxious about dh going to his work x-mas party as i will be alone all night with dd's but looking at it relisticly 'he doesn't really help much anyway when the dd's are sick' , 2 years ago dd2 had noro whilst dh had his buisiest week at work followed by the works party, so i had to deal with a very poorly dd2 for 3 days on my own (all he did was take dd1 to school for me before he went to work). Its suprising what you do when you really have too.

I am a single parent so have no choice but to get on with it but I must say that even before we separated my dc would always, without fail, time their worst bugs for when xh was away. I do find coping with illness alone a really difficult part of being alone

So I thought I'd let u guys know as I said before my stomach has been funny since Friday night and all day today it had been achy and rumblely well I had about 4 sips of whiskey and its finally subsided and has made me really sleepy thought I'd let you all know in case it can help any of you in the future :)

Ds1 has asthma and can't stop coughing. I really think he's going to be sick. I've given him 4 puffs of ventolin so far which hasn't helped. Poor boy, in between puffs I'm escaping to my bed so he's not sick on me if he is sick (wouldn't surprise me with his cough). I could do with a whiskey ;)

Ah, and alcohol would help kill any germs too stef!:)
Dh goes away with work today :(
Stocked up on motillium and am hoping for the best...helps to know you guys are here x

hi everyone

another tip from my homework-if you smell something you like to eat and feel hungry,you arent likely to be sick imminantly

im sorry to hear so many of you are at "panic stations"
i agree HURRY UP WITH THE VACCINE!!!!!!!!!

dcs havent been sick for a week now,still not eating at full power,sleeping a lot more than usual.i havent cooked as im not hungry and they just want toast/bananas and plain biscuits

ive struggled very hard to eat-lost near a stone now and even i cn see i look emaciated.dp is avoiding all contact as he cant cope with my distress.very low nd crying all the time.thank goodness i have an appointment therapist today

its good to know you uys are here.without you i would be suicidal by now

18days?are you sure?

Oh zoo I'm sorry to hear you're so low. Your partner shouldn't be avoiding you though, he should be helping in any way he can. Try and eat something and cook the children a hot meal, even if its plain rice with chicken and veg as the longer it is they start eating again the harder it will be. We are all here for you

to the sterile hugs

Zoo I'm so sorry you're so down. FWIW I follow that logic re: hunger/fancy eating something you like you won't be sick imminently...it's the reason I'm not as slim as everyone else here . It is so hard to go through and so impossible for people who haven't felt this strongly to understand how awful everything is. Hope the apt with the therapist is OK and helps give you some strength. Sometimes I worry I'll feel like I've just wasted my life away avoiding and worrying about things. Why is it so hard for us to just go out and do things and enjoy life without that nagging voice in our heads? It must be so nice for people without this to just be able to go and eat out/go shopping/meet friends etc etc and not even think about it.

santa I hope your DS was OK on the coughing front. I'm assuming no news is good news?

Stef you'll turn us all into alcoholics

Haha I don't really drink but my partner likes a whiskey and I brought him a bottle for out anniversary so I had a little bit and I'm sure 4 sips wouldn't turn you into an alcoholic ;) hehe. It's been 39 hours since anyone was sick thank god but getting my son ready for school and he keeps coughing and its making me nervouse incase it makes him sick my partner works nights so dreading this week :(

Yes...I know when I have been sick I couldn't even look at food. The very think turned my stomach!
If you are hungry, you aren't likely to be sick anytime soon.
Zoo...sorry your dp isn't more supportive :(
Having said that I bit the bullet and told dh think I am emetophobic a couple of weeks ago and he just laughed :(
I think it's hard for people to take seriously, which is grossly unfair.
I would never laugh at a claustrophobe, for example.
On my own with the dc now til weds as my parents are also away on hols too.
I will do my usual of food restriction and take motillium if I feel sick.
Have a good day everyone, hope the appt goes well zoo.
Try and eat...fruit, biscuits, toast...build your strength up x

reastie he wasn't sick thank goodness but he's had so much ventolin he's completely hyperactive. I've kept him off school (1 more day where he's not mixing with kiddie germs) and I'm waiting for a dr to call me back for a telephone consultation and I'm hoping that's all he needs so I don't have to brave the dr surgery.

Soooo...a child was sick at pre school on Friday :(
And at least 3 are off today :(
So it's only a matter of time isn't it?

In one way I'm glad when my ds goes to school as I don't have to worry about him being sick but in the other hand the dreaded germs :s
bad he shouldn't laugh at you :( my partner only laughs when I keep asking if he's ok he worries about me when he is ill and apologies even though its not his fault he's ill he even came down to check I was ok when he woke at 2am the other night and offered to change the bed sheets so I could go to bed and he would stay downstairs but I said I'd rather all the germs be upstairs and me downstairs lol!
santa hope all is well and you don't have to go to the doctors

bad I know children in my ds's class have been off too :( my ds was sick on Friday but only twice so I am still worried incase it wasn't the bug he had and he is still to catch it. On the plus side for you if it was on Friday there's a good chance the germs went over the weekend. Parents should keep their child off until they can't pass it onto anyone else really don't you just wish sometimes everyone was carful about passing on germs :/

I think I know the child concerned, his mother is a teacher and frankly just doesn't care :(
Has sent him in ill before now.
My 2 were sick on 10th and 14th Oct resoectively...but I guess tht won't give them any immunity?