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

I hope you have got some sleep. It's one of those stupid things people saying "oh I know how you feel" but I am phobic. Not too bad with other people but even feeling sick tips me over the edge. I went down with norovirus 2 years ago. Honestly? I was sick twice, the rest of it was just horrible cramps and diarrhoea. I still worry about getting it again but the main fear is the cramps as they hurt! Soap and hot water is the best thing, I just try and be a little more careful about washing my hands
It's an awful feeling, I was crying on the phone to my mum when I had it
My phobia is the out of control thing, I'm not good with planes or lifts too

Happy to report that the night passed without mishap & the dc's seem fine so far. Thank you all so much for the handholding. I appreciate it enormously. Will, no doubt, be back to panic stations tonight

Managed about 4 hours sleep which is unheard of for me in these situations.

Thanks brighthair. I don't love planes or lifts either, interestingly.

zonedout, hope you slept well, or at least well enough.
Hope your children are fine.

I am starting to realise, reading the emetophobia stories on here, just how bad it is for you all.
The only think I can compare it to for me is r a t s.
The poster who said they can barely say the word s i c k, it is a bit like that for me with r a t s . And again, that stems from instances that I remember vividly still from childhood which I wont go into now.

And for myself, I can see that I should ration out which bits precisely alarm me. And see if I can do something about it.
But for me, the problem rarely comes up, but I can see that for entophobes, it is more difficult to escape.

Sitting here thinking about rats, it is the out of control thing, and the fact that they are sooo ugly. As an aside, I went to London zoo years ago, and they have, or did have a building of night time creatures, lots of which I had never seen before. And some of those creatures were unbelieveably ugly. And I realised I might have a bit of problem dealing with those if I were to bump into them.

re being out of control. On the whole, I have realised over the years, that we have a lot less control over our lives and others that we care about, than I thought. And I have come to accept this.
Still struggle with rats and my husband's driving though.

morning everyone

glad you got some sleep honey!
i will be around tonight if you want to chat

liveinazoo, meet you here tonight with a hope all ok

amillion, will respond this evening once the dc's are in bed

Hi BB no signs of anything untoward thanks goodness. Have had a lovely day with my ds's, mostly pottering at home. Only went out for an hour to do a puppet making workshop at the local school which was fab. It's my first full weekend with them for months as weekends are usually split with xh

Have been absolutely fine and relaxed all day but now that the evening is setting in I can feel the panic setting in again.

How was your day?

Another one here, I'm 7 months pregnant too...................must be crazy starting all over again as my two DC's are at age where they can see to themselves now (10 and 12). I too am a single mum but I think as the kids have got older my anxiety has lessened. I wouldnt let their dad work away from home when they were small

My daughter caught the bug herself the other week and I was home alone with her all day, first time I have ever done that. I just stood in the other room until it was over and then cleaned the bucket and gelled mine and her hands. I didn't catch it, I dont think I ever have from the children as I am so meticulous with hygiene and wash everything!!! That may give you some comfort OP, I always feel anxious and sick for a day or so after and convince myself I have it but I never do . My BF also just had it the other week and I didnt catch it from him either.

Belgianbun I remember us comforting each other years ago, my username was Crazydazy then

BB, hope you are enjoying strictly I am a big fan. Xh is away until next weekend so am very much alone, which only adds to my anxiety. If he were here (and not busy he would help out. Ds1 would be ok with that but ds2 o ly wants me when he is ill anyway and, quite frankly, I do actually think I am braver on my own somehow. I guess just knowing that I absolutely have to get on with it.

Why on earth do I always forget my closed bracket? I'm annoying myself with it.

Just realised I completely contradicted myself in the above... I know what I meant, at least

Back on vom watch

Is norovirus worse at night/evenings?

It's not so much that but the emetophobia gets much worse at night. Most stomach bugs seem to start in the night. The salmonella I had as a little girl, which I believe is at the root of all this, woke me from my sleep in the night.

I really had improved recently in that my emet is very manageable during the day and that I am no longer afraid of the very minor bugs that involve one or two v's. But the combo of noro being present in our school and nighttime (also something about the darkness, queitness and being alone)

Interesting what you said up thread about your own phobia. I don't like them (in fact I had one in my house not so long ago but I don't go into panic about them. I guess for you, it's the opposite. You probably don't like being sick but nor do you go into blind panic at the merest possibility.

belgianbun, the problem for you sounds like it is the anxiety itself rather than the actual sickness??

Thanks BB.

I think it is an anxiety thing. For us emets, for different reasons of varying complexity, the anxiety is focused on being sick. Generally based in some old and out of date sub conscious message.

I know in the past, the fear and apprehension has been far far worse than the actual act. But, as I say, those experiences have been relatively mild compared to what I hear about norovirus.

I am sure BB will be along to put it all far more eloquently than me, if I haven't x posted already

zonedout, it does sound like what happened to you as a child is the root.

Mine is too, though I am not sure I would class it as a phobia. Difficult to tell as r a t s dont make too much of an appearance in my life nowadays. Would hate to be in an enclosed space with a lot of them, which is what happened to me on a regular but infrequent basis. Actually just posting this is making me a bit tense.

No, sickness is yuk, but it doesnt really bother me. It doesnt move or attack, so I am fine with it.

Sounds like you need to ignore ignore ignore again. Hope it helps a bit like it did last night.

Do you want to talk a liitle about what happened when you were a child, or is this not the right time or place?

I'm a hypnotherapist and have treated x3 people with this phobia in the last 2 weeks! You don't need to live with the fear. Usually 1-2 sessions are all that's needed to take fear down to much more reasonable levels. Find a GHR registered therapist

Heck belgianbun, that all sounds severe.
That must somewhat control your life ,and to a certain extent others around you.