Emetophobia- new thread as other was full, all welcome.

[Marne]

Hope you all manage to find this , i just used up the last post on the other thread.

[Dancergirl]

Happy new year to everyone.

Have just come back from a lovely holiday in Florida where I noticed the high standard of their public toilets. Immaculately clean with sensor flushes, sensor taps, well filled soap dispensers and paper towels to dry.

[roundabout1]

Happy New Year everyone

dancer - glad you had a lovely holiday, the toilets sound great, ours are often such a disgrace aren't they.

I never get to see the news normally because of dc's but just saw the high figures of noro & its got be panicking. I have had a flue type bug & now have a chest infection & need to go to the gp tomorrow. Am panicking over it now, also will having had only a few hours of sleep a night & feeling so ill anyway my immune system will probably be buggered & leave me more vulnerable? Then there's the thought of school & nursery back next week & all the germs & we have a string of hospital appointments for the dc's in jan & feb. Arghh!

[Dancergirl]

Hi hope everyone is feeling ok.

I have a couple of questions: I am determined to avoid this and have been really careful with hand washing. As for hand gels, is it true that the only one that kills noro is purell?

Also, would taking probiotics also help to avoid the virus?

[BeckyBendyLegs]

Probiotics are supposed to help boost your immune system against tummy bugs but they, ironically, gave me eye-watering stomach cramps and squits (can't spell the medical term) so I couldn't take them. I think most people are fine though, I'm just a sensitive soul!

[Marne]

Panicking here, dd1 is feeling poorly and has tummy ache, looks very pale, have sent her back to bed and given her calpol but she's still awake. Trying to tell myself it cant be a bug as she hasn't been anywhere for 3 or 4 days (only the opticians this morning). She has told me that she is constipated and cant remember the last time she went so am preying thats whats wrong.

Dh informed me that the next door neighbour had noro over christmas, dh went out to do some work with him yesterday so am now panicking about that .

Better pull myself together and go back upstairs with her i guess .

[Marne]

Thanks Belgian, she's led in bed with me (talking non-stop), i now have tummy ache too but probably just anxiety, she seems a bit better but still complaining of tummy ache, hopfully she will go to sleep and not wake until the morning. She's been eating ok today which is a good sign, hopfully just constipation, dd2 has had a bit of a cough and runny nose so she might be getting that too.

I'm not looking forward to next week (back to school), the dd's go back on tuesday so at least its a short week, feels like its only a matter of time before they get ill though, so many people seem to have had it (theres not many people on my fb that dont seem to have had it visit there home at some point this winter) .

I keep watching the news in hope that they will report a drop in cases rather than an increase. I'm counting down the days to spring time, when the sun shines and the bugs die down a little.

[Marne]

Dd1 is now fine, woke with tummy ache but has now been for a no 2 and is back to her normal self, dh and i now feel poorly but its more cold symptoms so not to worrying.

[BeckyBendyLegs]

This is interesting: article about norovirus suggests some people might be immune. Touching great big huge table, practically hugging it, I have never had norovirus to my knowledge (I've had stomach bugs but not been sick since I was 16). So sat here hoping I'm one of the lucky few!

[Dancergirl]

Very interesting article. I don't know whether to be relieved thinking I'm immune or lucky that I haven't been hit yet!

I'm 40 and (touch wood) have NEVER been sick as an adult. I've felt nauseous many times though. Last year I had a tummy bug with really bad stomach pain and diarrhoea for a few days. Could that have been noro but without the v? Or just a different type of bug?

[Marne]

I have had it at least twice sinse having the dd's, before having them i hadn't been sick sinse i was 10 (ish), got through high school without being sick and through my teens.

Dd1 has had it every year from the age of 1 until she was 7, she's now gone 18 months without being sick, dd2 has had it a couple times but hasn't had it for 2 years (but when she does get it she ends up in hospital). Dh has only ever been sick once sinse i have been with him (noro when dd1 was little).

Wish i could go 40 years without being sick .

Dd1 has had tummy ache for 3 days now but it seems to be mainly in her head (school goes back tuesday so she's getting anxious i think).

[WaynettaSlobsLover]

Hi everyone, an ex emetophobe here. I spent years absolutely terrified of being sick, due to my mums reactions when I was ill as a kid and also seeing children at school being violently ill. Used to terrify me :(. Anyway I found during pregnancy sickness that I had no choice but to give in and V if I needed to. I had a few bugs along the way and for some reason doing it a lot completely desensitised me to it. No real words of advice but I know how it feels and I know the terror :(. Xxxx

[Dancergirl]

marne, it hasn't been quite 40 years, the last time I was sick I was 9.

Can I ask you, has actually being sick helped your phobia in any way? I am sure with me it's the fear of the unknown. The logical part of me thinks that if I'm sick, I might find its not as bad as I thought.

[Marne]

Sadly for me, being sick has made my phobia worse , as a child i was petrified of anyone else being sick, or seeing V on the pavement but i didn't worry every day (like i do now) about getting ill, now i can handle my dc's being sick when i have too (can sit with them and clean it up, although i shake with fear but i can do it) but am petrified of catching it and being ill myself, i think if i knew i could not catch it i could cope with it a lot better when the dc's are ill.

Last time i was sick (with noro) i had to call my mum as i thought i was going to die (die of fear and anxiety rather than die of being sick) but tbh onces i was sick it was not that bad and i was better after 24-48 hours, both the dd's came down with it after (dd1 a few hours after i did) and i was able to sit with them and clean up as i had nothing to fear (as i already had it).

I was talking to dd1 yesterday about her birthday (which is in feb) and she said her best birthday was when she was 6, this was when we had noro, it was the best because it snowed that year and she got a whole birthday cake to her self (as we had to cancel her party, we ate the cake a few days later when we were better). To me it was her worst birthday and every birthday after i have feared it happening again , it will soon be here again (6th of Feb) and i'm getting anxious about being ill.

[devilinside]

sadly, it made me worse as well. I didn't realise how violent noro was or how the vomiting seems like it is never going to stop (I never really had it as a child either).

I took the DC to WinterWonderland yesterday, and while we had a great day, I kept getting whiffs of you-know-what. I know that fast fairground rides coupled with copious amounts of German beer are probably to blame, but I can't help but imagine people being struck down with norovirus and the entire place being contagious.

[Marne]

Well done Devil for going to winterwonderland, i have avoided anywhere with rides sinse i was about 12 (when a friend was sick on a ride), my idea of hell would be going to Alton Towers so sadly my dd's will never go (well not with me).

[Loftyideas77]

Apologies for crashing in on your thread everyone because I'm not an emetopobe. However, I also hate this noro season because I'm so fearful of d! If I have a tummy bug that is just v I thank my lucky stars! I feel so alone with this phobia though. Do any of you also hate d?! It's ruining my life at the moment and my anxiety levels are so high that I'm getting occasional attacks of d after meals and am sometimes loose (tmi I know) in the mornings! I could barely eat over Xmas as I'm so tense about a d attack. Hate the feel of it, the embarrassment of it and it makes me feel so washed out afterwards, I'm scared of fainting. I did once while pg:(. Anyway, just wondering if any of you could identify with anything I've said! Probably not lol!

[Marne]

Welcome Lotty,

I can handle D as long as know i'm not going to V. Quite often if i get anxious about feeling sick (or if one of the dd's have been sick) i get D with anxiety (its like my body offloads so my stomach is empty and i cant V).

Do you keep D tablets incase you get it? (imodium etc..) i find having something that may stop it helps my anxiety.

My dd's went back to school today, dd2's TA is off as her dd was sick this morning (apparently they have been all ill over christmas but just with D, now her dd has it). I'm now anxious that she will be back at school tomorrow and may pass something on to dd2 (i am hoping she cant find anyone to sit with her dd and will have to stay at home). So much talk of bugs in the playground (people being ill over christmas) so now i'm extra anxious .

Today i have to drive a long way to go and view a puppy, i'm excited but worried incase someone in the house has had noro, have been up all night with anxiety (about driving and going into someones house without knowing if they have been ill or not).

[roundabout1]

bb - Oh no that's all you need. I really wish people wouldn't do that, surely no one, even colleagues who take the brunt work wise when people off sick, dont want people back to work all germy spreading the bugs around.

lofty - I get very anxious regarding D but dont worry about it like with V. For me a huge part of it is the lack of control & the worry that it will happen in social situations but I also stress about actually being sick too. I find by having immodium on me at all times & Motillium 10 too it eases the worry, at least I feel prepared in case it does happen.

[spacechimp]

bb - that's horrible, but I suppose better to know about colleague than not know. Every morning I dread hearing that someone has called in sick, and then try to find out what's wrong with them. So far we haven't had anyone off with v* this winter, but I fear that it's only a matter of time. Once that happens I find it very stressful at work as we work with shared computers and there are so many door handles to negotiate all day, and that's without having to use the unisex toilets

marne - hope all went ok with going to see the puppy, and that dd's TA does stay at home until no longer contagious. I never used to think about implications of going to other people's houses, but this year has been terrible. We had to visit a couple of sets of dh's relatives over Christmas and I felt like I was playing roulette with each one

lofty - I have had dodgy guts for as long as I can remember - linked to stress and later confirmed as IBS. When I am anxious I often get d and so it has lost a lot of its fear for me. I don't like it, and as roundabout says it's the lack of control and fear of it happening when out in social situations. I suppose because I have had d so much, though mostly not with a bug, it doesn't hold the same fear for me as v*.

Thinking about it, it's really just noro that scares the hell out of me because it's so violent. If there was a d&v bug going round that just involved v* a couple of times I don't think I would be so terrified. If only we could get the vaccine now! I'm living my daily life, but am on guard all the time, and it's so tiring